Authors: S. Briones Lim
“This place is packed!” Celine glanced around at all the twenty and thirty-something year old women who meandered about the hotel lobby.
“I can help who’s next!” a chirpy voice called out from the front desk. Together the girls lugged their leopard and floral printed luggage towards the petite redhead that was barely visible behind the gigantic oak desk. Her nose looked a bit too tiny for her face, which was further accentuated by her tiny black rimmed glasses. “Checking in?” she asked in a perky voice.
“Yes, please,” Ruthie replied, handing her a credit card and her I.D. As she patiently waited for their information to be punched in, Ruthie couldn’t help but look around the crowded room. “Are these people all here for the Intensity concert?”
The petite woman laughed, “Yeah, can you believe it? Full grown adults and still trying to hold on to their ridiculous childhood fantasies.” Blinking suddenly, she stopped and looked up. “Uh, are you here for that as well?”
Celine opened her mouth to speak, but fearing what would come out of it, Ruthie quickly interrupted, “NO!” Her voice came out louder than she had anticipated and she quickly lowered her tone. “I mean, no. We’re just here to catch up with one another. Best friends spending some quality time together, right?”
Celine raised an eyebrow as the woman nodded her head in relief. “Well, at least you two are smart. Some of these women even have posters and shirts! Ridiculous!”
“What kind of music do you like?” Celine interrupted. There was a slight edge to her voice and Ruthie knew Celine was on the verge of exploding. “You know, since you’re too good for Intensity and stuff.” She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, but narrowed her eyes in scrutiny.
Not wanting to put a sour dent into their already awkward arrival, Ruthie pushed Celine gently to the side. “What floor are we on?” she piped up in an artificially sugary sweet voice.
Obviously catching Celine’s snarky tone, the woman smiled at Ruthie gratefully. “Fifth floor, room 531. Here are your keys and please have a great stay.”
While she handed Ruthie the two plastic cards, Celine had already begun to walk away. She headed towards the center of the lobby and cried out, “Intensity Forever!” in her loudest voice possible. All around her, women started whooping and cheering. Ruthie bowed her head, feeling heat rising from her neck. She flashed the woman an apologetic smile and slowly followed Celine to the elevator.
“You didn’t have to be so rude to her! Now I’m going spend the whole weekend worried that our bed sheets and towels have been pissed on!” Feeling the woman’s annoyed stare, Ruthie jabbed her finger against the elevator button silently praying for the doors to close.
Just as the doors slammed shut, Celine burst into laughter. “I think we’ll know if someone pissed all over our linens. Yellow stains are very visible.”
“What if they’re white stains?” Ruthie grimaced.
“Get your mind out of the gutter!” Celine shuddered. “Also, don’t hotels usually clean your rooms before you check in? I think we’ll be safe.”
“You ever hear about something called housekeeping?” Ruthie asked as they exited onto the fifth floor.
“Whatever! We’ll hang a ‘do not disturb’ sign on the front door if that makes you feel any better. Anyway, I don’t feel bad for what I did. That bitch deserved it! We’re all giving the hotel unsolicited business right now. She should be happy this place is packed with Intensifiers!”
Ruthie giggled. She always hated the nickname Intensity fans dubbed themselves. Being called an “intensifier” as an adult sounded even more ridiculous than it did when they were teenagers.
“Is this our room?” Celine asked, stopping in front of a wooden door.
Glancing at the key sleeve, Ruthie nodded. “Yup, room 531. Our home for the next day and a half.” Ruthie placed the plastic card into the reader and turned the knob. Her jaw dropped when she saw what lay inside. She turned her face towards Celine, who was grinning from ear to ear. “You can’t be serious!”
Celine jumped and clapped her hands together quickly. “I called them and made the special request! I know you nixed my idea of bringing one of these into your house, so I thought the hotel would be the next best thing. What better way to feel like teenagers again than to have one of these in our room? It’s just like the one I used to own.”
