CHAPTER 4: in the rain

CHAPTER FOUR: in the rain

it had been almost a month since the adventure in brimingham. being apart from the boys for that long had been a nightmare but i had a glisten of hope in an invitation by taffy to see them once more in sheffield.

for a while i thought the dream was shattered as my money from the student loans had completely gone......but fate works in funny ways and as i checked my other bank account i found 90 pound conveniently sitting in the bank waiting for me!

the dream returned.

excitedly i sat in the library as i told everyone on the fan forum about my next adventure. i wanted to give them all something special, wanted them to know just how much they mean to me
but of course money was short.

and so i got the greatest idea i have ever had

a sinner's file.

clutching the blue file and rubbing my tired eyes i sat alone in the student library.
another few messages from other fans on the forum were waiting for me, as well as another survey and a photo or two.

promptly i printed them all out and placed them in plastic covers inside of the file. it was already looking great.

a week later, with little sleep and no social time i finally put the last piece to the file, which by now was decorated with a photo of the boys and shiney stars and heart stickers. it was complete.
it even had some silly comics of jim i had made with character generators online with jokes about me buying and keeping him in a wardrobe.

it was fanastic.

i only hoped the boys liked it as much as i did......

the sound of "highness" rang out through the room as slowly i opened my eyes and smiled. i stared over at the drumkit in the corner of the strange room where the drumsticks jim gave to me lay.
my heart beat faster with pure excitement as i climbed out of the bed and got ready.

i walked into the cosy sitting room of the flat and picked up a ciggerette out of the many i had rolled the day before. quietly i left the flat and went to the door for a smoke as i smiled to myself and thought of what the day would bring.

by the time taffy got out of bed i was already ready.
i had even put on my brand new eyeshadow which was the brightest of green.
even i thought i looked good!

taffy rushed around getting ready as i read through the file once more reading other sinners' experiences.

looked like i wasn't the only one who's life was changed by them.

finaly after much fuss we arrived at the train station and boarded our train.

it was unatural to be that hyper at 9am but as i sat looking out of the window for pheasants and blabbing on about how cute jim was, taffy rolled her eyes.

we arrived at sheffield train station just before 12am as we rushed out into the busy street.
we were on a mission to find two things... the hotel and above all the venue which was called the boardwalk.

we walked through the streets as i looked around impressed. taffy had told me that the place was a dump but as i looked about at the beautiful water fountains, parks and cool shops not to mention the awesome trams, i wondered wether she had been thinking of somewhere else!

after a while of searching we finally spotted the hotel. one down one to go!
not that our search for the venue took long. infact, as we walked round the hotel we realised the hotel was infact right next door to the boardwalk!

we couldn't have done better if we tried!

check in time however was not until 2pm so we were left wandering until then.

however, we had fun looking around, laughing at how many shoe shops there was and at how some guy on a fruit and veg stall shouted "lovely bit of raddish" to me.

and of course the free bee bus with a painting of a cartoon bee made us smile amused as we thought of the whole situation with jarvey and the drunken bee at newcastle.

we were already having the time of our lives. finally at 2pm we got into our room, put on the radio and started to get excited.

i, however could not relax. i must of gone outside about 50 times for a ciggerette in the space of 3 hours despite the fact it was by now pouring down with rain.

finally one time i was having a ciggerette i turned around and spotted it.
the familiar black van, the black beast.

from behind the windscreen a friendly face waved and smiled...
jarvey.

i ran over as he climbed out of the van and hugged me. smiling i told him taffy was still in the hotel and he said that they didn't think the stagedoor opened until 6 anyway and that they were going for lunch.

i nodded acceptingly then promptly pulled the file from under my coat.
"me and the girls on the forum put this together" i told him as i handed him the file.
his big blue eyes widened as smiled. he thanked me and told me they would read it before the doors opened.

with one more hug i began to walk away but as i put my hand into my pocket i realised something was missing......

my keycard!

promptly i ran back and told him i had lost it. he helped me look for a moment before realising i was getting soaked
"lor, get out of the rain!" he said as i wandered back and forth searching for it
"i can't" i said stressed "i can't get in without it"
"taffy will let you in" he said half amused "anyway, it could have gone down the drain or anything"
realising that wasn't helping i turned to him and said
"AH THANKS FOR THAT JARVEY"
he told me it was true but i ignored him and kept wandering as he repeated over and over
"lor, get out of the rain!!!"

eventually i took notice of him and decided to go in and tell the recptionist. however as i reached the door, pulled out my purse and opened it up i groaned as i realised i had infact put it in there for safe keeping.

i told taffy they wouldn't be there for another hour and explained the whole situation about the card which by now i found hilarious.

i was bouncing off the walls......literally.

infact, as "that's not my name" by the ting tings came on the radio we found ourselves jumping up and down on the sofa next to the window singing it out loud.

i was so excited.

finally at 6.05 i dragged taffy out to see them.

it was the perfect timing as we caught stu and jim smoking outside the stage door and as i lit up a ciggerette and passed the drumsticks to jim to sign taffy got into a conversation with stu.

