Memorıes Lıke These

Chapter Nine

"Enjoy the show!" The security guard said, handing us back our tickets. After twenty minutes of waiting, we were allowed to enter through the gates. The concert was outside and there was a large concrete and grass space and a huge stage. People were everywhere and the sky was getting darker. Lorna grabbed onto my arm excitedly and squeezed it hard.

"This is so cool! The whole atmosphere of everything is amazing! Thank you for bringing me here, Tristan! Thank you!"

I smiled, happy that Lorna was happy and I scanned the small wooden posts that held letters from A-V on them. I found the R and pulled Lorna along with me until we were safely standing in the row that was R. We weren’t that far from the stage, but lots of people were in front of us. I turned to Lorna.

"If you can’t see, I’ll hold you up on my shoulders."

She looked back at me strangely. “You can’t hold me up!” She laughed. “And I’ll be fine.”

I ignored her. “No, if you can’t see just tell me.”

"I’ll still be able to hear." She said calmly. "I’m not going to make you hold me up for the whole concert! You won’t be able to dance with me!"

I laughed. “Okay, okay. But if you-“

She nodded. “I’ll tell you, don’t worry.”

There was a loud cheer and Lorna strained her neck to see what was going on. People threw their hands in the air and I heard a loud voice coming over the speaker, followed by a soft guitar beat. Lorna screamed beside me.

"IT’S THEM! ITS THEM!"

I looked at the stage and sure enough, Snow Patrol were walking on. The lead singer was speaking into the microphone, welcoming us and explaining how many songs he would sing and the crowd cheered again. 

It wasn’t a proper concert, more of a live band playing. Nobody was opening for them and there wasn’t a huge wait or anything else. Just a stage, a crowd, and a band. Snow Patrol started singing and Lorna immediately started jumping up and down and singing along. I recognised the song as Hands Open, but really I had just got the tickets because of Chasing Cars.

The music was loud, but somehow I could still hear what Lorna was saying to me quite clearly. “THIS IS SO AMAZING!” She cried. “Everyone looks like they’re having so much fun!”

And they did. Almost everyone in the crowd was jumping up and down and singing along. I felt Lorna grip my arm again and I felt her warm breath in my ear.

"Dance with me."

And so I did.

I don’t know if I have ever danced so hard in my life. We jumped, we screamed, we did everything possible to just have a good time. Three songs down, we weren’t even tired. Then the start of the song we knew so well started.

And Lorna screamed.

Not like her other screams. This scream was full of so much excitement that it was like everything in her body was tingling. She threw her hands up in the air and kept screaming. “TRISTAN! TRISTAN! TRISTAN!”

“We’ll do it all-”

"OH MY GOD, TRISTAN!"

"Everything, on our own. We don’t need-"

     "TRISTAAANNN!"

I just laughed and turned to her. Then when I knew the chorus was coming up, I leant in close to her and whispered, “go wild, babe.”

And so we did.

"IF I LAY HEEEEEEEERE, IF I JUST LAY HERE, WOULD YOU LIE WITH ME AND JUST FORGET THE WORLD?" She yelled at me, drowning out the actual band.