I'll Freak Your Mind

Noel’s POV

My girlfriend Dee and I held hands as we wandered down the road to the house party we’d been invited to by a mutual friend; we were walking there because we both knew neither of us would be in any fit state to drive by the end of the night!

“This is it,” she said, although it was kind of obvious by all the music, people, and the smell of booze radiating from the small shitty-looking house.

She walked in, leading me by my hand through the masses of people dancing to some random techno shit blasting out from the speakers. And by dancing I mean of course mostly grinding drunkenly against complete strangers. Dee grinned at me excitedly, running her fingers down my electric blue lightning bolt t-shirt down to my studded belt and black jeans.

“Want to dance?” she stretched up onto her toes and whispered in my ear.

“Sure,” I grinned back at her as we started moving to the beat in the middle of the dance floor.

She turned round so her back was against my chest, reaching her hands up behind her and running them through my long, black, purposely-messy hair.
I was just getting into the rhythm of our dance, when I felt a tap on my shoulder.
I turned around, thinking someone had mistaken me for another person, and came face to face with James Mason – an old friend I never expected to see after kind of... sleeping with his girlfriend....

“James!” I exclaimed, not sure how to act.

“Hey! Long time no see Noel!” he smiled at me, no malice showing in his eyes, which was unexpected.

“Uh, yeah, so how have you been?” I asked cautiously, still not knowing if he was still mad at me. It had been over a year after all...

“Not too bad, thanks. I’ve been in America for the past six months actually, working as a camera man on this cool TV show they have over there.”

“Wow. Cool... Look, James, I don’t-”

“Noel,” he stopped me, putting his hand on my shoulder and smiling, “Forget about it, OK? I know now that it wasn’t your fault. I asked her, and Laura admitted to me that she was the one who came onto you, without telling you she was meant to be my girlfriend. She was a whore. You’re forgiven.”

Removing his hand from my shoulder, he leant in closer, looking around as if he was about to tell me a secret. “Besides, after all that, I kind of realised I’m not so much a team player as a ball boy. You know what I’m saying?”

I opened my mouth in an ‘o’ shape, raising my eyebrows and nodding, relieved that I was forgiven for that... incident... and surprised at what he had told me. I guess it made sense... I had caught him looking at my ass more than once!

Dee put her head on my shoulder, wrapping her arms round my waist and smiling at James, “Who’s your friend honey?” she asked sweetly.

I removed her arms from round my waist and brought her in front of me to introduce her to James.

“Hi, I’m James, an old friend of Noel's,” he said politely, “And this,” he said as he pulled someone away from the booze table, and turned him to face us, “Is Criss. I worked as a cameraman on his TV show in America,” he explained as Criss smiled at us, pushing his hat above his eyes so we could see him properly. I smiled back, staring at his dark eyes; I’m sure I recognise him from somewhere....

“Oh! Hey! I recognise you! You’re Criss Angel, right? The crazy stunt man from that TV show? What was it... something like... Freaky Minds? I love that show so much! This is so cool!” my very excitable girlfriend asked... excitedly.

“Uh, yeah, it’s called Mindfreak actually... and thanks,” Criss replied blushing as he looked down at his shoes.

“Sorry if this is really annoying, but could I please have your autograph?” Dee asked, beaming at him hopefully as he forced a smile and nodded. She clapped her hands as she drew a sharpie out of her shoulder bag. “Woohoo! My girlfriends all fancy you so much! Ha they’re gonna be soooo jealous...”

I sighed, embarrassed by her almost fan-girl like behaviour in front of my friend. James looked at me knowingly, obviously reading my mind, as he said, “You want to go grab a beer or something while they do that?”

“Yeah sure,” I replied, relieved to get away from Dee while she was in this annoying mood, but feeling slightly guilty for leaving Criss with her.

“Don’t worry about him, he’s been in worse situations, trust me!” James laughed, being annoyingly psychic.

He handed me a beer from a crate on the floor. “So what you been up to?” he asked, popping the lid of his drink.

“I’m actually starting in the TV business myself,” I said, as I took a gulp of my beer, glancing at him to see his reaction.

“Oh? Cool, are you producing, or acting, or what?”

“I’m writing and starring in this comedy show with my friend Julian. It’s called The Mighty Boosh, it hasn’t aired yet, but it’s looking really good at the moment,” I smiled, looking over James’ shoulder at Criss, who was now walking up to us with Dee practically hanging off his arm.

I sighed, irritated yet again by her behaviour towards this guy. I smiled at Criss apologetically, grabbing Dee’s arm and pulling her away.

He smiled back, and we held the gaze for a few seconds before James suddenly said “So who wants more alcohol? It’s party time!”

He jumped in the air with his arms above his head, cheering and making a noise like the rest of the people at the party. James really acts far too hyper to be sane sometimes.... but I guess that’s why we love him!

Criss and I rolled our eyes at each other. We both knew what James had in mind...