Please Don't Try and Turn On the Lights

2. The Rest of the Guys

            

Jamie guided me towards the guys who'd been yelling in excitement when Matt had held up the beers before.

The first thought that came to mind was how much clothes they were all wearing!! Matt was the one wearing the least amount - and he was still wearing a few layers.

"Hey guys," Jamie said and put his hand between my shoulder blades, "meet Rhea"

I smiled and did a small awkward wave to them. The guys were sitting in a small arrangement of benches under a huge sunshade.

"Hiya there," a guy in a crazy-coloured silk shirt said. I took his outstretched hand "Miles," he said.

I took the next hand that was offered to me, "Nick," a guy with long brown hair said. He was the only one not wearing sunglasses, which I liked. I hated not being able to see people's eyes.

"So, you guys are the Arctic Monkeys?" I asked nervously.

"Naaaaah," Miles shrugged, "these guys are," he gestured to Nick, Matt and Jamie. "I'm just tagging along, love," he said, taking a sip of his beer.

"I thought you guys were four in the band?" I asked, a bit confused. Was I comparing them to some other band?

"Yeah, where is Al?" Matt said with a concerned expression on his face.

"Oh, you know.." Miles held his index finger up to his nose, and tapped it twice. I understood.

Matt groaned, "I wish he'd stop with that shite.."

The guys were quiet for a few seconds and I could tell they were all really concerned about this Al guy who aparently had gone to get his fix.

Miles was the first to break the silence, "So love," he clapped his hands and looked at me, "you a solo artist?" Miles was clearly the Scouse friend that Jamie had mentioned earlier.

"Uhm...No. I'm just a regular guest at the festival, actually," I laughed nervously, "Jamie helped me out of a pickle earlier and invited me to join you guys since I'm here on my own".

"Ah, Cookie.. Always down to help out a damsel in distress," Miles wiggled his eyebrows at Jamie whose face turned red.

Suddenly, Miles eyes fixed on a point behind me, his face erupted in a large grin"Ah! There he is! Alex Turner! The man of the hour" he exclaimed, making the rest of us whip around to see who he was talking about.

The man who we were all staring at was, like Jamie and Nick, wearing a leather jacket, a T-shirt and Chelsea boots. His hair was sorted in a 50's hair do with black strands of hair falling over the black Aviator Ray Bans he was wearing. His face was curled in a sour expression as he nodded a greeting to his friends, "lads.." he said. He didn't seem to notice me at all.

"Did ya find what you were looking for?" Miles asked him.

Alex nodded slowly, "yeah. Need to find a lavatory," he dawdled.

Matt offered Alex a beer but he refused by holding a hand up in a stop-motion, "Give me a minute," he said dully.

"Suit yourself," Miles said, "but before you go, say hi to Rhea."

Alex held out his hand and I took it, "Alex," he said, "nice to meet you" not a sincere tone in his voice.

"Rh-" I was about to introduce myself but this Alex guy had already let go of my hand and was heading towards the lavatories.

"Don't mind him," Matt said and offered me the beer that Alex had declined, "he's not usually like this. He must be moody today."

Grateful for Matt's kind words, I took a large gulp of the beer before turning my attention to the guys in front of me who had already struck up conversation as if Alex had never sucked the life out of the party. I quickly felt comfortable around the other guys and found that they all were fun to be around.

I talked a lot with Miles and found out we had grown up close to each other and actually had attended the same elementary school just a few years apart. Jamie was cool too and I quickly found that he had some very interesting viewpoints.

By the time Alex finally returned from the lavatory, I felt comfortable with Nick, Matt, Jamie and Miles who had convinced me to stay for another beer.

Alex approached us slowly and I could already tell that his mood had improved drastically. Now that he had gotten his fix, he had a sort of swagger about him and he oozed with confidence. Alex placed himself behind Matt and started rubbing his shoulders as if Matt was a boxer.

"Feeling better, yeah?" Miles asked him.

Alex nodded and gave a short sniffle before sitting down next to Matt.

"Al.. be careful or you'll start spiraling againg," I heard Matt mumble to Alex.

"I have it under control," Alex said through gritted teeth, "I swear!"

"Control or not, I'd still wish that you'd stop," Matt sighed.

"Not now, Matt", Alex said and pulled out his phone.

"Is he always like that?" I whispered to Jamie while gesturing to the very sour-looking Alex who now seemed to be overly interested in his phone.

"Nah, he's going through some stuff," Jamie sighed, "He's genuinely a good guy".

-

We stayed in the arrangements of benches under the sunshade for most of the day. Every time I was done with one beer, another beer was quickly handed to me by one of the guys. Around 6 p.m. I could feel myself getting a bit tipsy. The guys were wonderful to hang around and I hoped that they didn't mind me tagging along.

"Excuse me Rhea," Jamie said and got up from the bench, "it's not that your story isn't interesting but I just need to take a piss," he made the rest of us laugh.

Alex took Jamie's old seat next to me, and started staring at me. I found this father rude but continued telling my story to the rest of the lads. As I spoke, I could feel Alex' piercing eyes on the right side of my face, making it hard for me to word my story correctly. Thankfully, I managed to splutter my way through the tale without embarrasing myself too much.

I turned my attention towards Alex who was still staring rudely at me. Uhm...hi," I said nervously. I didn't know if it was the drugs or if this guy just had confidence enough to stare directly at people, "can I help you with something?" I asked him.

"Look, I'm sorry about earlier," Alex said, "I didn't mean to be rude and I don't want you to get the wrong impression of me. You being Jamie's bird and all, I mean."

"Jamie's bird?" I laughed, "I'm not his bird"

"Oh yeah?" He said, a small smile playing on his lips.

I chuckled, "No, he just helped me out earlier is all."

"Good," Alex said.

"Good?"

"Yeah, Good!" he said and took a sip of his beer.

I looked at him with a puzzled expression but he just smirked at me. Somthing about him was captivating but I stilk found him quite rude. I had no idea what to say to him and was overtly happy when Nick brought all of our attentions on himself by raising his glass yelling out "CHEERS!"