Chapter Ten
JULIA
“Did you see that hoodie? It was totally retro! I love it so much! Oh, and those light-up sunglasses are adorable. Is the cotton candy flashing?” My mind—and words—are going a mile a minute, but I can’t help it, there’s so much to look at.
“The cotton candy is flashing,” Lucas muses. “That’s cool.”
“I can’t decide what I want to get; everything is amazing.” I raise up on my tiptoes, trying to get a better look over the line of people in front of me. “How reckless would it be to get one of everything?”
“Extremely reckless. That would cost more than one of your paycheques. How do they get away with charging that much for a shirt, anyway? It literally just has their faces on it.”
“Licensing.” I drop back down. “Ugh, fine. I’ll be a responsible adult…” I sneak a glance up at him, finding his unamused face. “So… half?”
“Lia…” he groans, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Fiiiine. I’ll just pick a couple of things.”
The line moves relatively quickly, and I leave with a T-shirt, hoodie, and the light-up sunglasses. A part of me still mourns not getting the True North embroidered teddy bear, but Lucas talked me into sticking to things that “could be worn and not just collect dust.”
Eye roll. He always has to be so reasonable.
After grabbing drinks and getting to our seats, the reality of where we are is sinking in.
I’m about to see True North.
I’m about to see True North live.
They’re already in the same building as me.
Breathing the same air.
“Are you okay?” Lucas puts his hand on my arm; concern etched on his face.
“We’re at a True North concert,” I stammer.
“Yes, that’s been the point of this trip.” He narrows his eyes at me. “Are you okay? You look like you’re about to have a panic attack.”
“What? No, it’s just all hitting me, I guess. I’ve been waiting for this moment for over twenty years, Lucas. Twenty. Years. It’s kind of a big deal. I don’t think there’s anything you’ve waited that long for, so you don’t get it.”
The look on his face seems pained, and I don’t know why.
“No, I, uh, guess I wouldn’t.” He reaches for his drink and takes a sip from the straw, no longer meeting my eye.
What am I missing?
I don’t have much time to dive into it because the next thing I know, the lights in the arena go out. Everyone starts screaming, and that’s when my excitement kicks into overdrive.
I grab onto Lucas’s arm, pulling him close, and yell, “This is it!”
He just nods, staring straight ahead at the stage.
The opening act, a band I’ve never heard of that has more of a rock-pop feel, comes out and plays their set.
They’re good, and they have people dancing, but we’re all waiting for True North.
The chatter from the crowd and the blaring music ring through the arena as the lights are raised once more, leaving us to watch the crew hurry to move the band’s instruments out of the way for the main event.
“Can you believe we’re only about half an hour away? I’m so excited!” I put a hand over my stomach. “Actually, I think I’m feeling a little nauseous.”
“Could be the panic eating of the mini donuts and flashing cotton candy,” Lucas jokes, lightly, poking me with his elbow.
“Don’t act like you didn’t eat a bunch of it, too,” I say, poking him back.
“Oh my gosh, you’re so lucky! There’s no way I’d be able to get my husband here,” the pretty brunette says from the other side of Lucas. “And he wore all white? You two are so cute!”
“We aren’t…” I start, but the woman turns back to her friends, pulling her phone out of her purse.
“I’m totally going to text Liam and let him know that men are here and he should have come with me,” she says.
Lucas grabs his drink again, watching the crew on the stage as if they’re the most fascinating thing in this room.
I wonder if that bothers him as much as it does me. Why can’t people just see us as friends? They always need to push us together into something that we aren’t. We’re Lucas and Julia: best friends, not Lucas and Julia: adorable meant-to-be couple.
But he doesn’t say anything, he just keeps staring at the stage.
I want to read into it more, find out exactly what he’s thinking, but the screams from the crowd draw my attention instead. The only thing I can see is a crew member adjusting a mic stand.
“Are they screaming for the roadie?” I lean over and whisper to Lucas.
“It appears so.” He looks at the stage for another moment before standing abruptly. “I’ll be right back.”
He brushes past me before disappearing up the aisle.
“Seriously, how did you get him to come?” the woman asks, looking up from her phone. “My husband still doesn’t believe yours came here willingly.”
“He’s, uh, not my husband,” I say, looking down at my hands in my lap.
She rolls her eyes dramatically. “Boyfriend, then,” she says with a laugh.
“We’re just friends,” I answer, sneaking a glance over my shoulder in the direction he went.
“Really? That’s even more impressive,” she says, her friends nodding behind her. “It’s too bad you guys aren’t; you make a cute couple.”
I smile, not knowing what else to say. This time, her comment on Lucas and me being a couple doesn’t feel like the same sting. This time, I’m wondering why people who don’t even know us are noticing. Is it more than just a man and a woman being friends?
“Sorry,” Lucas says, taking his seat.
