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I arched a brow. “A salmon?”

“He’s talking about taking a shite,” Johnny confirmed, jerking out of his sleeping bag quicker than a cat. “I’m coming, so go take your salmon and swim it down a river somewhere else.”

Gibsie grinned. “Like your girlfr—”

“Say it and I’ll kill you.”

* * *

“Oh look, Gibs,” Johnny roared above the noise of the crowd as Green Day took to the stage and started playing “Basket Case.” “It’s your anthem.”

Laughing, Gibsie gave him the middle finger and continued to bounce around like a demented jack-in-the-box, bare-chested, with Claire on his shoulders. She didn’t look scared—quite the opposite. She had every faith in him not dropping her headfirst into the masses. I found that strange considering the boy had already lost both of her wellies and her T-shirt in the crowd. It didn’t seem to faze Claire one bit, though. She had her hands in the air, laughing and singing along with the band and the sixty thousand or so people surrounding us.

“Come on, Shannonlike the river,” Johnny said, crouching down in front of me. “Get your ass up here.”

“Wh-what?”

He grinned. “Climb on.”

“But I—”

He pulled me onto his shoulders as the band began to play the achingly familiar guitar riff. Scrambling for traction, I dug my fingers into his scalp as Johnny stood back up, towering over the people around us and giving me a perfect view of the band onstage. “Oh my god!” I screamed through fits of nervous laughter as he clamped his hands down on my thighs and began to jump around. “Johnny—ah!” Cowering, I hunched forward, wrapping my arms around his neck and clinging to him. “Please don’t drop me.”

“Never,” Johnny called back. He was shirtless, with his T-shirt hanging out of the back of his shorts, and had a baseball cap slung on backwards, as he chanted the lyrics back at the band with me on his shoulders. I knew he was getting plenty of looks from everyone around us—especially the girls.People recognize him,I realized. It was obvious in the way they sneakily tried to snap pictures of him on the sly. Johnny didn’t seem to notice, though. Either that or he just didn’t care.

Feeling incredibly free, I threw my arms up in the air and laughed.

“Shannon!” Claire laugh-screamed my name and I reached out to grab her hand, laughing as all four of us screamed out the words of the song.Cameras were flashing all around us, but for once I didn’t care. We were young and free and together.

Tomorrow would come, bringing with it all of the terror that came with an unknown future, but for now I was happy. I was content. I was at the best music festival in the world with the only boy I would ever give my heart to.

* * *

When Jimmy Eat World took to the stage, I almost had a panic attack. I lost my mind even more when they started to play “The Middle.” It was at that exact moment that I knew I was going to be okay. That I could do this. I could live this life with him. No matter what he decided, I would find a way to cope, because sitting on Johnny Kavanagh’s shoulders, with his arm wrapped around my legs and his hand on my thigh, I knew there was no other place I wanted to be. I belonged with this boy and he belonged with me.

For the final song of their set, the band started to play “Hear You Me.” I glanced over to Gibsie and Claire who were completely focused on one another. Gibsie had one arm hooked loosely across the front of her legs, while he held a plastic cup of whatever the hell he was drinking in the other hand. A cigarette dangled from the corner of his mouth as he slowly rocked from side to side among the crowd.

I didn’t miss the way that every few minutes Gibsie smoothed his hand from her calf to her ankle. I also didn’t miss the way that Claire rewarded this move by tightening her thighs around his neck and dropping a hand to stroke the side of his jaw. I didn’t think either one realized they were openly petting each other. They just seemed to be completely in sync with each other on both physical and emotional levels.

Turning my attention back to the band, I listened to the lyrics, feeling that familiar surge of sadness swell up inside of me at the thought of my mother. A tear fell onto my cheek as I sang softly to myself. The feel of Johnny’s hand squeezing my thigh drew my attention back to him. “I love you,” he mouthed, craning his neck to look up at me.

Sniffling, I mouthed, “I love you, too.”

Keeping his eyes on mine, he continued to mouth the words of the song, swaying us gently to the music. Stroking his cheek, I leaned down and pressed my lips to his, not an easy feat given that I was sitting on his shoulders, but I had to kiss him. I justhadto. The hand Johnny had on my thigh moved to cup the back of my head as he kissed me back, right there in the middle of a field, surrounded by sixty thousand people and Jimmy Eat World singing to us.

* * *

“You tired, Shan?” Johnny asked later that night. It was pitch-dark, and I was sitting on some railing or other I had found to rest on. Johnny was standing right behind me, keeping a protective arm wrapped around my stomach while we waited for Claire and Gibsie, who were queuing up at the mobile chipper.

Johnny was still shirtless, having given me his T-shirt to wear when the sun went down and the chill set in. Resting my head against his warm chest, I released a sigh of contentment. “Hmm.”

“Hmm?” Resting his chin on my shoulder, he swayed absentmindedly to the music still playing in the distance. “What’s hmm?”

“I’m just taking it all in,” I told him.

“Johnny Kavanagh?” someone called out, causing us both to turn in the direction of a group of much older girls.

“Oh my god, itishim,” one of them screamed. “I told you!”

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