The Other Side

The Message

When our paths parted, I almost ran to my friend's car and couldn't catch my breath. I could feel my legs shaking but when I reached our car, I calmed down. I saw Patty leaning against the car, looking at her mobile phone.

"Hey, your phone was ringing," she said and handed me my bag.

"Who was it?" I asked but then I remembered Lewis called me to have his number. I unconsciously smiled and took the bag from her. I searched for my mobile phone and went straight to missed calls and saved his number. Lewis Capaldi

I felt some kind of honour to have his number but I also got scared what if someone steals it from me. At the same time, while looking at his number, I felt butterflies in my stomach.

"Soo... looking at your face I guess it went really well?" Patty said and I looked at her a little surprised but then I smiled even more. But then... it hit me. It is normal for famous people to give their number to their fans and enjoy the fun with them, use them and then end everything. I'm just another toy in his life, a toy for a very short period of time and in the end I will only get hurt. I felt the urge to delete his number. What is the point of having it anyway?

"I should delete his number," I said and clicked on his name, ready to delete him from my life.

"Oh not again!" Patty almost shouted in despair and tiredly looked at me. "Can you tell me what happened so I can give you reasons why keeping his phone number is a good thing?" she paused, "Oh no... I can give you the reasons right now!" she took my mobile phone out of my hands and locked it.

"Do you know anything about him?" she spitted out a little at me. I speechlessly stared at her. "Right, that's what I thought." She let out a deep, loud sigh.

"He is a complete nervous wreck, full of anxiety, self-doubt and afraid of his panic attacks that can happen any time possible. Do you think that a person who doesn't trust people would give his phone number to someone he met at his own concert? Why would he do that? He's not gonna use you to entertain him when he's bored," she paused for a while so I could absorb her words," if anything goes wrong with him and he will hurt you, I will kill him and then you can kill me because I lied to you," she laughed and gestured a hug because she knows how I hate physical contact.

I calmed down a little and smiled, too. I felt the cold air and realized I was freezing.

"Let's go home," I said on my way to passenger side. I finally sat down and put my bag on the floor between my feet.

"So you guys talked about your next meeting? Or will you just text and call each other?" Patty asked while driving off the parking spot. I immediately looked at her realizing that's the only thing we didn't speak about.

"No... I don't know..." I slowly said while thinking about all the things that have happened tonight. "It's not like he's gonna text me or call me so there's no need to think about it."

"Paulie... you never know and everything happens for a reason," she said and continued driving.

I looked out of the window and watched the nature covered in darkness and some lights around the highway. Patty turned the volume up and we could hear the song Tattoo by Loreen. I felt my watch vibrating and looked at them to read the message. Lewis Capaldi

"Oh my God..." I said in a complete shock. I quickly searched for my mobile phone in the bag and took it out.

"What?!" Patty almost shouted. I looked at the locked screen and saw the message from Lewis.

"He texted you?" she asked and all I could do was to nod and I felt the tears forming in my eyes. I didn't know why I reacted like this. Maybe I was surprised that he really texted me because I thought that he would never write.

L: Thanks again for tonight. Hows the ride? Hope youre not asleep.

I read the message over and over again to absorb every single letter of the words forming such a nice and meaningful message. Not only he thanked me but he also wrote a question which means he wants to have a conversation with me. And what's more, he's being polite by thinking about my comfort.

I read the message to Patty and she screamed in joy. I let the tears fall down on my cheeks but quickly wiped them off.

"I can't believe my friend is a friend of Lewis Capaldi!" Patty laughed and turned down the volume a little. "What are you going to reply?!"