Categories > Celebrities > 30 Seconds to Mars > Untitled
Three years ago
I’d only been at Cardiff university for just over a month, and already I had met a great group of friends, which is surprising considering my extraordinary lack of social skills. I’m not sure if it’s luck or fate, but we all like similar music too, and so that night we were all going to see one of my favourite bands, Thirty Seconds To Mars, at Cardiff Motorpoint Arena. Opening my small wardrobe in my dorm room, I tried to find something, anything, I could wear to the concert. Finally, deciding on a black velvet skater skirt, black tights, a white crop top, and a pair of black Converse, I began getting changed.
I was nervous. There was a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach, similar to butterflies, but ten times worse. Like a stampede of horses, or something along those lines. This was the feeling I got before anything involving socialising, whether it was literally just having a conversation with someone, or even just standing in a room with them. One of my friends, Taylor, had told me that a group of boys from our university who were in the same lectures as us were going and she’d arranged for our group and their group to meet up, as if it were some mass date. This was probably why there were more horses stampeding today. Boys. They did not help with the lack of conversational skills, in fact, my skills entered minus numbers when it involved talking to homosapiens of the other sex.
“Lucy, you ready?” Taylor called through the door, the force her hand was inflicting on the door made me question whether it would stay vertical for long.
Opening the door, I was met with a number of greetings from the four other girls stood behind Taylor, all of them studied Law with Taylor and I, but I didn’t know any of them as well as I knew Taylor. I locked the door, surprisingly still standing, and the group of us began our 15 minute walk to the venue. The closeness of the venue to the university was partly the reason I chose Cardiff over the other universities I was accepted by.
*
As we approached the arena, we could already hear the drunken laughter of the boys we were meeting. Taylor had provided “pre-drinks” which we drank on the way to the venue, but clearly the boys had had a lot more.
“There they are,” Taylor said to us, as she picked up the pace as we neared where the boys were stood. “Hey guys.”
“Alright,” one of the guys said with a slight slur. He had dark brown hair that was styled the same way as pretty much every boy in the country – short at the sides long at the top, styled sort of quiff-like. “I’m Josh.” He picked up a bottle of beer from behind him and offered it to Taylor, she quickly accepted, with a smile.
Once we had shared out the beer and were all equally tipsy – well, the girls were, the boys were closer to pissed than tipsy – we made our way inside, past the tank-like men with ticket scanners, and inside the venue. I now felt less sick as the nervousness lessened due to the intoxicants currently flowing in my bloodstream. Getting as close as we could to the stage without intruding anyone’s personal space, we formed a sort of huddle. As conversations began, I noticed Taylor and that tall guy, Josh, were not with us. I looked behind me and a few feet away were the two exchanging saliva rather passionately. I sighed, typical Taylor. And typical me, stood in a group of people all initiating in conversations, bar me.
“You’re rather quiet.”
I turned back around, turning my back on Taylor and Josh, and faced a tall guy with messy light brown hair wearing a Bring Me The Horizon t-shirt.
“Yeah,” I laughed. Why am I laughing? Stop. I looked down at the floor, not sure what to say. I shouldn’t be like this. Isn’t alcohol supposed to give you confidence?
He reached over and put his arm around my shoulders. Surprised, I looked up at him. In those few seconds, I noticed so much. I noticed his lightly tanned skin, not pale, but not completely tanned. I noticed how you could hardly see where his pupil ended and his dark brown iris began. I noticed how he was smiling at me. He was smiling. At me. Not laughing. Just smiling. I smiled back and leaned closer to him.
Suddenly the lights lowered and the crowd surged forward. I was pushed closer to him, feeling his slim but muscular frame on mine made the stampeding horses return slightly. We both turned towards to stage pushing forward to get as close to where Jared, Shannon, and Tomo would soon be. It took me a while to realise that we were separated from the rest of the group.
The boy turned to look at me and leaned closer to my face, leaning down slightly despite the fact that I was about 5’10 – he was at least 6’3. What is he doing? Is he about to... kiss me? I just stared back at him, most likely showing my confusion very clearly. As his face was less than an inch from mine, he turned his face towards the back of the arena, his cheek brushing mine. “I’m David,” he said, almost shouting over the odd scream.
“Lucy,” I replied.
“Nice to meet you, Lucy,” David returned to his original position, his arms hanging loosely by his side. My skin felt cold where his skin used to touch mine, the warmth gone.
