England
Cynthia grunted in disgust as she saw the rain pouring outside the airport in London. I wasn’t particularly fond of it either, but my mind was preoccupied. We arrived over an hour ago and there was supposed to be a private car to pick us up, get us to our hotel and drive us around wherever we wanted to, but there was still no sign of it. Cynthia was on the verge of her patience and I could see her eyes darting to the cigarette shop nearby.
She quit smoking years ago, but I can imagine how nervous she was right now. Hell, I could use a smoke too. So we headed there, bought a pack of cigarettes and headed outside to smoke.
“Fucking rock stars and their fucking fashionably late trends!”
There was no way in heaven or on earth that you could make this woman hold her tongue once she got pissed off. Especially not when it comes to rock stars.
“What do you think will the story be?”
“About the song? They’ll probably come up with something ridiculous that no one will believe. The more important thing is, what are you gonna do with Dany?”
I looked down at the cigarette in my hands and those few seconds were the longest in my life. The night before the flight I didn’t sleep at all and I thought everything through, trying to find a way out of this mess. My head told me to forget Dany and move on with my life and my career, but my heart told me my career means nothing. I didn’t know what to say to Cynthia.
“Oh, the car is here!”
She put me out of my spiral of thoughts and we dragged the luggage to the car. She bitched at the driver for being late, which was completely her style, then we got on and didn’t speak again until we reached our hotel. The driver left us at the entrance and said he will come pick us up in a few hours.
I collapsed on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
“What are you gonna do with Dany, An? I can tell you thought about it.”
“I don’t know what I will do.”
“You’ll leave your job for him, I know it. I know you and I know how you fall in love. And with Dany, I can’t even blame you. Just do me a favor and let me break his pretty face if he hurts you, okay?”
I chuckled. Right now, Cynthia was about the only person who could make everything seem like a joke and make me laugh.
“Get some rest, I’ll go take a shower.”
I must have fallen asleep while she was in the shower, as my ringing phone woke me up. I dug through my bag and picked it up mechanically, without even looking.
“Anya, are you okay? Is everything going good?”
Silently, I thanked to God it was Ron, and not Dany. Cynthia’s head popped out of the bathroom door, her eyes fierce and ready to kick some rock-star ass. I shook my head and she slid back in, leaving the door slightly cracked.
“Yeah, I’m sorry I didn’t call. I must’ve been tired, or something. Slept until now.”
“Okay, I’m glad to hear that. When are you meeting Vicious?”
It must have been at that moment that I fully realized the situation. My mind started running on full speed, flipping possible situations.
“Uhm, I don’t know yet. Jayden is supposed to call me today and tell me exactly. I promise, it’ll be a good interview, Ron.”
“It better be. You’re one of my best journalists and I love your writing, but letters have been flooding the mailbox like crazy these days. I keep putting off the replies and all the other journalists’ questions about this, but I can’t do it forever. I need a good statement from the band and I need it ASAP.”
“And you will have it, Ron, by the end of the week. I’ll mail you the interview as soon as I do it and you can publish it. Deal?”
“Deal.”
I hung up and collapsed back on the bed. Cynthia walked out of the bathroom, with her hair wet and wavy over her shoulder and a towel wrapped around her. No words were needed to understand each other.
She picked up her phone and dialed a number, then gave me the phone. I took it reluctantly, looking at the number and trying to recognize whose is it, but I couldn’t.
“Hi, Cynthia, I was just about to call. Is everything alright with you and Anya, did you travel okay?”
I gulped and tried to talk, surprised how harsh my voice sounded:
“Hey. It’s Anaya, and yes, we traveled okay. When can we see you?”
“I was hoping you and I could meet and talk?”
“No, Dany, this is not happening. When do we interview you?”
“Listen, I have so many things to tell you, please let me talk to you.”
Tears filled up my eyes and my mind must’ve gone blank.
Later Cynthia told me she arranged the interview for tomorrow, then she poured me a glass of vodka and put me to sleep.
“Well, the song is about a woman that’s just like any other – she found out about us from friends, came to see us, we met after the gig and we talked. Yes, just talked, no sex, or anything of the sort. We all came to respect this girl very much, exactly because she was completely professional with all of us, and terribly sweet.
