"There are a lot of people here already," Amanda said, her teeth chattering and her arms crossed over her black dress. "The doors don't even open for another hour."

Ruth shrugged. "Ponyboys are a big band. People want the best view."

Lizzie was jumping from one foot to another like a child needing a wee.

It was freezing. I could feel my skin pimple under the thin silk of my dress. "I'm just glad we can get inside straight away."

Lizzie nodded. "Me too. Where do we need to go?"

I scanned the walls of the imposing arena. "I'm not sure. The stage door, I think. But I don't know where it is."

"Well, it won't be at the front, will it?" Ruth said. "Let's walk round the side. At least we'll stay warm-ish if we're walking."

We began walking round the massive building. It seemed like the entire country could have fitted snugly inside, with room for houses as well.

"I can't believe my boyfriend is playing a venue this big," I muttered, almost to myself.

"Mine too!" Ruth interjected. "Don't forget about Will."

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "How could we?" she whispered, and I giggled under my breath.

After clopping along for a while in our high heels, an area full of white vans and a gigantic tour bus came into view.

"I think this is it," Ruth said. "Wow. That must be the Ponyboys' tour bus."

"It's huge," said Amanda.

There was a bustle of activity around a pair of doors guarded by two morbidly-obese and scary-looking bouncers. They were wearing Men In Black-style suits and sunglasses, despite it being fully dark by now. They nodded as streams of stocky men carrying sound equipment trickled past them.

"I suppose they're the guys who have our passes," I said, gulping. I hoped Noah had remembered to put them at the door.

We clattered over, our giddy spirits well and truly concealed, knowing that any bad behaviour would end the evening early. The bouncers turned their heads towards us.

"Groupies have to queue like everyone else," the bigger one said in a booming voice. "I don't care which member of the band you've arranged to sleep with later, go back to the front entrance."

Well, that pissed me off.

"We're not fans," I said curtly. "We're close friends of the band-"

The slightly-less-fat one interrupted. "That's what all fans say. Close friends, my arse. Round the front, girls. Come on."

I bristled inside. "You're not listening to me. We're not silly fans. We're here with the support band-"

The fat guy opened his mouth.

"-and before you interrupt me and insult us further, I suggest you actually check the list, where you'll find our names printed."

"Very well..." the thinner one said, looking angry. "What are your names?"

"Poppy Lawson, Elizabeth Heeley, Amanda Price and Ruth Cosmos."

The man shuffled in his suit and pulled out a battered piece of paper.

"If you girls aren't down here I'm not sure I can let you into the gig at all after that cheek."

"Our names are there," I said, crossing my fingers and praying like mad that Noah had remembered.

The bouncer's eyebrows furrowed as he reached the bottom of the list. "Ahh. Here you are."

I had such a strong desire to say "I told you so" but swallowed it down.

"Will you let us in now?" Ruth asked.

"Yeah." He reluctantly stood to one side. "Through here and to the left."

Once we were safely inside, our spirits recharged and we whooped with excitement.

"Bloody hell," Amanda said. "I really didn't think we were going to get in then."

"Where the hell did that assertiveness come from, Poppy?" Lizzie asked. "Normally you're too scared to send cold food back in restaurants, even if there's still ice on it."

I laughed. "I hate bouncers. They're just bullies on a power-trip. They bring out the warrior in me."

We wandered down the corridor, taking in the buzz around us. There were wires everywhere, miles and miles of them, and everyone we passed appeared to be carrying a clipboard. The corridor seemed to go on for ever. I had no sense of my bearings and hoped a left turn would materialize soon my heels were killing me already.

Then, as if from nowhere, Noah and his band appeared.

He spotted us and smiled a huge grin beamed directly at me.

"You made it!"

He looked AMAZING. My knees went weak just watching him walk towards me. He was wearing a ripped pair of dark jeans and a simple black T-shirt, but the shirt hugged every ripple of his chest and showcased the bulge of his arms. He was also wearing a necklace, a tribal-looking beaded thing I would normally mock, yet on Noah it looked casual and brilliant. He'd actually bothered to gel his hair into a slightly messy fifties-style sweep. I wanted to run my hands through it. I wanted to touch his face. My heart started thumping madly through the silk of my dress and it took all my self-control not to launch myself at him.

Then his arms were around me, giving me a hug, and I felt the wetness of him kissing my cheek and smelled his incredible scent.

"We almost didn't get in," I said, mid-hug. "The bouncers were horrible."

"They've been a nightmare," he said. "One called Brian's wife a groupie and made her queue outside. She rang him in a right rage, demanding to know if he really had groupies."

I pulled away from the hug. "Brian? As in Brian from Ponyboys? You've been chatting to him?"

Noah nodded. "Yeah. We've been hanging out all afternoon. They're really cool."

"Well, don't you have friends in all the right places?"

He laughed. "I suppose I do."

