Strings (14 page)

             
She rolled her eyes, pretending to despair of him. Luke wouldn't drink anything other than beer, whisky or shots. ‘Of course I have,’ she said, still holding his hand.

             
‘Good girl.’

*****

‘Bitch!’ she yelled as the tears streamed down her face. The room was dark apart from a light from a candle on the small table in the corner and she sat surrounded by pictures, hacking at one of them till the eyes were just dark voids.

             
‘He would never have said that. This is her fault.’ She punched the wall.

             
‘I know that!’ She screamed back at herself. The dress she’d been wearing was in pieces on the floor.

             
‘The dress was a stupid idea.’ She had torn it with her bare hands.

             
‘You can't let her get away with it.’ Amber looked behind her, and shook her head.

             
‘Do you think I’m going to give up?’ There was silence. ‘Well I’m not. Be quiet anyway, I’m trying to think.’ She scrabbled around in the photos that littered the floor, searching for a certain one.

             
‘Ha, got it!’ She clapped excitedly – it was a photo of her and Luke on the night they had spent together. She was sitting on his knee and they were both smiling at the camera. Luke had his hand on her knee. He was wearing black jeans and no top which seemed to be his trademark look. The band had just come off stage, and the picture was taken backstage. They looked good together, she thought.

             
She was so tired now– she hadn't slept in days – but the photo brought back happy memories and relaxed her a little. Hugging the photo, she lay down on the mattress and tried to get some sleep. But the voice just wouldn't stop talking to her. She buried her head in the pillow and screamed into it to drown it out. It was always so loud; there was nothing she could do to escape it.

             
‘Stop talking. Please leave me alone. No, I don’t want to do that!’ she begged. It was always so intense, and would only get louder if she tried to ignore it. She knew she had no choice but to do as she was told.

*****

The rain was so heavy that it woke Melissa and Luke up. It was as though stones were being thrown at the window. Melissa felt like someone was pounding her head with a hammer, from the inside. They’d had way too much to drink when they’d got back to hers, and now she was regretting it. She pushed Luke away as he started pawing her.

             
‘Spoilsport,’ he moaned as he gave up. She rested her head on his chest.

             
‘I think I’m dying from wine poisoning, and it's your fault,’ she complained.

             
Luke ran his hands through her hair, and mocked her for being a lightweight. He reminded her that she’d tried to play his acoustic guitar at two in the morning, and he’d thought it the cutest thing she’d ever done.

             
‘I know I wasn't very good, but never mind.’ He said he’d teach her if she wanted, but she shook her head. There was no way she could ever be as good as him, and besides, she wasn’t cutting her nails for anything. Luke liked her nails – they were perfectly manicured, and intricately decorated. Their appearance was striking, and they definitely made an impression. In more ways than one, he thought, laughing to himself as he remembered the marks on his back. They’d earned him quite a bit of abuse from the rest of the band after they’d noticed them during a gig.

             
Melissa was still thinking about a song he had played for her last night, before her embarrassing attempt at playing the guitar. He’d played his acoustic version of ‘Pink Ribbons’, the first song he ever wrote. Luke wouldn’t say who it was about, but just said it was a long time ago. She decided not to push him to answer but she had noticed how attached he was to his first guitar – he would just sit and play it for hours sometimes. There was a softer side to his talent, but he told her it wasn't what he wanted for the band. Melissa asked him why he named the guitar in the first place, and why he chose Chloe. There must a reason, and she wanted to know what it was.

             
‘It's just something some people do, no big deal,’ he said, shrugging. He didn't answer the Chloe question.

             
‘Who is she?’ she asked. Again he didn’t reply, but he looked upset just at the thought of this girl. Whoever she was, she was clearly special to him.

             
‘It doesn't matter.’

             
‘Yes, it does matter. Tell me, babe, who is she?’ He thought for a few seconds and his shoulders dropped. ‘Don’t worry. If it’s an old girlfriend I won’t be weird about it.’

             
Luke looked at her. There was hesitation, or maybe a look of loss in his eyes.

‘Chloe was never given that chance. She wasn’t a girlfriend
, not like you think anyway.’

             
She took his hands and held them tightly. ‘What happened?’

             
Luke explained that ‘Pink Ribbons’ was about Chloe. She was technically his first girlfriend, if you can call it that when you are six years old. He kissed her on the cheek every morning, and they held hands in the playground. But Chloe had died in a house fire on her seventh birthday.

             
‘Oh, Luke, that's terrible. I'm so sorry.’

             
He looked so sad, it broke her heart. He was clearly still hurt by it, which was not surprising.

             
‘It wasn't nice. Someone pushed fireworks through the letterbox one night, and there were some boxes by the door which caught fire. Her parents managed to get her out, but she’d inhaled too much smoke, and she didn’t make it through the night. They never caught the culprit – some stupid kids messing around without thinking of the consequences. Anyway, it’s called ‘Pink Ribbons’ because she always had pink ribbons in her hair.’ The sorrow in his eyes showed that he still missed her, and had been greatly affected by the tragedy.

             
Melissa shed a tear for the girl she never knew. She’d obviously had a big impact on Luke’s life, and her memory still did now. He had named his first guitar after her, and that alone meant she would always be in his heart.

