Page 105 of The Reboot
‘And you’re in love with someone else,’ he said softly. ‘You forgot to mention that.’
She smiled. ‘Is it that obvious?’
He shrugged. ‘Maybe just to me. Because you used to look at me like that.’
‘Like what?’ she asked, intrigued.
‘The way you were looking at Roly the other night. The energy you had around him. It took me back.’
‘Oh.’ She stopped fidgeting with her mug and leaned back in her chair. ‘Well, you’re right,’ she said, looking him in the eye. ‘Roly and I are together now.’
‘I’m glad,’ he said, giving her a sweet smile. ‘It’s good to see you happy. You deserve it.’ She felt bad for being so impatient and belligerent with him when he’d come over for dinner.
‘Thank you. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong idea. I didn’t mean to mess you around.’
‘I’ll forgive you, on one condition.’
‘Oh? What’s that?’
He grinned. ‘That I still get my backstage pass for tomorrow night.’
Ella smiled. ‘Done.’ She held out a hand to him. ‘So, no hard feelings?’
He took her hand. ‘No hard feelings.’
The following evening, Ella had dinner at an Italian restaurant near the Aviva stadium with Christine and Loretta, and then they went to the Walking Wounded concert together. Roly had been gone all day and for most of the preceding week, rehearsing and hanging out with the band.
It was the first night of Walking Wounded’s European tour which would start and end in Dublin, and the atmosphere inside the stadium was electric. Ella was a big fan of the band, and they were on fire tonight. But she could hardly focus on them, just waiting for the moment when Roly would appear.
Then Rory Cassidy started playing the opening chords of a song that was familiar to everyone in the audience, but wasn’t one of Walking Wounded’s. Murmurs of surprise and curiosity rippled through the crowd as Phoenix stepped up to the microphone and began singing a slowed-down version of Oh Boy!’s first hit ‘Cool Like You’. It took the audience a line or two to realise what it was, and a scattering of hesitant applause grew to an ear-splitting crescendo as they simultaneously recognised the song and Roly strode onto the stage.
The crowd went wild as he stepped into the spotlight and appeared on the giant screen so that everyone, no matter how far away, could see who it was. He waved to the crowd as he stepped up to the microphone beside Phoenix’s, and Ella thought she might burst with pride as the audience cheered, whistled and clapped. This wasn’t Roly’s crowd, so she was taken aback by the reaction. There was so much love for Roly, so much goodwill directed towards him. She turned to Loretta and Christine who were jumping up and down, clapping and whooping joyously, and they grinned and hugged each other.
‘Well, I guess this guy needs no introduction,’ Phoenix said, laughing as he turned to Roly. ‘Please welcome to the stage Mr Roly Punch!’ he shouted, and the cheering got louder. Ella’s eyes welled up. Roly looked so moved, blown away by his reception.
The band started playing again, and the crowd hushed as Roly and Phoenix leaned into the microphones and sang a mash-up of ‘Cool Like You’ and Walking Wounded’s ‘Love Made Easy’. The Oh Boy! song was a revelation, surprisingly haunting and beautiful, the slowed-down melody giving it a new gravitas as Roly and Phoenix’s voices weaved around each other. It was a triumph, and Ella’s eyes filled with tears as they finished, the applause seeming to go on forever.
‘Roly’s going to stick around for the next song,’ Phoenix said, and then he introduced the new song they’d written together, ‘Nightfall’.
The song was gorgeous. As they sang, Ella flicked her gaze between the stage and the close-ups of Roly on the giant screen. He looked so happy and just … right. Like he was where he was supposed to be, doing his thing. This was where he was meant to be, she thought. It was where he belonged. His talent was wasted in Oh Boy! But surely he wouldn’t want to go back to them after tonight.
The rest of the concert went by in a blur. Afterwards she went backstage with Loretta and Christine, and found Roly. They all hugged him and told him how brilliant he’d been and how proud they were. Loretta and Christine left together then, but Ella stayed on with Roly. There were lots of people milling around, and Ella recognised Walking Wounded’s manager Will Sargent with Phoenix’s beautiful wife Summer.
She found Andrew, and when the band were finished their technical debrief, Roly took them to the dressing room and introduced them all to the members of Walking Wounded – Phoenix and his sister Georgie, and the craggily handsome Cassidy brothers, Rory and Owen. Ella hovered for a while with Andrew, feeling responsible for him. But she quickly realised he didn’t need her to babysit him, and she left him chatting to Phoenix.
Everyone was coming down from first-night nerves and on a high about how well the show had gone. They drank champagne and congratulated each other, going over the details of the concert again and again.
‘I’m heading off,’ Andrew said, finding Ella and Roly on his way to the door. ‘Just wanted to say thanks again for this,’ he said to Roly. ‘Great concert!’
‘Not too commercial for you?’ Roly said with a sly grin.
Andrew laughed good-naturedly, rolling his eyes. ‘Sorry. That was a wanky thing to say.’
Ella was pleased he had the grace to admit it.
‘It was great to meet Phoenix. He’s such an interesting guy. And I loved the song you did together – congratulations!’
‘Thanks, man.’
