it was february 11th. the after party of the grammys. i was there with my mom, my little sister and my great grandma. my great grandma got invited as a special guest from the bohemian rhapsody cast as she is fully obsessed with the film. when being the granddaughter of vivianne westwood, life's pretty good. you get invited to parties and after parties with actors you see on tv. you get to watch people drink expensive champagne and get drunk and talk about utter shit with upper class people. it's great.
"cara, darling, come meet the cast my love" my nonna says. i couldn't pronounce 'grandma' was i was younger so 'nonna' just kinda stuck. i walk towards where nonna is, looking at the group of people in front of her. i've never actually watched the film yet but it looks pretty good. i can see why they picked rami to play freddie.
"rami,joe,ben, qwilym this is my granddaughter, cara" she says in that extravagant, well spoken voice.
"it's a pleasure to meet you all, congratulations!" i say politely, smiling at them all. my gaze turns into a bit of a stare looking at the blonde haired one as he stares right back. i engage myself into the conversation my nonna is having with the rest of the cast while the blonde guy still stares at me. i feel his eyes on me like a hawk.
"cara and i are completely obsessed with bohemian rhapsody" my grandma carries on. wait what. no no no don't ask questions about it please don't.
"oh really...what's your favourite bit" the blonde guy asks me and my nonna, however only looking at me for an answer.
"well....my favourite part is when...oh you know...oh it's just marvellous that part" i say. what the fuck. i haven't even watched the film. no shit. they all stare at me and the guy laughs.
"which bit was that again?" he asks, smiling.
"oh....the ending...it was just wonderful honestly you did such a splendid job" when in doubt, use big words. that's our family rule.
"oh me too i just couldn't get enough of it....." my grandma goes on. phew. i'm in the clear. i look around at the party. full of well dressed celebrities having a good time.
"could i buy you a drink?" the blonde guy says, coming up to me.
"oh i-i don't drink" i say quickly. for some reason this mysterious tall guy has me stuttering and nothing ever makes me stutter.
"how about a capri sun then?" he asks me, dead serious.
"of course" i say confidently, with a slight smirk on my face. he buys two capri suns as the bar tender looks at us oddly. a smirk appearing on his face. i take one of the capri suns out his hand.
"thank you very much" i say, smiling.
"you know when i said i don't drink i meant i didn't drink alcohol, we could've got cokes or something"
"i know" he says, flashing me a smile. shit the bed he is cute. "anyway why don't you drink?" i gaze at him confused.
"what do you mean? i'm underage" i say, still confused.
"what! you're under 18?" he says, nearly choking on his capri sun.
"yes, why" i say, giggling.
"wow...no...nothing it's just you look older than 18"
"yeah i get that a lot" i say. "i'm 16"
"oh right" he says, a slight frown appearing on his face.
"how old are you?" i ask.
"21" he says. woah. he looks a lot younger than 21.
"do you want to get out of here" he says. "i hate parties"
"what! parties are the best" i shout.
"not for me" he says, looking into my eyes.
"come on....i know where we could go" he says, taking my hand. we run through the crowds hand in hand. he drags me up a long flight of stairs to a final door. he opens it and we're on top of the buildings roof. a warm flow of air hits me as i step onto the roof. the sun is just rising in the early hours of the morning and is a mix of pink and orange, it looks beautiful. i feel him staring at me again. this time closer.
"i didn't get your name" i say, still staring into the sunrise.
"ben...ben hardy"
