The heat is so murderous out here that Simon wouldn’t be surprised if their tent caught fire before their very eyes. Looking around him it seemed that everyone else in the camp thought the same thing, no matter how drunk they were. Simon and Julie were waiting around for some friends to show up to play some games before the next show. Among the scores of tents picketed in the field were thousands of drunk “country folk” dehydrating themselves with boxes of Budweiser. With his own drink in hand, Simon felt like he didn’t belong here. Being from Seattle, he was used to some sun, but the Gorge Amphitheater area felt like an active volcano. It was only because of Julie’s company that he vowed to tolerate the drunken population just so he could spend more time with her.
“Hey, didn’t Thomas say he would come by?” Julie appeared bored and irritated as she threw her empty can at the trash bin, missing it entirely.
“Maybe, although I feel like he wasn’t going to be coming up this weekend.”
Julie sighed dramatically. Simon couldn’t deduce how he could approach the subject with her.
The next Watershed performance wouldn’t be for another couple of hours. Simon knew he had to talk to her before then, otherwise she’d just want to get drunk and talk about country stars all night, which is what everyone would want to talk about here He was determined that this was the weekend that he would confess his feelings to Julie. He’d had a crush on her since they met back at the beginning of spring quarter at Wenatchee Valley College. He was instantly attracted to how different she was from every girl he met when he lived in north Seattle. That was one of the reasons he wanted to move away from the city. Simon hated the constant hustle of the city; he preferred the laid back atmosphere of Eastern Washington, which prompted him to move to Wenatchee and begin classes there.
I’m going to make my move sometime. I just have to wait for the right moment, he thought.
A large pile of cans was pressed up against Julie’s car. Simon knew nobody was going to clean that up, including him. As someone who could hold down his liquor, he knew when he had to push away the next can. Glancing over at Julie, he saw that she was several Budweisers in. Reflecting on prior experiences, Simon knew they were at the point where conversation would come down to a deeper level and they’d feel more comfortable expressing themselves. Simon had felt a connection with her, he just had to know if she felt the same way. When he looked at her, Simon could see all those times they had study nights at each other’s homes, the towers of DVDs and boxes whose pizzas they devoured together.
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