The Lady and Tay

by Dawn Burton

  “Ah,” said Anisha. “You two look so in love.”

  “Hmmm,” Annie pretended to glare at Tay.

  “Another tea, my darling? Can I do you some toast?” Tay called across the room brightly.

  Finally, breakfast was over and the lobby cleared. Taylor kissed Annie on the cheek, checked they had nothing planned, then disappeared into his man-cave as she had her charity campaigns team coming around to discuss their forthcoming plans.

  Once her meeting was over, the rest of the morning passed quietly. Annie started to pack and drove to Leamington to shop for some extra bits to wear. Sasha had messaged her a few times asking for her measurements as she had found a few things she thought she’d love, so she was looking forward to seeing what she’d picked for her.

  Mid-afternoon, Tay played Annie the song he’d been working on, Visible. He’d taken the concept from Annie’s poem and written a song with the first verse about being the person everyone around you wants you to be but not knowing how to change to be the person you want to be, and then an uplifting chorus about finding the one person that sees through the mask, who gives you the strength to be yourself, to change, until everyone else around you then sees that change, sees the real you. The subsequent verses were then about learning to be the real you all the time, not just when you are with your one.

  Annie loved it, and Tay asked if she’d consider singing it with him, showing her how the words could be split between them and where they could sing together. They reworked some of the lyrics to suit Annie’s point of view, and tried it with just Tay’s acoustic guitar, which worked well. They tried it with Annie on the piano, then the piano and guitar, Tay saying that when Con got here, they’d try it on electric guitar, and then maybe with Hilly and Adie as well, if there was time.

  Just before 6ish, Tay got a call from Con and Sash to say their train was pulling in, and they’d be with them in 15 minutes or so.

  They showed them to their room in the wing above the man-cave, and then spent the next hour chatting. Tay cooked a chicken stir fry for dinner before they performed Visible for them. Annie and Sasha looked through the clothes Sasha had found for her, knowing that she would be photographed on tour, while the lads discussed the technical detail of the song. Hilly turned up and they managed to find a bass guitar and an electric guitar in Annie’s equipment, everyone happily occupied.

  Will came out and greeted Hilly, the two of them putting their heads together to sort out leads and amps for his bass.

  Annie smiled over at them, “I can’t wait for them two to get together; they’re gonna make a lovely couple.”

  Tay stared at her, “What do you mean? Hilly’s not gay!”

  “Yes, he-…oh shit!” said Annie with a grimace as she realised what she’d done.

  “No, he had a girlfriend, well, ages ago he did. He…he…he’s gay, isn’t he?” Tay turned to Con who was looking as confused as Tay was, then spun towards Nahil. “Hilly? Have you got something to tell us?”

  Annie rushed over to Hilly. “I’m so, so sorry. I just assumed it was common knowledge, given how you and Will were looking at each other. I promise I never would have said anything if I’d realised no-one knew.”

  Hilly spluttered, “I…erm…me and Will?”

  “You and Will. He likes you, and by the way you greeted him, I think you like him,” she said simply, putting her arm on his, then backing into Will, who casually draped his arms around Annie with a grin.

  “I…erm…guys, there’s something I need to tell you, but I think your lady’s beat me to it, Taylor.” Hilly said.

  “I’m so sorry. It’s just that Will’s so out that I forget not everyone is,” Annie winced.

  “S’ok. Guys, I told my parents yesterday that I’m gay. I always have been. I…erm…I told them because I’m sick of not being me and I want to see what my future might hold.” He turned to Will, a look of uncertainty of his face. Annie yelped as Will pushed her out of the way onto a sofa and stepped up to Hilly, grabbing his hand and pulling it up to kiss his palm. Both stood grinning at each other for a few seconds until Annie pulled them both in for a big hug, swiftly joined by Taylor, Con and Sasha.

  “You should have just said, you dumb fucker,” grumbled Tay.

  “You’re the dumb fucker if you think it’s that easy,” retorted Hilly. “I needed to let my parents know first and I don’t know what they’re going to do, but I told them if I’m out, then I’m absolutely coming out, so they’d better tell our community in Leeds asap.”

