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45 - An Unexpected Arrival

"Oh God, something terrible is going to happen."

Ben looked a little alarmed as he glanced over at me. "Why, love?"

"Too many good things are happening," I crossed myself and worried about Malocchio, the Evil Eye.

His face creased into an almost-smirk as he said, "I didn't realise you're superstitious."

"Please," I dragged out the word, "I'm Italian; we have tons of superstitions."

Seriously, though, there were a lot of good things happening for me. The album and three singles so far released were doing really well, both here in the UK and, strangely enough, in Canada and Australia, where Hold Back the River had reached number one and my third single, Not on My Watch, was sitting at number three, the album itself bobbing in and out of the top ten in eight countries and in the top fifty in a dozen more. Every time someone talked numbers or charts to me I crossed my fingers and touched iron, which is the Italian equivalent of knocking on wood.

We'd made two more music videos, both of them getting strong viewing numbers with CD sales increasing as a consequence.

The tour with Eleanor had been an outstanding success; each night I'd sung mostly songs from the album with two or three new ones or covers mixed in as well and Eleanor and I always did a song together, sometimes two if the demand for an encore was enthusiastic enough.

My name appeared on a Buzzfeed list of 34 British Singer-Songwriters to Discover and I'd been invited to appear at a number of musical festivals in 2014; small billing, but every appearance helped.

Ben had come to our gig in Manchester and I'd closed my set with a cover of The Hollies hit The Air That I Breathe and dedicated it to him, simply saying 'for my man' without mentioning a name. Although he'd been snapped in the audience and the photos had been all over Twitter and, subsequently, the internet, it was assumed he was there to watch the headline act and no hint of our relationship leaked out. I knew it was only a matter of time before that particular bubble would burst.

"You deserve all the good things that are happening to you; stop worrying and enjoy them."

"Stop worrying? Honestly, Cutiepatch, sometimes I think you don't know me at all."

He snickered, so I threw a cushion at him.

---

"Hey Rick, what's up?" My phone rang just as I was approaching Ben's flat the next day; I answered it as I knocked on the door.

"Are you sitting down?" was his enigmatic response.

"No, but I can be in a sec," I told him, greeting Ben with a kiss when he opened up. He was wearing an apron and had what smelled like garlic in one hand, so he was obviously in the process of making us dinner.

"I think you should."

I sat on the armchair nearest the kitchen so I could watch Ben cook; apart from being able to admire the way he moved with lissom grace, it also afforded me a fantastic view of the Cumberbum.

"All right, I'm sitting down and thoroughly intrigued. What's going on?"

"Ed Sheeran is touring Australia and New Zealand in March and April next year."

"O-kay," I drew out the second syllable.

"He's taking three support acts with him."

Oh shit. No, it's not possible...

"You are one of them."

In some deep, subliminal way I knew where I was and what I was doing there, but my mind had decided to bombard me with flash images of myself, Ed and two faceless musicians along with guitars, koalas, large spiders and screaming crowds of people. I wasn't compos mentis enough to work out if the spiders and the screaming were related. I heard a weird gurgling kind of sound but it wasn't until Ben's face appeared directly in front of mine looking very concerned that I realised the sound was coming from me.