by Matt Cain
15
Sitting in the audience of the O2, Karen Grant was transfixed by the sight of her daughter. She was only on the second number but already Lola had got over her wobbly start and was flying through the show. Who’d have thought it? After everything Karen had done wrong as a mother, she’d somehow managed to bring up a superstar.
But wasn’t that the kind of thing they’d talked about in group therapy at the Abbey? Hadn’t she learnt that a bad upbringing can sometimes be what inspires a person to try harder and prove themselves – to show the world they’re worthy of love? Of course it didn’t excuse Karen’s catalogue of mistakes as a mother – and nothing could ever make up for the horrors she herself had been put through when Lola had been conceived. But she couldn’t help wondering whether in a funny way this was how their lives had always been meant to unravel. I mean, if the past hadn’t happened in the way it had, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here watching Lola on stage now. And I wouldn’t be feeling so proud.
‘All right, Karen?’ boomed a familiar Northern voice behind her.
‘Oh hi, Harvey!’ she shouted out to him as he slipped in next to her. ‘You made it after all!’
Harvey leaned in to speak into her ear. ‘Yeah, and it looks like I’ll be sticking around for a long time yet.’
‘Oh that’s fantastic news,’ she chirped, knowing that whatever had happened between Lola and Harvey, from now on she wouldn’t have to worry about her daughter. ‘Honestly, that’s absolutely fantastic. And isn’t she amazing?’
‘She is that,’ Harvey smiled, turning back to look at the stage. ‘Our girl’s done good – really good.’
Karen followed his gaze and watched Lola leap off a table and into the arms of three unfeasibly muscular male dancers. ‘You know what,’ she glistened, tears forming in her eyes, ‘I think this could be the happiest day of my life.’
She breathed in as deeply as she could, feeling herself fill up with the crowd’s energy and positivity. After this she knew she couldn’t ever go back to her old lifestyle of abuse and self-destruction. It felt like the final step in her recovery – a recovery which had begun when she’d seen Lola ask her to give up drugs live on Channel 3 News.
So yeah, she was right, this was the happiest day of her life.
And she couldn’t imagine how it could possibly get any better.
*
On stage Lola powered through to the end of Mess It Up, strutting down the runway as Kitty, Jette and Boo criss-crossed around her, performing all manner of cartwheels and capoeira. She wasn’t sure where her energy was coming from but she didn’t think she’d ever performed so well in her life.
The dancers grouped around her at the end of the runway and together they struck the pose that ended the song. They were hit by applause so loud Lola could feel it vibrating on her tongue as she opened her mouth to catch her breath. Fuck me, this is beyond fucking fierce!
The audience were making so much noise someone took the decision to turn the house lights onto them, which of course only made them roar even louder. In the front row, standing just a few feet away from her, Lola spotted her mum, flushed with joy and waving her arms in the air wildly. As their eyes met she felt an upsurge of happiness.
‘Thanks, guys!’ she shouted over the applause, addressing the crowd for the first time. ‘You lot are the best audience ever!’
She tried not to recoil from the impact as they roared their response.
‘But there’s one very special person in the audience tonight,’ she went on, ‘and that’s my mum. So please give her a big cheer everyone!’
She looked at her mum beaming up at her and suddenly felt overwhelmed by the urge to give her a hug.
‘Would you guys like to meet her?’ Lola offered, giving a little wince in expectation of their ear-splittingly loud reply. ‘Would you guys like to meet my mum?’
As the noise levels hit new heights, Lola signalled to a pair of security guards to lead her mum up and onto the stage.
‘You know what,’ she explained over the crowd’s roars, ‘I’ve sometimes been really down on my mum. I seem to remember slagging her off once when I was shit-faced on Channel 3 News. But I think it’s about time I apologized because my mum hasn’t always been the best mum in the world, but I haven’t always been the best daughter either. And, you know, I’ve made some mistakes in my life too.’
And that’s putting it mildly!
