Page 2 of One Wild Night
Finally they all look to Mikey.
‘Me?’ he replies, realising it’s his turn. ‘My God, I don't even have anything to confess, I don't think. I need to make changes, to have more fun – if we don't die, anyway.’
I can’t help but smile. Mikey is sweet, not like the others. He is so talented, without a doubt, but it’s almost as though he hasn’t realised that he is the guitarist in a band. No one ever needs to worry about Mikey sleeping with their girlfriend – or their sister.
‘Do you have anything to get off your chest, Nic?’ Dylan asks me, laughing at the absurdity of it all.
I feel so vulnerable, with the spotlight on me. Do I have anything that I need to get off my chest? Anything I might want to say, in case I don’t ever get the chance again?
‘I guess I–’ I begin, but before I can finish my sentence the bus comes to a sudden stop, sending us all flying forward.
As the dust settles, I’m relieved to see that we're all still in one piece. I try to get my head around what just happened, my senses returning one at a time, realising that, in the commotion, Dylan must have grabbed me, wrapping himself around me like bubble wrap, to protect me from the impact. I smile at him, grateful to have him cushion my blow.
‘Thanks,’ I say softly.
He smiles back.
‘Don’t worry about it,’ he says, letting me go before climbing to his feet. He offers me a hand, to pull me up too. ‘I’m too drunk to feel anything. No sense in both of us getting hurt.’
Mitch shoots up like he's been electrocuted – I’m not ruling out that he has been.
‘Bloody hell, I'll go check on Fred,’ he declares before heading off into the depths of the bus.
Fred, The Burnout’s driver, is the only other person on the bus. The rest of the crew, and all of the bands' gear, wisely opted to stay in Glasgow, instead of battling the blizzard, which is exactly what we should have done but the boys wanted to get back to London.
Just when I think that things cannot possibly get any worse right now the entire bus plunges into darkness. Shit. That can’t be good.
Without a word we all take our phones out and turn on the torches, which just about illuminates the lounge, but in a creepy way, like we’re sitting around a campfire telling ghost stories. I’m letting my imagination run away with me, and I’m freaking myself out.
‘Oh God,’ I blurt out, and for once, there's no room for humour or sarcasm. I’m serious and I’m scared.
Dylan, usually the one to (ironically) make light of any situation, isn’t laughing now.
‘It's okay, it's okay,’ he reassures me. ‘Something must have happened to the bus, in the crash. Jamie, didn't you used to be a mechanic? Go look.’
‘I used to be a mechanic, I didn't used to be an abominable snowman,’ Jamie claps back. ‘I'm not going out in that.’
‘Funny, because he looks like one,’ Dylan says quietly, leaning into my ear, trying to relax me with a joke.
‘I heard that,’ Jamie replies. ‘And, anyway, I was training to be a mechanic, so unless it's something simple, there's nothing I can do. But I wouldn’t even know where to begin, in a blizzard, in the pitch black...’
‘Don't worry, mate, we just need to hang in there,’ Mikey, ever the peacekeeper, pipes up. ‘Mitch will be back; he'll tell us what to do.’
In the dim light, Dylan's arm finds its way to my shoulder to give me a calming squeeze. I can just about make out his reassuring smile, in the almost darkness, but as reassuring as it is intended to be, it’s not doing much to stop me freaking out.
‘Let’s just sit down and wait,’ Mikey continues.
‘Yeah, don't worry, it will all be okay,’ Dylan tells me as we find our seats.
I rub my arms, a sudden chill settling over me. I don’t know if it’s because the bus heating went off with the lights, or whether it’s the icy arms of anxiety taking hold of me. Stuck in the dark, in the middle of nowhere, the silence is deafening, not knowing what is going to happen next. It really is like something out of a horror movie.
Taking a seat beside me, Dylan instinctively wraps an arm around me, his fingers rubbing gently, a rhythmic attempt to stave off the encroaching cold.
We huddle together in the darkness, and it’s not that I don’t appreciate him telling me that everything is going to be okay, because I do, but right now it’s impossible to believe.
Is everything going to be okay? We’ll have to wait and see. In the dark. In a blizzard. In the middle of nowhere. Great.
Chapter 2