With her mouth wide open, Ruthie stepped inside. She rolled her suitcase about halfway into the room and dropped the handle. The leopard print suitcase fell forward with a thud. Pushing her dark hair back over her shoulders, Ruthie slowly made her way to the hot pink monstrosity. How Celine pulled this off she did not know.
“You mean to tell me the hotel agreed to provide an inflatable couch in the room?” she squeaked.
“Yes!” Celine laughed in delight. She ran over to the plastic couch and quickly plopped on top. She couldn’t have been sitting down for more than a few seconds when she quickly screeched and stood up.
“What?! What?” Ruthie gasped.
“I forgot I have some rivets in my jeans! I don’t want to punch a hole in the thing.” Celine grimaced and rubbed at her back pockets, taking a quick look at her ass.
Ruthie felt herself relax. She nudged Celine and scolded, “Don’t scare me like that!” Straightening her shoulders, she examined the couch. “Yeah, still as tacky as I remember them to be. I wonder where the hotel even found this thing! I doubt they have a whole arsenal on standby.” She paused and lifted an eyebrow. “They’re not charging me for this, are they?”
“Stop being such a killjoy! No, I had them put it on my card, okay?” She bugged out her eyes and gently sat back on the chair. Sighing, she stretched her arms against the back of the couch. It groaned under the pressure and Ruthie was sure the thing would pop before the night was through. Celine, on the other hand, was completely enamored with it. “This adds a nice touch to what I feel is going to be a great night.”
“If you say so,” Ruthie’s voice trailed off as she winced at the tacky piece of furniture.
***
Later that night, Ruthie rushed out of the bathroom excitedly. After exactly an hour she had her hair exactly as she wanted, with soft curls cascading over her shoulder. She adjusted her black halter and jumped in front of Celine. “Tada! What do you think?” she asked, grinning excitedly. Her grin fell when she saw what her best friend was wearing. “Are you seriously going to go out in public that?”
Celine, who was brushing her teeth, shrugged and asked, with toothbrush still in her mouth, “What’s wrong with it?”
After over a decade, she could never get rid of the oversized shirt of Cash Walker’s face. For over eleven years it had been sitting in the back of her closet collecting dust. Having no real reason to wear it, she decided the big reunion tour could be her only chance. She happily had the shirt dry cleaned (which she admitted was a bit too extravagant for a hundred percent cotton shirt) and lovingly packed it into her suitcase.
“Aren’t you embarrassed?” Ruthie asked, scrunching up her face as she eyed the t-shirt.
“Why would I be? I’m a fan!”
“You really want to meet them wearing that?”
“When we meet them, Cash will thank me for my loyalty and undying devotion.” She paused to gargle water in her mouth and straightened herself. “I still don’t know why you won’t just let me call Jayne. She may still be able to get the backstage passes, you know.”
Ruthie rolled her eyes and adjusted the thin strap to her top. “I told you! I want to do this the old fashioned way. I wouldn’t feel right doing it any other way.”
“You mean by following tour buses and what not? You know as well as I do that it’s never worked for us before.” Celine walked over and plopped down on the inflatable couch. “Besides, we’ll be fighting fans as old as we are. I’m sure they’ll be using their connections to get backstage. If not, they’ve already learned from past experiences and probably will never try what we’ll be doing.”
Ruthie knew it was risky trying to meet the band by following their bus but she needed to do it for the seventeen year old in her. “We’ll meet them. Watch. Then you’ll be the one thanking me.” Grinning, she added, “As for the other fans who won’t be trying, that’s plenty more chances for us winning in the end. We’re going to do it!”
“Whatever you want,” Celine replied, waving her hand in the air.
