Kid A

I don’t think it would be right to say that Thom ever fully left his neurotic state of mind, because a lot of it is just how he gets over things, but he definitely had periods of time where he’d get a lot better about it. I think he was really paranoid for a while after submitting his self-interview just because it was more revealing than he was prepared for, but the magazine didn’t go anywhere huge, and none of us were ground-breaking news the next morning. So Thom came out of his reclusive state and was back to normal again within a couple of weeks, and that was really nice.
He started coming over to visit me and Colin all the time like he used to, and then him and Colin would gang up on me for being weird over little things the way they tend to.
---
“Jonny, can I tell you something?” Thom walked up as Colin and I were in the kitchen preparing soup together.
“Of course, Thom, you don’t really have to ask that,” I smiled.
“Yeah I guess,” his eyes shifted over to Colin, who reacted with a strange glance back in Thom’s direction. “It’s just that I missed you,” Thom was still avoiding eye contact, “but I was afraid of saying it at an awkward time or something.”
“We all missed you, Thom. And why would that be awkward?” I was a bit puzzled.
“No, Jonny. I missed YOU,” he enunciated, “I mean I missed all of us being a band together, but I missed YOU.”
I nodded a few times before catching on. “I missed you too,” I smiled, “but I know you and you always come back.”
Thom just smiled.
---
That night the whole band went out to some fancy dinner place to celebrate, which is really more complicated than it sounds. I guess I can’t really blame people for their constant stares, and the little muttering sounds I heard in the background. “Oh my god, is that Radiohead?” “Honey, look, doesn’t that look like that Thom Yorke fellow?”
At least we got the private room, I guess, but I really do miss eating out like any normal person. I couldn’t tell if anyone else was as bothered by it, but nobody seemed really happy, either.
Sometimes there would be a knock on the door.
“Are you guys really Radiohead?” I heard a man yell from the other side. I bit my lip, Thom sighed and looked down, Colin just had his classic facepalm.
“I’m sorry sir, we’ll have to ask you to sit down and stop harassing the other guests,” I heard the waiter respond.
And that was the end of it, until another brave soul would get up and the same thing happened 20 minutes later. And our food hadn’t even arrived yet, I just had an untouched salad in front of my face and that was all…
We got to where we ignored the people outside, and started laughing together, though, so it was okay.
“Jonny, I swear, you’re the pickiest eater on the planet,” Thom sighed. Colin, Ed, and Phil all nodded in agreement.
“But if you don’t want that salad, I’ll take it,” Ed pitched in.
I handed it to him. “Sorry guys, I’m just not big on lettuce,” I shrugged.
“They have soups, Jonny,” Colin sighed.
“Colin don’t start this again,” Phil cut him off, “remember Jonny doesn’t like fancy soup?”
Colin rolled his eyes. “It’s no wonder you look like you could be anorexic.”
Thom glared at Colin. “He’s a beautiful anorexic boy.”
At this point, Ed just choked on his food from trying to hold back laughter.
I sighed. “Thanks guys. Just thanks.”
Ed grinned, “Anytime, Jon, anytime.”
---
Despite the insanely slow service, eating out at the restaurant wasn’t bad. It was an Italian place, where I got the plainest, most simple, yet still overly expensive meal possible, in Colin’s words, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. Thom got some odd looking vegan pasta, everyone else got some variation of spaghetti and sauce with a really complicated name. It was good fun, and I’m glad we went, it seemed like we had all went some time being apart, and that wasn’t the best thing for us.