Festival Daze (Part 1)

What follows is the first part of a story I'm currently writing, it is the story of a group of friends attending a music festival much like V Festival, the Carling Weekend etc. It's split into four days covering their time at the festival and this is the first part of my first draft, covering half of Day One. I'm posting to see what kind of reaction it gets so please comment. I hope you enjoy.

Festival Daze

DAY ONE

James was nervous. Feeling that way was not a new experience for him, in fact it could be said that nerves and James were very well acquainted. He got a similar feeling in the pit of his stomach whenever he was made the centre of attention or whenever he’d done something wrong and he was sure someone else new about it. These feelings were similar, but not the same. You see the nerves he was feeling at this particular moment weren’t the bad kind mentioned before but the good kind. The kind of nervous anticipation you get when you go out to a place where you know a girl you like is going to be or the kind of fluttering butterflies you get in your stomach when you speak to that special someone.
He gazed out of his window savouring the anticipation. This is one of the best parts, he mused, before it all starts and your filled with the promise of what’s yet to come, even though you don’t know what that is in your mind it’s always great. His mind flashed on all the images of things he thought he might get up to in the weekend ahead, and as he continued to look out of that window he saw the car pull up that signalled the beginning of it all.
Turning away from the window James picked up his last bag and headed down the stairs to add it to two lying at the bottom. He got there just in time to be greeted by a loud banging on his front door and as he pulled it open he was greeted by a familiar sight. On his front step stood a girl who could only be described as very pretty, as unimaginative as those words are, for this girl, they are fitting. She was the type of girl you could see yourself lying on your bedroom floor with, listening to cheesy pop punk songs and telling each other how you actually feel the way the song describes. She wore her shoulder length ash blonde hair tied back, mostly to keep it out of her hazel eyes then for any sense of style. Dressed in loose jeans and a hooded top she hid her slender figure fairly well. On her face she wore a lopsided grin which most people she met thought of as her smile but in actual fact it was the expression she wore when laughing inside at a joke no one else new about. The lucky few she chose to favour with her true smile new better, when she smiled properly it had been known for Anna to light up a room. There are very few people on this earth who could match the natural beauty of that smile.
In the split second James took all this in most of it did not register, although he new she was attractive all he saw stood on his front step was his friend.
“Hey. Anna.” He said with a smile on his face.
“Special J,” Anna had her own special pet name for James. “You ready to go?” She replied flashing one of her own rare, brilliant smiles.
“I am,” James said as he turned towards the pile of bags. “Just let me grab my stuff.”
“Need a hand?” Anna asked stepping into the house
“Sure.”
James picked up two of his bags and Anna grabbed the last one. Together they left the house and walked towards the car. As they approached James saw most of the car was filled with luggage apart from the two front seats. Sat on the drivers side was Anna’s father and James gave him a quick wave while he walked to the back of the car to add his own bags to the pile.
As Anna opened the boot James peered into the car.
“I thought you were picking up Phil before you came here.”
Anna grinned at him. “We did, look.”
She pointed into the car through the open boot, sitting in the back seat, on the drivers side, pinned back against his chair by a large pile of bags was Phil. All that was really visible of him from James and Anna’s angle was the top of his pink Mohawk and a hand he was waving. He shouted out.
“Hey dude, good to see ya!”
James laughed. “Yeah, you too, you nice and comfy in there?”
“Oh yeah, you’d be amazed how comfortable it is sitting on tent pegs.” Phil replied, relying on his usual sarcasm.
James laughed, no one could make him chuckle quite like Phil. He threw his bags on the pile in the back and proceeded to help Anna shut the boot. It took quite an effort, as they were trying to cram in way too much stuff for small a two door hatch back to handle. However, after a surprisingly varied, and impressive, vocabulary of curse words from Anna followed by pushing yet another bag onto the back seat they managed to get the boot closed. They then walked round to the front of the car to climb in themselves. For James this was yet again no small task, he had to climb into the back over all the bags that wouldn’t fit into the boot. In the end he found himself wedged up against Phil, way too close for comfort for teenagers with homophobia issues.
“Well, this is nice.” Phil remarked as the car pulled away from James’s house.
“Speak for yourself, my head is in you armpit and it does not smell good.” James replied.
“Just be glad it’s not my crotch.”
“Oh believe me I am.”
Looking on from the front seat Anna chuckled.
*
The car pulled into the lay-by and the three friends exited the car. James and Phil climbed out rather gratefully and began to stretch there aching muscles. It had taken an hour to drive what was usually a twenty minute journey to the meeting point just outside the city.
James took in a deep breath of air through his nose. He was enjoying breathing through his nose again after being stuck sniffing body odour for the last hour. While he enjoyed doing this he observed another car pull into the lay-by behind their own, behind the wheel of the new car was a diminutive black man with a shaved head and permanent smile on his face. As the car parked Anna walked over to stand by James.
“So, Rich and Brian are here.” She commented.
“Sure looks like it.” James replied.
“Just have to wait for Mel and Luke now.”
“Who would have though they’d be the last to arrive?” James asked sarcastically.
“Shut up, they’re not always late.”
“Yes, they are.”
“I know, but you have a crush on her so be nice.” Anna said teasingly.
James blushed, “Okay, now you’re the one who can shut up.”
Anna laughed and walked towards the newly arrived car to greet its passengers. James followed her, walking towards the driver to greet him first.
