Nobody had seen Katherine Abrahams in real life. Or maybe they had? Who would know? The world's new favorite pop singer had never revealed her face to her fans. All they had was her songs and one, ONE, incredibly vague interview. Katherine wouldn't even say what state she lived in, beyond a simple, "Oh, my apartment looks out over the beach, it's lovely.". The tickets for her first concert had sold almost as fast as Eras Tour tickets, and that was saying something. Marie refreshed the page. Again. Why was she 482nd in the queue? Life's not fair, she supposed. Squeezed onto her twin bed were her three best friends, crossing their fingers and toes that they'd get tickets. Even Marie and her terrible math skills could see that the odds weren't good. "I don't think we're going to-" Lana started, pushing her round glasses up her nose. Ashley clamped a hand over Lana's mouth. "Shut up! We are getting those tickets, girlies!" "Just saying that there's 481 people in line ahead of us, so it's pretty unlikely," Lana explained. Ashley pointedly flicked her long blonde hair back, hitting Lana's face. "We see here two of the five stages of loss; acceptance," Kayleigh gestured to Lana, "and denial." She gestured to Ashley. Marie glanced at the laptop screen and her face fell. "These tickets are no longer available." She read aloud. Ashley's immediate reaction was to curse up a storm, followed by Kayleigh lecturing her on why she shouldn't curse. Lana stared blankly at the wall, tears welling in her eyes. "Hey guys, I brought choc-" Someone said from the doorway. "What happened?" "Oh, hi, Rin!" Ashley squealed, hastily fixing her hair. "Hello," Rin said with a tiny wave. "Anyways, eat the chocolate. Y'all all need it. Badly." She tossed a blue box onto the bed and perched herself on the railing. "I shall never recover from this loss." Lana said after a moment. "What did you lose? And don't say your sanity, we all know y'all never had any." Rin questioned. "Well, there goes the answer," Marie sighed. "But for your information, we also lost the chance to go to the best concert of our lives." "Oh. Who?" Like she hadn't been hearing them all talking about Katherine Abrahams at all times for the last six months. "You know who," Kayleigh said, glaring. Rin swung her legs over the edge of the railing so that they competed for space with the four (slightly squeezed) teenage girls already on the bed. Staring ~very~ obviously at Ashley's miserable face, she smiled. "Tell you what. I know a gal who knows a gal. Let me see what I can do." "Whoever your little 'gals' are, they're not going to have gotten Katherine Abrahams tickets either. No matter what you offer them." "'No matter what I offer them'? Why, whatever would you mean by that?" Rin questioned, fanning herself like it was the most inappropriate thing she'd ever heard out of Lana's mouth. Suffice to say, it was not. "I'd expect something like that from Ashley, but not my sweet summer child Lana." "Why am I the sweet summer child?" Lana protested, but Rin was already halfway out of the room. "I'm going to call my gals. See y'all in like, 20 minutes? But don't trust that. She likes to talk. A lot. Lots of side tangents. Kind of like me! Maybe that's why I'm friends with the little idiot." ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rin walked into school the next day with four golden passes that said 'Backstage + VIP' in bold letters. "These are for y'all," She said, handing each of her friends a pass. Ashley gave her a glittery (who wears glitter lip gloss to school?) kiss on the cheek. Marie was pretty sure Rin almost combusted. Like, tomatoes are less red than that, sister. Those two were really *not* subtle. At all. "OMG, thank you so much!" Marie said, fidgeting in her seat. "Okay, who, what, when, where, why, and how?" Kayleigh demanded, looking up from whatever game she was playing on her phone. "My lovely gal who knows a gal, Katherine Abrahams tickets, and the concert's at 6 PM next Friday at the Rose Bowl, because y'all are my friends, and because I know a gal who knows a gal. That answer all your questions?" "No." Marie and Lana responded in unison. "Perfect." Rin started walking away. Ashley was not so subtly staring at her. "Welcome to Wednesday morning news. Next up, the weather. But first, a gay update from Ashley." Kayleigh held her hand out to Ashley like she was holding a microphone. She leaned down into the imaginary microphone. "Getting gayer." "Thanks for that, Ash. Now for the weather." ------------------------------------------------------------------------- [continued in notes & credits]
"OH MY GOSH THE CONCERT IS TO-MOR-ROW!" Ashley squealed as she rifled through the pile of concert-adjacent clothes that everyone (mostly Ashley and Rin) had collectively brought. She finally picked out a sheer button-up (with a hot pink spaghetti strap tank top underneath) and a tight black miniskirt. Stepping out of Lana's closet (where the unofficial changing room was located), she tripped on a computer cord. Of course. And of course she had to land in Rin's arms. Blushing and frantically fixing her hair, she stepped away from Rin. "How do I look?" "Like someone's lesbian awakening," Marie said. "Like *Rin's* lesbian awakening," Kayleigh corrected. "I hate you all. And the collar's messed up," Rin said, fixing it and blushing. "Aww, look at the lovers being cutesy!" Lana drawled. Rin rolled her eyes. "I'm going back into the closet." "Take Ashley with you!" Kayleigh called. Rin flipped her off. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh my gosh. They were actually at the concert. "Someone pinch me," Kayleigh said. Ashley, looking notably sad (probably because her future wife didn't get a ticket for herself), punched her in the arm. They handed their passes over to the bodyguard, who opened the door for them. And standing in the middle of the room, in a dark bodysuit and tights, tall boots and all, was Rin. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley's eyes widened. "Rin? You're Katherine Abrahams?" "The one and only," Rin said, bowing. Dang it. Why did Ashley keep having to find her hot? Because she is, a little voice in her head said. Stop being in denial. So Ashley did what she never thought she'd do. She kissed Rin. She was sure that her lipstick was being ruined right now, but she didn't care. Her hands were tangled in Rin's hair, Rin pulling her closer by the waist. Somewhere behind her, Kayleigh was whistling and clapping. "Rin! Time to get on stage!" Someone - Katherine's manager, maybe? - called from behind them. Rin cursed under her breath as she pulled away, panting. "I'll see you after the show, darling." She said, winking as she jogged after her manager. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- They made it back to their seats moments before Katherine came out onstage. The crowd exploded into applause. There was no dramatic entrance. No magnified heel click sounds like this was the Reputation set of the Eras Tour. She just walked out, her face covered in pink lipstick stains, guitar in hand. "Guys, this is a little awkward but do I have, like, hot pink lipstick all over my face?" Katherine asked the audience. The crowd laughed. Some guy in the back row yelled, "Yeah, you sure do!" "Also, this girl I've liked for a really long time just kissed me backstage - hence the lipstick - and I like, cannot think straight. I know I haven't had a straight thought since 5th grade, but I actually can't think straight." Rin blushed. "Oh, thanks for coming to my little concert, by the way!" Dang it, Ashley thought. Why did she have to be *this* cute? Definitely need to kiss her again, she decided. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- thanks for reading! this is just my silly little gay story that was written at 10 PM and is probably terrible but I love it and I think we might need a ship name for Rin and Ashley -Kath (aka m0nsterunderthebed, but y'all know that by now) P.S. kind of on a short story kick rn, let me know if you want to be pinged when i post another one :) <3
