stories from the city; damon albarn

54-

Damon Albarn had arrived to Reading and Leeds with his band early in the day. He was clean for the most part, it was the rest of his group that he found himself worried about. Graham seemed a couple inches deep in white powder, Dave was as well, and Alex was acting worse than usual. Which meant he was being terrible.

They'd managed to make it through a half decent rehearsal before deciding to hang out in their trailer, not really wanting to deal with anything else at the moment. Or having the energy to watch anyone else at the moment. Besides- they were the big shots now, they were the headliners for the night.

It was making Damon outright cocky, the behavior and attitude he was desperately trying to get rid of as of late. It didn't help that he was miles away from his child and partner. That was making him more irritated as well, being pulled away from his family to deal with music and his band.

However, he was pulled out of his thoughts as one Alex James slammed the door to the trailer shut, a menacing grin across his face.

"What? Are the fans bellowing for you?" Damon asks, looking up from his notebook, he'd started drafting an entirely new project; separate from Blur and had wanted to dedicate the afternoon to it. Apparently Alex had other plans.

"No. But I did just see someone we know, or at least you know very well."

He closes his eyes and leans his head back, he knew Justine was here- seeing as Elastica had been playing one of the smaller stages the day before. But he hadn't really mentally prepared for the notion of seeing her. Or having to deal with her.

Actually- the last he'd heard was that she was still stuck on fucking heroin. That it was her substitute for him and everyone else. And that recording for Elastica's next album was extremely difficult. Because of her.

Part of him wanted to go up to her and rub it in her face that he was clean, had a partner and a kid now. Everything she thought and had berated him for not being able to do so. He just wanted to say "Fuck You" to her face, get some closure for their 7 years of nonsense.

"I already know Justine's here. And I don't care Alex." Damon says sharply, not bothering to look up

"That's not who it is. Think harder."

"Donna Matthews?"

"It's not anyone in Elastica."

Damon groans "I don't feel like playing a fucking game Alex. Just get on with it. Please."

"It's Chloe Erlich. She's here with the McGregor cunt." A wicked grin slides up on his face and then says "He looks miserable. Thought that might get your head out of your book."

In fact it had.

He was perfectly satisfied with his relationship with Suzie. He loved Missy. He finally had stability and felt like he could explore other parts of his identity, both musically and with whatever else was out there.

But there had always been something about Chloe Erlich that made him sit up straight, even when he was feeling tired, torn to shreds, or even at peace with himself.

She was just everything he found attractive. And it was an infatuation that had never gone away. But rather he buried it. Because she was married to that absolute cunt, Ewan McGregor. Granted, the man had never done anything to him- except curse him out on a few select occasions, and to be truthful he had deserved it 100%.

"She's here with her husband. How original." He remarks slowly, returning to look at his book, as if he didn't care. "Her family comes every year. It makes sense."

"You didn't let me finish. Apparently they got in a fight last night. Heard Chloe's best friend, Stella McCartney talking to Maxis about it. It was by complete fucking accident too. Didn't even know they were here till I saw them wandering around."