  “How did they take it?” asked Con.

  “Not good, but they’ve got my brothers and sister all married off, safely reproducing, so I think I’ll just get written off as the family anomaly.” Hilly shrugged, “Kind of takes the pressure off anyway.”

  Sasha interrupted, “How out are you absolutely coming out? Can we go feather boas, make-up, hotpants, where’s the line here?”

  “Yeah, cos that’s how we all dress,” said Will dryly, looking down at his typical jeans and shirt combo.

  “Oh shush! It’s my job. Give me some glitter at least? I’m desperate for sparkle.”

  “No, not yet. Maybe…maybe Hawaiian shirts. Start off there. I wanna dye my hair bright red though, I’ve wanted to do that for ages.”

  “On it,” she twirled, on her phone already to search through her contacts.

  “Right, can we have a bit of your time, Hilly and Will, to run through this song before you piss off and get better acquainted?” said Tay, returning to business mode.

  They ran through the song on the electric guitars with Tay and Annie singing, Con on backing vocals. Will started adjusting the sliders on his sound desk programme, as Hilly joined in slowly at first, feeling his way through the song, until it all started coming together, agreeing it worked best as a rock track.

  “We need Adie,” pouted Tay, calling him. “Where are you dude? We got a song taking shape. Oh. Ok…no, I know…no, I’m being selfish. See you tomorrow. Hugs to Mia and Em.” He finished the call and sighed, “Nah, he’s not coming up until tomorrow morning.”

  Will suggested, “Well, why don’t we record it as it is, then send it to him and he can at least listen to it while he’s travelling up to think about his part?”

  “Genius. You’re not just a pretty face, are you?” Tay nodded in admiration at the suggestion.

  “You think Will’s pretty?” said Annie, crossing her arms and tilting her head to one side, Hilly coming up and standing next to her, mimicking Annie’s stance, and nodding his head.

  “I…erm…there’s no way I can answer that correctly. Ok, I think Will’s very pretty, but his beauty is nothing compared to the exquisite gorgeousness that shines from your every pore, my divine goddess.” Tay sank to his hands and knees as he spoke, crawling across the stage to reach Annie’s feet, kissing them, then kissing up her jeans, nosing her top up to kiss her stomach, on his knees in front of her. She grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled him back, taking his mouth, then pushing him away from her. Tay rose to his feet and returned to pick his guitar up, “Phew! Yeah, I think I got away with that one.” He widened his eyes at Con in mock-relief, before shouting, “C’mon, let’s do this, everyone.”

  After a couple of takes, they had a version they were happy with and sent it off to Adie. Annie jumped down from the stage, ran to the kitchen, climbed up onto the kitchen worktops and reached up into a very top cupboard, pulling out a bottle of red wine and then grabbing two glasses. She came back and pushed them into Will and Hilly’s hands. “Go, go and stick your tongues in each other’s holes,” she grinned.

  “Lady Annabel Spencer!” shouted Will in mock-outrage. “But yeah, a bottle of the old vintage good stuff’ll help. Thank you, my lovely.”

  “And I’m sorry for saying it, Hilly. You two just seemed so natural and obvious that I didn’t even entertain that they didn’t know.”

  “Nah, it’s fine. It was going to come out this weekend anyway. I don’t think I could have played it
straight around Will for very long.” Hilly kissed her cheek and reached out his free hand to Will, who took it and pulled him towards his flat in the far-left wing. “Night all.”

  Annie, Taylor, Connor and Sasha decided to go across the road to The Old Windmill pub for last orders, Tay calling Davy to see if he was out, while Con and Sash were getting the drinks in. Initially he said he’d come and join them, but then he called back saying his wife, Ellen, wanted him to stay home, so he’d see them tomorrow.

  Annie leant into Tay, “Can I tell you a secret? I don’t like Ellen and I’m pretty certain she doesn’t like me.”

  Tay grinned, “I don’t like her either, and I’m pretty certain she doesn’t like me.”

