Small World.

"Hey John!" Garrett yelled as he stepped out of the car and spotted the lanky frames a short walk from us. John waved his arm above his head in response from where he sat on the floor.

I climbed out of the car and walked beside Garrett as we headed over to the herd of boys. I felt Garrett take my hand an squeeze it lightly.
"Hey guys." Garrett smiled as he at by the boys and pulled me beside him. "You all remember Hope right?" he nodded at me and received grunts and nods of approval from the boys who I now was close enough to tell it was John, Jared and Kennedy.

"Hope! Don't look!" Garrett and John stood up and walked a few meters behind me as Kennedy and Jared distracted me.

"You're 18 now?" Jared asked.

"Since a few days ago." I nodded an tucked my legs underneath myself. "That's why Garrett's being so secretive and annoying me!" I raised my voice at the end so he would hear.

"Good!" he yelled back before returning to my side. "And tonight is now sorted. Do you want to stay here for a bit? We've got nowhere better to go."

"Sure." I nodded as we began a few hours of mindless small talk.

"I don't want you to look too dressy stood beside me like this," Garrett chuckled as he rummaged through my wardrobe in the hotel room and I lay sprawled on my bed.

"Ohh?" he pulled a small, tightly fitted black dress out "What is this?"

"The only black dress I own!" I let out a loud laugh.

"Well that isn't entirely suitable." he chuckled. He pulled out a pair of denim shorts, battered navy converse and a red sleeveless checked shirt. "This?" I raised my head from it's place.

"Sure." I stood up and ensured my towel was still in place as I retrieved the clothes and hurried into the bathroom to change.

"Where are we Gare?" I looked down the street at the slight crowd of people ranging from my age to about 40.

"Your birthday celebration." he took both my hands in his and walked backwards. "I figured a party wouldn't be that good since you don't know people around here. So we're here!" We followed the queue of people into the building and Garrett pulled out the envelope I can only presume John had given him. He pulled two paper rectangles.

"Concert tickets?" I tried to sneak a peek at the ticket and find out who was playing. Suddenly even Garrett looked very excited. "Who is playing!?" I jumped up and down beside him in the line.

"Open your bags please! You can get in quicker then!" a burly security guard commanded the group of us. I slid mine open and held it out. He quickly shone a flashlight in when I reached him and nodded me past. Garrett handed the tickets and pocketed the stubs. We edged into the venue hall and Garrett led me over to the bar.

"Garrett, I'm not legal." I hissed in his ear.

"I am, and you look it." he shrugged and continued pulling me over. "Besides, if you were at home you would have been drinking a few days ago probably." I rolled my eyes and leant against the bar beside him.

"Two beers!" I heard him yell over the counter and pass the money over. He collected his change and turned to me.

"Are you going to tell me who's playing?" I begged.

"Ryan. Adams. I checked your iPod." he smirked.

"OH MY GOD GARRETT I LOVE YOU!" I screamed as I jumped up and down.

"Let's sit down." he chuckled and herded me over to two available bar stools. "This is yours too." he passed a beer to me.

"Thanks Gary." I took the bottle and brought it to my lips.

"How fast can you drink that?" he signaled across the bar for two more bottles and slid the money over.

"I don't know." I shrugged at the absurdity of his question.

"I bet I can drink mine quicker." he challenged "In 3.. 2.. 1.." we both tossed the bottles back and downed the contents, his slamming back on the bar a few seconds before mine.

"Fuck," I muttered "I hate loosing!" he laughed and handed me the other bottle.

We continued drinking through the opening act and I swiveled slightly on the bar stool while doing so. I soon felt Garrett's arm sweep around my middle halfway through.

"I need a wee, do you want to wait here or outside the bathroom?" he yelled in my ear.

"I'll wait outside." I yelled back and stood up. I waited outside the men's bathroom with what was remaining in our current two bottles of beer before we headed back in. When we got back inside the large hall we noticed that the opening act had left and there was a buzz of people setting up on stage as some of the crowd slipped off to the toilets or the bar.

"Shall we sneak in?" Garrett looked at the crowd.

"Sure." I nodded with a slight laugh. We gathered another round of drinks then worked our way into the crowd. We were almost at the front row when Ryan Adams and The Cardinals strode their way on stage. Mine and Garrett's below average height and weight worked to our advantage and we were front row by the end of the first song.

I leant lightly against the barricade and felt Garrett standing protectively behind me. "That was amazing!" I yelled as we emerged from the venue, me holding Garrett's hand to keep track of him in the crowd.

"Yeah," Garrett nodded "It was incredible!" we slipped away from the crowd.

"Thank you Garrett." I leant up and kissed his cheek. "Tonight has been amazing!"

"It's perfectly fine!" he smiled and blushed lightly. "Besides, it's not over yet!"

"What?" I looked up at him. "Gary I'm wrecked! You had me up at the crack of dawn." I complained.

"H, 11:30 is not 'the crack of dawn'." he swept me under his arm and into his side. I shrugged. "My plans for the rest of the night are chilled anyway. It only really involves me, you, beer and a movie?" he proposed.

"Ok then," I laughed and we walked to his car.

A quick trip to the shop later and we were back at my hotel. I let us into my room, kicked off my converse and undid the top button of my shirt. I quickly headed to my DVD stash and flicked through them. I pulled out 'Harry Potter' which we had decided to watch during our car journey. I slid the DVD into the player and turned to see Garrett breaking into a 12 pack of beer and handing me one.

"To your 18th!" he grinned. I smiled as we drank to the toast. We spent the next few hours sitting and lying on the bed, drinking our beer and watching two of the Harry Potter movies.

By the end we were both heavily intoxicated.

"I'd best be off." Garrett kissed my temple at 2 in the morning.

"You can't drive home." I told him.

"I'll walk?" he shrugged.

"At this time of night?" I raised an eyebrow. "Just stay here." I looked at the double bed.

"You s-sure?" he stuttered. "Yeah." I nodded my head. So the two of us simply slunk down and pulled the covers over ourselves before drifting off to sleep.