‘We love you, Lola!’ someone called out from the left of the runway.
‘Thanks,’ she smiled, ‘but I was just thinking when I performed that song that it’s fun to joke about messing it up and everything, but getting completely obliterated isn’t really something to boast about. And when I look back I’m not sure my reasons for messing it up have always been that great.’
Her eyes settled on Harvey and she flashed him a knowing look, just as the security guards guided her mum into position next to her.
‘But I guess I’m my mother’s daughter after all,’ she grinned, taking her mum’s hand. ‘And I’m really proud to stand here in front of you all and say that. Because my mum’s a top bird and right now she’s the one who deserves your applause – you know she hasn’t been anywhere near drugs for three months. Three months!’
Lola held up her mum’s hand and the crowd erupted in approval.
‘And I know for sure she’s never going to mess it up again – and neither am I, for that matter. So tonight’s for you, Mum. And I love you very much.’
There it was. She’d said it. She’d actually just said it. Something she never thought she’d be able to bring herself to say. And not only that but she’d done it in front of fifteen thousand witnesses, not to mention the camera from Channel 3 News. And the funny thing was, it had actually been quite easy. And it had all felt so right.
‘I love you too, Lola,’ her mum replied, her bottom lip trembling. Lola moved her mic closer to her mouth so everyone could hear her. ‘I love you too, Lola,’ she repeated, looking shocked as her words reverberated around the arena.
The two women moved together and hugged each other tightly – much more tightly than Lola could remember ever having hugged anyone before. And as she clung onto her mum while the audience’s cheers rang out in her ears, she realized that from now on, the two of them would never grow apart again. It didn’t matter that her mum wouldn’t tell her anything about her dad – or what had happened to her on that holiday in Spain. The truth was, Lola wasn’t even that interested in finding her dad anymore. Because for the first time in her life she had a mum. And that was more than enough for her.
*
Standing in the wings, Freddy breathed a sigh of relief.
It looks like Lola’s just given me a story.
Not only had she just reconciled with her mum live on stage but she’d even referenced the first interview she’d given to Channel 3 News – and he’d learned from experience that Hugh loved broadcasting anything that bigged up his own show. It stoked his ego, which Freddy knew was just as significant as any news agenda.
He looked out towards the podium where Spike and Big Phil were standing. Their agreement had been to film only the first two numbers of the show so he wasn’t sure whether they’d have cut as soon as Mess It Up ended. But he spotted Phil looking through the view finder of his camera and the telltale little red light shining out from the front that signalled he was still recording.
Cracking! I might just have held on to my job after all!
*
Harvey followed Lola into her changing tent and stood watching from the doorway as she dried her face with a towel. She’d just performed the fifth song of the night and had come to the end of the first act of the show. A video she’d recorded to accompany an album track was now playing on the screens as the dancers performed an elaborate routine to entertain the audience while she quickly changed.
She stood in the centre of the room with her arms in the air as a sound engineer swiftly removed her battery pack and Belle, Scar
lett and Trixie swept in to dismantle her first look and construct the second. It was time for her to appear in front of the audience as Cleopatra. Harvey could only imagine how they were going to respond.
Lola looked up and their eyes met. It was the first time they’d been anywhere near each other since their bust-up in Club Class. He flashed her a huge grin. ‘All right, Trouble?’
‘Harvey!’ she squeaked. ‘I’d be all over you if I weren’t dripping with sweat.’
He smiled bashfully and scratched his cheek. He wanted to move in and kiss her but the girls were buzzing around her and he knew she had to stand still while they did their thing. She shrugged at him and he understood. Amina thrust a bottle of water into her hand and she took a long swig.
‘So how am I doing? Am I getting away with it?’
Harvey laughed. ‘Well, I’ve only seen bits so far but I think you’re just about getting away with it, yeah.’
She drained her bottle of water and threw it at him in mock outrage. ‘Come on, darlin’! You can do better than that!’