shortly after they went in and jarvey appeared. he began talking to us and i showed him the signiture on my drumsticks. jarvey smiled mischieviously and replied
"he was proabably scared you HAD bought a wardrobe!"
blushing slightly i covered my face and groaned as i expressed how much i regretted putting that in. however jarvey laughed and told me they had found it funny before rushing over to see his parents and showing them the file.

i was so happy. i knew they'd like it, but i never thought jarvey would be that happy about it!

as the boys did their soundchecks we amused ourselves by singing along, adding in the parts they didn't do and taking photos of the funny graffiti on the walls.

time went by pretty quickly. it was 8pm when we went round to the door and who should appear but ali and mark.

mark turned to me and said "that eyeshadow hasn't gone a miss" as i smiled so much my face ached before asking how much the tickets were.

suprised mark asked "do you not have tickets yet?" we shook our heads as the boys exchanged looks
"is there something we can do?" ali said to mark as mark replied they could see before they went off inside.

a moment later ali popped his head around the courner sticking his thumb up. we looked at each other and shrugged as we stood up ready to go in.

as we walked up to the paying disk the man smiled at us "go right ahead girls" he said winking at us.

ali and mark had got us in for free!

with the spare money we saved we grabbed a drink and took our place at the front as the first band came on.

they were okay but i was more concerned with once again watching the boys run back and forth.

the second band however was brilliant and i was enjoying them so much i decided to take a photo.

i had just took the picture when i realised there was somone in the way....jarvey!

stunned by the flash he stopped and turned cringing slightly as he realised he had got in the way. half amused i looked at him pretending to be annoyed as he laughed slightly and kept walking as i looked at the photo, shook my head and laughed.

as the third band came on i folded my arms on the table and burried my head. they were pretty boring and taffy had dissapeared to the bar so i had nothing to do.

i was feeling down for some reason, probably lack of good music, but as i felt a hand on my lower back i perked up and turned before a smile burst through on my face

there smiling back at me, with his adorable smile was none other than jim. he asked if i was alright as i nodded, watched him go backstage, sighed and smiled.

and so once more the excitement returned, as did taffy and we watched as the boys set up quickly before bursting on with, as always, step accross.

for once, envy were not the last band, they were joint headliners with the actually named band, the headliners who had been on the mobileact unsigned competition with them the year before.
obviously with the name, it made sense putting the headliners on last, even though envy DID win over them!

anyway during the show the boys announced that the headliners were on next and that they were kind of local boys coming from barnsley.

out of no where suddenly, ali turned in a typical ali daze and replied "i saw a three legged dog in barnsley once...."
for some reason this amused me more than anything he had ever said before.

the rest of their show went perfectly. i was slightly upset that they did not do martyr but i understood that they had to do a shorter show this time.

as the show came to an end i saw jarvey fling his setlist off the stage.
promptly i went and picked it up before also demanding, as usual, jim's setlist.

i decided to go and get my setlist from jarvey signed and get my photo taken with him.
i also talked breifly to his mum.
after a chat with jarvey he excused himself to go and watch the headliners as me and taffy
also joined the crowd.

as the headliners finished everyone left but as always me and taffy lingured behind while trhe boys packed up. i collered each of them for a photo and even got one with me, ali, jim and jarvey...as mark had at that point gone missing.

me, taffy, jim ali, and stu were standing around a table having a chat. i felt once more, special and accepted but as i felt my phone start to vibrate i cringed.

the tune to "highness" once more rang out as ali looked over suprised and i blushed.
it was pretty embarressing but i'm sure deep down they'd be flattered.

sooner or later we all wound up in the street as i lit up a ciggerette.
i gave one to stu, ali and jim too, in which jim replied with "ah you're a star"
it was then we realised phil was missing. i think i was more upset than the band.
mark said they would get another and call it gary or something but it wouldn't be the same.
i was quite upset.

they then went on to tell me they had played a free festival with one of my other favourite
bands, elliot minor.
they said they were suprised i wasn't there and i told them teary eyed that i didn't know about it.
of course, stu took the oppertunity to tease me
"ah it was great" he teased "the hoosiers played, they were giving free drinks out to people named lor"
i wined and put on a pet lip as jim informed me he was just pulling me leg.....which obviously i HAD figured!

with a final big hug from all 5 of the boys we watched them pull away before running over to our hotel laying on our beds and sighing.
i was smiling but i was sad too. i really didn't know when i'd see them next this time.
and this time it hurt even more as all four....or indeed five including stu had come to mean the absolute world to me.

i let out a few tears as a looked at the photos. one photo in particular made me smile slightly...
me and jarvey. for some reason i became even fonder of him that night. perhaps because of the episode in the rain and how he actually cared enough to not see me get too wet.

i didn't know back then it wouldn't be the only time he sheltered me from the rain.

finally a smile burst through on my face. i knew i was just being silly.
of course i would see them again. of course it would be soon.
after all, fate couldn't leave it there.

content and tired i turned off my camera, lay my 'jimsticks' on my pillow beside me
and fell into a deep deep sleep laced with dreams of them....