It was happening, I could not believe it. I thought to myself, this cannot be real, I must be imagining this. I am in my car, caught in a rain storm. Rain so heavy every drop sounding like a million midgets marching on my hood. After a long day of work where I had been trapped inside a cold call center, which from a ceiling view probably looked like a mouse maze. I had been sitting inside a teeny tiny cubicle repeating the same phrase at least one hundred times that day, “Thank you for calling the Department of Business and Professional Regulations, this is Brandi, how may I help you.” I was so happy to finally be off after an agonizing ten hour shift. I had the music blasting and in between songs I hear it, a concert promoter’s voice blaring through my speakers, voice as loud as a morning alarm, “Usher, live in concert July 31st at American Airlines Arena. Thank God I was stopped at a red light; if not I might have run off the road. I reached for my cell phone, completely in shock, dialed my best friend’s number. As soon as she picked up the phone she yelled, “I know”, just two words, we both screamed! I told my friend that I was driving home and I would call her back in twenty minutes. Before I could get in the door my phone rang, it was her. We talked for hours about the concert and everything that needed to be done before the date of the show. Starring at my bedroom calendar I noticed I had only two months to prepare. I booked my ticket online, made an appointment with the best hairdresser in town, and scouted many outfits in my head, it was on! As the weeks went by I was in an Usher state of mind. Usher was everywhere, on my screen saver at work, in my iPod, my cd player, everywhere. Those two months seemed like forever but finally the concert date was among us. It was twenty four hours away and I was definitely ready. I looked good, my hair and nails were a masterpiece and my outfit was laid out on my bed like a school girls first day of class. Life was good.
The night of the show was finally happening. My girl knocks on my door, I opened it and there she stood, all five foot eleven of her, from head to toe she was gorgeous, she scurried off yelling, “girl come on, before we be late.” Her car was an old school Honda that had been passed down two generations, so I waited for her to open my side from inside the car. When I finally got in she was already super excited singing, “what y'all know about a supermodel, fresh outta Elle magazine, buy her own bottles” the lyrics of a popular song from Usher’s album confessions. She leaned over and said, “friend, you look great!” I thought to myself, not as great as you, but I felt confident in my appearance so I said, “I do, don’t I.”
I got a glimpse of Usher’s face on the side of a tour bus as we pulled up to the arena, my heart skipped a beat. I was falling in love with a complete stranger. My friend and I walked into the arena, my palms were sweating, and by this time Usher’s face was everywhere, on t-shirts, cups, posters and even peoples tennis shoes. It was all too much, every corner I turned there he was. Almost completely unable to swallow, I could feel knots rising up in my throat; I had to get a drink. We eventually made our way to our seats; we were close to the stage but not close enough. Every seat in the place was occupied, it was unbelievable, an arena that could seat nineteen thousand people and there was not an empty seat in the whole arena. Suddenly everything goes black; the only lights I could see were cell phone lights and cigarette lighters. The crowd began to chant, “Usher, Usher, Usher!” “O my God, there he is”, was all I could say. He was the most beautiful man I had ever seen. He was dressed in all white, not a wrinkle in sight. His hair was perfect, skin like butter milk, and his eyes looked crystal clear, as if they could hypnotize me if I stared too long but I could not look away.
He danced around on the stage entertaining the thousands of fans in front of him, to me only he and I existed, I was mesmerized. He sang every song I had obsessed over and did every move I love; this must be what heaven feels like I thought. Before I realized it the concert was over. A two hour show seemed to be over in two minutes, I felt sad but satisfied. I had just seen my favorite artist in the flesh. After the show my friend and I went to dinner. Over bowls of delicious shrimp and chicken alfredo, and a few glasses of moscato, we gushed about the concert all night. At the end of the night my friend and I pulled up to my house. She turns down her radio and says, “Well, goodnight friend, we have to do this again soon”. I turned my head towards her, looked her straight in the eyes and said, “What y'all know about a supermodel, fresh outta Elle magazine, buy her own bottles”, we both laughed.