Page 6 of When We Were Young

‘No! What did you do, Will?’ asked Rob.

Aidan butted in before he could answer, ‘What do you reckon? Drug dealing? Stealing cars?’

Will gave his brother a sarcastic smile.

‘Well, what was it?’ asked Rob.

‘Busking!’ Aidan was practically incontinent with laughter. ‘Can you believe it? They held him at the police station forsix hours.’

‘Ah mate, that’s rough,’ said Rob, while the others jeered.

Will stole another look at the girl. She was making her way back behind the bar, having collected a tower of dirty pint glasses. Aidan leant in to see what Will was looking at, then eyed him with a knowing smile.

Suddenly, Aidan was on his feet. ‘Will, you’re so tight. Why didn’t you get any crisps? Anyone want crisps?’

Everyone wanted crisps except Will, who watched his handsome, charming, older brother stalk confidently to the bar. She didn’t stand a chance.

‘Have you contacted any record companies yet?’ asked Rob.

‘What? No!’

‘Why not?’

‘We don’t have any decent songs for a start.’ Will shifted to his right to get a better view of Aidan chatting to the girl.

‘“Random Anthem” is brilliant, so is “Wandering” and everybody loves “Fever”,’ said Rob. ‘Have you recordedanythingyet?’

‘We did a crappy demo of “Wandering” ages ago.’

Matty slipped into the seat Aidan had vacated. ‘It wasn’t crappy!’

‘You need to get a demo recorded and send it out to record companies,’ said Rob.

‘That’s exactly what I’ve been saying!’ Matty’s eyelids were heavy. He was getting pissed.

Will sighed. ‘Demos cost money, Matty.’

‘Good job you’ve got some travelling money left…’ Matty clinked his pint glass to Will’s with a wink.

‘Not much…’ The girl was tipping her head back in laughter at whatever Aidan was saying.

‘Listen,’ said Matty. ‘I’ll ask my mum to lend me money and we’ll see what we can get off Mitch––’

‘You must be joking!’ cried Will. Their drummer was tight as arseholes.

‘Hear me out.’ Matty sat forward in his seat, excited now. ‘Let’s record those three songs, I’ll send out some tapes, make a few calls, get us some decent gigs. What do you say?’

Will thought for a moment. ‘Could we get the Mean Fiddler?’

‘You want the Mean Fiddler? I’ll get you the Mean Fiddler!’ Matty slammed his hand on the table. ‘But only with a decent demo.’

‘Okay – let’s do it.’

Aidan returned from the bar then, dropping an armful of crisp packets onto the table. ‘Look what I’ve got.’ He waved a strip of paper in Will’s face, with a smug grin. Will snatched it and looked closer. It was a till receipt and written on the back in neat handwriting was the word ‘Emily’ and a telephone number.

Chapter 5

March 2016