Music began and plastic cups still half-full of beer became airborne, soaking a number of people. A cup that still contained most of the beer flew over David and I, soaking us both. I began laughing the same time as David and we both turned to look at each other, smiling. His laugh was perfect. It was the perfect mixture of low and throaty, but also light.
*
The concert was perfect. David was perfect. He wasn’t the kind of guy who just stood at gigs nodding along, he joined in with the moshing and sang along with Jared.
“Has anyone ever heard a song called End of All Days?” Jared called out, as the crowd began cheering in anticipation. “If you want to introduce yourself to the person next to you and gently place your tongue in their mouth, this is the song to do it.”
David turned to look at me and smiled. I smiled back, knowing what his crooked smile meant. We both leaned towards each other. As his soft lips touched mine, I smiled slightly. In that moment, everything was right, everything was perfect. After the one light kiss, he pulled away slightly and smiled. I lifted my arms up around his neck and pulled his face back down to mine. Looks like the alcohol has finally kicked in. Hello, confidence, it’s been a while. We continued to kiss throughout pretty much the whole of the first verse and chorus, before turning away to face the band and join in with the singing crowd.
*
He gave me his jumper. I am wearing his jumper. Man, it smells so good. We began walking back to the university, our one big group. It was now 11.30pm and Taylor and Josh were nowhere to be seen, probably already back at the university, probably in Ellie’s room, probably doing god knows what.
David’s arm was back around my shoulders, it seemed to fit perfectly there, as if my shoulders were designed for the sole purpose of supporting his arm. We were trailing slightly behind the others, who were now performing a rendition of Thirty Seconds To Mars’ entire setlist.
*
David walked me right up to the door of my room. “It was nice to meet you, Lucy,” he smiled. That smile.
“You too, David.”
It was silent for a moment, David began rocking back on forth, from his heel to the ball of his foot. He seemed just as socially shit as I was.
I put all my weight onto the balls of my foot, lifting my heals off the ground so I could touch my lips to his.
As we pulled away, something came over me. I don’t know if it was Taylor’s influence, or the alcohol. “Hey, do you want to come in?” I said to David, as I unlocked me door and pushed it open.
“Sure.”
I’d only been at Cardiff university for just over a month, and already I had met a great group of friends, which is surprising considering my extraordinary lack of social skills. I’m not sure if it’s luck or fate, but we all like similar music too, and so that night we were all going to see one of my favourite bands, Thirty Seconds To Mars, at Cardiff Motorpoint Arena. Opening my small wardrobe in my dorm room, I tried to find something, anything, I could wear to the concert. Finally, deciding on a black velvet skater skirt, black tights, a white crop top, and a pair of black Converse, I began getting changed.
I was nervous. There was a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach, similar to butterflies, but ten times worse. Like a stampede of horses, or something along those lines. This was the feeling I got before anything involving socialising, whether it was literally just having a conversation with someone, or even just standing in a room with them. One of my friends, Taylor, had told me that a group of boys from our university who were in the same lectures as us were going and she’d arranged for our group and their group to meet up, as if it were some mass date. This was probably why there were more horses stampeding today. Boys. They did not help with the lack of conversational skills, in fact, my skills entered minus numbers when it involved talking to homosapiens of the other sex.
“Lucy, you ready?” Taylor called through the door, the force her hand was inflicting on the door made me question whether it would stay vertical for long.
Opening the door, I was met with a number of greetings from the four other girls stood behind Taylor, all of them studied Law with Taylor and I, but I didn’t know any of them as well as I knew Taylor. I locked the door, surprisingly still standing, and the group of us began our 15 minute walk to the venue. The closeness of the venue to the university was partly the reason I chose Cardiff over the other universities I was accepted by.
*
As we approached the arena, we could already hear the drunken laughter of the boys we were meeting. Taylor had provided “pre-drinks” which we drank on the way to the venue, but clearly the boys had had a lot more.
“There they are,” Taylor said to us, as she picked up the pace as we neared where the boys were stood. “Hey guys.”
“Alright,” one of the guys said with a slight slur. He had dark brown hair that was styled the same way as pretty much every boy in the country – short at the sides long at the top, styled sort of quiff-like. “I’m Josh.” He picked up a bottle of beer from behind him and offered it to Taylor, she quickly accepted, with a smile.
