Madferit: The Novel

Chapter 14

            "Call me as soon as you land." I said to Kelly as we hugged good bye at the airport.

"Don't worry. I will." She replied.

"I can't believe you're leaving. I thought you and Tony hit off so well-"

"We did. But I've gotta get back home so we're trying long distance."

And they did...until Tony brought her back to watch the band's performance on The White Room.

The studio was packed with fans as the cameras rolled. A guy called Paul Weller was supposed to perform after them. He was one of their heroes – a guy out of the Jam. And now he was doing a solo thing. He was quite good looking if you ask me.

Noel of course was on edge about the whole thing, wanting it all to go right since it was being filmed. He tried making Liam hold off on the drugs until after the show but he was up shit creek for that.

Liam was wired but he still looked really focused standing on the stage. He kept his eyes out in front of him and sang his heart out, giving the audience quite a show.

He was mesmerizing but he always was. He'd glance at me every once in a while and I melted every time.

The band played a couple new songs. The lyrics to one of them were pretty uplifting – about like "Live Forever".

They finished out the set with a solo performance of Noel. Paul accompanied him on the piano as the audience circled around him.

"I'm goin' for a smoke." Liam said before it started. "I'm not arsed to sit 'round and watch this."

The rest of the band went with him while Kelly and I hung back. The show's production crew had space set aside for us to sit on the floor right in front so we'd get a good view.

"Alright, this one's called 'Talk Tonight'." Noel said as the crowd cheered.

I'd heard the song before during one of his late-night bus performances. It was one he wrote for the American girl who convinced him to return to the band after that show in LA.

I couldn't get over how shy he appeared. He kept his eyes down while he sang most of the song rather than look out at the crowd. And on the rare occasion he did look up, it was always at me.

It felt like another bus gig. Like it was just me and him and everyone else just disappeared. He was as mesmerizing as Liam and I couldn't look away. I knew the song wasn't for me but for some reason, I couldn't help feeling like it was.

My trance created by staring at Noel was broken when I felt Kelly nudge my arm. I looked at her and she winked with a grin. She could obviously sense what was up.

I rolled my eyes and waved my hand at her dismissively before turning back to watch the show...where my eyes met with Noel's.

He quickly looked down and shut his eyes about halfway as he continued to sing.

The song ended to more cheering than before it started. I participated with everyone else. He definitely deserved the credit.

Afterwards, the rest of the band came back and we all watched Paul Weller's performance. He was really good. I liked his solo stuff better than what he did with the Jam.

When the show was finally over, everyone moved on to party at the hotel. Liam and I got busy on the dancefloor, snogging and dancing...the typical stuff.