             
Luke felt a sense of relief to have finally spoken about it after all these years, because he had never really done so before. He felt better just knowing that someone else understood how important the memories were to him. He had wanted to talk to Melissa about it before, but had never really been able to because he couldn’t find the right words – he didn’t know where to start. It wasn’t the sort of thing you just brought up in conversation. But before her, he’d never been close enough to anyone to want to share it with them.

             
Luke told her how the funeral had been, and still was, one of the hardest days of his life. He had to say goodbye to his first best friend. It took him a long time to get over it. For the next two years, he spent a lot of time alone. He remembered thinking that there was no point in making friends because they might be taken away from him too. It was at that young age that Luke started to experiment with writing music. He would express the way he felt by turning his thoughts into words.

             
It was only after meeting Dale that Luke began to grow into the person Melissa knew. He would never admit that to Dale, and he made Melissa swear never to tell Dale that he’d said so. He told her how he had been kicking his football around in the driveway, on a Sunday afternoon. The sun was going down, and it dazzled him every time he turned towards it. He heard a shout after a misjudged kick, and then a crash. His football had hit another kid on the head as he rode past on his bike. He could remember it all as if it was yesterday.

             
‘You complete moron,’ the kid had shouted as he picked himself up. Dale didn’t have his long hair back then, it was shorter but it was just as messy.

             
‘Sorry, but you got in the way of my ball. I think you’ll find that makes you the moron.’

After exchanging a few
insults, they looked at each other and burst out laughing. They swapped names, and played football together until it was dark. Suddenly, Luke had a friend again. When he thought about it later, it made him realise how lonely he’d been. From then on, Dale would be at his house every day, football in hand, until they were teenagers and music took over their lives. Now, Luke couldn’t even contemplate losing him. They were brothers in all but name, and although he would never say it, he loved him like a brother and the feeling was mutual. The funny thing was they went to the same school but had never really noticed each other before. Dale had always been the fun-loving guy who everyone liked. Luke would just flit between people, never choosing anyone as a good friend, until meeting Dale changed all that.

             
Melissa realised that talking about Chloe had saddened him, so she moved the conversation along. He didn't seem to want to talk any more about his lost friend, which was understandable, so she didn't push it and decided to lighten the mood and ask him about the band name instead.

             
‘I love eagles, my surname is Black and it's my band, so it just kinda made sense,’ was his fairly obvious reply. Luke had talked about his passion for eagles before, and he always liked watching documentaries about birds of prey. One of his dreams was to experience an eagle up close, to see one in the flesh, preferably in the wild. He and Melissa had agreed that they’d do it one day, when they were rich and famous. He often dreamed at night about being able to fly like an eagle, but he agreed that dream might be a bit more difficult to live out.

             
They had talked for most of the morning, lost in their conversation. Melissa admitted that she loved musicals, and
Annie
was her all-time favourite. She started singing ‘Tomorrow’ and before she knew it, Luke had grabbed Chloe and began playing it perfectly for her to sing along to.

             
‘You’re not a bad singer!’ he said, with no hint of sarcasm, and she blushed.

             
‘Thanks. I don’t think I’ll be selling out Wembley any time soon though!’

             
‘I don’t know. I think you could. And when you do, I’ll be
your
groupie!’ He felt better now – talking about Chloe had definitely lifted a weight from his shoulders. He had spoken to Dale about her in a drunken heart to heart moment a few years back, but it was one of those conversations that was forgotten by morning. And besides, it wasn’t the same as talking to Melissa – women were more sensitive and understanding about things like that.

             
They were interrupted by Luke’s phone, and he groaned as he picked it up and looked at the screen. He didn’t recognise the number, so ignored it, but it went off again almost immediately.

             
‘Just answer it and get rid of them.’

             
Luke picked up the call second time. As the conversation with the unidentified caller unfolded, Melissa watched his expression, which was initially confused but then changed to something she couldn’t read. Then he said something which made Melissa sit bolt upright.

             
‘No no, it’s fine, of course we’re interested, Mr Lake.’ Melissa couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation but there was only one person she knew with the surname Lake. Luke must be talking to Jay-Den Lake! Luke gestured to her to grab a pen so he could write down a number. Then he said, ‘Megan. OK, sure. I’ll do that straight away. Thanks so much for calling,’ before hanging up and lying back down next to Melissa, looking like he’d just seen a ghost.

             
Jay-Den Lake had just asked them to make an appointment with his PA, Megan, to meet with him to discuss the possibility of the Eagles ‘joining the Sky Storm family’, as he put it.

Sky Storm wanted to give them a record deal.

              ‘Oh … my … god! This is just epic!’ Melissa couldn’t believe it.

             
Luke frowned, hoping it wasn’t a wind-up. He wouldn’t believe it until he had proof. Ignoring the number he’d been given, he Googled Sky Storm’s number, rang it and asked to speak to Megan May. The switchboard operator put him through, and he was greeted by a very polite girl who immediately put his mind at rest.

             
‘Hello, Mr Black. Jay-Den said you might call. How are you today?’ His heart raced and he tried to stay calm as he booked a meeting with Jay-Den Lake’s PA. 

             
‘You’re going to be signed! Shit!’ Melissa screamed, jumping up and down excitedly.

             
‘I’ve got to call the guys.’ Luke grabbed his phone panicking. ‘Dale ... fuck! Clear your diary for next Wednesday! Why? Because we’ve got a fucking record deal to sign, that’s why!’