The Meeting

An Inspiration

The day after the buckets idea, Leah had the day off, I always organised to be free where possible when Leah was off. Just as she did with me. We spent the day shopping for tour outfits, Leah's favourite thing to do. I wasn't into the typical custom made outfits that other artists went for. I liked to wear things that my fans could actually replicate should they want to. No one knew my clothes better than Leah, making her the perfect shopping partner.

We stopped off at a local pub for some lunch, finding a seat towards the back. As we waited for our food to come out, I noticed a little girl staring intently at us but when I smiled at her she looked away shyly and whispered something to her mum. I told Leah about this, laughing at her innocence, she made eye contact and the little girl repeated the staring and then looking away routine. Leah around kids makes my heart happy, she has so much time for them and constantly wants to make them happy. She waited until the next time the little girl made eye contact and stuck her tongue out slightly, making the little girl laugh and gaining the attention of her dad.

"Sorry, we kept telling her you two probably want to enjoy your lunch in peace!" He said, making it obvious he knew who we were.
"No not at all, she's cute." Leah said, smiling at the little girl.
"She's your biggest fan, thinks you're great. Says she wants to be like you when she's older." As the man spoke, Leah was looking directly at me. Her low self esteem from the comments that had been made online making her believe that he couldn't possibly be talking about her but I had enough belief in her for us both.
"What team do you want to play for?" I joined in.
"I think he means she's wants to be a sing -" Leah was interrupted by the little girl.
"Arsenal. Like Leah." She spoke proudly.

I watched Leah's lips curved upwards, her eyes telling the story of someone that needed to hear she was still an inspiration.

"Is Leah your favourite player then?" I asked, grinning at her.
"Yeah. She's my favourite person." The little girl beamed back.
"Mine too. I bet if you asked her, she would maybe get a picture with you." I said, smiling at Leah who was already moving in her chair to allow the little girl to climb onto her knee.

The little girl sat with us until our food came, Leah allowing her family to take multiple pictures and signing anything they had that they could keep with an autograph. I knew how badly she needed this today, she needed to know that people still cared. She needed to see for her own eyes that the nasty comments were the minority. As the family left, Leah and I had just finished our meal, her eyes were happy.

"Still got it." She smirked at me in reference to the little girl thinking she was great.
"You never lost it, Le." I smiled back.

As we headed home that night, my Leah was back. We sang in the car, grabbed some coffee on the way home, ate sweets as we travelled down the country roads towards our house and chased Milo around the house. Leah's laugh was so infectious, it made me feel like no other feeling. By the time we were settling down on the sofa to watch some new historic documentary that Leah had recorded, the smile on her face was the widest I had seen it in days, I couldn't help but watch as she bopped her head along to the music in the adverts.

"What're you looking at?" Leah said playfully.
"I like it when you're happy." I said, blushing slightly that she had caught me staring.
"I'm always happy when I'm around you, Al. I just worry but I'm trying to make sure I leave holes in my bucket now." She said, laughing at her reference to the night before.
"That's such a good idea. Someone really intelligent must've came up with that analogy?" I responded, my voice just as giggly as hers.
"She is but she's married now so you've missed your shot." Leah replied, now climbing on top of me and wrapping her arms under my back.
"That good ones always get snapped up, it's so unfair." I replied, reaching my lips up to kiss her.

Despite being with Leah all this time, she still made me nervous when we were like this. In the best possible way. We fell asleep that night on the sofa, our bodies tangled together as they always were. At some point, Leah had obviously woken up and carried me to bed because when I woke up the next morning I was being held by her in our bedroom, my hand intertwined with hers as she slept. In that moment, the idea of ever leaving Leah to go on tour seemed so silly, I wasn't sure if I ever wanted to tour again.