Restoring Force

The next morning at 10am, Remmy and I stood in an already obnoxious line, patiently waiting for our tickets to be scanned.

"I'm so pumped! Are you pumped?! I'm so fucking pumped!" She squealed, gripping my arm and doing some sort of excited jumpy thing.

"Remmy, my arm. Let go of my arm. You're bruising it. Let go."

"Sorry!" She breathed, not really paying attention, while releasing her grip.
I pulled my arm into my chest to make it feel better. It didn't work.

-

A few hours had passed, and Remmy had buggered off again somewhere to see another band she enjoyed. I had watched one set earlier, and that was enough for me. My head was throbbing and some asshole kept stomping on my feet.

I took a long sip of water and pulled my iPhone out to check the time, it was only 5 o'clock. Well damn, there was still a long tim to go before I could curl up in bed and be alone with my thoughts.

Just then, someone ran by me and snatched up my cell, before quickly bolting in the other direction. I jogged a few steps after them but lost their head almost immediately in the large crowd. God dammit, I fucking hated people.

"Shit." I hissed, putting both hands on top of my head, and walking in a circle trying to calm myself down. What if Remmy needed me, or got hurt and called? What if she wanted to leave? What if she got taken, or-- No. She'll be fine. It was me that needed to pull it together and figure out what to do.

I smoothed the back of my dress and sat down in the shade of a large tent, leaning my head back against the chain link fence. Eyes still shut.

"Uh.. Are you okay?" A male voice questioned.

I pried one eye open and glanced up at him. He was staring down at me, one eyebrow cocked.

Putting on a fake smile, along with some confidence, I replied, "Yeah, of course. Thank you for asking."

He came closer and bent down, dropping one knee to the ground so we were at eye level. Then, in a serious tone, he said, "You have sunscreen on your face."

I was taken aback by his statement. "What? No I don't, I didn't even wear suns--"

Something cold hit me on the tip of the nose.

"See, sunscreen, right there." He broke into a grin, and smeared more onto my face from the small container he held in his hands.

I broke into a smile despite the circumstances, and swatted his fingers away.

"Stop! S-stop it!" I stammered between fits of giggles as he rubbed more and more onto my nose. "Knock it off!" I laughed.

He pulled away and stood up, wiping his sunscreen-covered hands onto his pants, and setting the empty bottle on a nearby table. I attempted to wipe as much of it off as I could, As he reached down and offered me his arm to help me up.

"Alan." He said, as he pulled me to my feet. "Alan Ashby."

"The names Katherine." I replied, with a small grin.

"Well, people just call me Kat... So just.. You know, call me that." I stuttered out lamely, brushing myself off. Not really caring that I sounded like an idiot after he just coated my face in greasy sun block.

"Kat? I love cats." He said, "and so that means I like your name." Alan said, looking down at our shoes. "I like your shoes too."

"Oh, um, thank you. Your name.. And uh, your shoes are nice too."

He wiped his hands off one more time and said, "Well, it was nice to see you smile for real, instead of that fake bullshit one earlier. But I gotta get going, it was lovely meeting you Kitty-Kat." He winked, and walked away, slipping behind a tent, and disappearing.

What.. I shook my head. What just happened? Reaching into my bag, I began searching for my phone, so I could text Remmy and tell her what I just experienced with a famous guitarist. But then I remembered, some creep at this venue had it tucked away somewhere. I was angry all over again.

As I pulled my hand out of my backpack, something nipped my finger.

"Ow! Jesus!" I yelped pulling my hand out and putting my finger in my mouth, greeted by the metallic taste of blood... And sunscreen.

Paper cut. But from what? I looked in through the top hole and saw the demon piece of paper that had sliced my hand.

I grabbed it with my free hand and unfolded it on my knee, revealing a phone number. and a handwritten note that read: Call me doll :)

I smiled to myself, and wondered how he had managed to slip it into my bag without me knowing.

