johnny flynn, clean rooms and sore noses

I turn from buying whisky and lemonade from the bar and walk towards the doors for the concert - over 20 minutes til doors open, but dammit I want to be there at his feet... And then a loose chequered shirt and blond hair catches my eye. Freeze. Turn to Iona, who is right behind me.
(lowered voice) 'That... isn't Johnny Flynn, is it?'
(excited voice) 'Can't be. He'd be being mobbed!'
We walk to the other side of him. He's standing at the bar and it's quite dark, so it's hard to see, and I mean, I've only seen him from a distance and in photos or videos, it's different... He goes and sits down with some older people (presumably relatives) and a woman who he talks to...
(Me, in strained tones) 'It's him.'
Two girls and an older woman walk up and shake his hand. It's utterly surreal. One of Iona's friends calls us over and we chat, and then I drag her over to Johnny. He has a slightly red scar on his left cheek. His hair is perfect... The older man next to him turns and smiles at us.
(Older man) 'You want to talk to Johnny?'
(Me) 'Well... if that would be okay, it'd be nice...'
He turns and gets His attention.
(Me, feeling like I'm about to faint) 'So, uh, we saw you over here and I'd never have forgiven myself if we hadn't come over...'
He smiles awkwardly and says hi or something.
(Me, dying) 'I saw you at hop farm, it was brilliant'
(Him, awkward and shy) 'that was a good day'
(Me, overly keen) 'yeah, a good day. You play violin... I play violin. You're really good.'
He stares at me. I turn to Iona and go, SAY SOMETHING.
(Iona, trying to be cool) 'I know this is really lame, but would you sign our tickets?'
(Him) 'Uh, yeah, sure'
-fumbling with pens and tickets-
(Him) 'So, what's your names?'
(Iona) 'I'm Iona'
-He signs my ticket with her name. Iona and I exchange glances to the effect of, okay, we're swapping tickets. He looks up at me expectantly. I pause.-
(Him) 'What's your name.'
(Me, gasping) 'Oh! Um. Florence. Like the city.'

I think it was at this point that it struck me that I was acting like a complete idiot. It took that long for this to strike me. I simultaneously realised I hadn't spoken to anyone else at the table and this was rude, and also that I probably wasn't being very seductive. Shock horror. I think I yelled Hello at the random woman next to him, at which point he was like 'Oh, do you know... her... no? Oh. It's just... She... uh.' And then handed back our tickets. We said thank you and left, squealing.

We went and screamed joyfully until the gig started. It was brilliant. Due to the stalking of Johnny we weren't the first in, but we were only a few people back.... The first few lines were all over excited girls, and as I thought disapproving and sarcastic thoughts about how they were ridiculous and overly keen I felt like the biggest hypocrite in the universe. He had two support acts, the first was a band of dark haired guys who had an awesome churranga player and a brilliant pianist, but I thought they kind of mushed their sound. The second one was Basia Balut, who walked on stage, smiled and sang out a beautiful solo complete with soulful handclapping and stamping. A really touching performance. Then her band, consisting of her brother on the drums (AWWWWW) and a very affected man with a pretentious moustache and a name like Mr Glompty on the bass and trumpet. They're Canadian, and awesome. Her voice and her playing of autoharps and other ancient harps and guitars and things really were incredible.

Then Johnny Flynn and The Sussex Wit came on, and I tried to spend about half the time checking out the band because they really were awesome. The cellist was fascinating because it was like a lesson in being the string part in those songs, which I'm trying to get good at on the violin... The drummer looked like the kind of guy I'd want to marry but never just date. The bassist looked solid, in a really good way. I thought maybe, you know, as it was so likely, I could be his girlfriend and then hang out with Johnny because I could never be in a relationship with Johnny because I'm too nervous around him. The best part of the band was probably the keyboard/vocalist, who had an awesome voice - he sang the woman's part in 'The Water', which isn't that high but is still a woman's part and his voice was perfect with Johnny's. Of course.

Johnny is exactly the man I dreamt about from the ages of 4 til 14. I used to say I went for blondes. I used to want a tortured soul. I used to want a skinny, beautiful boy. I used to want someone who was shy and awkward but deep and meaningful underneath. I used to want a musician. I used to want someone with his messy hair. He was my prince charming, my companion in all my imaginary stories, the boy who saved me from the girls school I felt trapped in, the one who I would have a beautiful wedding with...

But now, I'd like someone I can talk to. Tortured soul, well... only some of the time.