It wasn’t like the usual hangouts with Claire. The little basement shows, the indie parties where everyone looked half-asleep and you could just stand in the corner with her, soft music filling the silence between sips of cheap drinks—that was your world. This? This was different.

The festival was Bea’s idea, of course. Beabadoobee had been Claire’s friend for years, and by now, you’d learned that when Bea made effort to see her, it wasn’t something Claire was going to pass on. She’d invited you the second she heard,because Bea mentioned her boyfriend Jake would come too,her voice teasing when she said she’d wear a really sexy dress, the kind that’d make you regret staying home. “You wouldn’t like missing it,” she smirked over the phone,just hoping you'd give in.

The drive was long—two hours out of LA, the road thinning until it felt like you were leaving the world behind, right in the morning with the sun cast over the car.Claire sat in the passenger seat with her bare feet on the dash, one of her playlists humming low through the speakers, her sunglasses slipping down her nose. She didn’t look nervous at all, just calm, humming along, her hand loosely wrapped around yours between gearshifts. “Don’t overthink it,” she said softly at one point, squeezing your hand. “It’s not like that. Just friends, music, lake water. No cameras. No weirdness,no fans." You believed her. Or tried to. you knew it was only by invite by now but there was still gonna be around a hundred people there,all your age, which you wondered if it was better or worse.

When you finally pulled into the dirt clearing, the faint thrum of music was already in the air, carried over by the trees. Laughter mixed with it, and the unmistakable splash of water—you spotted the shimmer of a lake through the woods, lit up by the sun. Cars and jeeps were parked in crooked rows, people already climbing out with coolers, guitars, cases of beer balanced on their shoulders.

Claire leaned forward in her seat, peering out the window. “There,” she said, pointing. Bea and Jake were just pulling up in a jeep, hopping out with the casual ease of people who’d done this a hundred times. Bea spotted Claire almost instantly, waving so hard her bracelets clinked.

Claire grinned, pushing her sunglasses up into her hair. “See? its gonna be fun,like a double date” She looked at you then, her eyes soft but with that playful edge you knew too well. “Come on. You promised. don't get all scared now” she let her voice drop, lips curving in a smirk

.