The interview was rushed, I personally did not care. The same old dull questions as usual, nothing changed from the six interviews I already did this week. The questions were phrased in slightly different ways to before.
“Dude, seriously, do you have nothing new to ask me?” I snapped. “No I am not gay, yes I have dated guys as well as girls, and non-binary and trans persons as well. I love the person, not the earthly shell. No, I am not gonna tell you if I am dating someone, as youse will just hound them until we are forced to break up. I refuse to allow anyone else I am dating to be chased across town for a photo op. No, I am not secretly married as yet. No, I have fathered no children that I know of. I am thirty-four years old; I am not over the hill so stop asking me about being an elder person in the music business. If Brian May is still going in his seventies, I am sure I will be fine! No, I am not on some diet, yes, I have lost weight, it is called working my ass off at rehearsals not an eating disorder. Have I missed anything? Or can we actually talk about the music just this once instead of ripping apart my personal life which, for the record is personal, so back the fuck off. I am hired for my lyrics and my voice, that is all the public and the press have a right to. My own life will continue to be my own. Excuse me.”
I slammed out of the interview, watching Shelly roll her eyes, thinking of damage control. Although my outburst had been expected and was justified, I could only imagine how many headlines by tonight would be along the lines of ‘Adrian Sparkes has breakdown on live TV!’.
“Go get her,” Rose said quietly as I passed, pointing to one of the dressing rooms.
I stuck my head in the door, and there my girl was. Laying on the sofa with her feet up, drawing a design. “Where have you been? Why did you leave me? I thought youse were gone for good!” I sat on the edge of the sofa, letting her curl herself around me.
“I’m sorry, I just had an idea and I wanted to see if it would work out for you. You gave me so much, I wanted to work on something for you in return.”
“You didn’t have to do that; I didn’t do what I did to get anything in return.”
“I know that Ade, but this is who I am. I pay my debts,” Lily insisted, handing me an envelope.
I looked at it confused, why would a gift be an envelope? She nodded at me to open it, so confused I did. A memory card and a piece of paper falling into my lap. I opened it up to see lyrics, beautiful amazing mind-blowing lyrics.
The darkness inside
an emptiness that consumes
this hole in my heart that makes me feel
like I have nothing left to lose.
A deep abandoned place
So, lost in the fog
I need your light to show me the way back
I didn’t finish reading the whole song, I knew that this was exactly what I had been looking for on the album. “Where did you get this?”
“I wrote it for you, I know the band’s style, what you tend to sing about. You told me last night what you were looking for as the launch point song, so I tried. I know it kinda sucks, but Shelly helped me do a demo to make it as good as we could. I’m sure you could rewrite it to what you want. Or just throw it away if it’s totally terrible.” Lily’s voice broke on the last word.
“Terrible!” I exploded. “Youse think this is terrible? Ye spent less than eight hours writing and recording this and you think it is terrible? I thought you told me ye didn’t write lyrics! This is the most amazing song, dear God, I need to call the band in right now so we can work on it! I can just hear the guitar riff we need to bring this out. Some haunting Evanescence type shit. Shelly! Get us a spot in the recording studio right now!”
Shelly poked her head around the door. “What do you take me for Adrian? The band is set up and waiting for you.”
“I knew I kept youse around for a reason!” I ignored the rude gesture she did in return. “Wait, demo. Ye sung this too?”
Lily blushed, “Yeah, but it sucks.”
“Shut it, English, I love your vocals.” I snapped the memory card into my phone, letting the track play. “Oh Lord.” I heard her haunting vocals through the song. “Okay, English, I want the song and I am damn well gonna pay you for it, but I have one condition. Youse record it with us, and duet it with me. If we do this, it is our track together.”
“But I’m not good enough.”
“Ye just wrote a song and recorded it faster than most professional artists could. You are more than good enough. I will only take the song if youse duet it on the album.”
“I don’t want to sing it live,” Lily insisted. “I can’t sing in front of the huge crowds you do; I get stage fright.”
“How about we just record it for now, and deal with the rest later?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Thank ye for the gift, darling.” I said hugging her, “Now, let’s go choose the music for it with the band, okay?”
She smiled back at me. “Okay.”
Chapter 14
Adrian’s POV
It was the second time I had found Lily staring at the Liffey.
