Page 52 of Our Song

‘What?’I said.‘Um, yeah, I suppose so.’

Katie turned back to Brian.‘See?Lol agrees with me.’

Tadhg and I didn’t talk alone again for the rest of the night.

But the hope began to grow.

I didn’t only see Tadhg at band practices, of course.On the Monday after our first practice, he texted me to see if I wantedto go for lunch.I met him on the Arts Block ramp, and when I got there he was talking to a very pretty, tall blonde girl in a sheepskin-lined denim jacket.

‘Hey!’he said when he saw me.‘Laura, this is Jess from my class.Jess, this is Laura.’

‘Oh, your new bandmate!’Jess’s smile was warm and friendly.‘Tim was just telling me about the band.It sounds great.’

It felt weird hearing her call him Tim.

‘Oh, we’ve only had one practice so far,’ I said, ‘so I’m not sure how great we are!’I immediately wanted to kick myself for being self-deprecating.‘Um, so you’re a music person too?’

‘Yeah, but mostly experimental stuff, you know?A lot of hitting found objects with sticks and things like that.’

‘Oh,’ I said.‘Wow.Well, that sounds pretty cool.’

I suddenly felt like an ignoramus, even though Jess’s manner hadn’t been in any way patronising.

‘Anyway!’she said.‘I’ll let you go.Lovely to meet you, Laura.Bye, Tim!’

‘See you later,’ said Tadhg.

Jess waved and went into the Arts Block.

‘She seems nice,’ I said honestly.

‘Yeah, she’s great,’ said Tadhg.

‘Does everyone in your class call you Tim?’I said.

‘Well, yeah,’ he said.

‘Would you prefer if I called you Tim?’I said.

He smiled and said, ‘Absolutely not.’

‘Really?’

‘Really,’ he said.‘I’ll always be Tadhg in the glamorous world of rock and roll.’

‘Okay then,’ I said, smiling back at him.‘Tadhg it is.’

That was the beginning of what became our routine for the rest of the college year.Every Saturday I’d meet Tadhg outside college and we’d get the bus out to Stillorgan.From the start I loved those bus journeys, chatting about his course (he loved it but it was very intense), about my course (not very intense, in retrospect – I seemed to have endless time for just hanging around with my friends), about books and films and music and life in general.The journeys always felt too short.

When we got to the garage we’d practise the old songs and write new ones.Or rather, Tadhg and I wrote them.Sometimes we’d bring each other ideas, like little offerings – a chord sequence or a bassline from me, a melody or a riff from him – and create something new together.Sometimes we’d give each other songs that were almost complete.When I did that, he never added much to my songs, but whenever he brought me a song, he’d say, ‘I know it needs something else, Laura.I just don’t know what.’

But I always knew.

Afterwards we’d all go into town and get a drink in the Stag’s or Doyle’s, where we’d plan our future musical triumphs, more often than not joined by Katie.

One night in November we were sitting in the Stag’s and Katie said, ‘At this stage I feel like an honorary member of the … you still don’t have a band name, do you?’

We didn’t.

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