No Idea (@carolimelda)

5. The Memory of One Summer

Alex's POV

I’ve always liked summer. The heat of the sun on my skin, the loud voice of kids making their way up to the party scene, and the most important part: the festivals. I like it more when we – All Time Low – get the chance to play on stage with the variety of great bands touring along with us. I always feel incredibly glad to see the look in the kids’ faces when they were all standing in front of the stage; cheering, singing along, making it looked like seeing us was worth the heat. I like the way I get to meet up with so many great personalities, making new friends, and just generally having fun the entire summer.

Even though I’ve had so many unforgettable summers, there’s this one summer I will never forget.

It was in the middle of August a couple years back down the road. The sun was so intense, the heat prickled on my skin. I have my sleeveless yellow top and skinny jeans on, getting ready to face the crowd. The booming voice of people laughing, yelling, and bantering can already be heard from the back stage. Zack jumping up and down, gulping down his beer as a routine before we get on stage. Jack was walking around, poking his nose on everyone’s little chat, and then just walked away easily when he wasn’t interested at the topic. Rian laughed on his phone, he held a stupid grin on his face, making it clear that he was talking to Cassadee over the phone. I sighed, calming my nerves down by remembering pieces of lyrics in my head, picturing the crowd getting excited, jumping up and down as we do too. I was more than ready when it was our time to get on stage. I held my breath with excitement as the crowd cheered with high-pitched screams of our names.

The show went better than I expected, really. Rian sat at the back with his drum set with a huge toothy grin. Zack played some tunes with a little happy smile as Jack and I threw our usual banter. My eyes scanned the crowd as sweat creeping up on my forehead; Jack was just talking about us getting drunk and did some unexplainable things when I spotted a girl in the front row of the crowd, getting squeezed to the barrier as she stretched out her small hands.

See, I don’t usually keep my eyes on just one audience. I keep my eyes trailed to the whole crowd just to make sure I am paying attention to all of the kids that had made an effort to come to one of our shows. But that day, I just couldn’t keep my focus to the whole bunch. My eyes would just keep averting back to the brunette I saw. She was tiny. Her height didn’t match up with her surroundings. Her dark brown hair was tied to a messy bun, probably because of the heat. She would scream every now and then, her eyes sparkled with excitement as the music picked up. The odd thing was, she didn’t even realized I was looking at her. She seemed to be more interested in watching Jack running around, or Zack jumping up and down, showing his bulk and muscles, or Rian throwing around his drumsticks crazily. She would glance at my direction sometimes over the set, but she never seemed to realize my stare.

When the show ended that day, I decided to walk around the festival. That’s the other thing I like about festivals. The place would always become so crowded that people wouldn’t notice their surroundings. Band members can walk around easily without attracting any special commotion. That’s what I usually do anyway. I like to look around at the stands, or just to treat myself with the foods.

I bit my last piece of hotdog when my eyes found the tiny brunette I saw earlier. I stopped my legs from moving further, keeping my ground, watching the girl looking around like a scared puppy. She ran her hand through her hair as she flicked her phone with a frustrated look on her face. She looked around nervously with her left hand keeping her little handbag close to her. The crowd pushed her around and sometimes she got lost in the middle of the sea of people and popped back up again once the streets cleared out.

Swallowing an amused laugh, I walked my way to her direction, hands in my pocket, preparing a grin on my face.

“Hi” I ducked a little, leveling my lips to her ear.