Now, you and me, we have been friends for years, Anya. You know I’ve always loved your name, it’s different from all the Catherines and Annas that approached us. We couldn’t just pass it by! To all our fans out there, who have flooded our inbox with mail, we hope you’re happy now that you know the story behind ‘Anya’.”
Jayden took a sip of water, looking straight in my eyes, while he was talking to the machine in front of him, knowing that almost every word he said was a lie.
“Dany, since you write most of the lyrics, I’ll assume you wrote this one as well. Could you shed some light on the meaning behind it? I know that this is the worst question to ask an artist, but still.”
Cynthia threw him a glance, so evil, that he should’ve been running head over heels and hiding good, if he wasn’t preoccupied with looking at me.
“Well, it’s mostly about broken dreams. You see, this girl, let’s call her Alisa. So, Alisa met a guy she really loved, and he loved her too. He did all kinds of things for her and she opened up to him. But then, her friends –” he looked at Cynthia and I can swear I could see them dueling with their glances as the swords, “told her she shouldn’t go for him because he was untrue in what he told her. Her heart was broken, so was his.
It’s really tragic how much love affects a person’s world and how much it can change in just a single moment, isn’t it? This is what inspired us and since, in our view, man cannot live without love, we decided to write this song.”
We exchanged a million more false words over the recording device, both knowing it was all a sham. When the interview was done, Jayden invited Cynthia to join him for a smoke outside, while Dany seemed to be glued to the chair. She looked at me and I nodded at her to go. Dany and I needed to talk alone and it wasn’t going to be pretty.
They left, shutting the door behind them and leaving me and Dany alone.
He looked up at me, his glance somewhat apologetic and guilty.
“I’m sorry, love.”
“Were you out of your mind to release that song as a single, right after the Paris interview?!
“I insisted.”
“Do you have any idea what it is like to be known by the whole world? Do you have any idea how I felt when I read that announcement you made? Do you know how many journalists pile up at my doorstep to ask if it’s true?”
I could’ve gone on, but I had to catch my breath. He used the pause.
“I love you.”
22.08. - 20.11.2010
Replica
Cynthia grunted in disgust as she saw the rain pouring outside the airport in London. I wasn’t particularly fond of it either, but my mind was preoccupied. We arrived over an hour ago and there was supposed to be a private car to pick us up, get us to our hotel and drive us around wherever we wanted to, but there was still no sign of it. Cynthia was on the verge of her patience and I could see her eyes darting to the cigarette shop nearby.
She quit smoking years ago, but I can imagine how nervous she was right now. Hell, I could use a smoke too. So we headed there, bought a pack of cigarettes and headed outside to smoke.
“Fucking rock stars and their fucking fashionably late trends!”
There was no way in heaven or on earth that you could make this woman hold her tongue once she got pissed off. Especially not when it comes to rock stars.
“What do you think will the story be?”
“About the song? They’ll probably come up with something ridiculous that no one will believe. The more important thing is, what are you gonna do with Dany?”
I looked down at the cigarette in my hands and those few seconds were the longest in my life. The night before the flight I didn’t sleep at all and I thought everything through, trying to find a way out of this mess. My head told me to forget Dany and move on with my life and my career, but my heart told me my career means nothing. I didn’t know what to say to Cynthia.
“Oh, the car is here!”
She put me out of my spiral of thoughts and we dragged the luggage to the car. She bitched at the driver for being late, which was completely her style, then we got on and didn’t speak again until we reached our hotel. The driver left us at the entrance and said he will come pick us up in a few hours.
I collapsed on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
“What are you gonna do with Dany, An? I can tell you thought about it.”
“I don’t know what I will do.”
“You’ll leave your job for him, I know it. I know you and I know how you fall in love. And with Dany, I can’t even blame you. Just do me a favor and let me break his pretty face if he hurts you, okay?”
I chuckled. Right now, Cynthia was about the only person who could make everything seem like a joke and make me laugh.
“Get some rest, I’ll go take a shower.”
I must have fallen asleep while she was in the shower, as my ringing phone woke me up. I dug through my bag and picked it up mechanically, without even looking.
“Anya, are you okay? Is everything going good?”
