‘What’s an A&R man?’ asked Reu.
‘Artists and repertoire,’ explained Will. ‘They’re basically scouts for record companies.’
‘Let’s hope they come early enough to see us play, eh?’ Matty rubbed his hands together.
Reu stood, clamped his hand over his mouth, and ran off to the gents.
Will’s heart kicked hard against his ribs as he climbed onto the stage. He laid the set list down next to his pedals, straightened up, and squinted through the lights. People were still arriving, greeting friends, ordering drinks. He hated being the first act.
Reu was still a little pale as he sat at the Space Junkies’ drum kit. Will gave him an encouraging wink and turned to his microphone.
‘Hi, I’m Will Bailey, and this one’s called “Fever”!’
Reu gave them more than a basic beat. He played it almost exactly the way Mitch would have. Will had given Reu a demo tape; he must have been listening to it, practising even – which was more than Mitch ever did. This might be okay.
‘Fever’ only got a smattering of applause, and the pause between songs made the conversations seem louder.
He had been looking forward to this gig for weeks, and what with all the drama of getting here and Mitch dropping them in it, it couldn’t end with no one listening.
He turned to Matty, ‘Let’s do the acoustic version of “Satisfaction”.’
Matty nodded.
‘Reu, sit this one out.’
Reu’s shoulders sagged with relief.
People continued chatting as they played the intro to the Stones song, but they got a few sporadic whoops when Will sang the first line. He hated playing cover versions, but they always grabbed an audience’s attention, and it wasn’t so bad if you put your own creative spin on it. Tonight was no exception – by the first chorus, people began shushing each other, and by the second, some were even singing along. When the song finished, the applause was much livelier.
But people kept arriving throughout their set. Even his brother was late. Aidan sauntered in with a girl and left her watching the stage while he went to the bar.
Just then, Reu missed his timing coming out of a roll, and it was painful there for a few bars, but once he recovered, he upped his game and came back stronger than before. His energy rubbed off on Will and Matty. The crowd was with them now and there were moments, just one or two, where it felt like he’d always dreamed it would.
They finished the set with their latest song. It was rough around the edges, but it got the biggest applause of the night.
‘Thank you!’ Will yelled over the cheers. ‘We’ve got Matty on bass!’ Matty raised his hand. ‘And stepping in for us at the last minute, give it up for Reu on drums!’
The boy gave a bashful nod.
‘I’m Will Bailey. Thank you and goodnight!’
Sweaty and thirsty, they made their way to the bar and ordered a round of drinks. Aidan joined them, shook Matty’s hand, and slapped Will on the shoulder.
‘Love the new song,’ he said.
‘Cheers,’ said Will.
Aidan came to all his gigs. He often showed up late, but he never failed to make an appearance. Complimenting him on a song was new, though. What had him in such a good mood?
Aidan stepped aside to introduce the girl he’d brought along. ‘Will, this is Emily. Emily – Will.’
It was the girl from the station.
The girl he guessed must be an art student.
The girl that got off the train at 17:18 every Wednesday.
He should say something, not stand there with his mouth open. Aidan hadn’t mentioned her since he got her number. Will assumed nothing had come of it. But here she was, all these months later, with Aidan’s arm around her waist.