the Poplar and the Gothic

8.

~ Too shy to say, but I hope you stay. - Billie Eilish ~

Before they headed to the concert, Vivian jumped into the store to get two beers.
"The last concert I went to was when Troye Sivan was touring Europe. It wasn't too long ago, but I still miss concerts." She commented as soon as she swallowed a sip of beer from her can.
"I went to a couple of concerts, but only those with tecno music. I was jumping around enjoying the music and the crowd because I was so drunk until I wasted all my energy reserves. I usually was already half drunk when I got there. I don't remember a lot of them." They both burst out laughing. Kai quickly drank off his beer and started the car. Then he asked Vivian to turn on the navigation to show them the way to the concert of a certain Mahmood, an Italian singer, none of them had never heard of. They both liked the music they found of the Internet even though they couldn't understand a single word. The rhythm seemed to them a good reason for going to the concert. Since they were both explorers of their whereabouts, they didn't defend themselves from another attempt of exploration.
As soon as they entered the enclosure - the concert was held outdoors - they stepped into a huge crowd. The stage seemed miles away. Everywhere around, people were moving in the same rhythm, couples were kissing, some holding banners or flags of LGBTQ+ community and some dead drunk lying or sitting on the ground. Altogether it seemed the most normal picture to describe festivals in general.
Vivian and Kai were holding hands so they wouldn't get lost in the crowd. Kai went first and made their way through the crowd. At Vivian's request, he tried to get as close as possible to the stage and the performer. The sun was slowly approching the horizon, and Vivian and Kai found the right spot only about 15 minutes after the concert began. They indulged in the sounds of songs they had been listening in the car for the last two hours in the car. Vivian's hands rose to the sky and she closed her eyes. The song Il Nilo nel Naviglio sounded heavenly unreal, just the way her life felt at that moment.
"Would you like to go have a drink with me?" Kai asked loudly to her ear when the day was almost over. She was thisty herself, but she didn't have time to think about her physiological needs when her psychological ones were satisfied. She agreed to go look for the drink and intuitively took his hand. Again, as before, Kai made their way for the two of them through a mass of people of all kinds of behaviors.
"Alcohol or will we be healthy tonight?" She asked, jumping so she could catch hus ear.
"I don't care!" He said, trying to override the music. She then thought about not knowing him well enough to get drunk with him in the middle of nowhere. Besides they both had already had beer earlier that night.
"Two bottles of water, please!" She shouted to the girl who was selling drinks. She had to speak extremely loudly even though the girl was standing just across the counter. She quickly handed her the bottles of water, Vivian paid and handed one of them to Kai. He stood behind her the whole time, staring at the stage. He was surprised to see that she chose water but he didn't mind the least. He bent over to her and hugged her, thanking her for guarding him. She threw her head back, her eyes closed, with a wide smile and along with Mahmood sang "Non e colpa mia sei sono fatto cosí!" She then swayed to the rhythm of the music, rested her head to Kai's arm that lay around her neck. She wrapped her arm around his waist. Then she lifted her phone in the air with the other hand and started making way in a stereotypical way.