10/4/14-10/6/14 The Ritz Carlton Part 2

            Another one of the rain storms was sweeping through the city and we decided to stand next to the hotel entrance on a public sidewalk. Thankfully this had an awning.

            Not long after a black Escalade made its way through the roundabout and pair of pale hands popped out of the window. Everyone went into an uproar as the car made its way back out to the main road and everyone apart from me started chasing after the car. Even Clara had ran off.

            Of course I couldn’t just leave her there because this was usually what they did to draw the fans away before the boy’s real car came through. I knew this and I knew for a fact that while everyone thought the hands belonged to Michael that it was in fact not him. There were no tattoos on his hands as he filled us with his white iPhone case. Michael doesn’t even use a case and his iPhone is black. Besides Michael sees stuff like that multiple times a day so why would he film it now? I had to run at least halfway down the street screaming for at least Clara to come back.

            All the girls got back just in time to see the car coming back this happened a few more times when a few of the girls had to go to the Walgreens on the corner to talk to their parents. We soon heart a scream and we went running. We fangirls seem to cling to even the smallest amounts of hope.

            Some girls bolted like Clara and Zulee and they were already gone by the time I even made it to the corner. There stood the girl shaking to the core almost in tears as she stared down at her iPhone. “I just met Michael, I just met Michael!” She shook.

            I tried to calm her down enough to ask her what way he went, but she was pretty shaken up. Finally she told me that he was in the Walgreens (that we had been in about a dozen times that day -.-) with his mom and that he wasn’t going to meet fans. Apparently the security made this clear, but since there were only three girls and Michael is just a sweetheart he took pictures with them and went on his marry way.

            Clara came back nearly in tears because she realized he was with his mom and wouldn’t break up the little family time they had together. We were all congregating outside the entrance of the Walgreens, our spirits crushed when I saw a familiar face.

            “Oh my god it’s Dave!” The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them as the big burley security guard came out of the store himself talking on the phone. I felt bad for drawing attention to him and everyone began to ask him questions like “Where are the boys?” and “Will you give this to them?” He told them no nicely but it was obvious he was mad that he was outed. Girls were even taking pictures of him. 

           We gave up not long after because we were all starving and we couldn't handle anymore heartbreak. We went back to Fort Lauderdale with empty hands, only two close encounters smashing around in our memories. Regrets of 'what if'  racing around our minds. 

10/4/14-10/6/14 The Ritz Carlton

                Since we had already drove past him once we decided to find a car park and scour the city for him on foot. I was told that my brother and I would be the designated translators since we spoke English the best. With this in mind we pulled into a car park and they rolled down my window only for the man to speak Spanish better than he spoke English. This was how most of Miami seemed. Everyone seemed to know Spanish. Of course many of them knew English too, but the majority spoke Spanish.

                We found ourselves walking around the city, sitting outside of The Ritz Carlton with about a dozen other girls, and walking around all sweaty trying to find these stupid boys. We spent a lot of time around Lincoln Road which had an outlet to the beach next to The Ritz Carlton. My brother liked this and instead of all the girls waiting outside the hotel with us he decided it was best if he just went up to the beach. We stayed outside of the hotel that we weren’t even sure the guys were staying at and waited just off the property.

                Miami is known for its pouring rain. It would downpour for only a minute or two then the sun would come right back out. Every time this would happen all of us girls that were waiting in front of the hotel would run under this awning type thing then we would just get yelled at by Hotel security to get off the property. Fun.

            Robert saw this opportunity and went into the hotel. Robert didn’t look like someone associated with us pesky girls so they let him in and then he proceeded to say something along the lines of “I know (insert rich person name here) from the 12^th floor. Yeah they kicked him out too.

            A lot of the girls waiting with us were quite smitten with him and they were constantly trying to talk to him. I didn’t like this, but I kept my mouth shut not wanting to start trouble with people that I might be waiting with for a while. Robert didn’t like this both since most of them were under aged and he wasn’t really looking for girls that would camp outside of a hotel for a group of boys especially if they were in a band that I like.

            That was around when he went to the beach. 

10/4/14-10/6/14 Is that Ashton Irwin?!

The excitement was practically bouncing through the car as we drove into South Beach. My brother and I were talking about going into the ocean because it had been years since we last entered the waters separating us from England, Africa, and Europe. Robert even wanted to go on a boat before we left although I felt that our budget wouldn't allow that.
We drove down Collins Avenue through the busy city and we passed so many people. Some on bikes, some wearing only swim suits, a lot of them were obviously girls looking for the guys. We were driving past some bar or cafe or something, but the only thing I could see was a boy. He was wearing black gym shorts, black running sneakers, a white shirt with the sleeves cut off and a black bandanna. This boy was kind of tan and had shaggy blonde hair. At first I thought there was no possible way that it was him, but I knew that it was without another second passing. I voiced my new found knowledge and the car went crazy!
“Is that Ashton? OH MY GOD IT IS ASHTON!” The car had erupted in screams, but Genesis’ sister continued driving. I would have loved to meet him again, but I would have loved for the other girls to have the chance to meet him. If I could change anything about that trip this would be one of them. If only Cona had let us off by Lincoln Road and we walked down Collins from there then we would have went right passed Ashton. Even if I could only tell them where he would be and stayed in the car myself I would have done it.
That was 71 days ago though, it’s in the past. No matter how much it pains me that we drove right passed him it’s in the past where it will stay.

10/4/14-10/6/14 Off to South Beach

                Since our car was overfilling with some of the best professional stalkers in the fangirl kingdom it was no big deal when we caught wind of Ashton and a few of the other boys were spotted wandering around South Beach.

The car ride down to South Beach was interesting. There was obviously not enough room for everyone to have their own seats, not nearly. This proved difficult as the many bumps, stop signs and red lights jostled the two girls not in seats around. They were secure though, so no worries.

