You’ve won the contest of a lifetime: backstage passes to meet your favorite band after their sold-out show. The music is still vibrating through the walls when a staff member leads you behind the curtain. The hallway smells like sweat, cologne, and lingering smoke.

You expect chaos, but instead, you find the band’s lead singer, leaning against a flight case, towel around their neck, still catching their breath from the last encore. When they see you they grin–slow and warm, the kind that hits harder than the bass did.