The twosome arrived at the concert venue and paused, stunned by the sight. Crowds and crowds of women around their age (and even some who were older) gathered around the entrance of the arena waiting to be let in. Most of the women were holding various posters, stuffed animals, and bouquets of flowers. A majority of them even donned old concert and fan t-shirts. Celine elbowed Ruthie and nodded her head in their direction. Ruthie followed her gaze and rolled her eyes. The whole arena could have been draped in Cash Walker’s face for all she cared. If she did meet him that night she wouldn’t be caught dead looking like an overly obsessed teenager. She tugged on Celine’s arm, “Let’s go, Weirdo.”
They entered the arena and flashed their tickets to the usher proudly. They descended the long staircase to the orchestra pit and Ruthie couldn’t help but laugh along with her best friend. “This is going to be so awesome! Check out everyone’s faces! They wish they were us right now.” She glanced down at Celine’s shirt and said, “Or maybe not.”
Ignoring her, Celine walked down the aisle and positioned herself in the center seat. She adjusted her shirt and quickly sat down. “Would you look at this place? We only ever dreamt of being this close!” she squealed excitedly. “Do you remember when our first concert tickets were just twenty bucks?”
“Yup, and nosebleed at that,” Ruthie laughed, stuffing her ticket into her back pocket.
Celine kept her eyes glued on the huge stage. Her heart thumped in her chest excitedly. “I’m still surprised that you didn’t wanna check out the tour buses outside. We always used to do that!”
Clicking her tongue, Ruthie grunted, “You see, that was our biggest mistake! You have to wait until after the concert to sneak backstage. Can’t let them see our faces now. They’ll be watching for us later!”
“Who’s they?” Celine asked skeptically.
“Security!” Ruthie explained. Did she really have to teach Celine everything? “Just follow my lead later, okay? I’m going to get us backstage even if it kills us!”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Celine muttered.
As if on cue, the lights began to dim. Ear piercing screams echoed through the arena, creating a rumbling within the packed place. There was not an empty seat in the house and everyone was practically jumping out of their seats. The sound was so deafening, it created a high pitched ringing in their ears.
A cloud of fog began to grow on stage, working its way from stage right to stage left. As it began to rise, a bright green laser pierced the smoke, creating weird patterns in the air.
“Oh my God!” Ruthie screamed. “This is it!”
Celine kept her eyes glued to the stage and clapped her hands together excitedly. Her heart palpitations grew and she felt as if she were about to pass out.
“The time has come!” A deep and almost robotic voice boomed across the arena’s loudspeakers. It was a wonder that it could even be heard above the chorus of screams.
“Are you ready?”
More screaming.
“I don’t think you are.”
Even louder screaming.
The stage became immersed in multi-colored strobe lights, making the stage look like an amusement park on crack. Celine felt a need to grip onto the metal rail in front of her during the vertigo-inducing light show.
“After ten long years the time has finally arrived! Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Intensity!”
The lights all shut off and the anticipation began to grow inside the room. Just when the audience felt as if they couldn’t take the wait any longer, the huge screen onstage flashed an old photo of the band. Five grinning boys stared back at the audience; all decked out in matching baggy jeans and football jerseys. They were exactly how the women remembered them. Bright eyed and handsome. The picture suddenly morphed to show the band as they looked today. Despite the faint lines near their eyes and the mature look of their faces, the band still looked as heavenly as anyone would expect.
“I can’t believe we’re here!” Ruthie squealed, joining Celine in her little jumps.
“Best night ever!” Celine screamed in reply.
A huge fiery explosion rocked the stage as electric sparks fell from the sky. Across the stage five silhouettes began to rise from beneath the stage. If the women thought the screaming couldn’t get any louder they were wrong. Ruthie felt as if she needed to clasp her hands over her ears to save her sense of hearing.
The bass line began to hit and the beat began to drop. In perfect harmony the men began singing the first line of their hit, “Cruising for Your Love.” In fluid movements, the group began making their way to the front of the stage in perfect synchronization. Replacing their old school look of baggy clothes for more sophisticated tailored suits, the men proved they were like fine wine and were even better with age.