“Now then Rich, took your time getting here.” He said.
“Well you know, didn’t want to risk any chance of dinking up this might fine machine.” Rich responded, flashing James his startlingly bright smile.
James laughed as he regarded the car Rich had just been driving. It was painted a combination of red, white and black, several pieces appeared to be hanging off it and not one inch of it appeared to be dent free.
“I think your ‘mighty fine machine’ might just fall apart if you get another one of your ‘dinks’.”
“Dick head… This cars a classic!” Rich joked.
James laughed, “You seriously need to get a better car.”
“You pay for it.”
“Nope.”
“Then shut up.”
“People are saying that to me a lot today.”
Rich grinned, “Maybe you should pay attention.”
“Okay.” James grinned back at him.
Turning James saw Anna and Phil talking to Brian, who had arrived with Rich. Brian caught James looking and cut off Anna mid sentence to scream out James’s name. As he did this he ran towards him and jumped at James, wrapping his arms and legs around him. James stumbled back a few steps trying to stay on his feet and hold onto him, this was not easy as Brian was a big guy. After fake humping for a while Brian finally disengaged himself and James got his first real chance to regard him. What he saw was a balloon shape with straw coloured hair, a piggish face and small, beady eyes, making Brian not the best looking person in the world, however he made up for it with sheer personality. If Brian was present there was not a person within fifty yard radius who did not know it. Loud, funny and loud, it took a lot to dislike Brian, it also took a lot to try and ignore him.
“How you doing, James? You ready for your first fest?” Brian asked him.
“I think so,” James responded. “A little nervous but it’s gonna be good.”
“Damn right it is. I broke into the beer a li’l early so I’m a feeling buzzed already.”
James laughed. “That doesn’t shock me one bit.”
Brian grinned and wandered off in search of another beer. James turned back to speak with Rich some more while they waited for the last car to arrive. They had a while to wait. It took an hour for the car to arrive and by that time Brian was snoring in the front seat of Rich’s car while the other four sat around outside discussing the weekend ahead.
When the car finally arrived the group sitting around gave a sarcastic cheer as the occupants exited the vehicle. The driver had the good grace to look a little sheepish at how late they were but the passenger seemed oblivious to the fact, ignoring the cheer and rushing over to greet everyone. Raven black hair trailed behind her as she ran into Anna’s arms for a greeting hug.
“Anna!” She all but squealed.
“Mel.” Anna squealed back.
Mel went round the group hugging everyone hello and when she got to James his heart began to race, his stomach had been fluttering since he had seen her exit the car, but none of this showed on his face as he hugged her hello. At least that was what he thought, everyone in the group saw how his eyes followed the girl, they did every time he was in her presence, he’d been harbouring a crush on her pretty much since the day they met, over a year ago, and it showed no signs of going away.
The driver of the car made a slightly more reserved round of greetings, just saying hello and waving, rather then running around hugging everyone.
Hearing all the commotion from inside Rich’s car Brian made his presence known to the newcomers.
“Luke, Mel!” He yelled climbing out of the car.
Mel rushed over to give him a hug while Luke restrained himself to a small wave.
James watched Mel as she hugged Brian, he was amazed at the effect she still had on him, it was exactly the same as on the first day they’d met, it was like she took all the air in the room around with her and he could only breath if he looked at her. His heart was still pounding in his chest at the butterflies showed no signs of going away.
Mel turned from hugging Brian and walked back towards the group and James continued to watch her. She was wearing a black tank top that showed about an inch of skin at her slim waist and dark, low riding jeans that showed off the top of her red thong underwear. That underwear drove James crazy, he’d spent an entire summer watching her waist and that underwear, he felt like it was constantly taunting him, poking its head out of her jeans just to show him it was there and rub in his face the fact he’d never get in them. James had a few issues.
Mel was an attractive girl and she knew it, she left her hair down, free to blow in the wind and kept having to brush it back out of her brown eyes. She had full, pouty lips and new how to use them; it was really quite unfair how much she had going for her in the looks department.
Everyone talked excitedly for a while, discussing the journey so far and what they were looking forward to in the weekend ahead. Finally the decision was made that they should probably set off again if they ever wanted to make it to their destination. As the group headed towards their respective cars Brian shouted over to James.
“You ready for your first music festival, James?”
“I think so.” James replied.
“You’d better be” Brian grinned and climbed into the car.
James followed suit climbing into the back of Anna’s car, next to Phil. Then, with all the cars fully loaded with passengers, they pulled out as a group to start the next phase of the journey to the festival.
*
The sun beat down on the almost stationary traffic. A creeping snake of cars stretched as far as the eye can see in both directions. James leaned his head against the window, inside the car Phil seemed asleep next to him while in the front seats Anna was absently drumming her fingers on the dashboard and talking with her father. James sighed and turned to look out of the window, peering out at the barely moving traffic.
“Is it always like this?” He asked.
Phil lazily responded, “Pretty much.”
“Took us six hours last year.” Anna added.
“We could walk there faster.” James half heartedly suggested.
“Couldn’t carry all your stuff though.” Phil pointed out.
“Why do you have to ruin all my plans?”
“It amuses me.” Phil replied, still having not opened his eyes.
James sighed again and continued to stare out of the window.
*
“This is it.” Anna exclaimed. “We’re here!”