The others were all joking together behind us. Ruth had already given Will a massive public snog to "calm his nerves" and everyone was getting on well. Lizzie was telling them all about the bouncers and how fat they were and everyone laughed appreciatively.

It was much warmer inside and I shrugged off my coat.

"Is there anywhere I can put this?" I asked Noah. I held up my coat but he was just looking at me, transfixed. "What is it?"

"Poppy, you look incredible," he whispered.

I blushed and coyly turned from side to side. "It's my new dress. Do you like it?"

Noah was practically undressing me with his eyes. "Like it? Seriously. How am I supposed to concentrate with you in the audience looking like that?"

I smiled, revelling in the attention. Then I clicked my fingers in front of his eyes mockingly, like I was trying to break the hypnotic lust-spell.

"Coat," I said. "Where can I put it?"

Noah grabbed my arm and steered me away. "Here. I'll show you."

He led me through his dressing room and into a little cupboard where lots of coats, scarves and bags were hanging up.

"Here," he said. "You can collect it after the gig."

"Thanks." I pulled down a hanger and put my coat on it. When I turned round, I was greeted by Noah's mouth. He pushed me backwards into the coats and wrapped his arms around me.

"Noah? What are you doing?"

He replied between repeatedly kissing my neck. "Come on. You look so gorgeous."

"Don't you need to rehearse or something?"

"Shh."

And that was all the resistance I bothered with before I kissed him right back.

We emerged from the dressing room dishevelled and, embarrassingly, our friends cheered when we arrived back.

"You guys took a while," Will said. He had his arm around Ruth and his chest puffed out. I think he was enjoying playing the Rock God role for the evening.

"Yeah...umm...we got lost?" Noah said, laughing and putting his arm around me.

"Lost?"

"Yep."

"In each other's mouths?"

Noah laughed again. "Maybe... So, does everyone have the set list memorized?" he asked, clapping his hands together, pretending it was just business as usual.

"Yes, boss," the band echoed.

"And has everyone peed? I know it sounds weird, but you don't want to need an almighty slash mid-set."

"Jesus, Noah," said Ryan. "I think you can trust us to take care of our own urinary secretions."

"I'm just saying. Rock stars shouldn't pee themselves. It's just not cool."

"Well, I'll go before we go on, I promise."

"What about you, Jack? We all know you have trouble holding...after that road trip to Oxford."

Jack went a bit red while the boys high-fived each other.

"Shut up. We were in that traffic jam for hours!"

"Just go pee and I won't tell the girls what happened."

I hadn't realized it before I'd been far too distracted with the beginner's guide to uncontrollable lust but Noah was a ball of nervous energy. He was swinging my hand manically as well as tapping on his thigh. And he was also doing his own mini-tap dance on the hard corridor lino. If he wasn't so cute I would've taken the piss. Instead I squeezed his hand and whispered, "You nervous?"

"Am I that obvious?"

I swept back a piece of hair from his face.

"You're going to be great. You know that, right?"

"I just hope I don't freak out and screw it up for everybody. This is our big shot, Poppy."

His eyes were wide open, vulnerable, and I loved him more that second than I ever had. It rushed through my veins, making me feel warm and sick at the same time.

"That won't happen, I swear. But if you do start to freak a little, just find my face in the crowd. I'll be there, front row, fighting off your fans with a baseball bat..." He smiled. "And then, whatever's happening, you can be secure in the knowledge that someone loves you. Unconditionally. Even if you end up putting your guitar on backwards and crying." He smiled again. "And that's all that matters in life, in the long run."

Noah's eyes burned into mine and for a moment I thought he was going to ravage me again. Instead his eyes got a teeny bit watery and he stroked the soft skin on my cheek.

"I am so very lucky to have you."

"I know."

My words seemed to calm him and we joined in the banter around us. Ryan was boasting about all the girls in the crowd he could bring backstage for a "seeing-to". I think the excitement had gone to his head. This, of course, upset Lizzie, who went into one of her well-rehearsed rants about feminism. Jack had asked Amanda if he could practise his drumbeats on her back, so she was leaning forward a little awkwardly, trying to smile as he repeatedly hit her. And Will kept trying to get Ruth's attention, but she was too busy trying to spot more important people around us.

A flicker of recognition crossed her face and her eyes lit up. She put her hand up to shush us.

"Guys," she said. "It's the band."

Ponyboys were heading straight for us. Brian, the lead singer, was for some reason soaking wet, like he'd just come out of the shower. He was followed by the other three band members. I didn't know their names it was always about Brian really. An angry-looking short blonde woman was scowling behind them. I guessed it was Brian's wife, still fuming about the groupie fiasco.

"Dudes and dudettes." Brian greeted us in a faux-American accent and high-fived Noah.

Brian from the Ponyboys. High-fiving my boyfriend, like it was a normal thing to happen.

"Alright, Brian?" Noah replied coolly. "You look a little damp. What happened, mate?"

Brian shook his long brown hair and we all flinched as we got sprayed with water.