  “Maybe that’s why he’s not allowed out. It’s us that’s the problem. Or maybe she’s just got bedroom plans for him tonight.”

  “Have you got bedroom plans for me?” asked Tay.

  “Totally.” She put her hand on his knee, under their table and slipped it higher, between his thighs, dragging her fingers slowly over his cock through the material of his jeans.

  “Easy tiger,” he murmured, bending his head to kiss her neck and nip her ear lobe.

  “Oh, put her down!” said Con as they came back to the table with drinks.

  “It’s her!” moaned Tay. “She keeps touching me inappropriately.”

  “And you’re complaining about this?” Con questioned.

  “No, but I’m walking round with a constant semi. It’s hard, man. Literally.”

  “Boys!” Sasha shook her head.

  They sneaked in one more round before being politely asked to leave, so crossed the road back to Watch House.

  “This place is so fucking cool,” said Con. “I mean, the location is perfect and what you do here is amazing. I’m not sure we’d want to leave London, but you’re kind of making me wanna come back to Cov.”

  Sasha paled slightly and Annie nudged her with a laugh, “I’m not sure your wife would agree to that, but you guys are more than welcome here, any time.”

  They said goodnight to each other and Tay shepherded Annie upstairs, eager to see what her bedroom plans were. However, she seemed a bit distracted and as he had his hand down between her legs, his thumb on her clit, she had a faraway look, clearly thinking about something else. He stopped and kissed her shoulder, “Penny for them?”

  “Sorry. Just wondering if I can follow your example and let go of the past. I don’t think it’s holding me back like your situation was, but it’s certainly affected the way I perceive myself, until you came along, at least. And like I said before, I think breaking down the barriers to show we can all suffer could be a positive.”

  “Ok, so what are you thinking?”

  “Well, the song you wrote, Visible-”

  “The song we wrote, darling.”

  “Whatever. Well, it deals with that, doesn’t it, the mask-wearing, the hiding, the self-doubt, the being what everyone else wants you to be, and then the pure joy of meeting someone who sees you, who accepts you, who encourages you to let that you shine. I don’t know what your plans are for the song, and you spoke about a video, where we were seen in our party animal roles, but then we see each other and we see the quieter, calmer, running-free-in-a-field or halfway-up-a-mountain selves? Well, if we did that, maybe I could record something at the start, saying I wore a mask for years and why. Not naming names, but just talking about the mental health pressures that night caused, trying to commit suicide, etc. And how I stopped my negative behaviours but that my mind still held me hostage until you saw through that. That would let it go, get it out there, but in a useful context to accompany the song, rather than just a ‘woe is me’ statement. But I don’t know if your record company would want that?”

  “Love the idea. But maybe we could just do the video as an informal thing and add it to your social media channel, rather than ours, although we can link to it, obviously. And then we’d by-pass the record company, but we could still play it as a live song if we wanted. And I could do something as well about how guilt around Charlie’s death affected me and my family, until you came along. It’d be great to have some shots of us running through Coventry, round by the cathedrals, Priory Place, Cathedral Lanes, Whittle Arch, places like that, but I don’t think we’ve got time.”

  “We could get up early tomorrow and just do it? I would ask Will, but I don’t think him nor Hilly would want that! It could literally be us filming each other on our phones, rather than a planned photo shoot? Fingers, and feet, hair and smiles, that kind of thing, not singing to the song or anything. Black and white, no sound. Will could do a proper video of us playing the song tomorrow night if we’re ready, and then we could take a few party animal shots with your friends and my friends, our actual friends. Otherwise it’s going to be months until we can do that. Or we use fake friends, extras, which will just look false.”

  “This could really work. Shame we won’t be able to get some shots of what you do though, the Sunday meals, the taking your old ladies shopping, interacting with the kids.”

  “Hmmm. Oh, but we can! Will took some video a couple of months ago for a ‘week in the life of Watch House’ video we put up. It’s sped-up but he’ll have the original footage somewhere. Have you got many ‘real you’ shots, composing songs, listening to music, watching a flipping film, and so on? And the rest of the band if they want to be in on it?”