James jerked up from the back seat, he’d nodded off several hours before, his excitement and anticipation for the festival being dulled by the monotony of the journey. Now his eagerness had been brought back to life as he eyes swept from side to side, looking outside of the car trying to take as much of it in as possible.
Anna climbed out of the car and pulled the seat forward to allow the passengers in the back to exit. They did so gratefully, both stretching aching limbs while examining the scene around them. All they could see was a mass of people surrounding them, people unloading cars and people dragging their luggage towards the camp sites. The buzz in the air was unmistakable and the noise was unavoidable, everyone was talking at the tops of their voices, no longer able to contain the excitement of being at the festival.
After unloading all the luggage Anna hugged her father goodbye and waved to him as he left. She then turned to James and Phil.
“Are you ready?” She asked with her patented grin.
James smiled back. “Sure am.”
“Then let’s go.”
Together they picked up there stuff and walked towards the camp site entrance.
“This is cool, we’ve missed the big queue.” Phil commented.
“Guess that’s the bonus of it taking forever to get here.” Anna replied
“How long do you usually have to wait to get in?” James asked
Phil answered. “Couple of hours.”
“That’s shit.”
“Aye, especially with all this crap.” Phil gestured to the luggage they were all carrying.
“Yeah, it’s fucking heavy.” James agreed.
“Tell me about it.”
They made it to the camp site entrance and showed there tickets to gain entry. Once they were through James got his first real look at where he would be spending the next four to five days. He was mesmerised by the sights he was seeing, everywhere he looked all he could see was a multicoloured ocean of tents. They were everywhere and came in all different shapes and sizes. The only thing more varied were the people who occupied them, fifty thousand people from all different walks of life could be seen. Rich and poor, black and white and everything in between. As he walked along with Anna and Phil his other senses began to register there own first impressions of the festival. The most noticeable was the smell, a combination of woodsmoke, wet grass, sweat and weed. It was pungent yet sweet, not an unpleasant odour but completely unique.
“This is amazing.” He commented breathlessly.
Anna smiled at him. “It is, isn’t it?”
They walked on and as they did Anna explained, to James, the layout of the camp site. It was split into five different areas, nearest the arena and the entrance where they entered was the tent village, this was where all the festival services and shops were located. In the shops you could purchase anything from band merchandise to bread and milk to fire wood and legal highs, the sheer range of products on sale was remarkable. Past the tent village was Yellow camp site, the biggest of the four camp sites and the most popular, this was the area with the most noise and where the most fun was thought to be had. Behind that, set on a slight rise, was Red camp site, at the back of which were the toilets which were used by both Red and Yellow campers. Bordering both Red and Yellow to the left, if you were walking from the arena, was Orange. To get to Orange you had to walk up a very steep hill but once you got to the top you were rewarded with a fantastic view of Yellow camp and the tent village The final camp site was Brown, which was furthest away from the arena and located past Orange.
As the group passed through the tent village James lingered, trying to get a good look at all the shops, he couldn’t believe the amount and the variety of things that were on sale, he was sure he’d be back to waste a lot of money there after they’d set up camp.
Once they had passed through the tent village James began to wonder where they would be setting up shop.
“So where are we camping?” James asked.
Phil replied. “We’re camping close to where we did last year on the edge of yellow. That’s where the other guys are going to meet us.”
“Ok, cool. How come they didn’t come in with us anyway?”
“They had to use a different entrance because they needed a car park, we were just being dropped off.” Phil answered again.
James considred this, “Makes sense.”
“I usually do.” Phil said, pretending to be smug.
“That’s debatable.” James replied as they lapsed into silence.
*
James’s arms trembled, he had been lugging his three bags around for almost an hour and his arms felt like lead. Having arrived so late the best camping spots had already been taken and Anna and Phil had been leading him around in circles in search of a good spot where all their friends could fit. To say that this search was proving futile would be about accurate. To say it was starting to piss James off would be a gross understatement.
“My God, how much longer are going to do this? There’s nowhere decent left in Yellow.” James complained.
“We’ll keep doing it until we find somewhere. You don’t want to camp anywhere else, Yellow is where it’s at!” Came Anna’s response.
“Fuck.” James uttered under his breath, he was not enjoying this.
Fortunately, for James, a short time after this exchange Phil’s phone rang. On the other end was Rich who was informing him of a good spot the other group had found. Upon hearing this Anna, James and Phil set off as fast as their weary bodies could carry them, and their luggage.
It was not a fun time for James, he was hot and sweaty and tired and not nearly drunk enough, when he had been going through all the fun stuff he was going to do at the festival in his head carrying heavy and ungainly luggage had not been on the agenda.
As they hurried on James began to lag behind Anna and Phil, he was unused to such strenuous activity with such heavy and unwieldy luggage. Luckily for him, just before he started to lose sight of them in the crowd, he saw them cut off the path and wander into the middle of a group of tents. When James eventually caught up he saw a very welcome sight. All his friends were stood around, laughing and drinking, having fun and attempting to erect tents. As he stumbled off the path and into the circle he dropped his bags and smiled. It had been a long journey but he felt like he now had truly arrived at the festival, this circle of tents would be his home for the next four or five days and as he collapsed to his knees, in only a partly theactrical gesture of exhaustion, he groaned in contentment.
Noticing his friend on his knees Brian walked over to greet him.
“Took your time getting here mate.” Brian said cheerfully.
Looking up from his knees James managed to nod and let out a tired sounding, “Yes, we did.”
