And In The End

I got to the restaurant a few minutes early and found her already there, as I approached the table she quickly gathered up some papers she had been studying and shoved them into her purse.

The conversation kept coming back to me and my career even though I was much more interested in finding out more about her, it seemed a bit odd to me that very afternoon she didn't know me from Adam, but now she seemed almost an expert, then I caught on, "Sarah, I hate to ask this, but those papers you were reading when I got here, were those crib notes about me?"

She turned bright red, and nodded. "I just wanted to have something to talk about."

I leaned across the table and put my hand on hers, "Can we talk about you instead? I already know all I need to about me. Tell me about yourself."

Sarah took a deep breath and countered, "I'm not that interesting really."

"That isn't true. For example, how do you like running a club?" I asked.

"Well you know how musicians are, most of them wouldn't know how to make a living out in the real world. They're the most spoilt bunch of prima donnas, and think the world should revolve around them and their 'art'." She stopped and looked at me completely horrified, realising what she had just said, "I'm sure you're the exception!"

"Sometimes." I laughed.

With little prompting on my part she opened up and told me her entire life story, the rest of dinner I barely got a word in edgewise but despite all that I was captivated, and looked forward to seeing her again.

The Love You Make

It was the oddest chance that made me see the ad for his one off show. I was actually trying to see what Sainsbury's had on sale that week, I almost missed it but the photo in the corner caught my eye. It was a great picture of him, just him and his guitar posed up against a brick wall.

Why was he doing a solo show without the band? And what the hell was he doing playing some dinky club that held less than 500 people? After all this last tour he packed in twenty to thirty thousand a night. I stared at his picture, the way he had of looking at the camera like a lover. I knew that look he had given it to me more than once.

"Stop it!" I said aloud, "he's not yours anymore. Deal with it."

Not that he ever really was.

I told myself I wouldn't go to the show, obviously he had moved on and it was up to me to do the same, but of course Saturday rolled around and there I was lining up with the rest of the people hoping to get in.

I saw him arrive; I ducked back in the shadows as he walked past me. He turned and looked in my direction with a slight frown but then some cute little blonde grabbed his arm and led him into the club.

I was one of the lucky few that got in, there was a mad rush for the front of the stage and the place was filled to the rafters. I managed to get a spot two rows back.

He took the stage at 10 pm; there was a collective gasp and then cheers. I had only seen the performances from the back of the stage. I knew he drew the audience in but seeing it from their point of view I could really understand why he had such a following. Even in the crowd I felt like his songs were being sung just for me, and by looking at those around me it was clear that the feeling was shared.

During one of the sad ballads he stood on the edge of the stage and looked into the audience, his eyes widened when he finally saw me. At the guitar break he looked straight at me again as if he was trying to memorize where I was.

As the set wound down I started to make my exit. I wanted to leave with the crowd but I didn't want to miss a note of the song so I just slowly moved to the back of the club. I had almost gotten to the door when a fight broke out near by. Two rather drunken women were loudly arguing about something and they effectively blocked the doors.

By the time the bouncers separated them the show was over. The place emptied out pretty quickly, and I had congratulated myself on making a clean get away until I rounded the corner heading to the underground and he stepped out of the shadows directly in front of me.

"Did you enjoy the show?" he asked, as he lit a cigarette.

"It was very good, I've said it before boss, you are talented."

"I really didn't expect to see you tonight. You almost made me forget the lyrics to my own song." He laughed, and then he got serious, "So how have you been Paul?"

"I won't lie, I really miss you."

"I miss you too." He dropped the cigarette and crushed it out with his shoe, "I would like to be your friend do you think that's at all possible?"

"Do you mean hanging out at the bar type of friends? Or playing darts kind of friends, or friends who occasionally fuck the hell out of each other?"

He smiled, "You always had a way with words. Let's start with the first two and see if we can do that."

"And then?"

He brushed his hand across my cheek, "and then, well, then we'll just have to play it by ear."