See You at the Show

by Michelle Betham

  She moved her mouth closer to his, sliding a hand round the back of his neck, and he could feel his resolve weakening. A usually strong and sensible man, she was breaking down every defence he’d ever had.

  “Dream first, talk later,” she whispered. “Whatever it is, it can wait. Can’t it?”

  He kissed her again, her mouth open as it touched his. “Yes. It can wait.” Of course it could wait. He wanted to tell this beautiful, larger-than-life woman that he wanted to spend his life with her and he had no idea if she felt anywhere near the same but it could wait. It could all wait. He just wanted to be with her, and everything else came second to that.

  ***

  Mark didn’t want to face up to what was happening so he tried to ignore what was going on. He tried to ignore the fact that Stevie was around less and less, that she’d stopped wanting him to call round when they were all at a loose end, stopped needing him the way she’d used to. But then, had Stevie ever really needed him at all?

  “What’s up?” Johnny asked, sitting on the edge of the pool table, handing Mark a pint.

  “Nothing, I’m fine.”

  “No, you’re not. I’ve known you too long, Mark, you can’t kid me. Is it Stevie?”

  “And wouldn’t you just love it if me and her were in trouble?”

  Johnny looked into his drink, not really knowing what to say next. “Have you spoken to her?”

  “No. I haven’t seen her in a couple of days, not since she was at the recording studio.”

  “Didn’t she speak to you then?”

  Mark leaned back against the wall. “No...what is this, Johnny? Is there something you want to say?”

  “Maybe you should...you should just talk to her, Mark.”

  Mark looked at him. Something was going on, that was more than obvious now. “I would. If I could fucking find her. Do you know where she is?”

  Johnny shook his head. He had an idea, of course, but he didn’t want to say.

  “She’s with this other man, isn’t she?”

  “I don’t know, Mark.”

  “And you know who he is.”

  “I don’t...”

  “Don’t fucking lie to me, Johnny! Don’t do that! Who is he?”

  “Not now, Mark, ok? Talk to Stevie.”

  “She’s not fucking here is she? She’s with him, and it’s driving me fucking crazy so just tell me who he is. If you know, tell me.”

  “Daniel Madison.”

  Mark looked at him, a puzzled expression crossing his face. “Who?”

  Johnny put his drink down. “He’s very high up in British politics, apparently. In fact, he could quite possibly be the next Prime Minister over here. So Dave tells me.”

  “Dave told you? How the hell does he know?”

  Johnny just shrugged, wishing he hadn’t started this conversation.

  Mark pushed a hand through his hair. “Fuck me...Stevie Stone and a politician. You couldn’t make that one up.”

  Johnny shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at Mark. He hadn’t expected that reaction. But then his friend’s expression suddenly changed and a look of something Johnny had never seen in him before washed over his face. Sadness. Mark Cassidy never let anything get him down. Until he’d fallen in love with Stevie Stone. “Is it...what’s going on with them, Johnny?”

  “Mark, I don’t know, ok? It’s not like we sit and have cosy chats over a bottle of wine. I know as much as you.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “Jesus, Mark, come on...”

  “You’re lying!”

  “Just talk to Stevie, will you? And get off my back. Stop taking it out on your friends and sort it out, before you piss everyone off.”

  Johnny picked up his drink and started to walk away, until Mark’s voice stopped him in his tracks.

  “What do I do, Johnny?”

  He turned round and looked at Mark. He’d never seen his friend look so defeated, but he kind of knew how he felt. Even if he’d never really stood a chance with Stevie, it didn’t stop it from hurting just as much.

  “I really don’t know, Mark. I’m sorry.”

  Dave, who’d watched that exchange from the other side of the pub, caught up with Johnny at the bar.

  “I’m not in the mood, Dave, so back off.”

  “She got to you too, huh?”

  “I said, back off!”

  “Have you spoken to her?”

  Johnny turned to look at their manager. He was a legend in the world of rock music management but he had no right getting involved with their lives like this. No right at all.

  “I’ve talked to her, yeah.”