Brian smiled down at his tired companion and held out his hand to offer him the one thing that he thought James truly needed at that moment.
“Here dude, have a beer.”
James took the beer and stared at it a moment. Then looking back up at Brian, with a slight tear in his eye, he whispered a small but truly heartfelt “Thank you” Before cracking open the beer and gulping down what stands to this day as his most refreshing beverage ever.
*
“Holy shit, this takes the piss. You have the most annoying tent ever.” Phil complained.
James tried to defend his beloved tent. “It’s not that bad, we’ve almost got it up.”
“Yeah but we still need to put half the poles in and you seem to have no idea where any of them go.” Phil persisted.
James looked over tent. “I do, kind of. I think.”
“You’re not filling me with confidence.”
“Well I’ve not actually used this thing before.” James admitted.
“Oh, that’s great.” Phil brought it big with the sarcasm.
“Shut up and give me a hand with this pole.”
James fed a pole through the tent to Phil and once it was in place the tent began to actually take some shape. After securing it down to the floor the two friends regarded the tent again.
“Well, at least it looks like a tent now.” James remarked.
“Kind of.” Phil added.
James studied the tent some more, “Yeah, but I think it’ll do.”
“I sure as hell can’t b arsed anymore.” Phil was past caring.
“So it’s agreed, we’ll leave it like this.”
“Yeah.”
“Cool.”
Phil and James each opened a new beer and toasted each other over their ‘expertly’ erected tent. As they did so Anna walked over to give her own assessment.
“Better hope a light breeze doesn’t come through, I’m not sure if it’ll survive.” She warned.
“We like to live on the edge.” Phil told her.
“Alright then. Good luck to you both.” She said as she wandered away again.
Now that there tent was up James and Phil moved their things into it and then joined there friends sitting around and drinking. The group had set their three tents up in a rough circle, leaving space in the middle for them to sit around. James and Phil’s tent was set furthest back from the camp site path with Anna and Mel sharing the tent to the left of theirs and the three remaining guys sharing the tent to the right. In the middle a rubbish pile was already starting to form, peoples empty cans of beer, tins of food and chocolate and crisp wrappers were all piled together. The group sat round this pile as if it were a camp fire while they drank and talked.
James was sat with Phil and Luke, they had all had several beers by now and were beginning to feel the effects. Phil and Luke were discussing there usual drunken conversation, Luke’s homosexuality and which guys and girls they’d both consider doing. When he had listened on this conversation in the past James had always thought that Phil agreed with Luke on a few too many guys then a normal straight guy would. He was only half listening to the conversation on this occasion because, as was usual when he was around her, his attention had wandered to Mel who was sat on the other side of the trash pile with Rich.
He tried to be subtle about his observation but he failed utterly, if one thing was true about James it was he did not know how to disguise his feelings. His eyes followed her wherever she went and when she was sat still it was just agonizingly clear to anyone looking on just how he felt.
Mel had figured out how he felt a long time ago and she knew he was watching her now but she didn’t mind, she loved it. A lot of girls like guys to look at them because it made them feel desirable but for Mel it was more then that, she liked the act of actually being desired, knowing there was a someone who would do anything for her at the snap of her fingers. There was a comfort for her knowing that, it gave her the confidence to live and act the way she enjoyed to know there was someone like James as a safety blanket. She encouraged his infatuation sometimes, flirting with him and leading him on just to keep him interested so she could keep that feeling. Mel never really considered how her actions made James feel, this was not out of any cruelty or malice but simply due to the fact she was oblivious to the consequences of most things she did.
For his part James was pretty miserable about the whole situation. There’s nothing quite like having your hopes raised and dashed continually to keep you cheerful.
As James continued to watch, Mel and Rich talked about Rich’s girlfriend, who hadn’t been able to make it to the festival.
“I thought she was meant to be coming?” Mel enquired.
“Yeah but the dick head who was meant to be selling her his ticket backed out. So she’s stuck at home. She had a right spaz when she found out she wouldn’t be coming.” Rich explained.
“She had a spaz?”
“Yeah, she has a bit of a temper. It’s pretty scary.”
“Well at least you’re free to have fun without her here.” Mel said suggestively.
“But I don’t want to have that kind of fun. I’m going to have to try really hard to be good, I don’t want to cheat but I’m shit when I’m drunk.”
“Well no need to get down about it now, hun. What happens, happens. Worry about it later.”
“Thinking like that is what normally gets me in trouble.”
Mel grinned at him and the two continued to talk.
On the other side of the trash pile Phil hit James over the back of the head to get his attention. He jerked round, clearly unhappy, and proceeded to insult Phil’s mother.
“Go fuck yourself. Now get up, we’re going to the shops.” Phil responded
This idea appealed to James who had been looking forward to seeing more of the tent village and spending a lot of money on stuff he didn’t really need. He grabbed a couple of extra beers to take with him and then he and Phil set off walking down the camp site path.
The sun was beginning to dip low in the sky and throughout the camp site the paths were all illuminated by lights on streamers strung up on either side by giant poles. As he looked up at them James thought they looked rather like oversized Christmas lights.
As they walked James decided to question Phil about something he had thought of earlier.
“So I have a question.” He started.
Phil glanced round at him. “What?”
“You might think it’s a bit personal.”
“Dude, you once asked me if I’ve ever fingered my own bum. Does it really get anymore personal?”
