Page 39 of When We Were Young

It all happened so fast.

First, Will met Richard Eason for lunch near his King’s Cross offices with Matty and Reu.

It was only pizza, but it was fancy pizza.

And beer, lots of beer. Eason gave them the hard sell, and it gave Will indigestion.

Matty said he wasn’t offering enough. Two days later, Will and Matty met with XL Recordings at their offices in Notting Hill.

Reu didn’t bother with that one. There was no food or drink on offer, and he found business talk boring.

When Will and Matty left that meeting, Richard Eason was waiting in a car outside the XL building.

He told them to get in. By the end of the twenty-minute drive, he agreed to beat the offer they’d just received.

Meetings with three more labels and two weeks of negotiations followed. As he lay awake at night, Will swung between fearing it would never happen and worrying about the consequences if it did.

Three weeks after the Dublin Castle gig, Will got the tube back from a meeting in central London to Emily’s new place in Balham.

She buzzed him up on the intercom and when she opened the door, she didn’t say hello, just: ‘Well?’

‘We’re taking it,’ he said.

She squealed and jumped onto him, wrapping her legs around him. He spun her around in the cramped hallway and they clung to each other, laughing and kissing.

‘Oh my God. Oh my God,’ she whispered.

Miranda came out of the kitchen clutching a Pot Noodle. ‘Ugh, get a room.’

They took her advice.

Emily’s room was much nicer than his, cleaner and brighter, but her bed was only a single like his.

They lay on her bed and she made him recount the whole thing from the beginning. He explained how Eason had finally met all Matty’s demands and they signed a six-album deal with Island Records that afternoon.

‘I’m so happy for you,’ she said. ‘You’re finally getting the recognition you deserve. You must be excited.’

‘Yeah.’ His stomach hurt. He still had to tell her the rest.

‘Let’s go to the off-licence and get champagne – or sparkling wine on our budget, but we should celebrate,’ she said. ‘Get a takeaway.’

He should tell her now. It would be harder once they left the flat. ‘They want us to support Paradigm.’

She pushed herself up onto her elbows. ‘That’s amazing! You get to meet Brett Lewis. When?’

‘In four weeks.’

‘Oh my God – so soon? See? That shows how much they value you.’ Her voice was high-pitched. ‘They know you’re good enough to support Paradigm.’

‘They want us to support them on their entire US tour.’ His voice was flat.

‘That’s great!’ She was on her knees on the bed beside him now, making everything wobble. ‘Why aren’t you happy? What’s the problem?’

‘There’s no problem, it’s just… it’s a long time.’

‘How long is it?’

‘Five months.’

She didn’t hesitate. ‘Oh, that’ll fly by! You’ll be having the time of your life.’

He was hurt. She wasn’t anywhere near as devastated as he was at the prospect of being apart for that long.

‘This is what you wanted your whole life!’ She shook his shoulders against the mattress. ‘Surely you knew this would happen?’

‘I dunno. I s’pose I didn’t believe it ever would or else it never really mattered until we got together.’

‘Ah, that’s sweet,’ she said. ‘But pull yourself together. Now’s not the time to be all romantic and pathetic!’

‘I’ll miss you,’ he whined.

‘That’s your brain trying to cope with all the excitement. It’s looking for negatives. That’s normal. Ignore it.’

‘Won’t you miss me ?’

‘No. I’ll be able to get some work done.’

‘You don’t mean that…’

‘You’re such a terrible… distraction .’ Her stony expression morphed into a smile. ‘It’ll be worse for me. I’ll be stuck here, bored out of my mind. You’ll forget all about me.’

‘No…’

‘You’ll be surrounded by groupies, going “Emily who?”’

He pulled her into a hug to shut her up.

Even Nigel at work, who was pushing sixty, had heard of Paradigm.

‘I can’t hold your job open for you,’ he said, ‘but get in touch when you’re back and I’ll see what I can do.’

Nigel obviously had high hopes for the longevity of his music career.

Will wouldn’t miss the delivery job, but he was sad to hand back the keys to his van.

He asked his mum if he could pop over. When he arrived, she had arranged a rather formal lunch and Will felt like a guest sitting at the dining table with his parents.

Reu wasn’t there. He’d been working as a plumber’s apprentice since he left school in the summer.

He rarely worked weekends, but he used it as his excuse to make himself scarce today.

The first thing Will’s dad said was: ‘Are you still… seeing your brother’s girlfriend?’

He had hesitated at the word ‘seeing’, as though toying with a different verb.

Will sighed. ‘Actually, she’s my girlfriend.’

In hindsight, that might not have been the best way to get him onside. His dad sat there glaring at him, his jaw clenched as his mum handed around a plate of assorted sandwiches cut into neat little triangles.

‘She’s not bloody pregnant, is she?’ he asked.

‘No!’

Dad narrowed his eyes. ‘What have you come to tell us, then?’

‘I wanted to let you know I’ve got a recording contract.’

‘Will! That’s fantastic!’ said his mum.

‘So, you’re jacking in your job?’

‘Well, I wouldn’t, but they want us to go on tour for five months.’

‘What will you do after that?’

‘Hopefully, record an album. Tour some more.’

Dad shook his head, lips pursed. ‘How will you pay your rent?’

‘I’m thinking of moving out of my flat as I’ll be away for so long. I was hoping to leave my stuff here until I get back – there’s not much.’

‘The garage is still full of your stuff, anyway. It won’t make much difference.’

He knew his dad wouldn’t object to this. He hated anyone wasting money.

His mum offered him a slice of pork pie, but he shook his head. ‘Reuben’s not going with you, is he?’ she asked.

‘Well, yeah. He’s the drummer.’

‘He can’t go away for five months!’ cried Dad. ‘What about his apprenticeship?’

Will closed his eyes and took a deep breath. ‘He’ll have to take a break from it.’

‘You can’t take a five-month break from a plumbing apprenticeship! Do you know how many strings I had to pull to get him that job? He has a real chance to make something of his life. He’ll be able to charge a fortune when he’s qualified. You shouldn’t be filling his head with this nonsense.’

It stung that they didn’t have any expectations of him, but it would be a tragedy if a gifted musician like Reu spent his life installing toilets. Will didn’t have the same belief in his own talent, but championing Reu was easy.

‘Reu’s seventeen. Plumbing will still be there when he gets back. If he doesn’t do this now, he’ll regret it for the rest of his life.’

By now his dad’s face had turned deep red. ‘Well, on your head be it!’