Chapter 31
ED
Now
Jez rarely gets noticed by the public, but as the front man of the band, people know my face and I’m aware that I’m attracting a bit of attention, despite me wearing my obligatory sunglasses.
‘God I’d forgotten what it’s like going out with you.
All the attention. I don’t know how you put up with it all.
’ Jez remarks, indicating with his eyes at a couple of yummy mummies who are constantly nudging each other and looking over in our direction.
We order a couple more beers, to hell with Toby and his diets.
We have a brief tussle over the bill, with Jez being quicker than me as he uses his Apple watch to settle up, so I insist on leaving an extra tip in cash for the extremely attentive and attractive young waitress.
Jez nips to the bathroom and I wait for him at the table, when one of the yummy mummies staggers over, dragging a somewhat grubby and tired-looking little boy behind her.
‘I have to say, I really do lurve your music.’ she slurs, placing her hand on my arm. ‘I’ve got tickets for your tour, you know.
Her lipstick is smudged and she’s desperately trying to steady herself on her overly high heels.
‘Oh, um, thank you.’ I reply modestly.
‘Any chance of a photo?’ the drunk yummy mummy continues. ‘Otherwise, the girls at Pilates won’t believe that I met you.’
‘Sure, why not?’ I reply with a fixed grin.
The woman sidles up to me, putting her arm around me. Her equally sozzled friend takes the photo. I’m used to this kind of attention, and I’ve learnt to always be pleasant to people, especially the drunk ones.
‘Thanks sooo much. I really do appreciate it. It’ll really make my husband jealous too!’ She laughs, something that resembles a loud cackle, as she takes her phone back from her friend, eager to look at the photo.
‘No worries. Have a great evening, ladies.’ I reply with a well-practiced smile.
Jez returns to the table with a big grin on his face.
‘You been spotted again?’
‘Yup!’
‘They both looked like they’d put a few away.’ Jez observes.
‘You could say that, but you do get a much better class of drunk around Teddington.’ I joke. ‘Fancy coming back to mine for a bit. I’ve got some beers in the fridge. You haven’t been over for ages.’
‘Yeah. Why not? It’s not like I’ve got a gorgeous girlfriend waiting for me at home, is it?’ Jez says as we leave the pub, the earlier yummy mummies gossiping away, as they try in their inebriated state to work out how to post the picture to Instagram.
We’re back at mine within minutes and Jez and I sit out on the balcony sipping a couple of beers.
‘God you could never get tired of this view.’ Jez enthuses as he looks out admiring the manicured gardens and river views.
‘I know that’s what sold the apartment to me; the views and the double balconies.’ I reply.
‘What are we like? We sound like a couple of estate agents minus the tight shiny suits!’ Jez blurts out, almost choking on his beer.
‘I think we’re a bit long in the tooth for a career change just now, don’t you?’ I reply, which sets us both off laughing hysterically.
‘Fancy a night out in Soho? I’ve got a couple of tickets to a new club opening.
It’ll be a right laugh. We haven’t been out just the two of us for ages and there are no more rehearsals until Monday!
’ Jez suggests. ‘You know I don’t drink that much, but I really fancy a good night out with one of my best mates. What do you reckon?’
‘Yeah. Why not?’ I reply, impulsively. ‘I’ll just change my t-shirt. Do you wanna borrow anything?’
‘Yeah, go on, if you’ve got a t-shirt that will fit me.’ Jez replies, flexing his muscles. ‘Since I’ve been working out again my arms have become almost too big to fit in any of my tops.’
‘That’s a nice problem to have.’ I banter.
Jez and I have a good look through my wardrobe and come up with a few possibilities for Jez’s newly pumped-up arms.
T-shirts chosen; we are on our way to the re-opening of the St Moritz Club on Wardour Street. It’s a refurb job but Jez and his plus one gets us into the club and the night is full of possibilities. It’s a free bar in exchange for having a few photos taken. I’ve spent worse evenings.
It’s an underground bar and club and we climb down the stairs to be greeted by a couple of hostesses, giving full on Heidi vibes complete with cute plaits.
The owners have certainly paid a lot of attention to detail.
A good looking waiter in the tightest, full leather lederhosen, complete with embroidered braces bib emblazoned with the club logo offers us both a glass of champagne which seems kind of out of place in this German styled club although on closer inspection there are a selection of German beers and schnapps on offer too.
Jez knows Lottie, one of the PR girls and she spots him straight away through the crowded room. She’s blonde, extremely well-spoken and aged about thirty so in reality far too young for either of us.
