Becoming

Drifter

Ade reluctantly rolled out of bed upon receiving his wake-up call in the morning, chugging some coffee and taking advantage of the breakfast buffet before bringing a trolley up to his room to bring his luggage, including all four of his guitars, down to the airport shuttle. He picked up a couple of fishing magazines at the airport, determined to stay awake for the whole flight so as to hopefully adjust quicker to British time.

He managed to do just that, exiting the terminal by the taxi stand at nearly 23:00. He pushed the luggage trolley with all his guitars to the first taxi he saw and gave his Shoreditch address. He rode in silence, not really wanting to go to his flat, but needing to be there to clean things out and arrange to quit the rental. That, and he wanted to save that derelict old sofa from the flat he'd shared with Dave. He knew it was ridiculous in a lot of ways, paying to have that ancient and beat-up sofa stored and shipped to wherever he chose to move to, but he really wanted to keep it with him, something to remind him of Dave.

The taxi driver helped him get his bags and guitar cases to the door of the block of flats he resided in, then he paid and the taxi drove off as he got everything inside the building's door. From there, he grabbed the luggage trolley kept for the residents' use and loaded his things to bring upstairs in the lift. Unloading everything in his flat, he brought the trolley back downstairs, then returned and locked his flat's door behind himself, looking around at the place.

Sure enough, the light on the answerphone flashed that he had messages, causing him to grin a bit. He hit play, listening to – as he'd expected – dozens of political messages and sales pitches. Hearing nothing of interest by the time he'd finished unpacking his clean clothing and putting his laundry into the laundry basket, he erased all messages. Then he called Hawaii.

As he expected, he got the answerphone at the Carlson's Honolulu flat. He'd known that Dave would likely be at the rehab centre with Tamar at this time of day in Hawaii. At the sound of the beep, he left his message. "Hey, Davey, I got in and I'm safely at the flat. It's now after midnight here, so I'm going to try to get some sleep, see if I can't force my body to adjust a little quicker. But if you want to call whenever you get in, go ahead and call. For you, I'll always wake up." He was tempted to blow a kiss, but on the off chance one of the Carlsons came by the flat and listened to messages, he decided he'd better not. "Talk to you soon, Dave," he added before hanging up. Then he let himself collapse into bed.

Several hours later, in Honolulu, Dave walked in the door of the Carlson's flat and smiled to see the answerphone light blinking. He listened to Ade's message, then did the maths to figure out what time it would currently be in London. He figured Ade would need to sleep for at least another three hours, and four would be better, so he fixed himself some dinner and settled down in front of the telly to watch a couple of films on HBO. At 23:00, he picked up the phone and dialed Ade's number.

"H'lo?" Ade's sleepy voice sounded in his ear.

"Hey, love," Dave said softly. "Glad you made it in safe."

"Hey, Davey," Ade responded, sounding much more alert. "It's good to hear your voice."

"As it's good to hear yours, Ade," Dave replied. "How was your flight?"

"Long, but what else is new there? Found a couple of fishing magazines to keep awake with, though, so I've at least made an attempt to reset to London time," Ade said. He glanced at his watches and smiled. "I guess you stayed up to call me back?"

"Yeah, I can't stay on long, and I'm sure you'd rather get a bit more sleep yourself, but I really wanted to hear your voice," Dave said. "I talked a bit to Tamar earlier; we've a meeting with her therapists tomorrow and if it goes well, I should be able to tell you when I can come to London."