Page 21 of When We Were Young
Will leapt onto the stage to the loudest applause he’d ever experienced. Reu climbed behind his shiny ‘new’ kit, eager eyes on Will, like a dog waiting to fetch a ball. With a quick nod from Will, Reu clicked his sticks together, counting them into their opening song.
Will scanned the crowd for Eason as he played but couldn’t quite remember what he looked like. A few regulars jostled down at the front, but there were a lot of unfamiliar faces, too. The atmosphere was charged.
The first three songs were upbeat, they went down well and got people moving. Next up was their latest song, ‘Intertwined’. It was a ballad – it could kill the mood, but it was his favourite song at the moment, and he wanted to see what people thought of it.
By the end of the first verse, a few people had gone to the bar, but he still had everyone else.
He gave the chorus his all, hoping people would get goosebumps as he had when they’d first played it together in rehearsal.
Lost in the music, he shut his eyes and forgot about the audience – and Richard Eason – only opening them to synchronise the final strum with Reu’s last beat.
A cacophony of whoops and cheers erupted behind him, and Reu’s face became one huge, toothy grin.
The rest of the gig passed in a blur. There were no mistakes. Hell, they sounded great, and the crowd was feeling it. They even got an encore.
When they headed to the bar afterwards, Izzy was there with friends. She had said she didn’t want anyone to know they’d been seeing each other, but as soon as she saw him, she threw her arms around him and squealed, ‘Oh my God, you were amazing!’ So much for playing it cool.
She introduced him to her friends. He’d always thought of himself as a musician, but to them, he was just a delivery guy with a hobby. Maybe they were right.
A familiar voice interrupted the conversation. ‘Great gig, mate. You smashed it!’
Will turned to see his brother. ‘Aidan, what are you doing here? I thought you were going to Emily’s private view at her college tonight.’
‘Nah, I couldn’t be bothered with that. I’ve seen the photos. Besides, I can’t stand those art student dudes. They’re full of shit.’
‘How very supportive of you,’ Will muttered.
‘What?’
‘Nothing.’ Will excused himself to get the drinks in.
He lingered at the bar, making himself available for the elusive Richard Eason, but after a while it was pretty obvious he wasn’t coming.
Will tried to shake off the bleak mood descending on him.
He gathered up the drinks and took them back to his bandmates.
The guys were on a high, but Will felt flat as they clinked bottles.
All that effort for nothing . Reu was talking ten to the dozen, delivering his post-gig analysis with Matty nodding intently.
Will had never heard Reu say that many words in one go before – his first proper gig had brought him out of his shell.
Will didn’t join in, just drained his beer.
Will felt weird, like he wasn’t really there, like he was falling backwards. He looked around. The headline band’s fans were shuffling forward as they came on stage; Izzy was talking into her friend’s ear; Aidan and his mates were chatting to some girls at the bar.
A passer-by interrupted him, ‘That was amazing! What a voice!’
Comments like that kept coming. One guy even congratulated him at the urinal, which was awkward, but as the evening wore on, Will was slipping into a gloomy hole.
At the end of the night, Izzy came to say goodbye.
‘See you soon?’ she purred.
Behind her, Aidan was making his way towards the exit, a giggling girl in tow. What the hell?
Izzy stood on tiptoes and whispered something unintelligible in his ear.
‘Huh?’
‘When will I see you again?’ she asked.
‘Sorry, excuse me a minute.’ He wanted to catch his brother before he left.
Will elbowed his way through the crowd, and out onto the street in time to see Aidan climbing into a black cab.
As the cab trundled past, Will got an excellent view into the back, where Aidan was snogging some random blonde.
‘Fucking arsehole,’ Will muttered, his fists clenched tight by his sides.