Chapter 5
Colton
With Sophie in town, Colton had an entire evening planned for the two of them.
First, he took her to a posh new downtown restaurant for dinner.
Sophie was dressed in a flowing black Christian Siriano gown, with Colton in a matching black Calvin Klein suit, and a hush fell over the restaurant as the couple were shown to their table.
They had movie-star looks and a wardrobe to match. They were a devastatingly beautiful pair, and the mere mortals in the restaurant stopped and stared, basking in their beauty for a few precious moments.
They were seated in a corner in the back, to maintain some privacy from the prying eyes of the other restaurant guests.
As they finished their meal, Colton lifted his glass. “I’ve got a surprise for you,” he said as he clinked her glass in a toast. “I’m taking you to a concert tonight.”
Sophie batted her eyes and sipped her wine. “Really? Who are we going to see?”
“Have you ever heard of DJ DVLN?”
Sophie’s eyes lit up, her face soft in the candlelight. “Shut up! He’s amazing! That’s who we’re going to see?”
Colton smiled proudly. “Yep! I met him a few weeks ago. He came and filmed some footage of the team for his next music video. I asked to see his music studio, we started talking about playing guitar, and he offered us tickets for tonight.”
“Oh my God! I’m so excited! I love his music.” Sophie began a little wiggle dance in her chair. “And you’re gonna be in his next video? I can’t wait to see that.”
Colton felt a growing sense of pride. He was just beginning to understand exactly how many people were going to see this music video.
Colton dropped his napkin on the table. “We better get going. We’ve got to pick up the tickets before the show.”
A short time later, Colton and Sophie arrived at the Fillmore Auditorium, picked up their tickets at will-call, and were escorted up to the VIP area.
The venue was a large ballroom with a huge central dance floor and two big bars on either side.
At the back end of the dance floor was a seating area under the balcony.
The stage stood at the other end of the dance floor.
At least, Colton assumed it was the stage.
It was currently hidden by a giant velvet curtain.
Upstairs, a balcony circled and overlooked the first floor.
Most of the upper level was the VIP section, with the portion closest to the stage closed off and marked BACKSTAGE ACCESS: NO ENTRY.
Colton and Sophie took their seats.
Each VIP “seat” was actually a curved velvet sofa with a round table in front of it.
There was a small space in front of each table where you could lean on the balcony railing, which provided the perfect vantage point from which to watch both the show and the crowd.
Colton and Sophie were seated front and center, directly across the dance floor from the stage, at Table #1.
Colton rested his elbows on the railing and looked down onto the dance floor.
The show hadn’t begun, but the floor was already packed with people dancing to the club music pumping through the sound system.
He noticed people of different ages, shapes, sizes, colors, and ethnicities, some dressed conservatively and others wearing completely outlandish club gear, all mingling together, having fun.
Colton and Sophie were clearly overdressed, so he shucked off his jacket and tossed it over the back of the sofa, removed his tie, and unbuttoned the top buttons of his shirt.
He returned his gaze to the floor below, where couples were dancing together. Men danced with men, women danced with women, and women danced with men.
This is how the world should be. He thought to himself. No judgments, no fear, no anger, no hatred…just everyone coming together and having a good time. This is really fucking cool!
He turned back to the sofa where Sophie had already stationed herself with drinks for the two of them. “It’s amazing you got these tickets.” Sophie said as she sipped her martini with bright red lips. “This show has been sold out for months!”
“Really?” Colton raised an eyebrow and sat next to Sophie. “Dean didn’t mention the show was sold out. You like his music?”
“Hell yeah. He’s big in the club scene and his music is used in a lot of runway shows.” Sophie took another sip of martini.
The VIP area was not overcrowded. There was plenty of room to move around, and Colton recognized several familiar faces scattered throughout.
A few tables away was the guy from that Netflix series, with a fairly large entourage.
And next to them was the actress from the new Marvel movie.
He was even pretty sure one of the tables hosted Tom Daley and Gus Kenworthy. And at another table was the soccer player who had recently come out. It was a veritable who’s who of celebrities in the VIP.
“There are some pretty famous people up here,” Colton said as he undid his cuffs and rolled up his sleeves.
“Yeah, these tickets were not cheap.” Sophie grinned and tossed her hair over her shoulder.
