When We're Together (Damon Albarn)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Saturday 29th May 1993

"Thank you Manchester, we've been blur and you've been fucking incredible" I shouted, a big smile on my face as I blew a few kisses out to the crowd.

"God bless, get home safely" Damon called out, his smile matching mine as he gave the crowd one last glance before wrapping his arm around my shoulder and walking off the stage with me.

His grip on my shoulders tightened, pulling me closer to him before placing a kiss on top of my head once I was within reach.

"Did I tell you how gorgeous you looked tonight?" He slurred slightly, I laughed loudly, rolling my eyes at his words.

"You're gonna have to try harder than that" I scoffed, wriggling out from his grip and entering the dressing room, leaving him pouting behind me. I knew exactly what he wanted and I wasn't giving in that easily.

I walked over to the rider, picking up the first drink my eyes landed on before catching the towel our tour manager was throwing at me.

"I invited a few guys to the after party for you Eliza" He told me, making me pull the towel away from my face to stare at him.

"Why on earth would you do that?" I asked, laughing lightly in disbelief.

"I'm always inviting girls for the guys so I thought you could do with some company tonight" I shook my head, opening the bottle of beer in my hand before downing the lukewarm liquid.

"Fucking hell" I muttered, throwing my towel back over to him before making my way over to the sofa and sitting down next to Alex.

"You getting laid tonight then darling?" He laughed, I groaned loudly, putting my head in my hands as I shook my head.

This tour had been completely different, it hadn't taken long for the invites back to the after party to be nicknamed 'blurjob passes'. It didn't sit too well with me, but at the same time I was very aware of just how keen all of the girls were to get that faithful invite to the party. I'd never had much interest in having any guys there, sure it was great to get the attention from them all, but sleeping with strangers wasn't really my thing. I enjoyed getting pissed and just people watching and occasionally ending my evening with Damon next to me.

"Just tell them all to fuck off" Graham shouted over at me, I laughed loudly, nodding my head in agreement.

"I'll tell them to fuck off for you" Damon grumbled, I rolled my eyes, gratefully taking the beer from Dave's outstretched hand.

"Of course you will, always my knight in shining armour" I scoffed, the sarcasm dripping from my words. He looked across at me, scowling as he stuck his middle finger up. I laughed, blowing him a kiss before getting up from where I was sat.

"I'm gonna go get changed, suppose I'd better make some effort" i announced as I walked towards the door "Then I'm gonna do a line, can someone find me something please. I'm in need of all the fucking drugs tonight"

I let myself into the tour bus, digging around in my suitcase for something suitable to wear. After quickly getting changed and topping up my makeup, I looked at myself in the mirror and smiled, denim skirt and a white t-shirt which read "Make love, not war", a lyric from one of my favourite erasure songs.

I was only gone for about twenty minutes, but I could already hear that the party had started. The sudden nerves of the expectations of the random guys that were going to be there hit me and I seriously debated calling it a night and heading back to the bus, but I knew that I couldn't let myself do that. Instead, I took a deep breath and headed into the room relaxing instantly as Damon's eyes landed on me, a smile lighting up his face. I watched as the girl on his lap connected her lips to his neck, trying desperately to get his attention, but it was no use, I could feel his eyes following me around the room.