Weathering the Storm

By the end of the concert I was absolutely sure he had recognized me. A few times he caught my eye and smiled at me, I'm sure he had a reason to. He remembered me.

The show was amazing, every song was unique, not just by him but the entire band. It was an incredible feeling and experience once again. Just as everyone had hoped it would be.

There was a strict curfue to the show and sadly it didn't last a minute longer.

Richie left the stage, I sighed. He was gone, the show was over and I didn't get the chance to talk to him, just a few minutes would be enough.

"Hey you!"

Somebody from the crew shouted at me, I turned towards him. Most of the crowd had left, I stayed with hope.

"Wanna come backstage?" He asked.
"Of course." I said eagerly, remembering how it had gone last time.

A few minutes later, I was backstage again, a different venue but backstage wasn't that different. I was lead to Richie's dressing room and was let in only a few minutes later.

I walked in feeling nervous. Sure I'd meet him before but that was two years ago and things had changed since then, I had no idea what to expect from this.

"Hey." He said nicely when I walked in.
"Hi." I answered.
"We met before, haven't we?"
I nodded. "The last London concert in 2012."
"Right, we had a great night."
I smiled up at him. "Yeah, we did."
He didn't beat around the bush for a minute. "Wanna do that again?"
I don't remember ever smiling that wide. "Yeah."
"Just a few minutes, gotta pack up in here and then we can go back to the hotel."

I watched him pack up his belongings as I thought about what he had said. Back to the hotel, just like last time but I wanted more privacy than that.

Hesitatingly I asked, "Why don't we go back to my flat?"
Richie looked up, considering it. "How far do you live?"
"In Newington."
He looked at me confused.
"Close to the London Eye." I added quickly.
His eyes lit up when he could place it. "Yeah, okay, let's do that."

He picked up his leather bag and put it over his shoulder.

"Ready to go?"


The drive wasn't very long but the closer we got, the more unsure I was of showing him where and how I lived.

Eventually the car parked and we got out.

"Oh a coffee place right there, where do you live?" Richie looked around the area, only noticing the store fronts and rows of small attached houses between them.

I pointed a few houses away. There was a small shop but above it were three small flats. I walked the way to show him where it was.

There was a small space between the shop and the next shop that had 3 letterboxes and a black door. With my key I opened the door to reveal a staircase.

"Luckily it's the second floor." I said.
"Not too bad."

He said it but I saw him look around the cramped space as we went up the stairs, he was regretting coming here already.

At the landing there was only one door and another set of stairs, for this door I also had a key.

I pushed the door open and let Richie in behind me.

The apartment was small and not exactly perfectly clean.

"You're back. Finally."

For a second I had forgotten about the girl in my flat.

"Sorry it took so long."

She walked over to me, not happy about the situation but that was her problem. She too knew life wasn't always as easy.

"We agreed on 40 for the day, right?" I asked, profusely hoping that didn't change.
"Yes, but you're over an hour late which doubles my rate."
I gasped. "80 quid?"

I opened up my purse and looked through my money, not even close to 50. I pulled out what I had and handed it to her.

"That's not enough." She complained.

I saw Richie pull out his own wallet, I didn't want him to but if he was going to offer, I also wasn't going to pass. I just wanted her out of the flat. He gave the girl a 50 on top of what I had given her. Much happier, she finally left.

"Babysitter?" Richie asked when the girl had left.
I nodded and put my things away, feeling ashamed of how she got more than what we agreed upon.
"You got a kid?" He asked, wondering.
"Yeah." I smiled a little, feeling nervous.