shane's story
shane's story - chapter three
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN? HUH?" Louis was referring to the pictures and news in the various papers this morning. "Would you stop shouting?" Shane asked patiently. Sometimes Louis’ anger reminded him mostly of a child that didn’t get his own way. "I’LL SHOUT THE HELL ALL I DAMN WELL LIKE!!!" Louis shouted even louder and slammed the last newspaper on his desk. Shane shook his head. He didn’t want to start arguing. "Ronan tried to." "RONAN HAD NO RIGHT TO GIVE YOU THE GO ON THIS!!!"
"How did it go?" Bryan was waiting outside the building. He could see on Shane’s face that it wasn’t exactly one of his best days. Shane closed his eyes for a second and drew a deep breath. "Like hell." He leaned up against the wall. "I am not going home to tell Nana about his!" Bryan looked worried. "Is it that bad?" Shane shrugged. "He kept going and going and we started arguing big time, and when I threatened to leave the band, he kicked me out!" Bryan went pale. "OF THE BAND???" he yelled shocked. "No, of his office, Bryan!" Shane shook his head. "Honestly, Bry, right now I don’t know if I’m in Westlife or not." He looked at Bryan. "He can’t fire you. You’re too successful for him. What are you gonna do?" Shane started walking towards his car. "I’m gonna talk to Ronan, and tomorrow I’ll call Louis and ask if I’m still in or not."
Ronan went really angry. He had spoken to Louis last night, and he had not got the feeling that Louis was gonna freak, so he felt backstabbed. Shane stayed and talked to Ronan for about an hour, then he went on to visit his parents. It was a slightly long drive, but he felt restless. Nana was at work, Bryan with Nicky somewhere and Kian and Mark were in London on a one-day Christmas shopping. Ronan wouldn't call until around dinnertime to let him know what he found out with Louis.
"For crying out loud, Louis, they are not teenagers any longer. Shane is 23.no wonder he wants to be able to show is girlfriend. you accepted Georgina as long as she didn’t hang around all the time." Ronan reached into his pocket and pulled out his copy of the Westlife contract. "There are no words about not having girlfriends," he said and waved the papers before he put them down on the table in front of Louis. "So basically, Louis, we’ve held the boys back from a natural step of their growing up, without having any legal right to do so!" Ronan felt ashamed about that. He had never really thought of all that. "Read the contract," he said to Louis, and sat down on a chair.
Louis was amazingly quiet today. He knew he had been hard on Shane this morning, but he had been so angry; felt backstabbed. He had been doing a lot of thinking since this morning and he had sort of realised that he had to cut some slack on the boys. They were grown-ups now, and Ronan was right; their success was strong enough to handle official girlfriends, engagements etc. And looking back at Boyzone; the fact that Ro married when he was 21, became dad when he was 22 and Stephen came out gay, had not harmed the band in any way. Westlife would survive the same.
"Okay!" Louis put the contract down. "Westlife are big and successive. Let’s draw up a new contract where we erase those girlfriend and baby clauses!" Ronan rose his eyebrows. "Are you serious?" It sounded like a joke. "I’m serious, Ro. Their success can bear it!"
Shane was in the stable giving his pony a brush over after a long ride, when his mobile phone rang. His heart gave an extra hard jump just then.
"Yeah, it’s Shane!" "Shane, it’s Nana. There’s a message on the answering machine from Louis, you’ve gotta go for a meeting tomorrow morning at 9. What happened there today? Where are you anyway?" "I’m at my parents’. I've just been riding." "Oh Shane, what’s wrong?" Nana picked up right away that something was not right.
Shane hesitated a few seconds, then he said, "I’ll be home in a little while, sweetie. Then I’ll tell you, okay?" "You make me nervous, Shane." Nana’s heart started beating much faster. "Don’t be nervous, Nana. It’s not that bad. I just had a bad day that’s all. How come you’re home now?"
Nana laughed a little. "I was sick all morning at work and they ended up sending me home." Shane chuckled a bit. "Are you feeling better now?" "No, Shane, obviously not as I was sent home!" Dang!! Stupid question!! "I’ll be home in a while, Nana, okay? I love you."
Shane felt a bit better after having spoken to Nana. Now he knew she was home, he wanted to go home to her right away.
‘Home’ was Shane’s flat. Last night they had spent in her flat, but they were at his place the most, so that was ‘home’ to both of them. They had agreed to let her flat go and them move her completely into his. So in a short time it would be ‘theirs’ instead of ‘his’ flat. Shane smiled. It would be so good to be together all the time like that.
"I’m going home, mom. Nana just called, she’s not too well, she was sent home from work." Shane only popped his head through the kitchen window. Mae was baking Christmas cookies so all the windows were open. "Oh the poor girl. Is she sick or is it morning sickness?" Shane smiled. "Morning sickness!"
Mae grabbed a huge bag of hazelnuts and gave him. "Give that sweet girl these. They are good for morning sickness and nausea. I ate them all the time with you!" Shane took them and chuckled. "Really? Well, can you manage without?" He referred to her baking. Mae nodded. "For you guys I can manage without anything! I’ve got another bag amongst the Christmas goodies."
Nana sat cuddled up in an armchair with a blanket around her. She had been at her doctor to tell her hat she had decided to keep the baby, and she had got some folders and a little book that told about what to expect for the next 8 months. It was very captivating, but also scary. She nearly had a chock when the door opened and Shane came home.
"Hello, how are you feeling?" Shane rushed in to hug her and kiss her. "What are you reading?" He took a look at the cover. "Pregnancy and what to expect," he read. Then he looked smiling at her and kissed her again. Then he gave her the bag of nuts. "Mom says it helps on morning sickness and nausea."
Nana looked funny at him. "What? Are you serious?" She took the bag and didn’t know what to believe. Shane nodded. He took the bag and her book and put them on the table, then he cuddled up to her as close as he could.
"What’s the business with Louis?" she asked. It had worried her quite a lot. Shane told her about this morning’s event, but she took it pretty calm. Her common sense told her that with the success Westlife had, Louis wouldn’t let Shane leave the band and he wouldn’t fire him either. "So, do you think he’ll be more happy tomorrow?" she asked and cuddled his hair.
"I have no idea. He’s just being Louis, I guess. Anyway, if he throws me out I’ll start on my own. At least try to. I’d prefer to be in Westlife though."
