You'll Never Stand Alone
Chapter 11
‘Two weeks down and one to go… jeez can time go any slower?’ It
was 7pm and Becky was still at work. She had been for the last 10
hours now, but her ‘time-goes-faster-and-you-keep-your-mind-off-
things-if-you-keep-yourself-occupied’ plan didn’t work. The last two
weeks had felt like months. She missed Nicky so much, it wasn’t
enough just talking to him every day, she wanted to feel him close,
to be able to touch and kiss him. But that’s what being the girlfriend
of a pop star is all about, isn’t it? Loads of waiting and longing and
missing… She now and again found herself wondering if it was all
worth it, but quickly pushed that thought aside. Of course it was
worth it! She was really in love with Nicky and he loved her, she knew he did.
Becky got up from her desk and started walking towards the exit.
Since she was the only one left in the building she had to lock the
doors and activate the alarm. She always got a bit nervous when
she was about to press the alarm code, cos once she accidentally
hit the wrong button, causing the alarm to go off. It’s an
understatement to say that she got a bit embarrassed when she
had to explain for the police what had happened. But she didn’t
have had to worry this time, cos everything went just like it was
supposed to and since Becky now only had 20 seconds to go out
she quickly took her jacket and went out into the streets of western London.
Just as she got to her apartment her phone signalled that now very
familiar ‘you have received a text message’ signal. It was of course
from Nicky and it said: “I just wanted 2 tell u that I luv u and miss u
like crazy! I can’t wait ‘til I get home so I can take u in my arms and
kiss u :o) Take care babe! Luv, Nix” Becky smiled at her mobile and
the text message. That was like the tenth message Nicky had sent
her, just today. And they were all very similar to this one. Not that
she complained or anything, she loved getting them, she just didn’t
understand what she’d done to deserve such love. She opened her
front door and stepped inside. Becky had almost forgotten how her
own apartment looked like, that’s how much time she’d spent at her
work lately! She went to the living room and turned on the radio, just
like so many other people her age she got crazy if she didn’t had
any music on and turning on the radio was always the first thing
she did when she got home. Earlier at work she had decided to
have a nice quiet evening at home, just listening to music, watching
TV, and open up a bottle of her favourite white wine. And so she
did; she went out into the kitchen and got the wine and a glass and
then sank down into her favourite armchair and just stretched and
relaxed. The radio continued playing all the latest hits, but then
suddenly the DJ decided to play a song with Mariah Carey and
Boyz II Men, the song was of course ‘One Sweet Day’. Becky
listened to the lyrics very carefully, not that she really had to, she
did know the song by heart, and she just let the tears fall, but
strange as it may sound, they were tears of happiness... “And I
know you’re shining down on me from heaven… And I know
eventually we’ll be together, one sweet day…” This song always
brought back loads of memories from her late family and it gave her
hope. Hope that she one-day would be reunited with her parents
and her brother. And of course they were at this very moment
watching over her.
The tears kept falling and falling and by the end of the song she felt
that awkward emptiness you usually feel after a good cry. She
turned on the TV but quickly zapped through the channels; either
they showed News or some weird Nature shows about the very
interesting life of a penguin or an anteater. ‘Damn, I can’t believe I
forgot to tape that anteater documentary!’ she thought sarcastically
and smiled. And even though there were just so many interesting
shows on the TV she turned it of. Becky took the glass of wine that
was standing on the table in front of her, leaned back and just
enjoyed the music. Suddenly a very familiar voice came through the
speakers: “Everybody’s looking for that something…” She smiled to
herself and remembered Nicky’s words to her two weeks ago:
“Every time you hear it, you can pretend that I wrote it for you, cos
every single word in that song explains the way I feel about you.”
This was their song. ‘Ring, ring’
She was awakened from her thoughts by the sound of the doorbell.
‘I wonder who that could be at this hour.’ Becky slowly went to the
door, she was a bit suspicious cos she didn’t expect anyone and
besides she really didn’t have that many friends except the Westlife
lads and Rachel. But the lads were in Australia and Rachel and her
husband was on vacation in Spain. That’s when it hit her; ‘Oh my
God, James…’ that was really the only explanation, wasn’t it?
Becky usually had this intuition about when things were about to
happen, and now she felt that James was gonna make his ‘move’.
First she didn’t want to open, but then she reconsidered. ‘If this
nightmare is ever gonna stop, I have to face it, don’t I?’ So she
turned to the door again, took a deep breath and slowly pressed the handle.