‘You seem pretty happy with yourself there,’ I said. This guy was hot, and surely, he knew how attractive he was. I’m sure he had women dropping their panties for him at every show he had. ‘I really hope that the idea of getting some food wasn’t pulling my skirt up in this back-alley way,’ I said, crossing my arms in front of my chest. I didn’t feel as though he was looking to jump me. But I still felt the need to voice my certainty of the possible situation not happening.
‘Yeah,’ he said, staring back at me; my jaw dropped wide open, I furrowed my brow, glaring at him/
‘I’m so sorry, I meant, yeah, I am happy with myself. And no, I didn’t have that idea of you whatsoever. I just really needed to get out for there, I hope that’s okay. I’m sorry about the lie, I just really needed some air, you seemed like the club wasn’t really where you wanted to be either,’ he said, flashing me his blue apologetic eyes.
‘Yeah, you’re right, clubs aren’t really my place and I didn’t really think jumping me was your intention either,’ I reassured him, ‘I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.’ I took a deep breath and uncrossed my arms.
He smiled. ‘That’s the first time, I have ever left a gig. Before I play there’s so much handshaking, and pretend drinking. I’m just here for the music. And tonight, it looks like it gets to be. So even though you had to join my lie, I really appreciate it,’ he said, his eyes warm and flickered away from me shyly as he placed his hands in his jacket pocket.
‘I’m sorry that you had to be in this town when you finally get some time to yourself. I don’t think there is going to be anywhere around here still open where you’ll be able to get a snack from,’ I said.
‘I think I’m okay for a snack. I just wanted to get out of there for a bit, go on an adventure. Food was just my cover-up.’
‘Oh, very smooth, mister. You still haven’t told me your name,’ I said, turning around as we began to walk side by side up the thin alleyway.
‘How about just for now, I don’t have a name. I know that can come across rude, I promise by the end of the night you’ll know exactly who I am, but for now—’
I interrupted him: ‘For now you’re just some guy who I met backstage, that I’m roaming up an alleyway with in the middle of the night,’ I said. I wasn’t offended that he didn’t want to give his name to me. It made sense, tonight he just wanted to be him. The real him, the heart of him; I bet a moment like this was rare for someone of his stature.
He laughed. ‘That doesn’t sound very romantic, does it?’
‘Not particularly,’ I said, ‘but to be honest, some fresh air does seem a little bit better than that club right now.’ I did feel a little bad, I was meant to be there for Jack, and I was sure he was playing soon. I hoped he wouldn’t notice that I popped out for just a little bit. ‘So, we’ve got just over an hour, what would you like to do?’ I asked, looking up at the blue-eyed boy walking next to me as we approached the end of the alleyway. It led out on to my towns ‘main street’. It didn’t consist of much, a bakery, a couple of clothing stores, a pub, and two cafes that sold semi-good coffee.
‘Hmmm,’ he pondered under his breath, still with a smile on his face, ‘where do you go to in this town when you need to take a short moment to escape?’ he asked, not blinking as he stared at me. I know exactly what he was talking about. My getaway place. It was the most beautiful spot in the whole town, yet no one seemed to go there but me. I would go there at least once a week. Drink coffee, ponder on life, think about the future and a life beyond this town. I would journal nonsense words on my note pad, write down, goals, and dreams. Create lists of things I wanted to action into my reality but was yet to take the full leap.
‘Yeah,’ I said softly, ‘I know the place, it’s just down here.’ I pointed to the right as we wandered down the main street. It was quiet, nothing but the faint sound of music from the club, mixed with the rustling of wind through the trees by the river, there wasn’t a person or a car in sight. This was unusual. It was eleven p.m. on a Saturday night, the street would usually be home to at least a couple of drunks. Men urinating in the doorways of shops or teenage boys driving their cars at full speed through the main street traffic lights, in search of a rush, some sort of feeling beyond what this town could give them. Maybe everyone was in the club tonight, desperate to dance to the beat of the guy who instead, was spending the night with me.
