She laughed, as I waited for an opening and pulled into traffic, my heart refusing to slow down. I wasn't sure I would survive tonight. But if  I didn't,  at least I'd die happy.

~♡~

Sadie eventually fell asleep after finishing her coffee, and I let her sleep the rest of the way. We made good time, arriving at the hotel at 1:15pm. We checked in, and decided to just relax in the room for a few hours.

Of course, she wasn't sleepy at all, and surprisingly, I wasn't tired either.

"What time do you think we should leave for the stadium? The show starts at 7:30, but I think I'd like to get there a little early."

"I agree. How far is the stadium from here?"

She typed on her phone, searching the address for the stadium.

"Uh...says it's 10 minutes away."

"So, what if we leave here around 5, there will probably be traffic, so lets say we get there by 5:30. That'll give us two hours to look around, and find our seats before the show starts."

"That sounds perfect. I'm hungry. You?"

"Actually, I'm starving. What should we get?"

"Chicago pizza!!"

I laughed at her, not really surprised.

"Okay. I'll order, and we'll have it delivered."

She bounced around happily, clapping her hands.

I finished ordering the pizza, and  then I sat on the end of my bed, flopping back and sighing loudly.

"What's a matter, Laney? You worrying about being so close that you'll be able to look into V's eyes?" Sadie asked mischievously.

My heart twisted at the thought, but I sat up and rolled my eyes at her.

"I'm going to die. Right there at barricade. I'm going to miss the whole concert. Did you take any of this into consideration when you decided to buy front row seats?"

She giggled.

"You'll be fine. I won't let you die. You need to prepare yourself right now. You're going to be close enough to make eye contact with V."

"Oh God." I suddenly felt light headed.

I missed him so damn much. At least Sadie would take my inability to function as me being overwhelmed to be so close, to be able to see that he was indeed, real. More than once I had said to her that they had to be holographic, because they were to stunning to be real.

But now I knew better. They were very real, and very sweet, and so, so beautiful in every way possible.

I flopped back down onto the bed, closing my eyes, my heart pounding with excitement. I had to keep it together. I couldn't say or do anything to give away the fact that I knew Taehyung, very well in fact.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and I got up to open it, thanking the delivery guy and taking the pizza and paper plates to the table in the corner. 

Sadie jumped up, coming and grabbing a piece, plopping it on her plate and grabbing a plastic fork from the cup in the center of the table, pulling it from it's wrapper.

She dug into the slice of pizza, sounds escaping her lips that should only be heard from the privacy of the bedroom.

I laughed at her, and she just smiled, a big cheesy smile, not caring in the least.

We ate until we were full, and decided to start getting around to leave for the stadium.

My nerves were causing me to be jittery, and my heart wouldn't slow down. I rinsed my face with cool water, re-doing my messy bun, and looking in the mirror over the sink.

How I missed my 20 year old face. The face that Tae knew. I touched my lips, noticing the tiny wrinkles around the edges. My cheekbones weren't as pronounced, my face having filled out a little bit as I got older. My skin wasn't as soft and smooth.

I was suddenly afraid. Afraid for him to see me. I didn't want him to see me like this. I prayed he looked right past me. I was sure he wouldn't recognize me even if he did notice me. But I wouldn't be able to keep the emotion from my face, and I didn't want him to see that, not from the me I was now.

"Laney?"

I looked at Sadie, and she gave me an understanding smile.

"Oh my gosh, Laney, Your gorgeous, stop stressing. I bet V won't be able to take his eyes off of you."

That didn't help. Not at all.

I smiled at her, shrugging it off.

"Pffft, there will be enough young people around me that he won't even notice me. I'm fine. I just can't believe we are about to be seeing them, live."

"I know, right?  Are you ready?"

I nodded, and we made sure we had our tickets, holding onto them as if they were gold. We were both wearing hoodies, and I stuck my phone, and my credit card in my pocket. Sadie did the same, and we left the room, hurrying to the jeep arm in arm.

Sadie drove, and she had paid to park in the parking garage right near the stadium, so I put the address into her GPS, and tried to keep myself calm, watching the sights around us as she followed the directions of the voice coming from the speakers.

Traffic was congested, but it was moving smoothly, and we were in the garage, parking in the first available spot we saw by 5:25pm.

We got out of the car, and followed the crowd, listening to all the excited chatter of Armys all around us.

Two hours from now, I'd probably be having a coronary.

After quite a bit of walking, the stadium was finally in front of us. We checked with the security person to find out where we needed to be, and moved to get in the line for floor seating.

