In Another Life (1993-1996)

We Could Be Heros

First thing I knew, I was being violently shaken awake. 

"Ben. I'm not being funny, but piss off." I mumbled, turning my face into my pillow. 

"Eve, wake up and listen to the radio." Ben said excitedly. 

"What?" I asked, completely confused. I sat up in bed and began to take in my surroundings. The sky outside was a gorgeous spring blue and I could hear the busy rumble of London through the glass. Ben had left a cup of tea on the side and I began sipping at it. My radio alarm clock, which was pretty much useless as I could sleep through a hurricane, was blasting out a familiar tune. I nearly dropped the tea all over me.

"Ben!" I shouted.

"I know!" He replied from the next floor.

"Columbia's on the radio! Noel's on the radio! Oh my god, Liam sounds fantastic! And the DJ is really rating him. This is great!" I jumped out of bed and ran to the phone, which I had on my wall near my wardrobe. I punched in Lizzie's number and waited for her to pick up.

"What?" She replied, croaky from being woken up.

"Turn on the radio." I said. I heard her sigh and then Columbia bursting out down the phone.

"Is that-?"

"It’s Noel." I said. This was it. The beginning of Oasis's fame. Liz and I began talking down the phone; mainly about when we would be on the radio (there was talk of Shifting Sights getting on the waves.) McGee had promised we would follow Oasis soon, all the way to stardom. I really hoped that was true. If both Noel and Benedict were going to make it, I didn’t want to be over shadowed. Liz was sure there was a gap in the market for us to fill and I hoped she was right. 

Soon the conversation changed to Liz and Arthur. The rekindling of their relationship meant that they were well and truly back in the honeymoon phase.

"We're going to Brighton and leaving Arthur's cousin in charge of the restaurant. It'll be great. A long weekend down the beach." Liz said dreamily. I couldn't lie, I was jealous. I was stuck at college with no holiday to look forward to. Due to the large amount of time I had already taken off for touring, the only gigs that would be out of London had to be in the summer. I reassured Liz that I would get in too much trouble during her brief absence. 

The Watson's were all packed to go and were about to pull out of their drive when Liz finally dropped a bomb shell so typical of her. 

"Oh yeah, Eve I might have booked you into a local drama group."

"What?" 

"Well, I mean, Ben, Noel, Arthur and I are your only friends. You’re a charming lass. Get said, dismissing any further arguments. 

"I have Zack and Jason."

"They don’t count." She said, the car engine switched on and she was gone. 

And that was how I found myself in the town hall, sitting in a room of about 20 people, age ranging from 15 to 65 from the look of it. The woman running the class reminded me of a children’s doctor. She was wearing a loud jumper, patterned trousers and a flowery shirt; introducing herself as Audrey. She seemed good enough at acting, but mainly treated the class as a confidence lesson, involving scary amounts of trust exercises and self-discovery.

"Alone as well?" A voice came from next to me as we were paired off and remained standing solo. Or so I had thought. Next to me was a tall dark haired woman of about 20, staring me out with her sea blue eyes. There was an air of casual confidence in the way she stood and spoke. She smiled at me. It was strange getting introduced and getting to know one another from scratch. I hadn’t done it in such a long time, and then it had always been the other person who guided the conversation. But not in this case. This new comer stood next to me, looking out.

"So," I said nervously. "What's your name?"

"Annie." She said.

"Cool, I'm Eve." I said. The next trust exercise was the old 'fall back into your partners arms'. Annie hardly gave me a chance to think before collapsing backwards into my arms. I thought fast and just managed to catch her. 

It was my turn. I had never been very good at this kind of thing. I closed my eyes and imagined it was Lizzie instead of some complete stranger, but that didn’t help. I knew that if Lizzie was the one catching me, I would find myself sprawled on the floor with her laughing face floating above me. I decided instead to imagine it was Ben. I took a deep breath, extended my arms outward and let myself fall. It soon began feeling like I was too far backwards and I had the urge to stand straight.

Finally, I felt a solid form instead of air and I was resting in Annie’s arms. I let out a sigh of relief. I stood up properly and faced her. She cracked a smile and I began laughing. She laughed too and I didn’t think twice before inviting her to join me for a cup of tea after the class. Liz had won; I had made a new friend.

I didn’t know where else to go, so I went to Lizzie's. It was weird without Liz at the counter. A sullen part time waitress came over and took out orders.

"So, Annie, what do you do?" I asked, sipping at my tea. 

"Little bits here and there. I work part time at Blockbuster at the moment. I'd quite like to be an actress so I do every acting class I can find around London, so you know. I'm hoping I get somewhere with it." She said.

"My boyfriend is thinking about taking up acting." I said, smiling.

"Cool. Well, you'll have to let me know if he gets anywhere." She said. It sounded like she didn’t guarantee it. Maybe it was because of her lack of luck.

"Have you done any plays anywhere?" I asked. Annie looked up. She nodded. "Where?"

"Down in Camden." She said.

"Any soon?"

"Yeah, well next month." She said.

"Could I come and see?" I wanted to see if she was any good before suggesting my idea. Evelyn and the Nights were filming a small music video to accompany Shifting Sights. The single was scheduled for release in June. I knew Oasis would be way on the way to legendary by then and we were predicted some success.

"Sure." She scribbled down a time and place.

After about 2 hours of conversation, we decided to go our separate ways with plans of a coffee together soon. 

I went home and called Lizzie to inform her that her scheme had worked.

Sorry if it was a bit crap. Love you guys.