  “And?”

  Johnny shrugged. “I’m not gonna force her into anything, Dave, she’s my friend and I care about her. But this thing with Daniel Madison...it’s changed her.”

  Dave leant back against the bar, looking over at Mark who was sitting on his own by the pool table, staring into his drink. Beautiful women were hovering on the sidelines, waiting for a chance to get close to him and he wasn’t interested and that didn’t feel right. The status quo had been turned on it’s head and none of that made Dave feel comfortable.

  “What’s that supposed to mean, it’s changed her?”

  Johnny followed Dave’s gaze. He almost felt sorry for Mark. Why couldn’t he just have told Stevie how he felt a long time ago and saved himself all this heartache? But then, shouldn’t he, Johnny, have done the same? He should have just listened to his heart and told her what he was feeling and then maybe - well, this was Stevie they were talking about here. Maybe nothing would have come of anything. Maybe Daniel Madison was what she’d been waiting for all along. Who could tell with her?

  “It means that whatever’s going on with this Madison guy, it’s more serious than I thought,” Johnny said, finishing his drink and slamming the glass down on the bar. “And you might just get your wish without any of us pushing her into anything.”

  ***

  “Come on then,” Stevie smiled, kneeling up on the bed, covering herself with his shirt. “You said we needed to talk, and I hate that sentence. It usually means something serious, like I’m being dumped or something.” She leaned forward and kissed him. “That’s why I wanted sex first. If you’re gonna dump me I wanted sex one last time.”

  “It wasn’t the last time.”

  “You’re not dumping me?”

  He laughed, sitting up and pulling her astride him, his hands sliding up under the shirt, settling on her hips. “No, I’m not dumping you. But I should.”

  She rested her forehead against his, stroking the back of his neck, wrapping her legs around him. “You should?”

  He nodded. “Yes. I should.”

  “So, why aren’t you?”

  He looked at her, those incredible blue eyes boring into him from a face that was simply stunning. “Because I love you, Stevie Stone.”

  She thought back to when Mark had said those words to her, the reaction she’d given him, the way she’d felt at hearing them. When he’d said them she’d felt trapped, as though someone was fencing her in, and all she’d wanted to do was run. But with Daniel it was so different. There was none of that claustrophobia, she didn’t want to run away or try and pretend he hadn’t said it. Everything was different. But it scared her just as much.

  “I think I might love you too, Mr. Politician.”

  She’d said the words; although she wasn’t entirely sure she’d meant to say them out loud. They were words she hadn’t said to anybody since - well, since a time she’d rather forget. The past was gone, she’d finally opened up again and it felt strangely good.

  Daniel raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Think you might?”

  She smiled back, playing with the hair at the back of his neck. “It’s all you’re getting. For now.”

  He kissed her slowly, her mouth soft and open against his. “Stevie...we do need to talk though. About what happens next.”

  She pulled away slightly. Everything she�
�d feared, everything she’d never wanted to feel again was happening now and she loved him, she knew that now, she did love him. She just didn’t know if she could deal with everything that came with that. He was a complicated guy. And she’d done with complicated.

  “I’m going to leave Samantha.”

  His words hit her like a tidal wave but she stayed remarkably calm. Although she couldn’t say anything.

  “Stevie? Did you hear what I said? I’m leaving Samantha. I’m leaving my wife. I can’t be with her anymore, not now. Not now there’s you.”

  She looked at him. Everything was shifting so fast, it felt as though the rug had been pulled out from underneath her but she still felt ridiculously calm. “Do you know what you’re doing, Daniel?”

  “I’ve never been more sure,” he said, gently stroking her fringe out of her eyes. “It won’t be easy, I know that. And I don’t want to hurt her but...but it’s not fair for me to stay in a relationship that isn’t making either of us happy.”

  “Do I make you happy?”

  He smiled at her. It was the first time he could remember ever seeing her let her guard down. She seemed vulnerable all of a sudden, not the tough young woman she liked to portray. It showed a different side to her but he suspected she never showed this side of herself that often. “You make me feel things I never thought I’d ever feel, Ms. Stone. And yes, you make me happy.”

