Meet And Greet

With the Burning Roses' set now over Ashton entered the new tunnel that had been added to the venue walking down the decently long hallway before arriving at a row of elevators.

Intrigued, Asthon pressed the only button available which was to go up before the elevator dinged and slid open the door letting Asthon inside. It made sense that they would have the room for something like this since the arena was primarily underground.

The buttons available for the elevator were not too many, in fact, it was only a single button. There was a small number two which Ashton hit after the elevator filled up with other people excitedly chatting about how they were going to meet Burning Roses.

Ashton thought that he would feel nervous since it would be the first time he met the idols he cherished so much and also spent so much time writing about. However, he didn't seem to feel a thing at least not yet. It was a very surreal moment that he didn't feel was quite real and was waiting for the moment when he woke up and was disappointed once again.

Much to his surprise that moment never came. Instead, he was greeted by the sound of the elevator dinging once more and the doors sliding open to reveal a much smaller room than the main arena. It was still quite large but more comparable to a normal office floor than an entire arena.

The first thing that caught Ashton's eye was a table of girls a little farther into the room where a metal barricade fed people one by one until they made it to the table in question. The girls at this table were none other than the Burning Roses.

It was at this moment that Ashton realized how real the situation was in front of him. It was exciting but also scary at the same time. He had no idea what kind of reaction the girls would have if they knew who he was. He also didn't want to get a big head thinking that they would even know who he was in the first place. There were so many questions and contradictions running in his mind that Asthon began to wonder if he should even attend the meet and greet in the first place.

Ashton felt that it would be better if he came prepared with some questions and even something to sign if possible. With this in mind, Ashton turned around and went in the opposite direction of the rushing crowd and back to the elevator that was about to go down.

The only difference this time was the fact that when he pressed the elevator button to go down nothing happened. The button didn't light up and even the gears inside the elevator itself didn't even attempt to move.

"Wha-?"

"Oh no, we were afraid something like this would happen." An older man wearing a janitor's outfit sighed as he suddenly appeared beside Asthon. The sudden appearance of the man made Ashton jump and almost have a heart attack since he appeared within the elevator where there were only so many places to hide.

"What do you mean you were afraid this was going to happen? Have you guys been having issues since it opened?" Ashton questioned in confusion as he continued to press the button while the people who had previously been with him in the elevator were excitedly waiting to meet their dream idols.

"Well, I suppose you can say we have had some issues. It's more about personnel being the issue rather than the job itself. My name is Roy." The man smiled before introducing himself with a handshake. Ashton obliged his kindness and also shook hands before Roy seemed to take notice of the camera around Ashton's neck.

"What's the camera for? Are you planning on illegally selling each set of the concert or something?" Roy asked with neither hate nor approval. It was like Roy was testing the waters before diving straight in to better understand what kind of person Ashton is.

"Of course not! Of course not! I have express permission to be able to use my camera for my videos and report on Burning Roses every week." Asthon explained to Roy as the elevator not working slowly drew more and more eyes to what was happening.

"That's amazing! It sounds like you should be excited to meet them then, this might take a few minutes to fix. You might as well join that line to have something to do while you wait." Roy suggested much to the surprise of Asthon. He did want to go ahead and head home but with the elevator now being down for a few minutes it truly was a golden opportunity since he was going to be stuck up there anyway.

"I suppose you're right, thank you." Ashton finally said giving in to getting in the line. After thanking Roy, Ashton got in the longer line to meet the Burning Roses which had yet to stop due to most people not realizing the elevators were down.

Now that he was finally in the line Ashton's heart began running wildly once again alongside the nerves he had previously been able to keep at bay. 

While Ashton was freaking out he didn't realize that behind him something shocking was happening. After Ashton had agreed to go in the line and walked away Roy pressed a small button on a remote from his tool bag suddenly making all of the buttons in the elevators light up once again. It was almost like an on-and-off switch for the elevator since there was such a difference but Ashton was too far in his own thoughts to even realize.

After turning the elevators back on Roy gave a small thumbs up and creepy smile in the direction of the meet and greet table before heading into a side room nearby meant for staff.

****

While Ashton was waiting in the meet and greet line Drew was currently in an hour-long line to even reach the elevators which had temporarily stopped for a few minutes much to the disappointment of many but luckily they were back up and running soon after.