“Good evening Kitten, hope you’re well?”
My stomach hits the floor for a few seconds but then my cocaine enhanced confidence finds its voice and without even looking at him I say, “Tiger, how the fuck are you?”
“Really Kitten, that’s so unladylike.”
“Tiger, I think we established many years ago, that I’m no fucking lady.”
He’s quiet for a few seconds, in which time I finally turn my gaze to him, he looks afuckinmazing, he’s wearing a black suit with satin lapels, a black shirt and a black satin tie. He’s standing so close that I can smell him, he smells delicious, still wearing the same Givenchy aftershave that he always has, it instantly reminds me of my bed at my flat above the shop, and all the things he did to me in it.
“You look beautiful Georgia, absolutely stunning.”
“You don’t look so bad yourself Tiger, how ya doing? You look a whole lot better than the last time I saw you, that’s for sure.” I want to reach out and touch his face, run my hands over the beard he has growing there, it really suits him. “I love the beard.”
He ignores my beard comment. “I owe you an apology and a thank you, regarding the last time you saw me.”
I shrug and knock back the first of the three shots that have been placed in front of me. “No apology necessary, no thanks required, you would have done the same for me.”
He nods his head slightly, in a way I remember so well. “I would and more, I would’ve done so much more for you, given the chance.”
“Don’t Cam, I’m so sorry the way things turned out, the way you found out, please don’t make me feel worse than I’ve done all these years.”
He puffs his cheeks and blows out a long breath; I feel it over the side of my neck and know in an instant my nipples are painfully erect. I need to get away from him, but before I can, he pulls me into his side; I look up at him, about to ask what the fuck he’s doing when a camera flashes in my face.
“Cam what the fuck are you playing at?” I don’t wait for his answer, I just turn and head back over to where I left the girls dancing, grabbing a glass of champagne from a passing waitress as I go. I’ve drunk it all down by the time I reach the dance floor, and I spend the next hour knocking back more champagne and dancing.
While I dance my mind drifts and I think about the life Sean and I have lead over the past ten years. We’ve been so lucky, we are lucky to have found our way back to each other; we’re happy, content and still so in love. I hate being apart from him for any length of time; especially when he travels overseas and I don’t go with him. Mobile phones have made things easier, but despite talking to him sometimes five times a day, I still miss him. That’s why usually I go with him, but I just didn’t fancy the flight this weekend and he will only be away for one night. It’s a small sacrifice for the lifestyle the band’s success has given us, not just the money and all the materialistic things it can buy but the doors it opens for you, the places we have been able to visit, and the people we have met. We’ve been to award ceremonies and sat at a table with Jagger and Richards, we’ve been to film premiers and been in the same room as De Niro. I had slow danced with the British Prime Minister at a charity event and then spent an hour talking about music to Nelson Mandela, who had the spark and wit of a thirteen year old boy and who to this day, remains my ultimate human being. Sean and I have appeared on magazine covers both together and apart, we’ve been interviewed about our lives and there has even been rumours that we’ll soon be approached to not only write our autobiographies but to contribute to a film that’s apparently going to be made, loosely based on our lives. Why people are so interested in me, I have no idea. Sean I can understand, but I’m just his Wife. I’ve done some work over the last ten years, mainly for various charities, but other than that, I’ve just been at Sean’s side and I have loved every minute, I don’t need more.
Despite all of these great and wonderful things, its nights like tonight that I’ve really missed, just a plain old simple night out with the girls, as plain and simple as it can be when the wives of one of the world’s biggest bands embark on a night out. Dave drove us here and is lingering at the bar, just to make sure we are okay. He has just come over and advised us that as a lot of the celebs are now leaving, the doors will be opened up to the general public and perhaps it would be best if we went upstairs to the VIP area, where we won’t be harassed. The weird thing is, I still consider myself part of the general public, I still get tongue tied when I speak to one of my idols, I nearly wet myself when I met Weller for the first time. Sean and Marley have a picture of me staring at him in wonder as he speaks to Lennon about something or another, I can’t remember. I’ve never fancied the bloke, it’s just that his music is something that I grew up listening to and I’ve always thought that he remains to this day, one of the greatest song writers England has ever produced.
I’m snapped out of my thoughts by a camera going off in my face.
“Fuck this,” Ashley says. “Dave’s right, let’s go upstairs.”
I gesture to Dave that we are going to the VIP lounge and the three of us hold hands as Jimmie leads the way; we were given wristbands when we first entered the club so just walk straight into the floor to ceiling glassed off area. I spot Cam at the bar straight away and groan inwardly; I haven’t seen him once since the day I tried to help him, no contact whatsoever and yet he still has an effect on my body and I don’t know why. I love my Husband, I’m in love with my Husband and I hate myself for having this reaction to another man. I have thought about him over the years; Bailey told me that he rang my Dad the morning after he ran into Sean and me at Kings and sold him his share immediately. Further down the track he’d told me that he had bumped into him and Cam had asked how I was doing and if I was happy. That information made my heart beat faster too at the time and now here he was, tall and handsome, leaning against the bar talking to a tall red head who I think was an actress or a television presenter, I’d seen her face somewhere before anyways.
‘Shit G, Mr TDH is at the bar,” Jimmie squeezes my hand as she speaks.
“Fuck,” Ash adds. “He’s still Mr TDH too; just look at him George, that man is sex on legs.”
“Yeah, he spoke to me at the bar earlier, we got papped together, that’ll be interesting tomorrow when I try and explain to Sean why I’m all over the Sunday papers with my ex.”
We are offered more champagne by a topless male waiter and each take one, we find a tall round table and put our drinks down on it and stand and chat. I ask about my nieces and nephews, who I can’t wait to squish and confess to the girls that I’m off the pill and that we are actively trying for a baby, they both shriek in excitement.
“Well it’s about time,” Jimmie says. “I thought perhaps there was something wrong and you just weren’t telling us, I was going to offer you my eggs, my womb even if you needed it.”
I’m stunned into silence; my eyes instantly fill with tears. “You’d do that for me?” I ask her.
“Of course I would, why have you left it so long?”
“You can have my eggs,” Ashley adds. “But fuck being pregnant again; I wouldn’t do it for myself, let alone any other fucker.”
I laugh at Ashley’s bluntness; along with me, she’s rubbed shoulders with the worlds beautiful people, but she hadn’t changed a bit from the wild child I’d met at school fifteen years ago, even motherhood hadn’t tamed her.
“We waited because we love our lifestyle, no disrespect to you two, but I’ve seen how hard it can be when the boys are on tour and you have to either bring the kids or arrange babysitters. Now that things aren’t so manic with the boys, I’m ready… we’re ready. We’ve got that last bit of travel bug out of our system by taking this last year off and now we’re ready to be grownups,” I smile as I speak, unable to hide my excitement at the thought of becoming a parent, at the thought of Sean holding a baby in his arms, of a brown eyed baby boy with a mop of curls, just like his Dad’s used to be. I can’t wait.