“I still don’t believe you when you say you never tried it.”
“Why the fuck would I want to shove a finger up my own arse?”
“Every guy’s done it at some point. Just to see what it feels like.”
“I’m guessing it would feel pretty much like a shit does as it comes out.”
“So you have done it!”
“No but clearly you have.”
James shrugged. “I was curious.”
“Bi curious?”
“That’s actually what I wanted to ask you.”
“What?”
“When you and Luke talk about who you’d do and who you wouldn’t you always agree with him on way too many guys for a normal straight guy.”
“So?”
“So… are you gay?”
“Are you?”
“You know I’m not.”
“Oh yeah, Mel. How could I forget?
“Shut up and answer the question.”
“I can’t do both.” Phil decided to be pedantic.
“What?”
“I can’t shut up and answer the question. If I answer the question I won’t be shutting up and I can’t shut up if you want me to answer the question.”
“You’re a cock.” James laughed.
“Twat.”
“Arse.”
“Tit.”
“Fuck face.”
“Cunt muscle.”
“Bum hole.”
“Bum hole fingerer.”
“Touché.” James chuckled.
The two friends continued to trade casual insults as they walked. This was there custom when they were together, James thought it was one of the reasons the two had been able to become such close friends. It seemed to him that most people seem to find silence uncomfortable and it’s because of this most friendships stall, if you don’t feel comfortable with someone in silence then there’s only so far you can go as after a while everyone runs out of things to talk about. James and Phil weren’t really that comfortable with silence but they had found something to fill in those gaps where they didn’t really have anything to say, insults. It provided both of them with amusement and kept the uncomfortable silences at bay.
As they arrived at the tent village James’s attention was drawn to a huge map of the festival and he walked over to have a look. He saw most of the layout was how Anna had described it to him but the thing that most caught his attention on the map was the location of several funfairs throughout the campsite and arena.
“Hey, you didn’t tell me there were fairground rides here.” He shouted to Phil, who was over looking at a legal high store.
“Yeah, in the arena and there’s one over near Brown and Orange I think. Expensive though.” Phil absently replied while he perused the ‘herbal’ highs on sale.
James wandered over to see what had captured his attention. “Must be fun to go on when drunk though.”
Phil laughed as he remembered. “Yeah, I think it was Brian who tried that last year. He threw up on the waltzers, went all over him and this girl he was trying to impress.”
“Bet she wasn’t too impressed after that.” James laughed.
“No she was not.” Phil responded to James.
Phil continued to examine what was for sale with a startling amount of intensity. After a few minutes James began to feel a little bored.
“C’mon, are you really going to get any of this shit?”
Phil looked round. “Probably not.”
“Then what are we doing?” James asked in frustration.
“Just looking.” Phil said as he wandered away from the stall.
“Right.” James sighed.
James followed Phil as they looked round all of the stalls in the village. Once again James was impressed with the sheer amount and variety of what was on sale. He’d never thought he’d see shops at the festival, maybe just the odd food van. One of the shops they spent a fair amount of time at was one that sold t-shirts with amusing pictures and captions on them, James ended up buying one that said, ‘Necrophilia – The urge crack open a cold one.’. Crude and disgusting, it suited his and Phil’s sense of humour perfectly.
As they left that stall, still chuckling to themselves, a girl caught James’s eye. She was short with dark brown hair and a dyed red fringe, she had a young face with freckles and startling grey eyes. There was something in the way she carried herself that made her almost seem as if she was skipping on water. Dressed all in black her naturally pale skin looked almost white in comparison. Seeing this girl James couldn’t stop his face from breaking out into a large smile, he nudged Phil and nodded in the girl’s direction and Phil smiled himself. They angled their walk towards her but before they got very near she noticed them and let out a squeal that was only partially recognisable as James’s name. She ran towards him and jumped into his arms, James hugged her close and held her in the air for a good while as they embraced. When he let her down she immediately gave Phil his own extended hug and then stood back regarding the pair.
“Stevie! I can’t believe you’re here!” James exclaimed, pleased to see his friend.
Stevie wrapped James up in another hug, “I know, I haven’t seen you in ages! I’ve missed you J.” After letting go of James she looked at Phil and decided she couldn’t leave him out. “You too, Philly.” She said, hugging him too.
“Where are you camped? Are you here with Jesus?” James asked, happiness in his voice.
“Did someone say my name?” A blonde haired man, with hair to his shoulders and an impressive beard walked over. He looked a lot like man’s saviour.
As he walked up he put his arm around Stevie and gave her a quick kiss before hugging James and Phil.
“Man, it’s good to see you guys.” He remarked.
“Yeah, you too mate.” Phil replied.
“Where abouts are you camped?” James asked.
Jesus replied. “We’re up in Orange, we camped with Glen, Frankie and all them.”
Phil and James both chuckled. “Good choice. I’m guessing there’s a lot of beer drinking and guitar playing going on up there.” James added.
“Yeah, its great. Why don’t you guys come back with us for a bit? Will be fun.” Stevie asked.
Phil glanced at James who nodded. “Yeah, sounds good.”
The four friends turned and started walking as a group back towards the camp sites. As they reached they reached the beginning of Yellow they walked around the edge, to the left, towards the steep hill which lead to Orange.
While they walked they all talked and caught up. James spent most of the walk talking with Stevie while Phil and Jesus discussed they’re mutual enjoyment of certain illegal substances.
