For the next month and a half Alyssa and Ginger went about their typical schedules. Periodically they would remind each other that they were actually going to see Super Junior live. That simple statement would get either one of them out of serious funks. Both rarely listened to any English songs in the first place, but now it was completely cut out. All they listened to was K-pop. They didn’t mind though. They were content with that. As predicted, Ginger and Alyssa lived off of cheap food from the grocery store. Since even the smell of ramen made Ginger nauseous she and Alyssa lived off of the easy mac cups and Pasta Roni.

Anything they could do to preserve money they did. That meant not going out to eat. Not going shopping on the weekends. Not getting manicures or pedicures. They even picked up shifts at their respective work places to get some extra money. Alyssa went to med school, and when she wasn’t there or studying she was working at the hospital under a neurosurgeon. Ginger was working as a nurse in a private doctor’s office. She would go to work at seven and get off at four Monday’s through Friday’s. She had transferred to the Home Depot down there when she first moved to East Lansing to live with Alyssa. So there were some days that Ginger worked from seven in the morning until ten at night.

Ever since they found out that they were going to New York they stopped complaining about work. Ginger would frequently pick up more shifts at Home Depot so that her and Alyssa could have some money to spend while there. Alyssa couldn’t really do much about her work schedule because of school and homework, but Ginger was fine with that. It was totally understandable.

Two weeks after Ginger purchased the tickets from Ticketmaster they came in the mail. She was working a thirteen hour day that particular day. Alyssa just had class and homework that day. So Alyssa knew that they had gotten the tickets at around three that afternoon when she got home from class. She desperately wanted to call Ginger and tell her that the tickets were here, but she thought it would be a nice, relaxing surprise when Ginger returned from her long day of work. Alyssa just left all of the mail on the counter next to the green apples that Ginger always ate after a long day of working.

“Lyssa, I’m home!” Ginger called seven hours later as she unlocked the door to their apartment and walked in. She walked to the futon and threw all of her down.

“Hey. I just got done with my homework. I came in at three and have been working on it up until now. I haven’t even eaten dinner. Have you?”

“No. I’m starving.” As Alyssa predicted Ginger walked over to the counter and picked up a green apple and took a bite of it. “Anything good in the mail today?” she asked as she eyed the pile of mail.

“Not that I’m aware of. I came home, got the mail, threw it there, then went to the bedroom to study.” Alyssa was trying her damndest to not break out into a ridiculous smile about the tickets.

“Let’s see what we have today. Bill, bill, bill, Ticketmaster, bill, and again, another bill. Goddamn we have way too many bills.” Ginger set the mail down on the counter again and crossed over to the refrigerator for some tea. “Wait, what?!” She suddenly realized. “Ticketmaster?!” The apple Ginger was holding fell from her hand to the floor.

Alyssa was about ready to take the Ticketmaster mail and wave it in front of Ginger and ask her what that was. Thankfully she wasn’t forced to do that since Ginger figured out what was in the mail today on her own.

“ALYSSA WE HAVE THE TICKETS. ING $455.80 TICKETS ARE OURS FOR REAL NOW!” she shouted at Alyssa.

“Calm yo , woman!” Alyssa said. She was smiling though. “Took you long enough to figure out that they came. I’ve known since I got home, but I wanted it to be a surprise for you.”

“You .” Ginger said laughing. It was annoying that Alyssa didn’t call her and tell her, but at the same time it was a really nice gesture. “Thank you, though. You’re the bestest best-friend I could have ever asked for.”

“Yeah, yeah. Quit getting all sentimental on me.” As Alyssa held her arms in front of her to try and keep back Ginger who was going in to hug her.  

Life really couldn’t get any better than this for the girls. It was a week before they were to board their plane and go to New York. Ginger couldn’t decide on what to wear even if her life depended on it. She was trying to pack for two weeks of vacation. The packing for vacation part was simple enough, but she had no idea what she was going to wear to the concert or if they went out to a club. Alyssa on the other hand had not thought about it at all. She was just going to do all of her packing at the last minute. Ginger nagged Alyssa to get it done, but she didn’t pay any attention. Guess it was payback for all of the times Ginger hadn’t listened to Alyssa.