  “So, what are we saying here then, Daniel? What happens now?”

  “I want to be with you, Stevie. I want you in my life because I’m not sure I can carry on waking up in the mornings knowing I may never see you again.”

  She moved away from him, getting up off the bed and walking over to the window, looking outside. Life was carrying on as normal for everyone else while hers was crashing head-first into a situation that nobody could predict the outcome of. And for once in her life Stevie was thinking before she acted.

  “Have you really thought this through, Daniel?” She folded her arms, still staring outside. “Because you don’t strike me as the kind of man who does something this impulsive.”

  “I’m not. Or at least, I wasn’t. Until you came along.”

  She turned round. “Don’t you see though, I’ve done this to you. If it gets out that you left your wife for some tattooed rock roadie you could lose everything and do you really want that? Am I really worth you giving up that dream? Because I don’t know if I want that responsibility.”

  “You said you loved me, Stevie.”

  She turned away again, looking back outside at the cars streaming past in the distance. “I said I thought I might, Daniel.”

  She’d put that barrier up again, the guard she’d let down just minutes earlier was back up. That was obvious.

  He got out of bed, going over to her, laying a hand gently on her hip but she didn’t turn round.

  “Look, Stevie, this is something I’m not used to, ok? These feelings, this whole situation, it’s new and scary and weird for me but all I know is I can’t let you go. That thought scares me more than the thought of losing everything else. Will you look at me Stevie, please?”

  She turned round, her arms still folded against her. “I don’t know what to do, Daniel. I mean, I knew this was happening, I knew you were getting to me more than I wanted you to but, I guess I never really thought about what we’d do if...if this happened. I’ve never really thought more than a few days ahead in years. It’s not something I’m used to doing.” She looked up into his eyes. “Whereas you do it all the time. So tell me, Daniel, what do we do now?”

  He held her loosely round the waist, pulling her closer and she finally unfolded her arms, holding onto him. “We’ll work that out when we need to, ok? Trust me.”

  She couldn’t help smiling. “Isn’t that what all politician’s say?”

  “I mean it, Stevie. Please, trust me.”

  She reached out and touched his cheek, kissing him gently. “Ok. I’ll trust you. But you don’t know what you’re getting into here, mister. I’m hard work y’know. You’ve not done rock ‘n’ roll, you have no idea.”

  He pushed the shirt slowly back off her shoulders, pulling her closer against him. “I can learn.”

  “You’re gonna have to. Starting...” She kissed him long and deep, shrugging the shirt off so it fell to the floor, “...right now.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  “Hello, Stevie. I haven’t seen you in a while.”

  Stevie turned round and looked at Ava, Billy’s now not-so-pregnant wife. She was certainly back to her slim and almost perfect self, holding onto what Stevie assumed was baby Fox.

  “Is that him then?”

  Ava smiled. A smile that never reached the eyes but then it never had as far as Stevie was concerned. She wasn’t quite sure what Ava’s problem was with her but Stevie assumed it was something to do with Ava not trusting her. Her problem then. It never had been Stevie’s.

  “This is Alfie, yes.”

  Stevie threw another quick look over in the direction of the baby but made no attempt to move any closer. “Well, cute as he undoubtedly is, I don’t do babies.”

  “Have you never thought about starting a family?”

  This was one conversation Stevie didn’t want to get into, especially with Ava. But it had hit a nerve. It always did. “Never. Now, if you’ll excuse me...”

  “Not even with Mark?”

  Stevie turned back round, fixing Ava with a look that said she really wasn’t in the mood for this. “Especially not with Mark.”

  “How are you and Mark?”

  Stevie just turned and walked away – the safest option - bumping straight into Jack, who was right in Keith Richards mode with an unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth, his dirty blonde hair all over the place and the smell of alcohol emanating from him. If anyone could look more like a rock star than Jack Warner then Stevie wanted to meet them.

  “Hey there, sugar, how you doing?”