He chuckled at her. It was as if the past few weeks had never happened. ‘You’re fucking amazing, Lola. Better than you’ve ever been. Better than anyone I’ve ever seen.’
‘Thanks, darlin’,’ she chirped as Trixie stripped her down to her underwear. ‘That’s more like it.’
‘Now please try to keep completely still,’ said Belle, attaching a long black wig to Lola’s head. When she stepped back Trixie immediately swooped in to fasten on Cleopatra’s headdress and then Scarlett began painting her eyebrows. Through it all, Harvey couldn’t help noticing that Lola looked only at him. She shot him a crafty wink. At that moment he understood that, however close she might have grown to the girls over the last couple of months, now she’d repaired her friendship with him they wouldn’t get a look-in. It really would be just like it always had been.
‘Anyway,’ she went on, ‘now that I’ve got you all to myself, I think it’s about time you heard my latest song.’
Harvey looked at the girls and felt a little self-conscious. Lola glanced at the backs of their heads, stuck her tongue out and pulled a little face. She and Harvey burst into a fit of giggles. As she began to sing a cappella, it was like they were the only two people in the room.
We met when we were really drunk,
We both loved music and the odd hunk.
You’re from up north and I’m from down south,
But we both knew how to give it some mouth.
From the start you always made me grin,
I love you like a brother –you’re my twin.
Harvey could feel a wave of happiness flooding through him and stretching his grin all the way across his face.
Now you’ve grown up and matured,
But through it all our friendship endured.
I’m sorry I’ve been such a stupid bitch,
You put up with me being a total witch.
But missing you cut my heart with a knife,
Flippin’ ’eck Harvey, come back into my life!
As she beamed up at him, Harvey gave her a round of applause. ‘I’m back, Lola – and next time you won’t get rid of me that easily!’
‘Oh don’t worry,’ she quipped as the girls stepped back to inspect their work, ‘there won’t be a next time!’
Lola stood up and turned to face herself in the mirror and Harvey gave a loud whistle. Her costume was complete – and she looked incredible. But he knew that her quick change had been timed to the second and he’d already spotted a stagehand waiting in the doorway to escort her back onto the stage. He recognized the first few notes of Miss Chief and knew that it was time for her to leave. As she swept out of the tent she beckoned him to follow. The two of them followed the stagehand’s torchlight and glided through the wings.
‘So who’s this anonymous source?’ she whispered as soon as they were out of earshot of the girls. ‘Are you going to find out who did the dirty on me?’
‘Don’t worry,’ he soothed, ‘Freddy found out already.’
‘Oh yeah? And who was it?’
‘Gloria.’
‘Gloria! Fuck me, what a bitch!’
‘Yeah, well, I don’t think anyone will argue with you there.’
She shook her head. ‘Well at least it makes sense. And I suppose she thinks she had good reason – I did blatantly lay into her when I caught her on the job with Jake. But even so, I didn’t think she’d be capable of this.’
‘No, and we can talk about it later. But I don’t think it would be a good idea to keep her on the tour.’
Lola took a deep breath as the stagehand manoeuvred her into her position on a crane. ‘No,’ she agreed, straightening up and taking hold of a mic held out to her by a sound engineer, ‘and to be honest I don’t want her anywhere near me again. But can we give her some money or something? Hasn’t she got a little girl to look after?’
‘She has,’ confirmed Harvey, ‘and if we pay her off we can get her to sign a confidentiality clause.’
He stepped back as the crane clicked into action and began raising Lola away and towards the stage.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it. You just concentrate on the show!’
*
From his position in the scene dock, Freddy could hear Lola tearing her way through the show. She’d already been on stage for nearly an hour so he reckoned she must be about halfway through by now. He readjusted his earpiece and listened to the voices of Hugh Badcock and Janine Jury yelling orders at Amanda Adams from the studio gallery while she was in the middle of a heavyweight political interview with the Home Secretary Lavinia Trout.