Finally it was the day that they were leaving. Ginger hardly slept the night before, a trait she thought she got from her parents. She was wide awake and just running on adrenaline, but she knew that wouldn’t last all day and she would crash later. The only food that was left was a box of Froot Loops, so Ginger grabber a handful before she went and got ready. Alyssa would be crabby enough, might as well let her sleep in as much as possible, that was Ginger’s rationale. An hour before they were supposed to leave Ginger woke up Alyssa. She took her sweet time getting ready too. Ginger paced impatiently and tried, with little success, to get Alyssa to hurry it up.

By the time the girls, their luggage, and their carry-ons were jammed into Ginger’s 2010 Ford Focus, Lara, they were running ten minutes behind schedule.

“Thank God you speed,” Alyssa commented as Ginger pulled Lara out of their apartment complex parking lot.

“Yeah, I know. I would have no need to speed though if you would have just hauled your lazy out of bed on time.” Even though Ginger’s tone was as if she was pissed, she had a smile on her face.

They made it to Detroit Metro on time, thankfully. They checked in to their flight, got their luggage tagged, got their boarding passes, and made it through security. Alyssa had the lovely experience of being taken aside by a security guard and searched using their hand-held scanning wand. Ginger sat off to the side with all of their and tried to suppress her giggles. Alyssa merely shot daggers from her eyes to Ginger. That just made Ginger burst out laughing. Several people around her glanced and looked at her like she was crazy.

They walked to their gate and had an hour and a half before their flight was to leave. Ginger put in her ear buds, Perfection by Super Junior, and then commenced to people watching. However, there weren’t many people since it was just about six in the morning. Alyssa chose Nightmare (Obsession) by G-Dragon as her wake up song. That hour and a half seemed to fly by since the girls were excited to get to New York, and while listening to their iPods they rarely looked at the clock.

Alyssa and Ginger found 12 A and B. Alyssa went in first since Ginger requested the aisle seat. Both put their iPods away and put their purses under the seats in front of them. Ginger laid her head on Alyssa’s shoulder and quickly fell asleep. Alyssa was stuck with nothing to do except stare out the window and watch other planes take off or land as their flight was being loaded. The flight was more tolerable when they reached an altitude that iPods could be used again. Half an hour later Ginger roused from her nap. She stretched and turned to Alyssa.

“Well good morning sunshine.” Alyssa said sarcastically.

“Chut up. I was up at the crack of dawn.”

“You chut up.”

“Go back to China, .” Both just smirked.

“We should be about halfway there by now.”

“Alright.”

They continued to talk, only being interrupted by the pilot telling them to put back on their seat belts because they were starting their descent. Stupid ear-to-ear grins plagued both of their faces. They were in New York! In a little over twenty four hours they would be listening to Girl’s Generation, SHINee, and Super Junior. More importantly they would be seeing their biases, Alyssa’s being Sungmin and Ginger’s being Kyuhyun. Today people seemed to be moving in slow motion and constantly in the way. Alyssa and Ginger seemed to arrive at baggage claim after hours of waiting to get around other travelers.

It took about a year and a half to get their luggage and get their hotel shuttle. Nonetheless, they reached their hotel and deposited their bags on the bed, and flung open the curtain at the window. Their sight was a rundown brick building. Best they could afford after ordering the concert tickets and booking their flight; for most people that dismal sight would dampen their spirits, but not for Alyssa and Ginger. They started to get very hyper. 

The girls decided to spend the day wandering around Central Park and the surrounding stores, and as well as the Central Park Zoo. It really wasn’t uncommon for them to randomly go to zoos; for instance the summer before they went to the other side of the state to Grand Rapids, and they ended up going to the zoo there, just for fun. They somewhat followed a group of oriental college aged guys that Alyssa and Ginger called a new boy band. They didn’t fine a boy ban at the Central Park Zoo, however. That aspect was a little disappointing, but it was fun at least. They decided upon the Hard Rock Café in Times Square for dinner. It was going to be an early night for them both. Four in the morning was fast approaching. They wanted to be outside of Madison Square Garden by around five. If there were people then they would get in line. If not, then they would dink around that area until someone came and stood in line.

Next thing Ginger knew her phone alarm was blaring Lucifer by SHINee in her ear.

“ing hell,” she mumbled. “Lyssa, get up.” She kicked Alyssa’s leg somewhat gently.

“Don’t want to.”

“Well then I guess you won’t be getting a good spot at the concert.” It was almost as if Alyssa flew out of bed and into the bathroom to get ready. Ginger went to the desk and plugged in her curling iron, and when that warmed up enough she started to curl her massive about of thick light brown hair. Within an hour and a half both of them were ready to go out.