I look up at him; his brown hair is styled in a way that could make him fit in with any one of the band members, the way it drapes off his face to the side. He ditched his hat back at the hotel, likely because I made him wear the white outfit, which makes me sad. He looked good with it backwards.
Why am I thinking about how good Lucas looks?
“Did I miss anything?” he asks, shifting away from the woman and her friends, his attention solely on me.
“I think they were cheering for the sound guy this time.”
“Ah, yes. Well, without him, we wouldn’t hear the band.”
I’m trying to think of something witty to say back when the lights go out. The crowd screams impossibly louder in the darkness as a thumping drum beat echoes throughout the arena.
“This is it! For real, this time!” I yell, grabbing onto Lucas’s arm. With my eyes fixed on the stage, my heart matches the rhythm of the song as the first few chords of True North’s first top song start to play.
In that moment, I’m lost. I’m not a woman in my forties with a mortgage and a full-time job.
I’m a teenager. I’m fifteen, in the bedroom of my parents’ house, listening to their song on the radio for the first time.
I’m covering my walls with posters and pictures from magazines.
I’m trying to record their songs and music videos on cassettes and VHS tapes so I can play them back later.
I’m carefree.
I feel wonderful.
And I’m sharing this with my favourite person in the whole entire world.
I find myself singing and screaming with the crowd, somehow remembering every lyric and dance move as they move across the stage.
Sometimes they move in unison; other times, they break up and move freely across the stage to interact with the crowd, leaving me unsure where to focus.
In the end, it doesn’t matter because they always seem to come back together at the right moment, bringing everyone with them.
“Now, Vancouver, I want to thank you for spending your night with us tonight,” Rich says into the mic.
He wipes his forehead with a towel, taking a breath while the crowd screams in response.
The stage lights lower, leaving only a spotlight on him and two stools.
“You have been absolutely incredible, which is what is going to make this next part so special. We have a surprise for you, and you may be the only stop that gets this.” More screams as he takes another breath, looking off stage with a longing look on his face.
Interesting.
I find myself caught up in the moment.
“What do you think it is?” I lean over, nearly yelling in Lucas’s ear so he can hear me over the roaring crowd.
He shrugs in response.
I can’t tell if he’s having a good time or not. Other than the old sway to the beat, he’s pretty much just watched. But I guess that’s better than sitting and scrolling through his phone, like some of the other men here have been doing.
“As you may remember,” Rich starts up again, running his free hand through his blond hair, making it stick up a bit after an hour of dancing.
“Back in the day, True North had a song featuring my wife, Ashley Sinclair.” The crowd screams again.
“I haven’t sung that song in a long time, well, for many reasons—mostly my own fault—but I want to sing it for you tonight.
And lucky for all of you, Ashley has agreed to sing it with me.
Ashley, will you come out here, please?”
I gasp as a beautiful woman with honey-blonde hair and deep brown eyes walks on the stage. I wouldn’t have been able to catch it from my seats without the big screens behind them, but there looks to be a bit of hesitation in her step when she crosses onto the stage.
“Why is this a big deal?” Lucas asks. “If they’re married, wouldn’t they sing this together all the time?”
“Nothing has ever been confirmed, but it’s rumoured that they’ve lived apart for years. This is huge, Lucas. Like mega-huge.”
I can’t take my eyes off the screen as they hug, sharing words only they can hear.
What I wouldn’t give to know what’s being said between them.
Not just out of pure curiosity, but also because, growing up, I was in love with Rich and wanted to be Ashley.
Not just because she ended up marrying him and starting a family, but because she’s so beautiful, talented, and funny. It was like she had it all.
But I guess we never know what really happens in someone’s life.
“Thank you for inviting me here, Rich.” She gives him a small smile. “And thank you, Vancouver, for letting me crash your True North concert! I hope you’ve been having a great time!”
The crowd erupts again as the piano starts, playing the opening notes for what might have been the most defining power ballad of the millennium in Canada.
Rich and Ashley start singing about finding love young and never letting go.
Not thinking of what everyone else says, only paying attention to each other.
As they start to sing to each other, it’s like they get lost in each other’s eyes, and we have all faded into the background.
I’m not entirely convinced that they remember we’re here right now.
I wonder what that feels like; to have a love so strong that even singing a song together can make thousands of people just fade away.
I’m not sure what makes me do it, but I lean over, resting my head on Lucas’ shoulder. I try not to think too hard about why I chose this moment to do it, or why my heart skips a beat when he slips his arm around my waist and rests his cheek on the top of my head.
It’s just a hug, right? Two friends getting caught up in an emotional moment.
Looking around the arena, I see it looks like everyone’s doing the same.
Couples are swaying together with their arms around each other.
Friends are hugging and crying. We’re being empathetic to what we’re watching on the stage, that’s all.
So why does it feel like it’s so much more?