  She looked at him. “What the hell are you on? Do you know how ridiculous you sound? You’re from Edinburgh, Jack, not fucking L.A.”

  “Whose bed did you get out the wrong side of then?”

  “My own. You seen Mark?”

  “He’s over there.” He indicated back over his shoulder. “You got a light?”

  She threw her lighter at him as she walked off, only to be diverted by Dave, which caused her to sigh heavily, sticking her hands in the pockets of her jeans. “What?”

  “A word.”

  She looked around. “Sorry...am I suddenly back in school or something?”

  “Five minutes, that’s all.”

  Sighing again she followed him outside. “Problem, Dave?”

  “Yes, I’ve got a problem. You.”

  She laughed, pulling a cigarette from out of her pocket, rummaging around for another lighter. “Yeah. I’d heard.”

  “I can make this easy or I can make it hard for you, Stevie, it’s your choice.”

  She leaned back against the wall, taking a deep draw on her cigarette, blowing smoke into the air. “Whatever.” She looked at him. “But you keep Daniel out of it, alright? You say nothing about me and him to anyone, do you hear? It’s not fair on him and he doesn’t deserve it.”

  “Things moving along are they?”

  “Fuck off, Dave.”

  “How does Mark feel?”

  “About what?”

  “About the fact his girlfriend’s now sleeping with the man who’s got every chance of becoming the next British Prime Minister?”

  She looked at him again, blowing smoke directly in his face. “First of all, I’m not Mark’s girlfriend, ok? And if you hadn’t dragged me out here I was about to find out how he felt. Not that it would matter anyway.” She threw her cigarette on the ground, stubbing it out with the heel of her biker boot. “Look, I know what you want, Dave, and you might just get it, but let me tell you one thing, ok? I’m doing what I’m about to do because I want to do it, not because you’ve given me some pathetic
ultimatum. So just keep your mouth shut and everything could work out for you. But say one word to anyone about me and Daniel and it’ll come back to hit you in the face like you wouldn’t believe.”

  She started to walk away.

  “I didn’t think you’d be his type.”

  She turned round. “Oh, you’d be surprised what these politician’s get up to behind closed doors.”

  “Really.”

  She walked over to him, looking him right in the eye. “And don’t you wish you’d had just one tiny taste of what he gets. Now leave me alone. I’m done with you. Concentrate on your own life, ok? And keep the fuck out of mine.”

  ***

  “So, how do you want to play this then?” Angus asked, pouring them both a glass of wine as they had lunch in the House of Commons.

  Daniel had spent the morning doing the rounds of TV and radio interviews on Breakfast television and talk radio stations as the build up to the Election continued, and he was beyond tired. “I suppose I should tell Samantha the truth.”

  Angus raised his eyebrows. “Suppose?”

  Daniel sighed. “I’m going back to Berkshire tonight. I’m going to tell her I’m leaving her.”

  “And then the shit hits the fan. Your timing is way off the mark, Daniel.”

  “What am I supposed to do, Angus? Pretend this isn’t happening and live a lie for the rest of my life?”

  Angus leaned forward, his hands clasped together in front of him. “You should have thought this through. For all you know this could just be some fling because you fancied something from the other side of the tracks.”

  “Don’t talk about Stevie like that, do you hear me?”

  Angus sat back, holding his hands up in surrender.

  Daniel took a drink of wine and pushed a hand through his hair. “It isn’t like that, Angus. She isn’t like that.”

  “What is it like then?”

  Daniel looked at him. “It’s like a window’s been opened on a whole new world.”

  Angus leaned forward again. “All your life you’ve worked towards the exact spot you’ve reached now. One step away from Number Ten, Daniel. One small bloody step. You stormed that Leadership Election, and you know as well as I do that confidence in the current Government is waning by the day whereas your popularity is soaring, people love you. But you suddenly announcing you’re leaving your wife and shacking up with some woman who works with a rock band, well, who knows how that’s going to be received? Samantha, she is the perfect politician’s wife. Text book perfect.”