  “Great! Erm, no, well yes, there’s loads of behind the scenes stuff, but the length of time it would take to dig it all out and get the permission to use it, we might as well just pose them here. I know it’s a bit forced maybe, but it’d be capturing a typical shot of us doing what we would be doing anyway. We can film something with Con and Hilly here for their bits, and I’ll message Adie in case he wants to film something with Mia, but he might not want to include her. It’s a real tall order to get all that done in 24 hours, plus practise the song to nail it live. And then editing it, is that something Will could do?”

  “He can do it, but it’s more of a capacity issue. He’s going to be needed more here while I’m away and I don’t want to add to his workload.”

  “Good point. We’ve used a digital media company not too far from here before. I could call them tomorrow and see if they would do it for us. It’s going to be very bitty and our videos won’t be professionally lit and filmed, but let’s see what we can pull together and if it doesn’t work, we’ll sort out a professional job for June and do it then.”

  “Plan! Ok, as you were then, get on with it.” And Annie looked pointedly at her groin, flicking her hips as Tay followed her stare.

  He smiled, and moved his fingers back to where they’d started, bending to take a nipple and murmur, “Yes ma’am.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Tay’s alarm went off at 5.30am, but he barely reacted, leaving it beeping. Annie crawled over to Tay, mumbling in his ear, pushing him until he woke. “Whose stupid fucking idea was this?” he grumbled.

  “Dunno, but you need to sack them,” she growled, trying to bury under him.

  They lay entwined around each other for another 10 minutes until Annie became aware of Taylor’s erection pressing into her stomach.

  “Sorry,” he mumbled. “I’ve kind of woken up.”

  “Fuck’s sake.” She frowned, keeping her eyes closed but wriggling down the bed, under the covers, seeking out his warm cock and taking him in her mouth, holding his base as she moved up and down his length. She worked quickly, knowing he never needed too long in the mornings, and throwing the odd caress of his balls and the skin between his balls and arse into the mix, meant he soon peaked, thrusting over and over into her mouth. Crawling back up his body, she lay on top of him as he recovered, tracing her fingers over his chest.

  “Right, me on drinks, you into the shower. Go,” he ordered.

  “One more minute,” she begged sleepily.

  “No. Get up or I’ll throw you into the shower.”

  “Nah, you wouldn’t d
o that to me,” she smiled confidently, eyes closed. She felt the bed shift and shrieked as he rolled them over and up onto his feet, holding her in his arms. “How the fuck did you do that? And don’t, no, don’t you dare!”

  “Too late.”

  He set her down in the shower and turned the power on, jumping out of the way as she yelped and cursed him.

  By the time he returned with a tea and coffee, she was out of the shower, towelling off, glaring at him as he kissed her forehead and set the tea down, before he went in the shower.

  She chose a stretchy tight dark blue dress with small silver discs which caught the light, her biker boots, and a big fluffy jacket, then packed jeans, a tank top and checked shirt with trainers into a bag.

  Tay came out the bathroom, “Phwoar, looking gorgeous sweetheart. I’d do ya.”

  “Oh good! This is my urban glam look and I’ve packed some walking clothes. I thought if we take the car and drive somewhere and just get some rural shots as well. But where? Canley Ford again, or do you want to keep that private? I think Memorial Park’s a bit too manicured; I’d like somewhere wilder.”

  “The woods in the grounds of Coombe Abbey?”

  “Perfect. I’ve only been there once, but good idea.”

  Tay pulled on jeans and a fitted shirt, packing his combats and a t-shirt to take with him, and they made their way downstairs. Annie made up a flask of coffee and snacks to use as props, and sent one message to Will and Con message to say they’d be back in a bit, and another to ask Nish to cover the breakfast routine.

  Annie started up the Zafira, which promptly died on her. “C’mon,” she urged, before it finally caught again, Tay shaking his head. She drove the very short distance and parked up near Fairfax Street. They walked up Priory Street to pause at the top, by the cathedrals. It was just gone 6am now, and it was mostly deserted. “Ready?” grinned Annie.