Right Now, I'm Anyone's

Jake spent a whole twenty minutes just staring at me like I was clinically insane.

“Uh, yeah, I’m Jake,” he said, pulling his eyebrows together and furrowing his brow. “Who are you?”

I laughed a little uneasily. “Think back about...six years. Girl with long black hair, called Leila.”

I glanced around and caught Georgia’s eye. She gave me a look asking if everything was okay. I nodded subtly before she carried on dancing with Ryan and Lee. I looked back at Jake and he still had his brow wrinkled up, staring at my face.

I am going to kick myself if it’s not even him, I thought. I waited for a response a while longer, watching him scan my face and feeling weird about it. Eventually, the realisation clicked and it was like somebody turned on a bulb inside his head. His jaw dropped.

“Oh, my God,” he mumbled. “I remember you.”

I smiled and scratched the back of my head. “Yeah, long time no talk.”

He finally pulled himself together and laughed, pulling me into a tight hug. “Fuck me sideways and call me Marjorie, you haven’t half changed! How’ve you been?”

I smiled. “It’s been six years, and I’ve been alright thanks, Jake.”

“I suppose so.” He put his hand into the pocket of his khaki three quarters. “I think Johnny will actually have some kind of cardiac arrest when he sees you.”

“Johnny’s here?” I asked, feeling my heart swell at the memory.

“Yeah,” Jake nodded. “I’m in Eye Witness; he’s our photographer.”

I smiled to myself. Johnny always wanted to be a photographer, I remember him telling my dad all those years ago. We stood there and talked for a little while, and I learned a lot about what had happened in the past six years. Turns out that Jake dropped out of university his second year and started a band with some friends. They did absolutely nothing for an entire year and ended up breaking, causing Jake to start a different band – Eye Witness – with another friend. They eventually sorted themselves out with recording time and touring.

“Jakov Daniels!” someone shouted from the entrance to the main room, stopping Jake mid-sentence. “Want to help me out here?”

I turned around to look at the door, seeing a woman standing there, just a little bit younger than I was, I assumed. She was stunning, with long, curly blonde hair and a slim figure. She reminded me a lot of a toned down Zoë. She had a little girl balanced on her hip, with dark brown ringlets framing her face and olive-toned skin, a little bit like Jake’s. Jake ran over to the pair and took the little girl, lifting her over his head and making her giggle happily. He came back over to where I was standing, followed by the woman who’d brought the little girl.

“Say hello to Leila, baby,” he said softly to the little girl, currently with her pudgy arms curled tightly around his neck. She stared at me for a little while, taking me in and sizing me up. I smiled gently at her and she returned, albeit hesitantly. She eventually lifted her small hand and gave me a little wave and a quiet “hello.”

“Leila, this is Eden,” Jake smiled happily and kissed her cheek. “Or just Edie.”

I smiled at both Eden and Jake, realising how alike they were. Jake never mentioned a little sister. She couldn’t be his cousin; they looked far too much alike to be cousins. And I didn’t think Jake had any other siblings, so she couldn’t have been his niece...Then again, his parents could’ve had a little girl in the past few years.

“Hey,” the woman finally spoke up. “I’m Zara, Jako’s cousin.”

She held her hand out to me and I shook it, smiling at her and introducing myself. I was only vaguely aware of Maddox and Callum play fighting on the other side of the room; probably over what song was going to be played next. I knew Callum got his way when some more Beyoncé started playing.

“I’m going to go sleep in the van, I’m so tired,” Zara said, yawning. “I’ll come get Edie later, before you have to...do whatever it is that you actually do.”

“Okay,” he said, nodding his head. “I’m sure I can find something to do.”

“I could show you around the place?”

Jake smiled. “Sounds good.”

Zara smiled and said goodbye to us as Jake hitched Edie up further onto his hip, wrapping one arm protectively around her little body, holding her pink floral dress to her bottom with his hand. The click of the main door closing told us that Zara had gone. Jake and I wandered around, and I explained the few simple things about the place.

“Why does Zara call you Jako?” I asked, after showing him one of the dressing rooms; once you seen one, you’ve seen them all.

“Because my name’s technically Jakov,” he laughed. “But I hate it, and people call me Jacob or Jake. Only Zara can call me Jako.”

“Jakov’s much nicer than Jacob. More...exotic.” He laughed at that. “So, Edie looks a lot like you, it’s really surreal.”

“I should hope she looks like me!”

“She’s beautiful, Jake. I always wanted a little sister.”

He looked at me and raised his eyebrows. “Little sister?”

“Yeah,” I said, looking back at him and nodding.

