“Okay guys, have a break. There’s a problem with Brian’s mike link, so you can take five while we try to sort it.”
The group onstage slowly dispersed. Kevin watched AJ slink off for a cigarette. Nick and Howie work on a dance move Nick was having problems with. Brian rush off to get more of his latest song down on paper. The dancers wander off to get drinks and towel themselves off. The band put down their instruments and begin to joke amongst themselves.
Kevin slipped out of a backstage door unseen. The cool air hit him forcefully: he had let himself get so involved in the sound check that he had failed to notice the sweat he had worked up: a combined result of the flashy choreography and hot stage lights. He leant against the wall of the concert venue, the cold relieving and reviving him. His eyes swept his surroundings. To one side there lay an expansive car park, separated from the backstage area by a tall wire fence. To his other side, a playground area with a couple of basketball hoops, some swings and a seesaw. The area seemed deserted, which surprised Kevin. Normally, fans crowded around the stage exit, waiting for a chance to see their beloved Boys. He reasoned that they were probably hanging around the door that he had entered by earlier that morning. I bet they don’t even know this door exists, Kevin thought.
Soon, his feet became incredibly interesting. Kevin was afraid to look up, aware that someone was watching him, but knowing that if he acknowledged their presence he would have to make small talk. He glued his eyes to the floor, but the feeling of being watched merely intensified. Curiosity took the better of him, and he looked up, searching the car park. It was empty. He turned his head, and inhaled sharply.
Less than twenty meters away, a woman was sat on a swing, gently propelling herself backwards and forwards, her eyes on him. She looked away briefly when she realised she had been spotted. Shyness or embarrassment, wondered Kevin. For five seconds, he drank in her appearance. He recognised her instantly, despite seeing her in daylight this time. She looked tall, perhaps nearly six foot, and had jaw length brown hair which emphasised her pale skin. She was dressed casually, in jeans and an oversized sweater. Her clothes were crumpled, as though she had been sleeping in them.
Then she raised her head to meet his stare. As their gaze connected, all Kevin could see was her eyes, ice blue, boring into him. He tried to speak, but was unable. The emotions that had confused him so much the night two days and a town previous returned. But this time, looking into her eyes, something clicked. In an instant he recognised that he was bewitched by the feeling that he was looking into the eyes of someone he had know all his life, but never met before. In fact, the realisation was intoxicating he found he couldn’t move at all. He couldn’t blink. Hell, he couldn’t even think properly.
“Kev, get your lazy butt back in here!” yelled Nick, sticking his head through the stage door. Kevin jumped, but maintained his fixation on the woman. “Kevin, c’mon!”. Nick followed Kevin’s stare. Great, Nick thought, he chooses the exact moment that several tired and rather pissed off people are looking for him to check out some chick. Exasperated, he grabbed Kevin’s arms in an attempt to drag him back inside. Kevin shook him off, but rose. Nick pushed him through the door as Kevin considered exactly what he had just realised. He knew that the woman had looked into his soul, read his every emotion. He knew that everything she saw through his eyes she recognised: his isolation, his grief, his anger. He knew that in the brief period they had maintained eye contact she had learnt more about him than any other person could ever find out through years of acquaintance and a multitude of questions. And he knew all this because he knew that he had been able to do the same to her.
As the door shut behind them, he knew that this was the second time he
was walking away and leaving his soul mate outside without saying a
word, yet having told her so much.
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