Despite meeting Alan, I was still worried about Remmy, and I needed to find her, or at least get a phone, to contact her. I walked over to the closest tent bustling with people and squeezed into line behind a group of younger girls, hoping to god that someone at the front would let me use their phone.

When I was finally up, I was greeted by a younger guy with large hair. And when I say large hair, I mean large hair. It was an aqua blue colour that reminded me of cotton candy, quite honestly.

"Your hair is really cool." I told him, with a thin smile.

"Why thank you," he grinned, "so is yours."

I thanked him politely and cut to the chase. "Do you have a phone?"

"Of course I do," he raised his brow. "Why? You hitting on me?" He laughed. "I mean, the least you could do is buy me a drink first!" Scoffing he pulled it out of his pant pocket, holding it in front of my face, between his thumb and forefinger.

I laughed, starting to feel uneasy at the amount of people that had gathered behind me, getting impatient.

"Mine got stolen by some prick. I was just checking the time and... yeah. I need to find the girl I came here with." I told him.

"You can use it if you want, but you should come around and stand beside me so these people can get by you." He gestured to his side and handed me his phone as I came around the side of the table.

"I'm Jason," he said. "I do youtube things."

I smiled at him, "It's nice to meet you, I'm Kat." We shook hands and I opened his phone, searching for the call app.

When I found it, I entered Remmy's number in the keypad, (having it memorized since we were little) and it began to ring. And ring. And ring. And ring. And ring.

She didn't answer.

I cursed and tried again, around the fifth ring she picked up, and I heard her shout, "HELLO!?"

"It's me! Thank god you answered!" I said, flooding with relief.

"OH HEY KAT! WHOS PHONE ARE YOU ON?"

"I borrowed it, mine was stolen."

"WELL DAMN, THAT SUCKS." She shouted over the noise in the background. "WHERE ABOUTS ARE YOU?"

I covered the speaker and tapped Jason's shoulder. He turned to me slightly, "Yeah?" He semi-whispered.

"Where are we?"

"Oh!" He laughed, and added in the same hushed tone, "Of course. We're in the purple Stay happy stay weird tent. Tell your friend to stop by and say hi."

"Okay," I shrugged, "I will, thank you."

Uncovering the speaker, I spoke to Remmy again. "The purple youtube tent."

"OKAY. I KNOW WHERE THAT IS, I'LL MEET YOU THERE. DON'T MOVE." She hung up, and I could almost picture her bursting through the crowd, and sprinting over here. The thought made me smile.

"Jason?" I tapped his shoulder again. I didn't know If I actually wanted to go see another band play, but I kind of wanted to see Alan again. As weird as that sounded.

"Das me." He answered.

I smiled and looked down at him, placing the phone on the table. "Thank you for letting me use your phone."

"It was not a problem." He said, picking it up and putting it back in his pocket.

"Do you happen to know what time Of Mice & Men are playing at?"

He paused "Uh.. Lemme check..." Digging around a bin beside him, he pulled out a schedule. I waited patiently for him to find their times. "Like 5 minutes ago." He looked up at me. "You better get going."

Remmy barreled around the corner just then, nearly knocking someone over. I watched her mouth a sorry to them quickly, before hurling herself towards us, barely stopping when she reached the table. A few people in the line glared at her as she passed.
A huge grin plastered to her face, that captivated Jason's attention.

"Hey Kat!" She exclaimed out of breath. Then looked down and saw who I was sitting beside.

"Veeoneeye! Big fan! Nice to meet you!" She extended her arm politely and he took it, casually mentioning how lovely she looked.

"Rem, come on, there's someone I'd like to see." I muttered, exiting the tent and pushing my way through the people meandering around. "Thanks again, Jason!" I called back not turning around, a tad frustrated, and jealous of Remmy once again.

She was always that girl that guys did double takes on. Always. I was just the 'Emo friend." Okay bud, emo my ass.

Notes