Why did he give us such nice seats? He didn’t have to do that.
The music began to fade and lights began to dim.
Colton could see the curtain beginning to open as the lights were going down. It must be showtime.
In the darkness, a thick beat began thumping through the space. Then a figure slowly appeared on the huge video screen. It was Dean, walking slowly in a shadowy spotlight, slightly turned to the left, with his shirt off and the spotlight highlighting the left side of his body.
While the beat pulsed, ‘DVLN’ appeared over Dean’s silhouette on the video screen and the crowd erupted with a giant roar. Colton couldn’t believe the volume! It was louder than anything he’d ever heard in an NFL stadium.
Next, the video screen split in the middle and began to open. Colton could start to make out Dean behind the video screens wearing a tight t-shirt, headphones on, pumping his fist in the air, dancing to the beat.
Everyone in the VIP balcony was out of their seats, at the railing dancing and screaming, no longer celebrities, just fans.
The video screens fully opened, the crowd still screaming, and Dean yelled into the microphone, “San Francisco, are you ready?”
The crowd roared with a deafening scream.
“Nah nah, that’s not good enough. I said, San Francisco…ARE! YOU! READY!?”
The roar intensified to ear-bleeding levels.
The dance floor was alive with people dancing, screaming, and living their best lives! The entire ballroom was jubilant, euphoric, carefully curated by Dean as he set the pace of the party.
Sophie was dancing, singing, and clearly enjoying her cocktails while Colton quietly took it all in. He kept watching Dean, in his element, constantly flirting and interacting with the crowd.
Colton was mesmerized. He couldn’t take his eyes off the stage.
He still felt a connection to Dean, the same connection he'd felt when they first shook hands. There was something about the man that made it so he couldn’t look away.
He knew he should be paying attention to Sophie, but the pull was too strong.
Sophie squealed and hugged Colton tightly. “Thank you for this!”
“You having fun, sweetie?” Colton smiled as Sophie continued to dance, and Colton continued watching Dean.
After a few more songs, Colton noticed another guy come out and step behind the decks with Dean.
He imagined, with all the chaos backstage, that Dean surely had one, two, or several assistants keeping things on track.
Maybe there was a technical issue. The guy came out twice and appeared to do something to the back of Dean's pants.
The music continued, and Colton saw the lights begin to dim over the decks, making it very difficult to see Dean.
Suddenly, two shirtless male dancers appeared on stage, followed by two more, then two more. They began dancing a choreographed routine, to the delight of the crowd.
The dance troupe hit a mark on stage and the lights dropped out, plunging them into complete darkness.
About eight beats later, the lights came up to reveal Dean front and center, flanked by his dancers in a V formation on either side. He was now shirtless to match his dancers, and wearing a headset microphone. Colton gasped at the sight of Dean on stage in his strong, brazen pose.
They held the pose—wide stance, hands by their sides, muscles flexing, tight black cargo pants—and the crowd…
LOST. THEIR. FUCKING. MINDS.
The video screens flashed on to reveal people in the audience; individuals screaming, couples hugging, jumping up and down screaming, and people crying. Yes, there were several people in the audience just standing there, bawling.
But it wasn’t only the dance floor. Sophie and the rest of VIP were screaming their faces off as well.
Colton stayed fixated on Dean. He had a slight smirk on his face, as he looked across the audience, and he began to sing…
Hey boy we got to, hey boy we got to, hey boy we got to get together
Come on boy, come on boy
Let me take you to heaven
It was a really catchy tune, and Colton couldn’t help but dance along, but if anyone asked, he’d blame it on the alcohol.
He kept his eyes on Dean as he moved around the stage with his dance troupe, singing and dancing nonstop. He was a fantastic performer, completely connected to his audience.
His chest and abs began to glisten with sweat as he gyrated his hips. That man could move!
Dean turned, popped, locked, and pranced across the stage with skill. He made it look easy, effortless. Colton imagined he was probably one of those people who could pick up dances on TikTok instantly.
Colton was thoroughly impressed with Dean’s performance, though.
“This is not exactly what I expected,” he yelled to Sophie over the music, now dancing just as hard as she was.
“What did you expect?” Sophie yelled back.
“I guess I expected more beat and less actual music!”