Backstage before a big performance always feels strange.
Too quiet compared to what’s waiting outside.
I sat in front of the mirror while stylists fixed my jacket and people rushed around talking about cameras, timing, everything. I barely listened. The crowd outside was already screaming loud enough to shake the walls.
“You nervous?”
I looked up and saw her leaning against the doorway.
Immediately, I smiled.
“A little,” I admitted.
She raised a brow. “You’ve done this a hundred times.”
“Still feels big.”
That was the truth. No matter how famous I got, some part of me still felt unreal about all of it.
She walked over while everyone else subtly gave us space. People noticed how different I was around her. Fans definitely noticed too.
“You look pretty,” she said casually.
I laughed quietly and looked down immediately.
“There it is,” she teased.
“What?”
“That shy thing you do.”
“I don’t do a thing.”
“You do.”
My face warmed anyway.
Someone called from across the room. “Five minutes, Isaiah.”
I nodded, then looked back at her.
“You staying side stage?”
“Where else would I be?”
That alone relaxed me.
⸻
The second I stepped onto the stage, everything changed.
Lights exploded around me. The crowd screamed so loud I felt it in my chest.
That part always takes over naturally.
Onstage, I know exactly who I am.
Every movement felt automatic—singing, dancing, playing into the crowd. Thousands of people watching every little thing I did.
But even then, I still looked for her.
Always.
During one of the slower songs, I spotted her near the side of the stage watching me.
The second our eyes met, I smiled without meaning to.
Not the polished performance smile either. A real one.
The crowd completely lost it.
Meanwhile I just looked away laughing shyly into the mic because they thought the smile was for them.
It wasn’t.
⸻
By the final song, the whole stadium was singing with me.
That feeling never gets old.
When the show ended, I stood there breathing hard while people screamed my name. Then I finally walked backstage again—and the exhaustion hit immediately.
Staff crowded around me talking all at once.
“You killed it.” “That crowd was insane.” “Interview in ten.”
I barely processed any of it because I saw her again.
And instantly relaxed.
“There he is,” she teased softly.
I walked straight over to her.
“You saw the whole thing?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“You liked it?”
She smiled. “You already know I did.”
I laughed quietly, suddenly shy again despite everything.
It was ridiculous honestly. I could perform in front of fifty thousand people, but one compliment from her still got to me.
We stood close enough for our shoulders to touch.
Too close for people who technically weren’t together.
But neither of us ever really acknowledged that part.
Finally, I looked down for a second before speaking again.
“So… you coming home with me?”