‘So, Emma, what is it that you do, in this town?’ he asked, strolling alongside me. I felt myself shy away from his question a little. I don’t know where he came from — but I was sure it was somewhere much bigger than my small-town life.
‘I’m a marketing manager at a local creative agency,’ I said.
‘That’s cool. Maybe you could give me some tips,’ he said. he looked back at me wide-eyed, keen to know more but something about him also seemed a little distracted. I could see something behind his blue eyes processing at fast speed.
‘Yeah, I do love it. Well, I did. I mean, I do, yeah, I do, I worked hard to get here,’ I said. He smirked at my answer, but he didn’t speak. We approached the set of traffic lights at the end of the main street. Mr DJ next to me pressed the button, but there still wasn’t a car in sight. I started to walk ahead of him onto the road, looking back at him with a grin on my face.
‘I guess we’re going this way?’ He crossed the road catching up to me. walking onto the grass and to the big, old, wooden fence, I ran a little further ahead of him.
‘I hope you don’t mind getting a little dirty,’ I said, looking back at him, making sure he heard my smart comment and I started to throw my legs over the fence. I had just got to the top when the blue-eyed mystery man’s feet pounded the grass on the other side. He had thrown himself over so quickly. He jumped the whole fence while only resting one arm on the top wooden paling to launch himself off. I sat on the top of the fence looking at him, a little in shock and awe.
‘I’d offer you a hand, but you look like you’ve done this many times before, Miss Independent,’ he said. Miss Independent hey, how did he guess that of me so quickly, what vibe was I giving off? It was rare for me to spend time around someone new. Not many new people came to this town, and when you’ve spent twenty-four years with the same couple of thousand people, everyone likes to think they already know some sort of story about you. To me, it felt like no one in this town liked the idea of growth and change. If everyone stayed small and didn’t break the ideas of what others had set out for you, everyone could get along and live happily ever after.
A part of me felt like I was already becoming the Red Riding Hood of this small town, venturing into ideas, thoughts, and decisions that others didn’t like.
I took a leap off the fence and landed my feet steady and close to his. ‘Miss Independent, hey?’ I said. He stood facing me, it was dark, but I could see the streetlights glowing on one side of his face.
‘Yeah, I get that vibe from you. Miss Independent Boss Woman,’ he said, shrugging his shoulders, continuing to walk.
I laughed; I liked his comment. He was kind of right. ‘What makes you think that?’ I asked.
‘For one, Jack mentioned you were his boss. So, you are a boss,’ he said. Okay, straight to the point I thought. He was right. ‘Two, I saw the look in your eyes when I put you in the position to lie and get out of the club. You were initially not keen. But then something inside of you went, fuck it. Let’s go have some fun. And thirdly, you walked down that main street like you’re not scared of the dark, or a stranger. You’re Miss Independent. You own that shit,’ he said, meeting my eyes and smiling. I didn’t know what to say, whoever this stranger was, he was certainly observant. I looked away and started to walk over the train tracks that where in front of me; he followed.
‘I’m right, aren’t I?’
‘I guess you are,’ I said. He was right, but I was unsure whether I liked everything about his comments. There was part of me, that didn’t want to always be like that. I didn’t want to always have my own back. I did want to flow a little more on the spontaneous side. Step away from structure and let in more possibility. We stood at the right-hand side of the train track, at the top of a grass hill that led down to a stone wall before the opening of the local river. I had never seen it this late at night before, it was beautiful. The night bought us a full moon that gave the river a midnight glow.
‘So, this is your place?’ he said, before running down the hill. I walked down behind him taking a seat in the long grass just in front of the man-made stone wall.
‘Yeah, this is my place. I think I love it because no one comes here. It does feel like my own space,’ I said. He took a seat next to me, pulling his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. He looked at me intently, not saying anything just listening, waiting for me to speak. ‘I love this place because it shows me a world beyond here. This town is all I have ever known. But I do know that I wasn’t meant for it. This place isn’t meant to be my home. I don’t know where is yet. But right here is where the river opens to a world that is beyond — and this spot makes me almost taste the salt air on the other side,’ I said. We sat together staring out at the river mouth of my town.
