Chapter 9 #3
So the music wasn’t her and Julie’s kind of thing, but the show was fun, and she could see how it could be kind of cathartic if you just let go and went with it.
She’d never experienced anything like it before.
The venue was a boiling mass of emotion, the kids swept along on a huge swell of love, longing and hero worship, like a Mexican wave of emotion rippling through the crowd.
The band had real charisma, and their performance was smooth and polished.
The songs weren’t awful, just bland and nauseatingly repetitive, so you were sick of them by the time the second chorus came around, and were almost grateful for the ear-splitting screams threatening to drown them out.
But they were undeniably catchy, and as the teenyboppers sang along at the tops of their voices, waving phones above their heads, Ella found herself itching to join in – to just let herself go and ball out the songs while she waved her arms in the air and sobbed unreservedly for no particular reason.
To her surprise, when they’d turned up at the door, the woman doing the guest list had handed her a backstage pass before waving them inside.
She was relieved when Julie announced she was going home as the lights came up and the crowd streamed towards the exits.
She’d been pointedly looking at her watch and heaving loud sighs throughout the encore.
‘You don’t want to come backstage?’ Ella silently prayed she’d say no.
Julie smiled crookedly. ‘No, thanks. I need to go home and have a long, hot shower to scrub myself clean after that.’
Oh, fuck off, Ella thought. Why was she still friends with Julie? ‘Well, I’d better just go and say hi to Roly. Thank him for the tickets.’
She didn’t really expect to see Roly, assuming he’d be too busy with industry people and adoring fans to have time for her.
When she showed her pass and was led backstage, he was standing to one side with the rest of the band, surrounded by a group of people.
When she managed to catch his eye, she waved and mouthed ‘thanks’, lifting her lanyard, and thought that would be that.
But Roly’s face lit up and he gave her an ear-splitting grin, motioning for her to stay where she was.
Seconds later, he broke away from the group and came over to her.
‘Hi. I just wanted to say thanks for the tickets.’
‘No problem. You came on your own?’
‘No, Julie came with me, but she had to get home. She’s got an early exam tomorrow.’
‘I’m hurt,’ Roly said, clutching his heart. ‘She didn’t want to come back and get me to sign her boobs?’
‘Maybe next time.’
‘So, what did you think? Cheesy, right?’
Ella smiled, relaxing. She’d forgotten he was good at sending himself up, not taking himself too seriously – or maybe she’d assumed he’d have lost it, started believing his own publicity. ‘Yeah, cheesy as fuck,’ she said, ‘but in a good way.’
After he’d taken her around and introduced her to the guys from Oh Boy!
, they all drank champagne in a tiny, cramped dressing room.
There were industry people milling around, and fans coming and going, giving security the slip and somehow making their way inside to ask for autographs or selfies before being hauled away by security guards.
Ella found herself wondering where their parents were.
Some of them were alarmingly young to be hanging around with a bunch of horny teenagers in this overwrought environment.
She thought she’d slip away when Roly eventually lost her in the crowd.
But to her surprise, he kept her by his side the entire time, taking her with him as he worked the room and introducing her to everyone, but mostly just sitting beside her, chatting quietly and watching from the sidelines as the others schmoozed.
Eventually, the crowd dispersed and she ended up going to a small exclusive club in Temple Bar for the after-party.
They sat next to each other in deep leather club chairs, drinking and talking while their eyes drooped.
Roly seemed reluctant to let her go. It was after two in the morning when she said she had to go home and was going to get a cab.
‘Come back to my hotel.’ Roly wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
She laughed and shook her head.
‘Come on, I’m joking. No funny stuff.’
She wasn’t sure if she should feel insulted. ‘How come you’re not staying at your mum’s?’ she asked him.
‘She has a new boyfriend. I don’t want to cramp her style. I’ll see her tomorrow.’
So she went back to his hotel with him and they spent the night together, lying side by side on the vast double bed, chatting desultorily and drifting in and out of sleep.
It was strange, but years later, the memory of that night would still fill Ella with warm, fuzzy feelings and seem like one of the most intimate nights of her life.
The next morning, her phone alarm went off at seven, and she jerked awake with a jolt. Shit! At least they’d slept in their clothes, so she didn’t have to waste time getting dressed.
‘Hey,’ Roly sat up, rubbing his eyes groggily, watching her in bemusement as she pulled on her boots. ‘What’s going on? You’re leaving? Stay for breakfast.’
‘I can’t. I have to get home and change. I have a lecture at nine.’
‘Oh! I forgot you’re still a student.’ He gave her a mocking grin.
‘Yeah.’ She went and sat on the bed. ‘But thank you for a wonderful time.’ She leaned forward and gave him a peck on the cheek.
‘And wait until I tell everyone where I spent the night. What do you reckon the tabloids would pay for my story – local teen’s night in hotel room with teenybopper idol Roly Punch? ’
‘Hey! They’re not all teenyboppers, you know.’
‘I know, I’m just teasing. Some of the parents were really into it.’
He laughed, cuffing her on the cheek. ‘At least stay for breakfast. We could get room service.’
She shook her head. ‘I’d love to. But I can’t go into a lecture like this.’
His eyes flicked over her. ‘Why not? You look great. It’d do wonders for your street cred.’
‘Hmm. I do have some to make up after going to an Oh Boy! concert. What if I was seen?’
‘Shut up! Can’t you say you’re sick or something?’
She was tempted. But she shouldn’t skip a lecture just to spend a couple of hours more with someone who was barely part of her life. ‘Sorry. Can’t.’
‘I’m sure you could miss one day and still be top of the class, Brainiac.’
‘I really can’t. But it was great to see you, Roly. And the band. It’s really impressive.’
‘Seriously?’
‘Seriously.’ She stood. ‘Well, I’d better be off. See you in ten years maybe?’
‘Sooner than that. I’ll call you.’
‘No, you won’t.’ She couldn’t figure out why he’d invited her tonight, why he’d wanted to see her. But this time she knew it was really goodbye.