What Happens in Glastonbury

Him

  It was freezing, but to be honest it was nice to be out, I was glad Zoe had talked us into it as we walked along the pavement towards Hanson's we chatted and giggled and it reminded me how much I already loved these girls, I felt like I'd known them forever, some things were just meant to be and finding each other and being friends for the rest of our lives was one of them.

It was already 8.53pm as we walked into Hanson's bar, our favourite place in the world to dance, the bar wasn't that big, but Zoe knew the owner and he always reserved us our favourite table in the back corner, right next to the dance floor and right at the end of the bar. Perfect.

As we walked in, I took a quick scan, it was way busier than usual. It was only a Thursday night, which was usually quiet but that night it was busier than a bank holiday weekend! I wondered why. There were tonnes of groups of girls, some looked too young to even be in a bar.

"What's up in here tonight?" Asked Jee, noticing the same irregularities that I had.

"Not sure, like a hen party or something?" I asked, just as confused, it didn't really seem like a hen party, there was a kind of excitement in Hanson's, something was going on and we were totally out of the loop.

We made our way to our table which was thankfully still free despite the number of people in there, but usually two rectangular tables pushed together there was only one.

"Hey Sam" called Zoe, Sam, the owner, looked up briefly, he could barely hear her over the music and was rushed off his feet serving people.

"I'm kinda busy right now Zo!" He yelled back

"Sam, where's our other table?" She shouted back

Sam just nodded towards a crowd stood around what Zoe assumed was our other table!

"Rude!" Groaned Zoe annoyed someone else had our table despite not being able to see who was sat at it.

Around thirty minutes later it had oddly quietened down a lot, Sam brought over two bottles of wine and placed them down on the table,

"Sorry Zo, it's busy I had to give the table to a bunch of guys that came in, they were being hounded by girls and asked to sit in the back" explained Sam, as he spoke, I noticed Zoe's hand creeping into the back pocket of his black jeans, I was sure there was something going on with them. I knew Sam was newly married in the summer, but I suspected they'd known each other for many years and something casual had been going on for a long time. Zoe always denied it and brushed off my questions as stupid. She would often say things like

'Sam! God no! He's like a brother to me, I'm just nice to him so he keeps reserving our table and giving us free drinks!' But I knew she wasn't telling me something. I knew she would tell me when she was ready, perhaps it was too hard to admit now that he was married, maybe it was the age gap, she was 20, he was 30, maybe she didn't want us to think badly of her. I didn't. Things happen, not always things that should happen, but they do and once there are feelings involved it's hard to stop them. I knew that. I understood, I wasn't an angel myself. I'd have supported her whatever was going on, but I wasn't going to push her for information, I'd just be there if she needed me. But as I watched her looking up at him as he told us about how busy and weird the evening had been, I could see in her eyes that there was a story there for sure.

"Who are they? Why was it so crazy in here tonight?" I asked Sam

"I don't know, but I think there's some super famous boy band playing next door, it's quietening down now, most of them have gone next door for the concert" explained Sam

"Oh" I replied that explained a lot. The streets were always so much busier when someone big was playing.

The Symphony Music Hall was right next door to Hanson's, an old iconic music venue that had hosted some of the greatest musicians of all time, Elton John, David Bowie.... Britney Spears!... what? Britney is a legend!

It was a beautiful stone building adorned with ornate detailing and stone statues, it looked like a museum from the outside with big stone steps leading up to it and pillars lining the front. The concert hall inside was quite small and you could stand right against the stage, no barricade, nothing between you and the musicians, it was up close, intimate, it made for a unique experience that people seemed to love.

"I gotta get back to the bar" said Sam

"Have a good night ladies" he added. I saw him look Zoe in the eye as he turned to walk away.

She turned back to me innocently, I raised my eyebrows and laughed

"What?!" She snapped, playfully

"Nothing" I smiled, she knew I knew, maybe it would help her along the way to know she had a friend if she needed me.

I looked over at Jee, I knew she knew too.

Zoe grabbed me by the arm

"Come on let's dance, I love this song" she shouted over the music

"Hang on, I need a drink!" I replied

Jee poured the wine into the glasses Sam had brought over, we each downed the whole glass as quickly as possible and headed to the dance floor, which was still quite crowded despite half the people leaving for the concert.

Every now and then I looked over at Sam behind the bar and caught him watching Zoe dance. I needed to know their story more with every glance I caught between them. I felt like it was going to be some kind of epic love story that you only find in the pages of books. A love that had been there since they were young, growing up together but circumstances meant they never got together, and their lives went in different directions until one day they met up again and the feelings were still there except stronger this time and now that they're older there is sexual tension there too and I was so completely lost in their love story that I had created in my own head that I didn't even see him coming.

"OUCH!" I groaned as someone pushed past me, almost knocking me off my feet, I knew heels on a school night was a mistake! Someone grabbed my arm, steadying me and stopping me from falling flat on my face!

"I'm so sorry, are you ok?" Asked a male voice, with an accent, I turned to find myself in the arms of a dark-haired man, his long wavy fringe falling over his face, he was tanned, obviously not from London! No one gets a tan like that in London. He was wearing dark eyeliner, which I might have thought was slightly odd, but my attention was taken by his eyes instead. He had the brightest, bluest, most mesmerising eyes I'd ever seen. He was wearing a leather jacket, which was now stuck to my clammy arms.

I quickly stood up on my own, moving out of his embrace, embarrassed, I turned to face him. Woah! I thought as he smiled at me.

"Are you ok? I'm really sorry, I have to move quickly, or I can't get through the crowds that follow me around everywhere!" He said, rolling his eyes at the crowd of girls that had indeed formed around us.

"Uh, that's ok, don't worry, I'm fine" I was just embarrassed and confused

"You sure?" He asked, I nodded

"Ok, I gotta go but I'll be back later, if you're still here I'll buy you a drink as an apology" he smiled

"Thanks" I smiled back politely watching the odd scene play out in front of me, a big man dressed in black came up behind him, grabbing him by the shoulders he dragged him through the crowd and outside

That was weird I thought.