Stevie and James’s conversation was a little more personal. The two had always had a close bond and Stevie was one of the people James liked to confide in. After telling her where he was camped and who with their conversation turned to Mel. This is what usually happened when the two spoke, this time however there was not much to say as James was still in the same shit situation and not much had changed. Stevie gave James a small hug of sympathy as they walked and after that it was time to scale the hill.
Stood at the bottom James gazed up at the top. Up close it was a lot steeper then he had thought and as he watched people gingerly traverse it he was amazed that they could still do it with all of their luggage in tow.
“How’d you guys manage to drag all your shit up this hill?” He asked
“With great difficulty.” Jesus replied from in front of him.
“Yeah, I’ll bet.” He said starting to climb.
As he climbed the hill he followed behind Phil, Jesus and Stevie, who had all climbed this hill in the past and new the best route up. This was more or less walking straight up the hill, just to the side of the path leading up it, which by now resembled something more like a giant mudslide, and as he climbed he watched people slip and fall while trying to use the path.
Once they reached the top of the hill James was panting, it wasn’t a long distance but the steepness had really taken it out of him. He paused, hands on hips, to catch his breath. The others patiently waited for him, talking amongst themselves and catching their own breath. While they were all stood around James turned back to look where they had come from and for a second his jaw went slack as he caught sight of the view before him. Noticing his stare Stevie joined him in looking out at the view.
“It’s something, isn’t it?” She said.
“It really is.” James breathed.
Spread out before him was a spectacular view of Yellow camp site, leading up to the arena. With darkness setting in, the sun setting in the background and campfires beginning to sprout up it made for a truly remarkable view.
“Makes the climb almost worth it.” He remarked.
“Almost.” Stevie smiled crookedly at him.
James continued to stare unabashed, albeit by now fairly drunk, at the splendour of the view. It was one of those things that was truly unique to a festival, and it was an image that he would carry with him for a long time. His reverie was interrupted, however, by Phil and Jesus yelling at him to hurry up. They were impatient to get to the tents and drink some more. James reluctantly turned away and walked on to join them. He new he would be back to look at that view some more later.
*
Back in Yellow camp site Anna was laughing. To go along with her smile she had one of the worlds truly great laughs. She laughed with her whole body and to watch her face light up as she did so was to see true joy. In that way she was quite like James, they both liked to laugh more then anything else, to them there were few feelings that could compare.
The subject of Anna’s amusement was Rich, they were all drunk by now and Rich was breaking out his list of rude and inappropriate jokes that he liked to tell when he’d had a few too many. Listening to Rich, next to Anna, with his own smile was a new face, Mike. He and his buddy, Mitch, had arrived just after Phil and James wandered off to the shops and they had set up camp right next to their tent.
After erecting their own tent, which was one of those old fashioned up side down V shaped tents that had clearly seen better days, they introduced themselves to the group and joined them in drinking. Mike was sat with Rich and Anna while Luke and Brian were talking animatedly about bands off to a side. This left Mel and Mitch who were sitting a ways off by themselves, and as Anna glanced over, they seemed to be getting very close and intimate. She made a small grimace and then turned back to hear Rich’s next joke, which turned out to be racist and was really only funny because they were all way too drunk.
It was now full dark in the camp site, however due to their proximity to the path they had the benefit of the pathway lights to provide some mild illumination on their camp circle.
Even though they had light the night was still making it pretty cold to sit around. To remedy this Brian went into his tent and came out with several large pieces of wood and proceeded to make a fire over the trash pile. Anna wandered over to watch him.
“Where’d you get the wood?” She asked
“Brought it with me.” Brian replied, as he stacked the wood.
“Can’t you buy it here?”
“Yeah, but it’s ridiculous how much it costs. Got this from a tree my dad cut down last week, that makes it free.” Brian grinned up at her.
“Nice.” Anna remarked.
Brian finished stacking the wood and took out a box of matches, in preparation of lighting it.
“This isn’t going to go well.” Anna predicted.
Brian looked up at her quizzically. “What?”
“You, drunk and an open flame. It can’t end good.” She explained
Brian grinned at her. “You’re probably right, you might want to stand back.”
Anna saw the wisdom in this and took a few steps back as she continued to watch. Brian picked up a piece of newspaper from the trash pile and set it alight with a match. He then placed the burning piece of newspaper in the centre of the fire and watched in satisfaction as it set fire to the wood.
Anna let out a breath of surprise. “Wow, that went surprisingly well.”
“Thanks.” Brian replied.
“What we gonna do when this wood all burns out?”
“I got some more in my tent.”
Anna favoured Brian with a smile. “That’s some good planning.”
“Thanks.” Brian replied, what appeared to be a drunken flush appearing in his cheeks.
With the fire now burning merrily the group rearranged themselves around it. All apart from Mel and Mitch who told the group they were going for a walk and wandered off together. Anna watched them go and it didn’t take a great leap of her imagination to know what was going to happen with those two.
She turned back from watching them leave and stared into the fire for a while. The dancing flames held her rapt attention but what she saw in them only she knew.
*
Over the crackling of the fire James listened as the man sat opposite him strummed the first few notes of his song on the old and battered acoustic guitar. He recognised the song instantly and grinned as he nodded along to the opening of the song. As the guitar player approached the opening verse James quietly, almost to himself, sang the lyrics along with him. As he did he glanced to the side at Phil and saw he was doing the same. Then, as they came to the chorus, the two friends, as if cued by some unseen signal, started yelling out the worlds together, with true drunken enthusiasm.