‘Jez, darling. So great to see you! It’s been ages.’ says Lottie as she greets him with a double air kiss. ‘And you don’t need any introduction.’ Lottie says to me with a big smile on her face, as she holds out her hand to greet me.
‘Great to meet you at last.’ She enthuses, knowing immediately the power of two Mountaineers at a club launch could be dynamite PR wise.
‘Well done, Lottie. You’ve doing a great job tonight.’ Jez says kindly, giving her a hug.
‘Thanks Jez. I’ll introduce you to the owner later. His wife is a big fan of yours.’ She replies.
‘Sounds great.’ I say faking enthusiasm.
We switch from champagne to a couple of bottles of German beer and then get persuaded by one of the shot girls to have a Schnapps.
Thankfully the earlier hearty burgers soak up most of the alcohol and we find ourselves chatting to a couple of radio DJs who are always supportive of our work, and I also bump into Ethan and Rachel from Wake Up and Smell the Coffee.
Rachel greets me like a long-lost friend, and I introduce her to Jez to take the heat off me as I can see Ethan making a beeline towards me.
He’s slightly pissed and is swaying ever so slightly as he approaches.
‘Well, if it isn’t Mr Ed Nash.’ He slurs.
‘Hi Ethan. How’s it going?’ I say jovially.
‘It was going ok until I saw you. My Rachel seems to be your number one fan.’
‘We appreciate all our fans.’ I say, remembering my media training. ‘And you guys on Wake Up are always so welcoming and supportive.’ I cleverly retort.
‘Is that so? My Rachel hasn’t stopped banging on about you since you last appeared. Isn’t it about time you found that old girlfriend of yours?’ He mutters under his breath.
‘No luck as yet.’ I reply thinking it was probably time Ethan went home. I manage to extricate Jez from the clutches of Rachel, and we make our excuses that the club owner wants to talk to us.
‘Thanks for rescuing me.’ Jez whispers in my ear. ‘Lovely woman but her husband’s a bit full on, isn’t he?’
‘Tell me about it. I would have lamped him one in my previous life but he’s not worth the hassle and we don’t need that sort of publicity right now.’ I agree.
Jez steers us away from Rachel and an ever increasingly pissed Ethan and we pose for some photos for Lottie with the club owner Hector Ferrantes and his wife Sofia who is the huge Mountaineers fan, which pleases Lottie.
Sofia looks like she is going to self-combust with excitement as she cosies up to us both in a series of photos.
The evening is a great success, and we finally leave around 2:00a.m., slightly worse for wear, stumbling up the stairs as we hit the night air.
Surprisingly, there are no paps waiting for us outside which is unusual as since all #thegirlinthesong hysteria we are constantly bombarded by the press, our previous lives as regular jobbing musicians a distant memory.
We walk up Wardour Street, winding our way to Bar Italia on Frith Street joining the many other revelers who aren’t quite willing for the night to end, for a strong coffee, before grabbing a cab back to Jez’s in Chiswick.
I know Jez’s flat almost as well as my own, having stayed here on many occasions.
I lived here with Jez about five years ago when no one else would tolerate me when my drinking and drug use were at their worst. Jez is like a brother to me; he’s always had my back and has often got me out of many a scrape along the years.
I’ve always been the one with the short fuse, whereas Jez is the definition of chilled.
It probably has something to do with his dabble with Buddhism after Poppy died.
It changed him as a person. He’s always been the mature one out of the two of us.
He holds a black belt in karate but wouldn’t hurt a fly and I’m proud to call him my friend.
My old bedroom, which is now the spare bedroom is made up and I gratefully crash out as soon as my head hits the pillow as it’s almost 3:30a.m. One thing that I’d forgotten is that Jez is an early riser as later I glance at the bedside table to see the illuminated numbers showing that it’s 8:30a.m. My head is fuzzy, and I drink a mouthful of water from the bottle that Jez has thoughtfully left out for me and grab my t-shirt and jeans and once dressed, I go through to the kitchen to find Jez drinking a green tea.
He silently pushes a few buttons on his all singing all dancing coffee machine, and about a minute later hands me a cup of hot, steaming coffee.
I gratefully swallow the coffee down, feeling the caffeine, my drug of choice nowadays, coursing through my veins.
‘Thanks for that.’ I say cupping the coffee mug with both hands, as the welcome caffeine works it magic.
‘Thought you’d need a coffee this morning. Sorry if I woke you up but I went for a quick jog when I woke up. It’s a habit I picked up when I lived in Thailand. Pounding the streets of Chiswick isn’t quite the same though.’ Jez explains.