“Leila, she isn’t my little sister,” he laughed. “She’s my daughter.”

I stopped walking and just gawped at him open mouthed. What the fucking bloody hell?! Jake could only have been, at most, two years older than me, making him twenty-four. He laughed at me and stroked Edie’s head where it lay on his shoulder.

“You look surprised.”

“Who wouldn’t be?” I said, shaking my head to get my sense back to me. Eventually we carried on walking through the venue. Edie started getting fidgety and stroppy after a little bit longer.

“Daddy,” she murmured. “No more, me sleep.”

I almost cooed. It was so cute. He smiled and kissed her forehead, cradling her into his chest afterwards. I accompanied him back outside and to their van, where Jake slid the door open quietly and slipped inside for a couple of minutes. I could just about see through the crack in the door; he was crouching and tucking Edie into a small camp bed set up in there, next to Zara. I noticed Zara’s arm automatically draped over Edie’s small body in her sleep.

*****

“I really did miss a lot, didn’t I?” I laughed, pushing my hair out of my face. Jake and I were sat in his bands dressing room, holding a cup of tea apiece.

“Yeah, you did.”

“How old is she?”

“Turned four about a month ago,” he smiled, looking down at the cup in his hands.

“So, you brought a four year old to a fifteen day long festival?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “What else was I supposed to do? Her mum left the both of us as soon as possible, and my parents live abroad now.”

I smile sympathetically at him. I didn’t realise that I missed Jake quite a bit, even though I didn’t really get as close to him as...others, when I knew him. ‘Others’ weren’t mentioned between us, and I assumed he knew what happened all those years ago; I mean he was one of the ‘others’ best friends.

“Don’t worry about it, Jake,” I said. “She’s got a great dad.”

He smiled at me. “I try. That little girls my absolute world.”

I could’ve guessed that myself, but I didn’t say so. Jake started asking me about me; where I lived, what was going on with me, what I did after I left. I explained everything to him, and let slip that my boyfriend of nine months proposed.

“You’re engaged?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.

“No,” I laughed. “Not yet anyway.”

He laughed. “Good. That’s a life-long commitment that.”

And having a little girl isn’t? I laughed uneasily and finished off my tea. I stood up; telling Jake that I had some more work to do, to get ready for the next week – lies – and he walked me back down the corridor, to the stage. He was going to go and check on Eden and Zara.

“It was brilliant seeing you again, Leila,” he smiled, giving me another hug. “Come by whenever you want to talk to me.”

I nodded. “I will, Jakov.”

He shook his head at me and laughed, pretending to punch me under my chin.

“Hey, Jake Eden’s awake an-” The voice approaching behind Jake started, but stopped abruptly when they looked up. Standing behind Jake was a tall, skinny man, around the age of twenty or twenty-one, with pale blonde hair, light skin with a perfect complexion and an expensive looking camera slung around his neck. Johnny Owens.

I smiled awkwardly. “Hey, Johnny.”

He just stared at me for a while longer before he shouted, “Oh my God! Leila, it is you!”

And then he jumped on me and had me on the floor, hugging me as tight as he possibly could.

“Yeah, hello to you too,” I laughed.

*****

I didn’t stay that long to talk to either of them. Johnny and I swapped numbers again, so we could get in touch when we wanted to, as Jake made his way to his daughter. Johnny followed after him, giving me a massive smile and another hug.

It was half past five and I couldn’t be bothered anymore. I let Maddox know I was going home, and then went in search of Georgia. I found her in the office next door to the staff room on the top floor. I told her we could go home and she jumped to it, putting away what she was working on and followed me into the staff room.

“So, I saw you and that gorgeous-looking guy earlier,” she smirked as we walked through the main room to the front door. “Should someone tell Levi to watch out?”

I rolled my eyes and laughed once. “No. We were friends a long time ago.”

“Good,” she smiled. “Because I call dibs on that one.”

I laughed and pushed my body into hers slightly, shoving her. She stuck her tongue out at me as we walked into the cold, dark evening. The door of one of the vans was wide open, and I thought I’d see Jake or Johnny again before we left. I was peering subtly into the van, waiting for somebody to come out.

When somebody did come out, it wasn’t Johnny or Jake with Eden. Not even Lee or someone from Deaf Havana. It was Zara, cuddled into the side of another man. He was tall, with toffee-coloured skin and dark hair sweeping around his face smoothly. They were laughing together and leaving the van, making their way to the club doors. I recognised him, but I really didn’t get a good enough look to know. Georgia was still talking as we walked.

“What?” I said, turning back to Georgia.

“I asked what’s up.”

“Oh, I thought I saw somebody.”