Page 14 of The Reboot
‘Oh.’ Roly swallowed and reached for his Coke. Suddenly his throat felt very dry. ‘And … did Zack want you to talk to me about it?’
Charlie threw him a wary look. ‘No. He actually said not to mention it if I was talking to you. I thought maybe he wanted to tell you himself – you know, extend an olive branch sort of thing.’
Roly gave a bitter laugh. ‘No. I’ve heard zip about this. I doubt I’ll be getting any olive branches from him.’
‘Well, I thought I should give you a heads-up either way.’
Roly nodded. ‘Thanks. I appreciate it.’ He felt bad for thinking ill of Charlie in the past. He’d had his own problems to deal with, but he was basically sound. ‘So when is this happening?’
‘Nothing’s been decided yet. It’s just an idea at this stage; we haven’t thrashed out any of the details. It may not even happen. He was just throwing it out there, seeing how we all felt, if we were up for it.’
‘And are you?’
‘Hell, yeah!’ Charlie grinned, his eyes wide with enthusiasm. So much for envying Roly for getting out when he did.
‘You’d go back to all that?’
‘In a heartbeat.’
‘What about your solo career?’
Charlie shrugged. ‘It’s dead in the water. My heart wasn’t in it anyway. I loved being in the group. It wasn’t the same doing it all on your own.’
‘Well, there’s no point in doing something you’re not enjoying if you don’t have to. It’s not as if you need the money.’
‘Yeah, exactly.’
It wasn’t fair – Rolydidneed the money. Of all of them, he was the one who had the most to gain from an Oh Boy! comeback. But it didn’t look like he’d be part of it.
‘Maybe Zack will call you yet. It’d be a laugh if all five of us were back together. It was never the same after you left.’
‘What about the rest of you?’ Roly hated asking, but he couldn’t afford to be proud. This was the lifeline he needed, and he had to at least try to grasp it. ‘Can’tyouask me? It’s as much your group as Zack’s.’ It was true on paper, but Zack had somehow become the de facto leader by dint of shouting the loudest and being the biggest success.
‘I know. I said we should sound you out about it.’
‘And he said no?’
‘He said we’d discuss it when we meet up, but his thinking was that it should just be the four of us. He said that’s what the fans would want.’
‘Bullshit!’
‘That’s what I said – well, not in so many words. But I said fans would totally want to see you. I mean, you were probably the most popular one.’
‘And what did he say to that?’
‘He, uh…’ Charlie’s eyes slid away and he looked sheepish. ‘He said that was a long time ago, and you left the group so early, everyone has forgotten by now that you were ever in it.’
‘Wanker!’ He’d always known Zack was a total shit-bag, but this was low even for him.
‘He’s just jealous,’ Charlie said with a shrug. ‘You know he was always a bit envious of us.’
He and Charlie had been the most musically gifted members of the group, the only song-writers among the five of them and the only ones who could play instruments. They’d been the ones everyone expected to make it big on their own. Zack had resented their song-writing credits and musical ability. He’d always been more of a showman, good at dance routines and goofing about in interviews, but with no substantial talent. Even his voice needed a lot of production to sound halfway decent. Yet against all the odds, he was the one whose solo career had gone supernova.
‘I’m surprised he even wants to go back to sharing a stage with anyone else. And do you seriously want to be working with him again? To be stuck in studios and on tour buses with him and his ego?’
Charlie shrugged. ‘I liked being part of a group. I still miss it.’
‘I thought you were glad to be out of all that.’
