candy apples [rewriting]

three: bang the drum: lorde and others

a/n: pic on the side is from when i saw lorde.

-
11th December
-
WHEN I get up, the rest of my family is already up and eating breakfast in the kitchen.

not a good sign.

the kettle has just been boiled, so i pour the hot water into a travel mug with an earl grey tea bag, put nutella on my bread without toasting it first, and run out of the house without a second glance at the clock, silently praying that i had read it wrong.

• • •

"shit!"
i trip over the kerb, mid-sip, and spill tea down my front.

"shit shit shit shit shit shit," i say frantically, and zip up my jumper so as to hide the fact my shirt is now transparent.

drew, is once again counting the seconds that i'm late by and glaring at me as i rock up at the park seventeen
minutes and thirty three seconds late.

i apologise, and in the car decide that life would be easier if drew just came to my house in the mornings, instead of relying on my...unreliable memory.

• • •

the drive is extremely short - just around the corner even, and the festival is still being set up when we get there.

drew pulls up in one of the many empty parking spaces and reaches into a cup holder and grabs out two sweating, unopened coke cans. he offers me one. i accept and open it while he turns on the radio. the coke is so cold it hurts my teeth.

"what did you do yesterday?" drew asks me after a long drink from the can and turning down the volume on the radio.

"i babysat for the next door neighbours two year old and then binge watched reality tv til two a.m. you?" drew laughs and takes another gulp.

"i went christmas shopping. i bought felix a new video game and james isn't spending christmas with us. i'll still get him something, but i'll get it after christmas when everything's on sale." he winks at me and i laugh. "anyway, what did you get for anna?"

i hadn't actually thought about this yet. "nothing yet. but she'll probably walk into the chemist on the 24th and buy the cheapest she sees first and a bag of black jellybeans. and she knows i hate black jellybeans."

"i-" drew is cut off buy a car horn. and another one. and another. i glance in the rear view mirror and see that the carport is totally packed. the festival is fully set up and the people are pouring in.

there is a banner that reads 'bang the drum live music festival' with the name if the radio station we were listening to underneath it. i walk up to a stall filled with flyers and grab one. it reads

BANG THE DRUM
a two day music festival

FEATURING:

LORDE!!!
FOLLOWED BY:
GLASS ANIMALS • JANE TYRELL
GERARD WAY • RÜFÜS
REMI • BROODS

AND MANY MORE!

i show drew and we both get excited about lorde. i check the time, and find out its on last, meaning i'll have to stay both days.

"i believe," i say matter-of-factly to drew, "that you might have forgotten to mention its TWO DAYS long. am i right?"

he sucks in air through his teeth, making a hissing sound. "oh yeah. about that. you might want to text your mum. i brought sleeping bags, though."

i sigh and walk to a stand selling fresh juice.

• • •

drew got very excited when gerard way came on, singing along at the very top of his lungs during professional grievers. there was a lot of bands i had never heard of, or didn't care about playing at the festival, during which i caught up on sleep, however at 2 am when broods came on to as an intro to lorde, both drew and i were very awake.

when the broods act finishes, lorde walks on and is closely followed by the opening beats of glory and gore and starts singing. drew looks about as excited as an eight year old on christmas morning, and when i let out a squeal of excitement during the first chorus i realise i must look the same.

during the fourth song (400 lux) i point out to drew a cute couple. a tall, skinny boy with a fall out boy t-shirt and a girl with blue hair. they kiss at the end of the song and i sigh, smiling. i recognise the girl from school. she notices me and waves. i wave back and make a heart shape with my hands. she laughs and turns her attention back to her boyfriend.

"i think," says drew, coming back from the drink stall with two pepsi's in his hands. "that i most definitely ship those two."

• • •

drew drives me home at half past four in the morning, and i come in slowly, tiptoeing so as not to wake anyone up. i walk over to my calendar once in my room and cross of two dates this time.

a/n: yES I WENT THERE AND COMBINED TWO STORIES. MAAAAJOR ANONYMOUS REFERENCE. dedicated to mariam because twelve ways to spend ones christmas eve is one of, if not the best story i've read on here. this is currently unedited so there is probably some mistakes. feel free to point them out :).