‘Ask her about her hippie dresses and Pixie boots!’ Hugh bellowed at her. ‘Ask her why she wears such shit clothes!’
He looked at Spike, who was also connected to talkback, and roofed his eyes. He could just imagine Hugh and Janine Jury salivating at the sight of Lavinia like a pair of Staffies eyeing up a Scottie. Well, he thought sarcastically, they’re going to love my report. It doesn’t slag anyone off and is entirely positive.
‘Two minutes to air, Freddy!’ came the voice of the programme assistant in his ear.
His mouth tightened. God I hope I can get away with this . . .
As he gave a little jig on the spot, he found himself thinking back to the first time he’d met Lola, when he’d interviewed her live at her album launch at the beginning of the summer. He remembered waiting to go on air just like he was now and Lola chatting to him as he listened to the PA count him down in his earpiece.
‘One minute to air!’
He smiled as he remembered Lola asking him where exactly he was from in Wales and how she’d told him he was much more handsome in real life than he was on the telly. Now here he was four months later reporting on the first night of her tour after having stepped in to save the show from sabotage and scandal. Back then he’d never have imagined that he’d be in this position now – let alone that he’d be looking forward to seeing Lola after the show to ask her out on a date. One he was now convinced would end much more happily than their first.
‘Thirty seconds to air!’
‘Good luck, blud!’ chipped in Spike.
Freddy smiled at him and told himself he needed to refocus on the present and concentrate on what he was going to say on air. But all he could think about was the way Lola had looked at him when they’d spoken in her changing tent before the show. More than anything else he wanted her to look at him in the same way again.
‘Ten seconds!’
Through his earpiece he could hear Amanda linking into his broadcast from the O2. He remembered how nervous he’d been as she’d introduced his first interview with Lola. He didn’t feel nervous anymore.
‘Cue Freddy!’
‘Yes, Amanda, I’m here at the O2 as Lola Grant is performing on stage just a few feet behind me. And so far it’s been an extraordinary evening . . .’
For the next few minutes he talked the viewers through the build-u
p to the show backstage, the crowd’s reaction to Lola’s first couple of numbers and then her surprise reunion with her mum after Mess It Up. At appropriate moments he knew his voice would be underlaid with the footage Big Phil had shot and Spike had edited and sent back to the studio, although they’d agreed to cut out all evidence of Lola’s shaky start on stage. And at no moment did he give the slightest hint of any of the backstage drama that had been the real story of the night.
‘Fifteen seconds to VT!’ boomed the PA in his ear. He needed to wind things up. Thankfully, Hugh had been silent for his whole broadcast. He hoped this was a good sign.
‘So it’s been a great night here at the O2,’ he fizzed, ‘and the Trouble tour has cemented Lola Grant’s status as the hottest star in Britain. But I’m sure many of the fans in the audience will be going home not just thinking about the show but also about the showstopping reunion between mother and daughter. Amanda.’
He held his smile to camera as he knew he might still be in shot for a few seconds.
Well, I did it. And I’m pretty sure I got away with it too!
‘And you can relax, Freddy,’ came the voice of the PA. ‘Thanks, sweetheart.’
‘My pleasure,’ he replied.
‘Man, that was the bomb,’ chirped Spike. ‘Nice work, blud.’
‘Thanks, champ. All we need now is the word from Hugh. And then we can start to enjoy ourselves!’
Freddy screwed up his face as he waited for his editor to holler into his earpiece. Not that he really cared what Hugh thought – but he did want to hold on to his job, at least for the time being. At least until he could find another job that wouldn’t put him under so much pressure to cause trouble.
‘All right, boyo, you’re in the clear,’ bawled Hugh’s voice into his ear.
Freddy stepped to one side where it was a bit quieter. ‘OK so you’re happy?’
‘Well, I wouldn’t say that exactly. But you didn’t disgrace yourself, put it that way. And I’m sure a few of your housewives enjoyed hearing about that soppy little mother-daughter reunion.’