The Ned Wood Archive

Ellie

She doesn’t know where it’s from, but she keeps thinking that line “He’s just not that into you” that evening.  She’s decided that is what happened.  She had a good time with Joe, he had a good time too, yeah, no, but just not that good a time.  To be honest, she’d been asking herself, if they’d met up that morning, and things had developed, would she have stayed in the UK rather than go to Italy?  No she wouldn’t.  She’d have invited him over.  She’d have looked him up when she came back at Christmas and stuff.  So that meant she was into him, but like at maybe 8 out of 10.  So she guessed that with her going off, he’d decided that he was maybe only 7 out of 10 or 6 out of 10 and that wasn’t enough.  Or did he get the ick?  Lauren says boys don’t get the ick, but maybe.  I dunno.  Anyway, one way or another he’d worked out that it wasn’t worth chasing her round Glastonbury and then it going nowhere at the end of Sunday.

See, Ellie doesn’t believe in love at first sight.  You can’t, can you.  You just see some bloke, but you don’t know whether he’s a decent guy.  You have to talk to him and hang around with him before you can fall in love.  Like, when she saw him, she thought, well actually, she didn’t think, not until they were chatting after the showers, she thought maybe there’s a chance.  But it wasn’t until later yesterday that he started to score high enough.  And she could hope that he’d maybe feel the same way and that she’d score high enough before too long, but obviously, that didn’t happen.      

Then they went to see Lily Allen which was sort of cathartic.  It was totally all girls together.  All the boys must have been over at Radiohead.  And it was all of the album, that strange, soft, sexy music with those bitter cold revengeful lyrics.  It was exorcism, honest and viscous, but to be honest, that’s not what she was thinking. Not negative. Just disappointed. Then Lily Allen did some old song from the sixties that they had to look up called You Don’t Own Me and that was like the confirmation she needed.  She got to decide what she was doing.  

I’m young, and I love to be young

I’m free, and I love to be free 

To live my life the way I want

To say and do whatever I please

And Lily Allen had all of these guests come on.  Pink and Ellie Goulding.  And Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift.  And Annie Lennox.  All the girls together.  And they did that Eurythmics song Sisters are Doin’ it for Themselves and the whole crowd sang along and they all agreed, Ellie and Phoebe and Abi, and even Lauren joined in for a bit, and they all agreed that they don’t need no boys anyway.