I was going to hyperventilate. I was feeling a combination of excitement, nervousness, and disbelief. Sadie grabbed my hand, and I gave hers a squeeze.

Every one around us was smiling happily, and there was no age group or gender left out. I saw young children, and people older than me, and every age in between. It was amazing, the diversity that could be seen, all because of these boys, and their music, their message.

Their love of doing what they do was so easy to see. I'd seen it first hand. But of course, it was clear that each one of them had been born to do this.

The line started to move, and I drew in a breath, realizing that this was really happening. We were being let into the stadium. The line was long, but it moved quickly, and within 10 minutes, we were thru the gates.

We stopped, overwhelmed, turning to look at each other, and I shook my head, grabbing Sadie and hugging her tightly.

"I love you...I can't even tell you how much this means to me. I will never forget this, Sadie bug."

She rolled her eyes at hearing me use her childhood nickname.

"I love you, that's why I wanted to do this. You're the only person who understands my love for these guys. I'm so glad you listened, and gave them a chance. Everyone says they come to you when you need them the most. I knew you needed them. I may be young, but I'm not blind or hard of hearing yet."

I gazed at her, wondering when she grew up into such a mature young lady.

"Obviously, the guys can't fix what's wrong in our lives, but they make us see that there's so much more we can focus on. There's so much happiness all around us. We just have to let it happen, and stop living in the darkness."

I nodded, hugging her again.

"You're right. I did need them. Thank you, for bringing them close enough to find me. I'm forever grateful to you."

She smiled.

"Lets go find our seats. Oh my God, I'm so excited."

She started dancing around, so I grabbed her hand and pulled her along, laughing at her as people around us smiled at her silliness.

We found the lines where we had to get our wristbands, and then we were making our way into the floor area. I was sweating, despite it being chilly. I looked around, amazed at how big the stadium was.

As we got closer to the area our seats were in, I didn't even realize that I was intently chewing on my bottom lip until I yelped, having bit hard enough to draw blood. I touched my lip, seeing the red smeared on my fingers. What an idiot I was.

There was a voice coming from the speakers, and a tutorial playing on the big screens showing how to pair your army bomb to your seat. I didn't have an army bomb. They were a bit too expensive for me when I'd wanted to purchase one, and at this point, I was okay without it. I wouldn't be able to concentrate as it was. I didn't need something else I had to pay attention to.

Suddenly the tutorial stopped, and the boys appeared on the big screens, A VCR playing of them basically being cute. I felt my heart jump when Tae appeared on the screen, and then I felt Sadie tugging my hand, because I had stopped in my tracks to look at the screen.

She giggled, pulling me along, and then we were there. Front row. Right in the middle of the stage. Nothing but the barricade in front of us, and the security guard posted on the other side of it, looking bored.

I looked up, the stage right there, right in front of me.

"OhmyGod, ohmyGod, ohmyGod...are you fucking kidding me? Sadie, I don't know if I can do this, I don't think I can, I really don't think I can."

She grabbed my arm, sitting down and pulling me into my chair.

"You can do it, Laney. You can. You're going to see that V is real, you're going to get to see his piercing gaze, see his ethereal face, hear his amazing voice, and see his sexy dance moves, from right here."

I tried to calm myself down, because I was literally shaking. If only she knew. I didn't want to ruin this, because it was an amazing gift from her. I closed my eyes, counting to ten, and I felt better. I was okay. I was going to enjoy this concert.

We sat there, watching the screens, as the minutes ticked down. The stands slowly filled up, as did the seats around us. A young girl was on the other side of me, maybe 14 or 15, and she was wearing a cookie headband, and a Jungkook hoodie, an army bomb in one hand and a JK picket in the other.

She glanced at me, and smiled, soon after putting her attention back on the big screens.

I was going to cry. There was no doubt in my mind. This was already so emotional for me. At this point, I honestly didn't know what I wanted to happen.

There was screaming from the stands, and then everyone started screaming, and fire started shooting from the stage, as two big black inflatable cats rose up on either side of the stage. Suddenly, they were there, on the big screen, singing and dancing, the crowd going crazy.

My palms were sweaty, and I felt like I couldn't swallow. They would be on the main stage for the first song, so I had a few more minutes to live, at least.

I had pulled my phone out, but Sadie leaned over, telling me that she was going to record for us, and to just concentrate on the show.

I couldn't concentrate, period.

The song was coming to an end, and I didn't know if they would be heading down to the stage we were in front of yet or not, but my palms were no less sweaty, and my heart felt like it would beat right out of my chest. I looked up, seeing Namjoon starting down the catwalk, and the rest falling into place behind him, and I closed my eyes, praying for strength.