Songs for Courtney

Chapter 3

The office is almost empty, just the boss, and him, about to finish an article about a new Scottish band. “All You Need is Love” plays low, really low, from his computer.

Louis reads the article again. Making sure everything's perfect. It's almost done.

Writing, the music... this is what he really likes. Okay, the magazine is not great, and the salary could be better. But it's his first job. Later he'll try to get in a better magazine, but for now, he's happy with what he's got.

The song ends and “I Finally Found Someone” starts to play. Louis smiles. He remembers sending that song to Courtney on MSN.

This afternoon they were going to take the next step. After two months talking, they were finally going to meet.

Drake Smith walks out of his office with a huge grin on his face. He walks towards Louis’ desk, where he's finishing his article.

“We got it, it's confirmed. This afternoon Paige is coming for an interview.”

“Paige? That Paige?”

“How many singers do you know named Paige?” Paige had become an obsession for a lot of people in the last weeks. Every teenager had her single, which was number one in every hits list.

“Are you doing the interview?” asked Louis

“No, Louis, you will. Maddie and Anne are out of town, and I'm too old for this kind of interview. You'll do it better than me.”

Louis could only force a smile. It had to be this afternoon? His one free day? The day he was meeting Courtney...

“What time will she be here?”

“Her manager said that about 4 pm.”

Louis mentally calculated how long it was going to take the interview. Luckily at 4:30pm he'd finish. In 40 minutes he'd get to the place he was meeting Courtney. He couldn't go home to get changed, but he didn't mind.

“Alright, I'll do it.”

“Perfect. Here you go,” his boss said, handing him a folder full of pictures, previous interviews, articles and her album. “Go on internet and look for information about her. But no MSN, okay?”

Louis smiled. Did Drake know about his conversations with Courtney on MSN?

“OK, I'm on it.”

For almost two hours, Louis forgets about everything and studies all there is to know about the singer. He listens to the CD as the minutes go by and the interview draws near, as well as the date with Courtney.

He walks in his boss' office, giving him the work he's done.

“This is great. There's no doubt you'll be a great journalist and that soon you'll be out of here.”

Drake's compliment puts a smile on Louis' face.

“It's 4:15, she must be about to arrive.”

But at 4:30, Paige isn't there yet. Nor at 4:45. Louis bites his nails. He can't believe that this is happening. He's getting more nervous, looking at his watch every 30 seconds.

Tension, nerves. 5:15, she must be already there, waiting for him.

“She's here!” Drake yells from his door. The girl that works at Reception must have told him. Drake walks out of his office to welcome the guest.

Louis sighs and walks towards the receptionist. At the door, his boss is talking with the singer's manager, Eliot Webster. Paige just smiles.

“Sorry for being so late, we've had an interview in a radio station right at the other side of town.”