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Why is Florida so hot? Seriously, how do Florida women cope with this humidly?

I could feel the sweat forming on the bridge of my nose as I followed my driver out of the airport and towards the waiting car. I had been in the humidity for all of one minute and I could already feel my hair beginning to frizz into a giant, wavy mess. Great. A few agonizingly hot minutes later, I sunk down into the plush back seat of the Lincoln Town Car. Once I was in the safety of the air conditioning, I whipped my long brown locks up into a high pony tail. As the car pulled out into the midday traffic, I grabbed my Ground(ctrl) tank top out of my tote bag and pulled it down over top of my pink camisole. I rummaged in my bag for my ID badge and threw that around my neck as well. According to the itinerary that I had been given on my last day at the Nashville office, I was going straight to the venue to help coordinate the check-in for the Orlando VIP.

Traffic was light, and I found myself fighting back nerves as the car pulled up to the venue. I could already see that a large crowd had formed in front of the black tent that was customarily used for the VIP check-in. I was relieved to see that, at least from a distance, the process seemed to the same as the one that was used for Taylor Swift.

I waited for the driver to pull away before taking a deep breath and striding towards the tent. The girls who were waiting made space for me as I approached. I noticed a few of them checking out my ID badge, but none of them said anything to me. I reached the tent and saw that there was already one guy, who appeared to be in his early thirties, behind one of the tables. He was wearing a Ground(ctrl) t-shirt and unloading boxes of VIP passes.

“I’m Amy!” I called out, stepping over the low barrier and extending my hand. “I’m Eddie’s replacement from the Nashville office.”

“Oh, thank God you’re here!” the blonde man cried. “The girls are starting to get a bit antsy. I’m Jason, by the way.” He added, shaking my outstretched hand. “It’s good to have you on the team. Eddie says that you’re the one who is going to test out this whole ‘fan connection’ social media garbage.”

“Yeah ... lucky me.” I laughed, feeling more at ease. I was familiar with the VIP check-in process and it appeared as though Jason was going to be easy to get along with. “What can I do to help?” I asked.

“Well, we’re already running a bit behind. The passes are ready to go and here is the list.” Jason said, handing me a few sheets of paper with names printed in two columns. “I understand that you know the drill from working with T. Swift. It’s the same thing for the guys. You check everyone in and I will get them organized according to their packages.”

“Sounds good.” I said, flashing him a grateful smile.

“Ladies!” he yelled, turning to face the crowd. “We’re going to start checking everyone in now. So, please form a line and have your photo ID ready. Once Amy has confirmed that you’re on the list, I will give you your pass and show you where to line up. If you have a purse, please note that it will be searched. Cameras with removable lenses are not allowed!”

The next forty-five minutes passed in a blur of perfume, drivers’ licences, and jittery laughter. To my surprise, I only received a few dirty looks and a handful of questions. The majority of the questions were directed towards Eddie’s whereabouts, and all I had to do was mention that his wife had given birth to a baby boy and my presence behind the table was quickly forgotten.

After I finished checking everyone in, I wandered over to the front of the venue to find Jason. The VIP guests were all waiting nervously in lines according to their packages, and Jason was going over some last minute details with a man who I assumed was in charge of the venue’s security team. Not wanting to interrupt, I pulled my phone out of my bag and quickly snapped a picture of the VIP crowd; now seemed to be a good a time as any to send my first tweet of the day. I logged into my Twitter account and almost dropped my phone in surprise.

“Wholly shit.” I mumbled under my breath. As of last night, I had one follower; Hannah. I now had over one thousand followers, including all of the band members. I knew that Eddie had announced the new fan connection concept this morning on the fan club website, but I had not expected such an influx of followers only a few hours after my contact information had been posted. However, this WAS opening night. This WAS the start of the band’s 20th anniversary North American tour. The show had already received a ton of media hype and tonight’s concert was sold out. Of course the fans would be dying for some backstage coverage. I attached the picture of the crowd and composed a quick note to accompany it.

< Opening night’s VIP crowd! Who’s ready for sound check? #backstreetsback >

I made sure that everything was spelled correctly (I still wasn’t feeling comfortable with the iPhone’s touch keyboard) and hit post. Once the message had been registered, my phone almost immediately dinged with a notification that my post had been re-tweeted. I heard the crowd begin to jostle and I looked up to see fans pulling their phones out of their pockets and purses. Choruses of; “Oh my God, we’re in that picture!” and; “I can’t wait for this fan connection thing to take off!” began to resonate through the crowd.

As I surveyed the group awaiting their VIP experience, my eyes locked with a younger looking fan at the front of the crowd. A knowing look crossed her face and before I knew it, she had extended her hand and was gesturing wildly in my direction. “That’s Amy! She’s the girl that Eddie mentioned on the message board! She’s the one who just sent that tweet!”

“Looks like you’ve been found out.” Jason laughed, coming over to where I was standing. “Good luck.” He added, patting me on the back. “You’re gonna need it.”