The Art of Living

[14] Truro, Here We Come

On Friday Ellie only had an early class from nine to ten to discuss the progress on her project with her supervisor. When that was done she made sure to get some low light film for the gig. Then she had to hurry home because she hadn't packed yet, and she also needed half an hour to get to Freddie's place, a time during which she had to try to stay calm so she wouldn't be upset by the time she got there.

After she got home she immediately rushed into her bedroom and got out a small travelling back before she packed some clothes, not a lot since it were only two days, but something for billard, something for Saturday and then something comfortable and practical for the gig and then something for Sunday. Mostly practical stuff. Still as elegant as possible but nothing fancy because after all she was with guys and who knew what they would come up with. For the nights she packed some shorts and a dark shirt. Not white, for a good reason, since she had made her experiences.

Then the most important thing had to be packed, her equipment. The evening before she had spent cleaning her lenses and cameras so they would be in the best state during the gig. She carefully packed everything in her camera bag, with enough spare material. And then she made sure she looked presentable before she rushed to the tube stations with both bags and took the tube and bus she needed to get to Freddie and Roger's place.

Half an hour later she got off the bus and walked the last few metres from the bus stop to the address that she had been given. It was already a few minutes past twelve, but it was the bus' fault because it had taken forever to come. She walked as fast as she could, her long orange skirt, her favourite skirt, flowing around her legs.

It was surprisingly windy so her ponytail kept blowing into her face. Annoyed she kept pushing her hair back. Finally she made it to the house Freddie had a flat in. In front of the house was a rusty looking green van and when she walked past it she could see Freddie, Roger and Brian trying to stuff some equipment into it. It was an amusing sight, so instead of saying something she just stood there and watched them with a smirk.

"It's not working, Rog, stop it before you break something," Brian told his friend off.

"I'm not breaking anything, I've done this before, just watch and see," Roger replied and kept trying to stuff.. amps apparently into the van.

Freddie stepped back and shook his head. "Ladies, please. Let's take a moment to reconsider. How can we do this without breaking anything but quickly?"

Ellie chuckled. "Need some help there, ladies?" She asked teasingly and crossed her arms. Treating Brian like any other guy, and yet not giving him special attention, that was her plan for the weekend.

Immediately all three of them turned around, but all of them reacted differently. Brian blushed heavily and rubbed the back of his neck, looking down. Roger crossed his arms and grinned at her, and Freddie smiled widely and hugged Ellie.

"You made it! We certainly do need some help here. Are you good at puzzles? We might need your skills for this, c'mon. Let me take your bags." He held out his arms and Ellie hesitantly handed them to him.

"Careful with the green one, that's my camera bag. It's worth more than the van, I would assume," she chuckled.

Freddie looked at her with big eyes. "What, really? Wow.. but then again this van can't really be worth that much."

"That was my point," Ellie laughed a little. "Alright, so this amp needs to get into the van?"

Roger nodded. "Yes, but we also have a bunch of other stuff that needs to get in."

Ellie crossed her arms and shrugged. "Well, get the other stuff and we'll see how we can fit it all in the best way. Where's Mike? Is he bringing a lot?"