Remembering Sunday

“Alex!”

I looked up from where I was seated on a couch in the studio. It’s been another two weeks since I’d last spotted Ashley and the fans that had been at the show were still talking about it.

“Yeah?”
“Dude you’ve been sitting there for hours. Why don’t you take a break?”

I looked into the faces of my worried friends, then back down at th piece of paper that didn’t yet have any words on it.

“Fine. I’m gonna go get some lunch. I’ll be back in about an hour.”
“Take your time buddy.”

I grabbed my jacket, keys and wallet and headed out into the cold Baltimore air. Now… where to go? Where to go? Well that was easy enough… Subway then home to eat it.

As I drove the radio was playing an old set from about five years ago, the next song to come up was In The Shadows by Gatecrashing My Own Life. I immediately turned the thing off but the few seconds that I’d heard of the song had set my head spinning.

I wondered what the other had done since then. Did they got to college? Continue in the music industry? Who knows? I did remember hearing something about Derek going to rehab a couple of years back but my main concern was Oli, Josh and Drake. They were good guys and Ashley messed up their lives.

I pulled into the parking lot for the city centre mall and as it was only Tuesday I found a spot quickly. Like I said it was a Tuesday so there really weren’t that many kids about that would recognize me.

In Subway I ordered my usual, chicken teriyaki, pepperjack cheese, toasted on Italian herbs and cheese bread with pickles and lettuce. The same as Ashley except she would always get sweet onion sauce.

“Is that all sir?”
“Yeah thanks.”

I walked out of there, a weak smile on my face. Just as I was about to go down the escalators I noticed a familiar face out of the corner of my eye. This time, instead of rushing over to her and causing her to leave, escaping me again, I stayed back just watching her like a creepy stalker.

I ended up staying true to form as I followed her from store to store. First she went into Hot Topic, then Urban Outfitters, Victoria’s Secret and finally a kids toy store. The last one confused me a little but I brushed it off.

She soon left the mall and I carried on following her until she came to a restaurant. I had to wait outside for that. Luckily she was led to a table next to the window… She wasn’t alone.

As she got there she was greeted by a little girl, maybe two or three, and she gave her the toy she bought. The man with them was probably about twenty-four. He had short, jet-black hair that had been styled into a sort of fauxhawk. He was average height, medium build. He had a pair of horn-rimmed glasses on his face and I could clearly see a set of size sixteen gauges, a lip ring and a nose ring.

As I watched, Ashley moved the little girl to her hip and reached up to kiss the man. It was then that I noticed the wedding ring on her finger and the smile on her face when she saw him. She was happy. She was finally happy.

She looked up a few seconds later and her smile disappeared when she saw me but I just gave her a deep nod, an understanding passing silently between us. She had a family now and she had what she wanted. I stood up and walked away from her for the last time.

It was another hour or so before I got back to the studio but the guys knew better than to question me. I quickly ate my sandwich and then picked up the pen and paper and wrote,

‘Forgive me I’m trying to find my calling I’m calling at night. I don’t mean to be a bother but have you seen this girl? She’s been running through my dreams and it’s driving me crazy it seems, I’m gonna ask her to marry me.’

It wasn’t much yet but it already meant a lot to me and it was SOMETHING to go on.