Page 9 of The Story of Us
CHAPTER 5
The rest of 1984 is amazing for the boys; they land a recording contract with a small independent label and are in talks to support a big American band on the European leg of their world tour in the summer of 1985. The record label insist that the pub gigs have to stop and they spend the last part of the year in the studio setting down tracks for their first album, which will be released to coincide with the tour.
My Dad got his lawyers involved in contract negations with the label and the boys secured a pretty good deal with an upfront amount, which prompted them all to focus full time on their music, they were either in the studio in West London or at our place writing new songs, none of this really had any effect on mine and Sean’s relationship. We spent all of our time together and we were still absolutely in love; the only difference it really made to me was the recognition as Sean McCarthy’s girlfriend. I didn’t use it as an excuse to be a bitch but it did pretty much make me queen of the school. Perhaps now, on reflection, people did consider me a bitch but I was never deliberately horrible or spiteful to anyone. I was choosey with my friends and perhaps now, with hindsight, I was very shallow about who I hung about with. I was pretty, my boyfriend was the lead singer in a band, and my parents lived in a nice house in the best part of town. I had nice clothes and never wanted for anything and I didn’t actively seek out friends like me. It just sort of happened. That’s how Ashley ended up hanging around with Jimmie and I when she started at our school at the beginning of our fifth year; Jimmie and I were no angels but Ash was truly wild, we smoked, we drunk, we dabbled in drugs, our boyfriends were older and involved with a band, they tried things, we tried them too. Usually after a gig or at a party and we had never tried anything stronger than weed or whiz; Ashley on the other hand, would happily skin up at school and bragged that she had tried coke and could get hold of it any time we wanted, she had an older brother that served up for a living and was willing to give us a good deal, we didn’t take her up on her offer.
The boys finished recording their album in March of 1985 and spent the next few months doing nothing but rehearse; the tour would be kicking off in Italy in May, they would be away for four weeks and then on tour in England for three weeks in July. Jimmie and I couldn’t go on the European leg of the tour, we were in our last year of school and up to our necks in exams until the end of May, our parents wouldn’t allow us any time off; I was so angry with my Mum and Dad. I would be marrying Sean as soon as I left school, I had turned sixteen the September before and once school was over, nothing would stop us from being together. He was going to be rich and famous, what did it matter whether or not I passed my exams but they wouldn’t listen, agreeing only to pay for flights so I could see them play in Spain at the end of the second week they would be away. I begged, pleaded and even threatened to kill myself at one stage but to no avail, thinking back now, I was lucky that they let me fly to Spain with my best friend at the age of just sixteen but they knew Marley and Lennon would be at the airport to collect us and it was only a two and a half hour flight.
Walking through customs and into the arrivals terminal of the airport in Spain was my first realisation that the boys were now well on their way to fame, the reviews had been good from the live shows and there had been a lot of hype in the music magazines about the album release, which would happen the week before the UK leg of the tour. Jimmie and I only had a small suit case each as we were flying out again on Monday morning, after spending just three nights with the boys but three nights was better than nothing. I had gone beyond butterflies in my belly as I looked out for Sean or Lennon as we walked into the terminal building, my heart began to sink as I looked around and couldn’t see him.
“Dya see them?” Jimmie asked. I shook my head in reply, biting down hard on my bottom lip. What if he’d forgotten about me, met someone else, a page three girl or someone famous, what if he had realised I was just a school girl and he was on his way to being a famous singer. We had spoken every day and he’d said that he loved and missed me but what if he was lying? My head began to spin, I hadn’t been able to eat yesterday and our morning flight had meant that I hadn’t had breakfast this morning, the airport was hot and noisy, I suddenly felt sick and could feel myself sway. I stopped walking and held onto the luggage trolley while I took some deep breaths, as I regained my balance and the room came back into focus. I suddenly noticed the noise, I thought there had been an accident at first, there was so much screaming. Police and security guards started running in the direction of the noise and a crowd was forming.
“George!” I turn and look at Jimmie. “Bloody hell, you deaf or what?”
“Sorry, I feel a bit dizzy; it’s warm in here. What’s wrong?”
“You don’t think that could be them do ya?”
She gestures with her chin towards where the commotion was going on, as we both stare, the biggest, blackest man I’ve ever seen appears from amongst the melee with Sean tucked under his arm, Lennon appears behind them; as soon as he sees me Sean breaks free from the black bloke and jogs toward me with the biggest grin on his face. I can’t move, my legs are stuck but I don’t need to, Sean grabs me around the waist and swings me around in a circle, he sets me down on my feet, then snogs the face off me.
“Fucking hell G, I’ve missed you, show us ya tits.”
And he’s there, my Sean, his arms, his smell, his taste and everything is right with world, I’m back right where I was born to be, at his side, I don’t know why I panicked and doubted him, the way he looks at me, the things he says, I know without a shadow of a doubt how much he loves me, his eyes tell me as they look into mine and I instantly dissolve into him.
We end up with Milo the black body guard and four armed Policeman escorting us out to the car waiting outside, well I say car, it’s a stretch limo… a stretch fucking limo. Jimmie and I scream like the pair of sixteen year olds we are as Len and Sean high five each other, we jump inside, Milo and the driver put our cases in the boot as they shout at a group of about ten girls and a couple of boys that are banging on the window of the car.
“They are proper mental here G, we were on some TV show last weekend and ever since then we can’t go anywhere without being recognised, it’s been mad.”
He pulls me onto his lap as he talks. “Dya like the car? We borrowed it from Kombat Rock.”
Kombat Rock are the American band Carnage are supporting, they’re world famous and have already had three number one albums and about twenty singles in the charts, they’ve beenaround for about eight years, everyone knows them, they have a reputation for drink, drugs, women and smashing up hotel rooms and they are the main reason for my little freak out in the airport building. I’m much calmer now, with my arms wrapped around Sean’s neck, his arms around my waist.
“Wait till you see the hotel,” Lennon says. “We’ve been on a tour bus most of the time but the label booked us into a hotel as we are playing here for two nights.”
“I booked us into our own room,” Sean whispers into my ear. “I can’t wait to get you naked.”
“Maca, I really don’t want to be hearing that, it’s bad enough knowing you’re shagging my sister, without hearing you talk about it.”
“Well you’re shagging her mate,” Sean tells Lennon.
“Excuse me boys but can we please just stop talking about who’s shagging who. Have we got our own room babe?” Jimmie asks Len.
“Yes babe, there’s no way we were gonna be sharing with Marley, not the way he’s been behaving.”
I look up at Sean, then across to Len. “Why, how’s he been behaving?”
“Like a whore,” the boys both say at once and laugh.
“What about drugs, has he been stoned all the time?”
The boys look across at each other guiltily, great; they’ve probably all been stoned all of the time.
Sean shrugs and pulls me in for another kiss. “Let’s not talk about Marley, you can talk to him later, we’re all going for an early dinner before the show.”
We pull up at the hotel and Jim and I just stare with our mouths open.
“We’re stayin’ at the Ritz? Fuckin’ hell, George, we’re stayin’ at the Ritz.” Jimmie can barely contain her excitement as we step out of the limo.
“Our bags,” I say to Sean as he grabs my hand and starts to lead me inside.
