I Wonder What It's Like to Be Loved by You

“Have you been to London before?” I asked the person in the seat next to me.

“A few times,” The man mumbled. “Have you?”

“I lived in Bolton for a few years,” I replied.

The older man just nodded before sticking his nose in a book. I smiled and put my headphones in my ears and started listening to some Paul McCartney. As the plane left the ground, I just closed my eyes and thought about a lot of things that I haven’t in a long time. I thought about Danny Jones.

After I moved in 11th grade, Danny and I called each other a lot. By that summer, he had started playing in his band with his friend Tom and he had sent me a picture of him and Tom. He looked so different, his hair was straightened and he wore lots of bracelets and wore different clothes, but it was the same Danny I had left.

As time went by, the two of us lost contact with each other. Danny was busy playing his guitar and I was busy doing my thing. He lived in Bolton and I lived in California, we never saw each other and it was hard. It was even hard to talk to him because it brought up a lot of pain from missing him and our relationship eventually dissipated.

I ended up going to an art college and I owe that to Danny. If it wasn’t for him, I probably never would have had the confidence to ever show my art to anyone. And now, at the age of 24, I work as a freelance artist. I do anything and everything with art; photography, graphic design, set design, basically you can hire me to do any kind of art related things. I’ve even lately been designing some album covers and some sets for concerts…. Which is why I’m going to London, to design a stage and meet this band and come up with some promotional posters and stuff like that.

Going to London has made me think a lot about Danny and how much I missed him. I wonder what he’s doing now? Whatever it is, I can bet he’s still playing his guitar and still playing soccer, oh wait, sorry footy as he called it! I wonder if he still lives in Bolton? Maybe after I finish this I’ll have to go look him up again and try to find my long lost best friend.

The next day I went to the theatre that I would be designing the set for and I got started. I had a whole team to help me position everything once I designed it and two weeks later we were finished. It was pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

“It’s kind of a funny name, McFly,” I giggled as I stood next to Fletch, their manager as we looked at the final product. “It makes me think of Marty McFly from Back To The Future. Although, you might not know what that is, it’s an American movie.”

“Oh no, I’ve seen it. That’s actually where the boys got the name McFly from,” Fletch told me.

“Then that means I automatically like them! Even if I haven’t heard their music, I love Back To The Future!” I laughed. “Even though I haven’t heard their music.”

“Oh you haven’t?” He asked. “Well you’ll have to listen to it, it’s really good. But the boys should be here any minute.”

“How many are in the band?” I questioned.

“There’s four, they may come on a little strong but you’ll like them,” He smiled. “I’ll go try to find them.”

I stood on the stage by myself and smiled. I’m not sure why but seeing a finished product always made me happy and I feel like this stage was one of my most creative and successful yet. I’ll have to see what the band thinks though.

Soon I heard voices and I turned my head to see four boys walking in from the side of the stage. The first boy I saw had blonde hair and thick eyebrows with caramel colored eyes. The guy next to him was rather muscular with short brown hair and blue eyes to compliment with a very defined jaw but a puppy dog look about him. A shorter man walked along side him with blond hair and a headband. He had blue eyes that were rather squinty and he was rather cute. But then my eyes landed on the last guy.

I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face as I looked at him. His hair was short, no longer the curly mop it was; his freckles had somewhat gone away and he was much taller with tattoos spilling over one arm and he was very muscular… but it was him, there was no doubt about that. His bright blue eyes were still shining the way they used to, his mischievous smirky smile still dances across his lips, and his demeanor still exuded his simple yet at the same time very complex personality. It was Danny Jones.

I felt my eyes starting to sting but I held back my tears. As hard as it was for me, I didn’t say anything. I just stood on the stage and waited for them as they walked over to me. Danny looked at me and he took a second look but then shook it off. My smile crept back across my lips and I could feel my dimples make their indent on my cheeks.

“So you must be the bird who designed all of this huh?” The guy with brown eyes and blonde said to me.

“That would be me,” I grinned.

“American?” He smiled at my accent but then went on, “Well, I’m Tom,” He introduced himself. “And that short one with blonde hair is Dougie, the one who keeps eyeing you is Harry and the stupid one there is Danny.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said to them but then saw Danny staring at me. I decided not to say anything yet about my identity and said, “Is there something wrong?”

“No, you just… look like this girl I used to know,” He shook his head. “She had the same dimples and sparkly eyes. Sorry though, I didn’t mean to stare. But you did a great job on this, you’re good at art.”

“Someone once told me that art was an expression of the soul and that beautiful art reflects a beautiful soul,” I softly said, hoping he’d remember the words he told me so many years ago.

”Kirstie,” Danny sighed and then his lips curled into a smile that reached from ear to ear. “It’s you.”