Anyways on the way down the radio was blaring some pop station and the only good song that played was Rude by MAGIC! You see I don’t listen to the radio because most of the time people have it on some pop station with songs that are just horrible! I personally had one of my headphones in for the majority if the ride despite Clara yelling at me to be social. It was nice to be with all of them though.

I think that Clara was a little shocked when I was so quiet. I was just sitting in one of the middle pilot chairs staring out the window with half of my mind listening to a band that I enjoy and the other half listened to the loud chatter of the girls and some shitty pop song. My brother wasn’t nearly as surprised to see me so quiet and in my shell. It’s not like I’m not loud because I really am, but I felt like I had to just take in the moment of Clara sitting half on my seat and half on my brothers seat instead of being over 1,850 miles away from me. It was strange for me and I wish that I could go back to that day and while there is one or two things that I would love to change I wouldn’t change a second that I spent with her. 

10/4/14-10/6/14 Meeting Everyone Else!

                Once the two of us finally pulled ourselves together after a good ten minutes and waited for mine and Robert’s luggage we were walked out into the ungodly heat of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was more humid in October there than it ever was in Buffalo even in the hottest days of summer.

                When Robert and I had left New York it was a whopping 42° F with winds and now it was 94° F with a humidity that choked you as soon as you walked into it. I could have lived without the heat, but it wasn’t a big deal in regards to the fact that I was finally with my best friend in the whole world.

                We drove from the airport and after stopping at McDonalds for a very interesting lunch we went to our new home for the next few days. There I ended up meeting the rest of the girls. While Clara was at the airport with Genesis, Zulee and Genesis’ older sister Cona, the other girls had stayed in the hotel to wait for us. Once we got to the hotel I met Indiana, Neishka, and Natasha. We were all a bit shy towards each other at first, but it didn’t take long for us to become close.

                Since the concert was on Sunday and it was only Saturday morning and we all wanted to see the Stadium where our dreams would come true all nine of us packed into the eight-seater mini-van and were on our way out to Miami which was about a 45 minute drive. We really didn’t know what we were doing, but we wanted to see if we could get into the stadium. I was pretty sure we were not going to get in, but alas we tried.

                There was a rumor we heard through the grape vine that the 5 Seconds of Summer boys would be at the Miami radio station so in the midst of trying to find the station we got word that they were walking around Miami by south beach. Let’s just say we had no idea what we would be in for. 

10/4/14-10/6/14 The Moment We Have Been Waiting For!

    The nerves were eating me alive. Is she going to be the same in person? Is she going to be as short as I think she is? Is she going to hate me once she spends two whole days with me? All these thoughts were swarming around in my mind, slowly driving me mad as we made the long walk to the baggage claim.        

In the midst of all my confusion of being in a large airport for the first time I decided it would just be best to call her, maybe she could guide me to where they were. We got on the escalator down to the baggage claim and my heart was beating out of my chest. There were people standing in front of me on the moving stairs that were keeping me from running though the crowded airport. I could see her standing there, holding one of those cliché signs with my name on it that drivers used when they picked people up from the airport, but it didn’t really sink in, she was still thousands of miles away in my mind.

Once the people blocking the escalator moved I was off like a shot, leaving my brother in the dust, crutches, knee brace and all his ‘Don’t run or you’ll fall’ lingering in the air. I heard none of it. Seconds later I barreled into a slightly smaller figure like a shot, her doing the same.

I cried my eyes out into her, my sobs were quite loud, but I didn’t care. It had been almost three years and I was finally standing next to my best friend. Nothing else mattered. One Direction could walk past us and I would have never known. Although I’m pretty sure if they did we would both freak out a million times more than we already were. They were in fact the five people that brought us together.

For once in the entirety of knowing the amazing girl that I was finally able to hug I could never really say that she was a ‘real’ person. To everyone else she was only a girl that I talked to through a computer. Now she was a girl that I knew personally and that I have actually met.

I, Marissa Rose Murphy, had finally met my best friend, my sister, my Twinzie, Clara Cecilia Cordero and I couldn’t be more happy. 

Our first selfie together!

10/4/14-10/6/14 Off to Fort Lauderdale!

It’s a scary thing flying for the first time. It was worth it for me however, when I stepped on that plane. This plane was taking me and my older brother to see my top 10 favorite people in the entire world. Some I had already seen/met in person, others I had not.

Starting in Buffalo Niagara International Airport we went up, up, up to almost 40,000 feet and all the way on the boarder separating the eastern sea board from the beautiful waters of the Atlantic Ocean the 1,168 miles to the Fort Lauderdale International airport.

Getting ready for this trip was a nightmare, that morning I had to wake up at 4:00 A.M. just to make it to the airport on time. The night before I had one of my last ever high school swim meets and then I had to go gallivanting around town so that my parents could get their new camera which they wouldn’t even let me take to Florida with me. I also hadn’t been sleeping well those few weeks leading up to the trip because of all the stress of senior year. It was safe to say that this trip was the only thing keeping me going.

My brother and I were only going to be there until Monday morning when I would sadly have to say goodbye to those I loved most. I didn’t even want my brother to go, but my mom wasn’t going to let her 16 year old daughter fly across the country by herself. Unfortunately.

The plane touched down in Fort Lauderdale, Florida around 9:37 A.M. on a bright sunny day. We said goodbye to the nice lady that had sat next to us on the flight as well as her adorable dog that was sitting on her lap for the entirety of the flight. Immediately after stepping off the plane the humidity was almost unbearable. Robert and I meandered through the airport without a single idea as to where we were going. This had only been the second airport I had ever been in; the first one was only that morning.

We were told to go to baggage claim to get our suitcase which is exactly where the most important person in my life was waiting. 

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