None of this is going anywhere –
Pretty soon we’ll all be old,
And no one left alive will really care
About our glory days, when we sold our souls.

But if you’re all about the destination, then take a fucking flight.
We’re going nowhere slowly, but we’re seeing all the sights.
And we’re definitely going to hell,
But we’ll have all the best stories to tell.

Yes, I’m definitely going to hell,
But I’ll have all the best stories to tell.

They sang through the rest of the song that way as the ginger bearded guitar player grinned at them in open amusement.
“That was great.” He laughed.
“Yeah.” James said, his eyes bright and cheeks flushed. He was either in heat or getting steadily drunker. “Can’t beat a bit of Frankie T.”
“He does rock.” The guitar player agreed.
A voice came from behind James. “Do you have anymore songs for us, Glen?”
“Maybe later.” The ginger beareded guitar player responded.
As spoke James turned around and saw that it was Stevie who had asked the question, she was lying in Jesus’ arms in the door to their tent, a little way back from the fire. James smiled at them then took a long drink from the beer in his hand. Finishing it he threw it away and stood up.
“Ok.” He said swaying, drunkenly. “I think we should head back to our camp while we still can.”
Phil stood up next to him, also beginning to feel the affects of the drink. “That’s probably a good plan.”
James wandered over to Stevie and Jesus and gave them both a bending down hug while Phil said parting words to Glen and waved across to the couple. Then the pair wandered through the sea of tents in search of the path that would lead them back to their own campfire.
Back on the path once again they wandered towards the top of the slop that they would now have to descend. When they reached the top James was once again mesmerised by the view of the camp site that the hill provided for them. He and Phil stopped and took a moment to properly take in the sight before them. The sun had long since set and now the only illumination in the midnight blue sky came from a pearly white half moon, with support from many speckled starry companions. Still this light had little effect on the dark fields below. As they looked on they could see the pathway lights weave there way through the field, creating criss-crossing illuminated highways. Away from the lights camp fires were spotted everywhere, providing the same affect the stars did in the sky.
Taking all this in James turned to Phil.
“Impressive.” He said simply.
“Yeah.” Phil agreed.
After this exchange the two turned their attention to the slope and began to, gingerly, make their descent. Halfway down, due to a combination of drink and mud, James slipped and went down to one knee, on which he slid down a fair amount of the slope. As he watched from above Phil laughed in true appreciation of his comrades misfortune.
When he was able to stand again James saw his jeans from the knee down were now brown with mud, he turned around with a big drunken smile on his face to show Phil, causing him to continue chuckling as he finished his descent of the perilous slope.
Now both at the bottom they began the last part of their wandering journey back to their tent, Phil teasing James about his leg while they walked.
“Ha, ha. You have a muddy leg!” Phil started with.
“Wow, that’s imaginative.” James replied dryly.
Phil swayed as he responded. “Give me a break. I’m pretty drunk over here.”
Seeing his friend’s unsure balance James gave him a shove, which caused Phil to slip and fall to his knees himself. When he got to his feet again he had two muddy knees. He looked over at James, clearly not happy at what had just happened.
“Well, now you have two muddy legs.” James grinned as he mocked his friend.
“You’re a bastard.” Phil accused.
“Yes, I am.” James admitted, seemingly happy at the distinction.
The two friends bickered good naturedly as they wandered down the path towards their circle of tents. A short time later they stepped off the path, making their way past the girls tent and entered the circle where they were greeted by the site of their friends sitting round a fire, drinking and laughing.
They walked over and stood over their friends round the fire as they said they’re greetings. James’s eyes immediately searched for Mel and when he only found Mike, whom he didn’t know, his stomach lurched a little. He new what the answer to the question he was about to ask would be, but he couldn’t stop himself from asking. He looked down at Rich, who was sat closest to him.
“Where’s Mel?” He just couldn’t stop himself.
Rich was too drunk to be subtle. “She went off with Mike’s friend…”
“Mitch.” Mike supplied.
“Yeah, Mitch, they’re probably having sex somewhere by now.” Rich finished, half jokingly, before turning back to talking to Mike.
Hearing Rich’s assumptions about Mel caused James’s chest to constrict as a flood of emotion attacked it. While this wasn’t physically painful it was extremely unpleasant for him on a mental level. His face clouded over and he wandered away from the fire to the entrance to his tent, where he could sit by himself and have quick access to copious amounts of alcohol.
Anna was sat across the fire from this exchange but she followed it all. She watched James’s face intently and when she saw his reaction the news about Mel a wave of emotions washed over Anna’s face before she turned back to her conversation with Brian.
James opened another beer as he sat by his tent. He stared intently at the ground in front of him as a combination of jealousy and longing flooded through him, try as he might he couldn’t shake the sickly heart wrenching feeling that came with it. He took a long swig of beer, hoping in vain that it may dull the pain, however this was a situation he had been in many times before and he knew from experience that it wouldn’t. He lay back and stared up at the stars, resting his can on his belly. As he stared at the beautifully clear night his mind mused on all the things Mel could be doing at that moment, none of the thoughts were pleasant ones.
