A long lane at night

1.24. VENUE

** BRIAN **

CARL AND ALLAN HAD IT RIGHT IN THE END. Charlie did not try much to do anything when he got word of my returning to the industry. Sure, there was this one tabloid that ran an article about how I used him to get famous, then left him with nothing, but I didn't pay it much mind. Although the paper carried a lengthy interview with Charlie and it was sadly a rather famous publication, most people knew better than to blindly trust everything they had to say. And if they did ... well, I wasn't going round the globe trying to sell concert tickets anyway, so there wasn't much of a worry.

The months started to pass by in a flash and soon before long we were rushing arrangements for our wedding. Allan was beyond himself with joy planning our day and I eventually let him take over the whole thing. Well, almost whole. I was still looking for a venue.

I had this crystal-clear picture in my mind every time I thought about my wedding to Allan, but none of the places I saw seemed right. I was running out of ideas to find what I needed and I was starting to feel like I would have to create a venue out of thin air and that was an insane thought.

Or was it?

'Hey, Carl! How are you, my friend?' I called the only person I could when I needed something done beyond my powers. We were reaching the end of May now and Allan was almost flying at my neck for still not having found the place. 'Yeah, everything is great here, too. Listen. Do you remember that Christmas music video I did when I was fourteen? Do you by any chance happen to know who directed it? Sure. I can wait. Do you think I can contact him somehow, though? Oh, his phone number would be great. Thanks, Carl. You were a saviour again. Take care.'

I didn't have to wait as long as I thought I would. About two days later, Carl called me back and he already had the man I needed, Myke-T, on hold, ready to talk to me.

'Hello, Myke-T! This is Brian Leech. I don't know if you'll remember me, but—'

'Of course I remember you!' He cut me. 'You're the youngest and most talented pianist who got hired to play at a video I directed a long time ago!'

He honestly didn't sound as if he remembered me at all. If anything, Carl probably was the one who had filled him in with these shallow details. But, if I have learnt anything in life, it's that the best way to get a director on your good sides is to inflate their egos as much as you can without sounding too obvious. And right now, I needed Myke-T.

'Thank you!' I said through a phony happy voice, the best one for this purpose. 'It was such a great honour to have been invited to participate in one of your projects. Even more so to have you remember me!'

'Nah, kid. It's all right. You're good. Tell me. What can I do for you?'

Bingo.

'I was wondering if you would be interested in directing a video of mine. I'm putting an album together and I think you're the best person to capture the vibe of the song. I won't ask much, creatively speaking, only for most of it to be set in an open field with lots of trees. And it has to look timeless. And real trees, by the way. I don't want to have a CGI set. All of the other aspects of the video will be entirely your artistic creation. What do you say?'

'That sounds promising. And when are you planning to shoot this video?'

'I was thinking the final week of September, when there are enough leaves on the ground, but the trees still look good.'

'Oh, I can already see something in my mind. Can you send me a demo and I'll start working on it and looking for the right place? I think I already really do have something on my mind!'

'That's awesome, Myke-T! I knew your talents would be the central piece to make everything beautiful! We'll surely have a hit in our hands!'

We hung up and I rummaged through my files to send him an early demo of the song I had written for Allan. If everything happened according to plan, Myke-T would do all the work of finding the right venue, and he and I both would make some profit from the video. All I had to do was book the place for a few days longer. Since Allan wasn't supposed to know about this until it was the time was right, I had Carl go behind our management company and close the deal with Myke-T on the side.

Myke-T wasn't so lucky at first, though. Within the next week, he showed me two options I had actually already seen and refused before. I was starting to think the whole thing had been a waste of time and resources when Myke-T finally texted me three pictures that looked like they had been taken from my dreams.

It was a gorgeous large pond walled by three mounds on the opposite side and a large patch of flat land covered by little rocks where the photographer was standing. It was flanked by gorgeous and bushy trees, but they were spaced enough to still allow for a lot of sunlight.

Along with the pictures, there was a very short message written by Myke-T:

Picture the piano on the edge of the rocks, reflected on the surface of the water. The possibilities of takes from among the trees, through the mounds or even beneath the water are countless.

I had to constantly remind myself that Myke-T had no clue of my true intentions with the place. Maybe that was a good time to change that. Allan was out, so the coast was clear.

'Hello, Myke-T!' I said through a smile as soon as he picked up the phone. 'I love the place, man! It's exactly what I've been looking for! It's so perfect that it might even fit more than one purpose.'

I told him about my wedding plans and how the song I had sent him had actually been written for my fiancé. Obviously, I didn't mention that the wedding was the reason I had contacted him.

'Brian, this is perfect! We can actually have scenes from your wedding on the video!'

Oh God. What have I done?

'Listen, Myke-T. The idea of a wedding is great, but can we have a fake one for the video, though?'

'Sure. Sure. That's actually even more advisable, it keeps your life more private. But listen, since you're having the wedding one day after our shoot, we can stay a day longer and record the wedding for you.'

'Oh my!' That was actually a very sweet surprise. 'Thanks, Myke-T. I'm sure this will be the first wedding video people will actually want to watch, being made by someone as talented as you. Now tell me. Which agency must we contact for booking?'

'The City Council, actually. It's a public area upstate.'

Of course! That's why I didn't find it! I was looking for commercial venues. That gave me a few more ideas.

I heard the ding of the lift announcing Allan's arrival shortly after ending the call with Carl to set all the financial details. 'Are you sure about it, kid?' He had asked half-shocked, half-amused. 'All right then. Let's see what we can do about it.'

The door opened and I was there, ready to welcome my fiancé and help him with the grocer's bags.

'I got that roasted chicken with cauliflowers you like,' he said, handing me the bags after I kissed him.

'Oh! Great! So that's two of us with a nice surprise. I finally got us the venue!'

Allan came to me beaming and hugged me so tight he actually lifted me off the floor a little. I showed him the photos and I saw his eyes glistening.

I was happy to see how perfect the place promised to be.