Famous? Just a little.

6 The Picnic

I am sure you can imagine what our Saturday looked like. It pains me to admit it, but we didn't do anything but looking forward to Sunday, being excited and planning everything. When it was finally Sunday we got up ridiculously early, which wasn't even necessary, as the guys had given us enough time in the morning. Before ten everything was finished – the stuff was packed, the food looked as good as possible, and so did both of us. (We had picked our clothes the day before – pathetic I know, but we really wanted everything to be perfect.)

I spent the waiting time writing into my diary to get rid of all the emotions I was filled with. I do that almost every day, though I felt like I never had to tell anything interesting – until now. It was a good way to start or end the day – letting out all thoughts and feelings and hopes and anger and ... whatever. In this case it helped me to kill time without getting too excited (too excited means dying of nervousness, by the way).

This time Colin and Bradley came fifteen minutes to early and I tried to believe Amy who said they couldn't wait to see us. However, it seemed more likely to me that it happened by chance. They helped us carrying all the stuff to the car and we were ready to go. Bradley drove, Colin sat next to him and Amy and me behind them. Bradley turned on the radio where Paul Simon's Graceland was played. Surprisingly, we all knew the song and everyone had some parts of the lyrics in mind, so we just started singing (Bradley was the loudest, by the way). I guess it sounded terrible (actually "I'm going to Graceland" was the only line we got simultaneously), but it was such ridiculous fun and I just thought I had never enjoyed a drive like that.

After about 40 minutes we discovered a beautiful place that can only be described with one word: magical. (Of course I kept that one to myself, too obvious.) Okay, here are some more words to help your imagination: soft green grass, a lake shimmering in the sun, a little forest nearby. We put our blankets on the grass, as well as the food and plates and so on. Then we stood there for a moment, looking at the lake.

Amy smiled at me. "Come on." She took my hand and started running. We somehow managed to get rid of our shoes before we reached the water, where we cheerfully splashed at each other. It would have been weird afterwards, but Colin and Bradley joined us after a few seconds, which made it all even more fun. Yes, we were four grown-ups laughing and splashing water at each other like little children. We enjoyed ourselves.

It was Bradley who said it was time to eat. He looked completely satisfied with what we had packed (especially the amount of it) and both of the guys later told us they liked our cooking skills. It surprised me to see how down-to-earth they were. You could assume actors wouldn't do things like a picnic or "water-splash-battles", but they seemed to have as much fun as Amy and I. They played their roles as "normal people" pretty well – maybe, because that's what they actually were, if you forget about the fame and everything. They were just a pleasure to be around. Both of them were funny in their own way, but together they were just hilarious. We laughed the whole time. (The thing I noticed later was how Amy was a bit more drawn to Bradley's practical, direct way of joking, while Colin's dark sense of humour completely got me.) The guys also laughed about each other's jokes a lot, which made them look like brothers sometimes.

I noticed how I opened up more and more. That was unusual, because I didn't know them for a long time and it normally took me forever to be comfortable around people. Maybe it was because Bradley reminded me of my brothers so much. And Colin ... I don't know. He was just Colin. A part inside me knew I could trust him, well – in fact this part had made me trust him already. I had time to talk to him alone, when Bradley took Amy to the lake to throw her into the water. I knew he wouldn't really do it, which is why I didn't feel like I had to help her.

Colin and I watched them smiling.

"I think she meant summer, when she said she would like to go swimming here," he said.

"Yeah, Bradley got that obviously wrong," I replied.

We ignored my screaming friend and started talking, which was easier this time, as we knew each other better.

He looked at me curiously. "You said you used to do picnics with your siblings – how many do you have?"

"Three younger brothers."

"Is that exhausting?"

"It can be sometimes." I laughed. "But I'm used to it. And I love each one of them."

"Do you get to see them a lot?" he asked.

"I used to see them every day when I lived at home. I have moved to London only a month ago, but I haven't seen them in that time, so it's quite a change."

"Do you miss them?"

"From time to time." I shrugged. "What about you, do you have any brothers or sisters?" I was pretty sure the Internet had told me that he had a brother, but I wasn't meant to know that.

"A brother, Neil. He is older than me."

"Are you close?"

"Yeah, well, I don't get to see him that much. But the good thing is, when I do, I can still feel that there is this ... this bond between us. It doesn't change. It's not like we drift apart or anything, you know?"

I understood it. "It's the nice thing about siblings – you know them and they know you. Time can't change that. They will always make you feel home."

"Exactly." He had such a beautiful smile. "There's no reason to miss Neil anyway, I've got Bradley."

I smiled as well. It was just what I thought. "Bradley is like a brother to you."

"Well, he bullies me all the time, is that not what brothers do?"

"From my experience, yes." We laughed.

Amy and Bradley came back to us and ended our conversation.

"You two are having fun?" Bradley looked at Colin and gave him a wink.

I wasn't sure if I was wrong but it looked like Colin blushed a tiny little bit. "Yes and we don't have to be as loud as you," he said then.

"Bradley and I had an idea," Amy said. "We saw a boat over there, why don't we go for a little trip?" They showed us where the boat was lying and the two paddles they had found.

"I don't know," I said hesitantly. "It looks pretty old."

"Come on, it's gonna be fun." Bradley had already taken the step and stood in it. "See? It's fine."

Amy took his hand and followed.

"It's tottering," Colin said.

Bradley rolled his eyes. "Don't be such a coward, get in here."

Colin shrugged and then took the step. I still wasn't a hundred percent comfortable with that idea, but he reached out his hand, and after I had taken it my brain couldn't work properly, so I just did what they had done and we were all standing in this little, old, tottering boat. We carefully sat down and the guys started rowing. We soon reached the middle of the lake.

"I told you it would work," Bradley said satisfied.

I suddenly felt my feet getting wet. "Water!"

"Yes, June, there is water all around us."

"No, it's in the boat! Look!"

"Oh shit, she is right," Colin said alarming. "We need to get back!"

They started rowing faster, but the boat obviously had some holes and more and more water came in.

"We're sinking!" Amy screamed. Our feet were already under water. It seemed to be too late. Was our picnic going to end with a cold bath?

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So, that's the new chapter, I hope you like it. And I hope it doesn't have too many mistakes in it, there are words like "tottering" or "rowing" - I think I never used them before.
I love the song Graceland, especially the version above. I think it would just be a great picnic-song, I don't know why :)
Anyway, thank you for reading. Please vote and comment and I'm going to continue the picnic soon. It's so much fun writing it, almost like experiencing it myself.
And just to make you curious - there might or might not be some romance coming...

Niska