Page 82 of Escape to the Country

An hour into Tom’s set and darkness had begun to fall. Now the lights were twinkling all around the stage. Pyrotechnics and multi-coloured strobe lights spun across the crowd, adding to the party atmosphere.

But then it quietened down as Tom sat at the piano. He was sweaty, hot, slightly out of breath. Eleanor felt a stab of pure lust. He was absolutely gorgeous. She tried to breathe normally. He had a natural chemistry with the audience. That was what she was reacting to. She had a temporary crush that was all. Once they were all back in Cranley, that would quickly fade again.

But as he sat at the piano, Eleanor could feel the hairs stand up on her arms as he sang. There was no band, just him and the piano. The crowd went still, merely lighting up their phones and holding them aloft. It was magical.

At the end, she shouted and screamed her response as well as everyone else in the field.

She never wanted this evening to end.

Tom stood up and grabbed his guitar once more. As he reached the microphone in the centre of the stage, he said, ‘I thought I’d sing a song in tribute to an amazing band who should have been here tonight instead of me. Coldplay.’

He began to strum ‘The Scientist’ on his guitar. Eleanor was dumbstruck. She couldn’t believe that their brief conversation had ended up with him playing her nominated song at Glastonbury.

It was just him, the guitar and the huge audience singing along. She quickly joined in, reminding herself to tell Dylan all about it when she got home later that night.

Tom glanced up briefly at her at the end of the song and grinned. She found herself smiling straight back at him, lost in their own personal secret.

*

Tom was pleased to see Eleanor looking so pleased that her choice of song had made it into his set. He realised that now that the nerves had dissipated, he was having an amazing time. He loved playing his music to a crowd. Any crowd. They were singing along tohislyrics. Singinghismelodies. Would that thrill ever fade? Probably not. He just wished his gran could have seen him. But he knew she was with him somewhere, cheering him along.

There were only two more songs to go. Two more numbers, but he never wanted it to end.

The crowd swayed and sang along in time to his final song and he left the last line of his favourite hit for the audience to sing. As the closing bars faded, he held one hand aloft and punched the air. The crowd roared.

‘Thank you, Glastonbury,’ he told them. ‘You’ve been incredible.’

Their next roar was drowned out by a plethora of fireworks shooting out from behind the stage and lighting up the sky. The fireworks boomed and crackled but he could still hear the crowd shouting his name.

He waved as he came off stage, feeling high on adrenaline. He was elated, flying as high as the fireworks in the sky overhead.

Sam and various other people hugged him and were talking to him. But he couldn’t make out anything they were saying. He was buzzing. It was most incredible feeling in the world. It had taken his senses and made them zing. His whole body hummed. It was as if the whole world was on mute and he could barely comprehend anything.

He barely registered Annie giving him a shy kiss on the cheek, the roar in his ears overpowering the words she was saying. Megan also gave him a kiss before attempting to give him a high five, but she missed his hand completely and just fell about laughing at herself.

Suddenly Eleanor was in front of him. She was mouthing some words at him, but he still couldn’t hear anything though he was able to take in every inch of her. Her green eyes were shining as she leant up to kiss him on the cheek. But at the last minute, in the crowd and confusion, she turned her head and he found himself kissing her on the mouth. His body continued to tingle with the feeling of her soft mouth on his, her lips touching his.

A flash went off somewhere, probably from the fireworks. But it woke him up enough to step away from Eleanor in a daze and then he was surrounded by people once more.