Silently, I thanked to God it was Ron, and not Dany. Cynthia’s head popped out of the bathroom door, her eyes fierce and ready to kick some rock-star ass. I shook my head and she slid back in, leaving the door slightly cracked.
“Yeah, I’m sorry I didn’t call. I must’ve been tired, or something. Slept until now.”
“Okay, I’m glad to hear that. When are you meeting Vicious?”
It must have been at that moment that I fully realized the situation. My mind started running on full speed, flipping possible situations.
“Uhm, I don’t know yet. Jayden is supposed to call me today and tell me exactly. I promise, it’ll be a good interview, Ron.”
“It better be. You’re one of my best journalists and I love your writing, but letters have been flooding the mailbox like crazy these days. I keep putting off the replies and all the other journalists’ questions about this, but I can’t do it forever. I need a good statement from the band and I need it ASAP.”
“And you will have it, Ron, by the end of the week. I’ll mail you the interview as soon as I do it and you can publish it. Deal?”
“Deal.”
I hung up and collapsed back on the bed. Cynthia walked out of the bathroom, with her hair wet and wavy over her shoulder and a towel wrapped around her. No words were needed to understand each other.
She picked up her phone and dialed a number, then gave me the phone. I took it reluctantly, looking at the number and trying to recognize whose is it, but I couldn’t.
“Hi, Cynthia, I was just about to call. Is everything alright with you and Anya, did you travel okay?”
I gulped and tried to talk, surprised how harsh my voice sounded:
“Hey. It’s Anaya, and yes, we traveled okay. When can we see you?”
“I was hoping you and I could meet and talk?”
“No, Dany, this is not happening. When do we interview you?”
“Listen, I have so many things to tell you, please let me talk to you.”
Tears filled up my eyes and my mind must’ve gone blank.
Later Cynthia told me she arranged the interview for tomorrow, then she poured me a glass of vodka and put me to sleep.
“Well, the song is about a woman that’s just like any other – she found out about us from friends, came to see us, we met after the gig and we talked. Yes, just talked, no sex, or anything of the sort. We all came to respect this girl very much, exactly because she was completely professional with all of us, and terribly sweet.
Now, you and me, we have been friends for years, Anya. You know I’ve always loved your name, it’s different from all the Catherines and Annas that approached us. We couldn’t just pass it by! To all our fans out there, who have flooded our inbox with mail, we hope you’re happy now that you know the story behind ‘Anya’.”
Jayden took a sip of water, looking straight in my eyes, while he was talking to the machine in front of him, knowing that almost every word he said was a lie.
“Dany, since you write most of the lyrics, I’ll assume you wrote this one as well. Could you shed some light on the meaning behind it? I know that this is the worst question to ask an artist, but still.”
Cynthia threw him a glance, so evil, that he should’ve been running head over heels and hiding good, if he wasn’t preoccupied with looking at me.
“Well, it’s mostly about broken dreams. You see, this girl, let’s call her Alisa. So, Alisa met a guy she really loved, and he loved her too. He did all kinds of things for her and she opened up to him. But then, her friends –” he looked at Cynthia and I can swear I could see them dueling with their glances as the swords, “told her she shouldn’t go for him because he was untrue in what he told her. Her heart was broken, so was his.
It’s really tragic how much love affects a person’s world and how much it can change in just a single moment, isn’t it? This is what inspired us and since, in our view, man cannot live without love, we decided to write this song.”
We exchanged a million more false words over the recording device, both knowing it was all a sham. When the interview was done, Jayden invited Cynthia to join him for a smoke outside, while Dany seemed to be glued to the chair. She looked at me and I nodded at her to go. Dany and I needed to talk alone and it wasn’t going to be pretty.
They left, shutting the door behind them and leaving me and Dany alone.
He looked up at me, his glance somewhat apologetic and guilty.
“I’m sorry, love.”
“Were you out of your mind to release that song as a single, right after the Paris interview?!
“I insisted.”
“Do you have any idea what it is like to be known by the whole world? Do you have any idea how I felt when I read that announcement you made? Do you know how many journalists pile up at my doorstep to ask if it’s true?”
I could’ve gone on, but I had to catch my breath. He used the pause.
“I love you.”
22.08. - 20.11.2010
Replica
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