The plane ride to Seoul seemed to last forever.  Noelle stretched her long slender arms over her head and arched her aching back to ease the cramps.

The Bangkok concert had been a blur with no time to rest.  She was anxious to land and head to the hotel for a hot shower and a good night sleep.

As the plane began its decent over the city its passengers began to come to life with restless movements.  Noelle was wedged against a wall in the cabin’s rear section.  If she leaned forward she could just make out a sliver of the first class section where the members of Weasel were no doubt downing every last drop of booze they could coax out of the pretty Asian flight attendants.  Sighing, Noelle leaned back.  The tour had been amazing so far and she was really thankful to have the experience of being an opening act for such a huge and internationally successful rock band.  But she was also ready to get back home and start working on the new songs swimming laps in her head.  After Korea would come the Tokyo concert; then finally back to LAX where she would hibernate in her bedroom for at least a week and order take out.

Several hours later, Noelle slid her room key and relished the whooshing sound of the tightly sealed door giving way.  Not bothering to unpack, she flung herself on the wide bed.  “Just for a few minutes,” she promised herself before dozing off into a deep sleep.

The Seoul concert occupied all of her focus over the next few days.  Hours of rehearsal and waiting on adjustments and last minute perfections dragged each work day late into the night.  But the night of the concert made up for all the work.  The crowd was pumped and even cheered when she greeted them with a lame pronunciation of “Ahn-Nyeong Hah-Seh-Yo.”  Her heart soared as, through her song, she gave them all she had.

The band and crew hit the city that night to celebrate, but Noelle didn’t feel up for it.  Being 23 she was the youngest in the tour.  Hanging around the veteran musicians as they continuously downed drinks with one hand and chain smoked with the other just made her feel out of place.  That scene wasn’t her style.

Noelle ordered room service before setting up her portable synthesizer.  For the next 30 minutes she laid out a melody that had been forming in her mind all day.  When the food delivery came, she booted up her laptop and sat down to eat.

Her album had been released several months earlier and the second single was still hovering in the top ten.  She typed in the link to her you tube channel to see how the video was doing.  The hit count was just over 3 million views.  Noelle whooped and jumped up to do a happy dance. 

Alone in her hotel room high above the sprawling city lights, newcomer singer/songwriter Noelle Linden flung her tumbling jet black hair back and out of the way of her bright blue eyes as she sung her heart out to a bowl of chocolate ice cream.