Phil was stood speaking with Luke when he glanced around the fire and noticed James was off laying down by himself. He also noticed the lack of Mel and he knew James well enough to get what was now going through his head. He also knew that if he left him alone James would end up obsessing on it all night. Knowing it was going to be up to him to cheer the miserable bastard up he finished up talking with Luke and wandered over to his depressed friend. He stood looking down at him for a moment, contemplating whether or not this would be an appropriate moment to drop an elbow in an attempt to start some play wrestling. He prudently decided it wasn’t.
Laying down next to his friend the two shared a silent moment staring up at the majesty of the lights that city dwellers rarely get to see.
“That’s pretty impressive.” Phil eventually said, breaking the silence.
James took a moment to answer, as if he was trying to figure out what Phil had been referring to before he answered. “Yeah. It’s like a whole different sky out here.”
“Reminds me of the Firefly theme.” Phil commented.
James responded by saying the opening words to the song out loud. “Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand. I don’t care, I’m still free, you can’t take the sky from me.”
After James trailed off Phil continued the song by saying the next verse. “Take me out to the black, tell them I aint coming back. Burn the land and boil the sea, you can’t take the sky from me.”
James chuckled quietly to himself. “It’s a good song.”
“It’s a good show.” Phil added.
“This is true.” Agreed James.
“That’s why I said it.”
“I bow to your wisdom.”
Phil noticed a mood shift James. “I sense sarcasm.”
“Yet more proof of your wisdom.”
“This conversation seems to have taken a bitter turn.”
“That’s not really a shocker.”
“I suppose.” Phil paused for a moment. “You thinking of Mel?”
“Yeah.”
“Sucks man, I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault.”
“I know. You seriously need to get over this though dude, it’s been going on for ages.”
“I know.”
“It’s not easy I know but if I can do it so can you. You remember Cunt-rag? I’m completely over her now.”
James couldn’t help but laugh. “Something tells me you still may be a little bitter.”
“Nah, I couldn’t give a shit about that bitch anymore.”
“Yet you still won’t use her name.”
“I did, Cunt-rag.”
James laughed again. “That’s just a little mean.”
“Yeah well she deserves mean.”
“She dumped you like a year ago. Shouldn’t the hatred have faded by now?”
“No.”
“Yet you still maintain you’re over her.”
“I am. I just want to cave her face in with a golf club.”
“If you were over her you probably wouldn’t want to do that anymore.”
“Why not? It’d be fun.”
“But that’s not the reason you want to do it.”
“It’s part of the reason.”
“Yeah, but it’s mostly because she broke your heart.”
“That’s why it’d be fun.”
“See, you’re still bitter.”
“Ok, I don’t really want to talk about this anymore.”
“Well I don’t want to talk about Mel either.”
“Okay, so we’ll just lie here quietly then.”
“Okay.”
The pair lay in silence for all of thirty seconds before Phil broke it.
“Wanker.”
“Bum hole.”
“Fuck head.”
“Ball licker”
“Bitch face.”
“Cockmunch.”
The insults continued in the same crude vein for some time and only ended when Anna wandered over and lay down on the other side of James.
“You two still doing that insult thing?” She asked.
“Of course.” Phil responded.
James finished his beer and sat up to reach for a new round from the tent. When he lay back down the conversation continued.
“So what have you two been talking about when not insulting each other?” Anna inquired.
The response came from Phil again. “Just the usual.”
“Mel.” Anna stated matter of factly.
“And Cunt-rag.” James supplied.
Anna grimaced. “You’re still calling her that? I don’t like that word. I thought you’d be over it by now.”
“Apparently not.” Phil replied, rather stiffly.
“Yeah, well you should move on.” She suggested
Phil was unsurprisingly sarcastic. “Sage advice.”
“I thought so.” Anna said, ignoring the sarcasm.
“If only it were that easy.” James, almost wistfully, added.
Anna turned her head to the side and looked at James, he was staring off into the sky, his eyes glassed over as he looked at something none of the others could see.
Looking back up to the sky herself Anna decided to shift the subject slightly.
“This is all getting a bit depressing.” She started.
“Yeah.” The other two agreed.”
“How about some new shit. You guys got your eye on any new girls?” She asked.
“Not me. I’m the same as always.” James answered first, “How about you?” He asked Anna.
“No. No girls.” She joked.
James smiled and glanced around at Anna. “Shame, that’d be hot.” This statement elicited a grunt of appreciative laughter from Phil before James continued. “Seriously though, anyone?”
Anna was quiet for a moment. “No. No one.”
James looked the other way at Phil. “How about you?”
Phil seemed to consider this for a moment. “I don’t know. Not seen any girls. Maybe I’ll trying being gay for awhile. Could have some fun with Luke.”
James chuckled. “Poor Luke, he’s had a crush on you for ages.”
“Yeah. Maybe it’s time I gave him a little.” Phil said, grinning himself.
“That’s awfully nice of you.” Anna joined in.
“Well I’m an awfully nice man.” Phil modestly replied.
“Clearly.”
The trio chuckled at this and then lapsed into silence. Staring up at they sky they listened to the unique noise of a music festival campsite. One thing that struck them all was once they took the time to actually listen it registered just how loud the whole thing was. Secondary to this was the sheer variety of the noise, from the different accents and dialects of people talking at the tops of their voices to the sheer variety of the types of music that could be heard blaring from CD players, campsite speakers and even the odd guy with a guitar. There were other, less distinguishable, noises as well, but it was up to each of their individual imaginations to guess what was making them.