Chapters:
1 2 3
4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11
12
Chapter Three - Your Life
Lyrics in this chapter are from the song 'White Flag' by Dido
“Do you think he’ll back out?”
“He might try, but there’s no way
he can.”
“All bases are covered.”
“There are no feasible excuses
left for him to use.”
Alex, Isabel, Kyle and Tess stood
at the edge of the car park, watching out for the familiar jeep Max drove,
hoping that Michael would be in it when it arrived. Eventually Max pulled into a
space a few rows away, hopping down to give Liz a hand out while Michael jumped
out of the back reluctantly.
After greetings had been exchanged
all around, the gang headed into the concert.
* * * * *
Maria sat in her dressing room,
drinking hot mint tea to ease her vocal chords and, hopefully, calm her demented
nerves. It was strange that she had sung to packed stadiums all across the
country, serenading hundreds of times the number of people sitting out there
tonight, and been only slightly nervous. And yet now, back in her hometown, with
an audience of barely five hundred, she had butterflies the size of houses, and
her stomach was turning cartwheels.
She pushed the notion that the
possibility of Michael’s attending the concert had anything to do with it aside.
After all, she was over him, wasn’t she?
* * * * *
Michael followed the rest of the
gang into the auditorium, ticket in hand. Seat Z9. That sounded good. That
sounded like a seat at the back. He was upset to see his friends heading towards
the front. He started reading the letters of the rows as they passed them. Damn.
They were going up as they went forward. That meant row Z was exactly where he
didn’t want to be. Right smack dab at the front. And seat nine was slap-bang in
the middle. Just great. Reluctantly he made his way to his seat and sank down
into it. His only hope now was that it would be dark enough that he wouldn’t be
visible from the stage. Before he had time to voice his complaints, the lights
dimmed. Maria appeared on the stage. Michael looked up, and thought he had never
seen a more beautiful woman in this world, or any other.
* * * * *
Maria took a deep breath as she
stepped onto stage for her final song. The lights were bright in her eyes as the
band started up behind her.
I
know you think that
I shouldn’t still love you
Or tell you that
As her eyes grew accustomed to the
lights she finally spotted her friends sitting on the right hand side of the
front row. Including Michael. Her eyes were drawn to him like a moth to a flame.
But if I didn’t say it
Well I’d still have felt it
Where’s the sense in that
Michael looked into Maria’s eyes
and noticed that she was looking right back. She had noticed him. He’d been
optimistic when she hadn’t appeared to recognise him through the rest of the
concert.
I promise I’m not trying
To make your life harder
Seeing him there, watching her
with those intense eyes of his made singing the song that much harder. Did he
know that it was about him? Had he figured that much out?
Or return to where we were
Seeing her up there, so happy,
made him that much more sure that he’d done the right thing, letting her go. But
it hadn’t made it any easier. It hadn’t stopped him from missing her more and
more every day, every week, every year.
But I will go down with this
ship
And I won’t put my hands up
And surrender
As their eyes met and caught,
Maria knew with sudden certainty that she had been deluding herself for over 4
years.
There will be no white flag
above my door
I’m in love
And always will be
She
was nowhere near over Michael. Not now, not then. And she didn’t think it was
likely she ever would or could be.
I know I left too much
Mess and destruction
To come back again
As
she sang, Michael thought back to the first time he’d heard her sing this song.
It had been only a few months after she’d gone, a few months after they’d broken
up. It had been played on the radio all the time. He’d listened to it every
time, still mourning the loss of their relationship.
And I cause nothing but trouble
I understand if you
Can’t talk to me again
It came to him suddenly. Some of
these words sounded scarily like their situation. She must have written the song
right after their split. She’d written it about him.
And if you live by the rules
Of it’s over then
I’m sure that that makes sense
Maria
thought back to where she’d been when she’d written this song, which had been
her first big hit. She had been hurting over the whole Michael situation.
Wishing it wasn’t over. She’d had a hugely successful career, but she still
wished the same thing. She wished she hadn’t needed to give up on their
relationship in order to succeed.
But I will go down with this
ship
And I won’t put my hands up
And surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I’m in love
And always will be
As she sang, her attention kept
drawing back to Michael. Maybe a part of her hoped that they could have
something again.
And when we meet
As I’m sure we will
All that was there
Will be there still
Michael realised that deep inside,
a part of him hoped that she was still feeling the emotions that she was
singing. That they still had a chance for their happily ever after.
I’ll let it pass
And hold my tongue
And you will think
That I’ve moved on
Both recognised the reality of
these words. They had convinced the world that they were over each other, that
they had moved on, but it was all just a façade.
I will go down with this ship
And I won’t put my hands up
And surrender
There will be no white flag above my door
I’m in love
And always will be
Michael stayed seated in a daze as
the song ended and the house lights came back on.
“Michael!” Liz’s voice finally
permeated the haze.
“What?”
“Come on! We’ve got backstage
passes, we can go see Maria!” Liz was very excited at the prospect of seeing her
best friend face to face for the first time in 5 years.
Michael unwillingly tagged along
behind his thrilled friends.
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