Once we had shared out the beer and were all equally tipsy – well, the girls were, the boys were closer to pissed than tipsy – we made our way inside, past the tank-like men with ticket scanners, and inside the venue. I now felt less sick as the nervousness lessened due to the intoxicants currently flowing in my bloodstream. Getting as close as we could to the stage without intruding anyone’s personal space, we formed a sort of huddle. As conversations began, I noticed Taylor and that tall guy, Josh, were not with us. I looked behind me and a few feet away were the two exchanging saliva rather passionately. I sighed, typical Taylor. And typical me, stood in a group of people all initiating in conversations, bar me.
“You’re rather quiet.”
I turned back around, turning my back on Taylor and Josh, and faced a tall guy with messy light brown hair wearing a Bring Me The Horizon t-shirt.
“Yeah,” I laughed. Why am I laughing? Stop. I looked down at the floor, not sure what to say. I shouldn’t be like this. Isn’t alcohol supposed to give you confidence?
He reached over and put his arm around my shoulders. Surprised, I looked up at him. In those few seconds, I noticed so much. I noticed his lightly tanned skin, not pale, but not completely tanned. I noticed how you could hardly see where his pupil ended and his dark brown iris began. I noticed how he was smiling at me. He was smiling. At me. Not laughing. Just smiling. I smiled back and leaned closer to him.
Suddenly the lights lowered and the crowd surged forward. I was pushed closer to him, feeling his slim but muscular frame on mine made the stampeding horses return slightly. We both turned towards to stage pushing forward to get as close to where Jared, Shannon, and Tomo would soon be. It took me a while to realise that we were separated from the rest of the group.
The boy turned to look at me and leaned closer to my face, leaning down slightly despite the fact that I was about 5’10 – he was at least 6’3. What is he doing? Is he about to... kiss me? I just stared back at him, most likely showing my confusion very clearly. As his face was less than an inch from mine, he turned his face towards the back of the arena, his cheek brushing mine. “I’m David,” he said, almost shouting over the odd scream.
“Lucy,” I replied.
“Nice to meet you, Lucy,” David returned to his original position, his arms hanging loosely by his side. My skin felt cold where his skin used to touch mine, the warmth gone.
Music began and plastic cups still half-full of beer became airborne, soaking a number of people. A cup that still contained most of the beer flew over David and I, soaking us both. I began laughing the same time as David and we both turned to look at each other, smiling. His laugh was perfect. It was the perfect mixture of low and throaty, but also light.
*
The concert was perfect. David was perfect. He wasn’t the kind of guy who just stood at gigs nodding along, he joined in with the moshing and sang along with Jared.
“Has anyone ever heard a song called End of All Days?” Jared called out, as the crowd began cheering in anticipation. “If you want to introduce yourself to the person next to you and gently place your tongue in their mouth, this is the song to do it.”
David turned to look at me and smiled. I smiled back, knowing what his crooked smile meant. We both leaned towards each other. As his soft lips touched mine, I smiled slightly. In that moment, everything was right, everything was perfect. After the one light kiss, he pulled away slightly and smiled. I lifted my arms up around his neck and pulled his face back down to mine. Looks like the alcohol has finally kicked in. Hello, confidence, it’s been a while. We continued to kiss throughout pretty much the whole of the first verse and chorus, before turning away to face the band and join in with the singing crowd.
*
He gave me his jumper. I am wearing his jumper. Man, it smells so good. We began walking back to the university, our one big group. It was now 11.30pm and Taylor and Josh were nowhere to be seen, probably already back at the university, probably in Ellie’s room, probably doing god knows what.
David’s arm was back around my shoulders, it seemed to fit perfectly there, as if my shoulders were designed for the sole purpose of supporting his arm. We were trailing slightly behind the others, who were now performing a rendition of Thirty Seconds To Mars’ entire setlist.
*
David walked me right up to the door of my room. “It was nice to meet you, Lucy,” he smiled. That smile.
“You too, David.”
It was silent for a moment, David began rocking back on forth, from his heel to the ball of his foot. He seemed just as socially shit as I was.
I put all my weight onto the balls of my foot, lifting my heals off the ground so I could touch my lips to his.
As we pulled away, something came over me. I don’t know if it was Taylor’s influence, or the alcohol. “Hey, do you want to come in?” I said to David, as I unlocked me door and pushed it open.
“Sure.”
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