Finally," Liam breathed out in relief as he pulled their tickets up on his phone to get ready for the check-in process.
Once their tickets were scanned and security checked them, Ying Sheng and Liam followed the line of people ahead of them into the arena. They stayed close together as they made it to the pit floor, their steps quickening to get to the barricade on the left side.
Ying Sheng gripped the bars for dear life as more and more people started to crowd behind them. She reached out to loop her arm with Liam's , anchoring them together. She wouldn't want them to get separated because it would be nearly impossible to find him through the growing crowd.
"I can't believe we made it," Ying Sheng breathed out in shock. She was usually toward the middle of the crowd, but now she had a front row seat to the show. Any seat was great at Blame Lane's shows, but she knew that getting to the front near the barricade was the best view and experience. The band was literally a few feet away.
"It's kind of surreal," Liam chuckled as he stared at a black curtain hiding the stage from view.
As she smiled at him, Ying Sheng realized that there was no other person that she wanted to share this experience with. She had great friends, but Liam healed her in a way that no one else did. If she felt down, he could cheer her up, even if it was only temporarily.
Before things started taking a turn for the better, she had been weighed down with disappointment for herself and anxiousness and sadness for her situation with her parents. Every move felt like a wrong one, and no effort that she made ever seemed good enough. She felt like she was destroying herself, but she didn't even have enough energy to care.
Now, she felt charged. She felt alive and could have hope for herself and her future. Things weren't so dark anymore, and Liam was that light for her. She just hoped she deserved it.
"Remember when we first saw them together? We were so far back that we couldn't hardly see them?" Ying Sheng laughed out as she turned to smile at him. Even if she hadn't been able to really see the band well, she had heard them perfectly. The music still made her entire body shudder.
"Yeah, the tallest people in the world happened to be standing right in front of us," Liam scoffed as he shook his head.
"It was still a good night, though," Ying Sheng pointed out. It became a little bit better when they slipped their way to another section of the crowd where they could see better, but they had still been far back.
"And tonight is going to be even better," Liam chuckled as he nudged her.
Ying Sheng knew that he was right. It wasn't only going to be better because they were standing at the barricade instead of so far back. It was also because her feelings for him were deeper now. They had more memories together, more instances of connection. She felt like they were two halves of a whole at this point.
Suddenly, the lights shut off, darkness flooding the arena as people screamed excitedly. Lights started flashing behind the curtain before it dropped, revealing the band as they kicked off the concert with "So Sick."
"Holy shit!" Ying Sheng gasped out as she saw the band members up close. The music rumbled in her c.h.e.s.t and head as the guitar, bass, and drums clashed, the vocalist's bold voice breaking through to sing.
"And I'm so sick of you! And the awful things you do!" The vocalist sang, his voice echoing throughout the arena as he strode around the front of the stage.
"It's slowly killing me! And I can't begin to breathe!" Ying Sheng sang the next few lines, but she doubted that she could chalk up her broken screaming to singing. She was just so excited that she was so close to the band. Faintly, she could hear Liam joining in, prompting her to shoot a smile at him.
There wasn't a song that Ying Sheng didn't sing at the top of her lungs, her throat gradually growing raw from the strain, but she didn't care. She was in the moment with her favorite person near her favorite band. She felt like she was in a dream, one that she never wanted to break out of. At least she could stay in the dream for at least another hour.
Throughout the concert, Ying Sheng's eyes felt drawn to Liam's automatically, like she wanted to check in on him. There was a lot of people and noise, which she knew could make him nervous at times. However, he seemed completely fine, like he was caught in the dream along with her.
"It's been a p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e playing for you! This is our last song, so give it your all! This is 'Demolition Valentine,'" the vocalist spoke to the crowd as he put his hand up. He nodded his head as the drummer started to play, the lights flashing with the beat.
Ying Sheng gripped Liam's arm excitedly to shake him. That was her favorite song off all of their albums.
"That's my song!" She gasped out, having not expected them to play it. She couldn't believe that she was actually getting to hear it live.
Liam laughed, his voice getting lost in the opening riff of the song. He reached over to squeeze her hand as the vocalist started belting off deep notes that echoed in everyone's c.h.e.s.ts.
"I want to be yours, but I'm afraid I'll destroy you!" The vocalist cried out as he gripped the front of his white tank top.
Ying Sheng felt her heart tighten as she sang along, gripping Liam tighter. When the song first started resonating with her, she hadn't been sure why, but it was clear to her now. She thought about Liam when she heard this song, and she was the demolition valentine.