Lyla!

Time Flies

2009
I sat in the garden watching the sun go down, Jamie and Elton were playing around on the trampoline. Noel was away on tour with oasis, he was playing in Paris tonight. He was an hour ahead of me so they'd be on stage soon. I was pregnant with our third child, 7 months along so I was quite big now. Jamie was 9 years old now and Elton was 11. Time flies. It felt like yesterday that I was walking down the aisle in the snow to get married. 11 years ago, I couldn't believe it.

The clouds were like great wings of gold and yellow and rose-colour, with a smaller sprinkle in one spot, like a shower of glowing stones from a volcano. It cast a gorgeous orange hue over my face, the sun caught in my hair, causing each individual strand to glisten brilliantly. I soaked up the rays and a gentle breeze tickled the back of my neck, causing the hairs to stand on end. The sound of my children's laughter filled the garden and rolled over the hills that surrounded our country house. I loved my life. I closed my eyes and relaxed however still aware of what was going on around me.

Startling me out of my daydream, my phone rang, interrupting the serenity of the evening.
"Hello?" I asked down the phone, waiting for the identity of the caller.
"Lyla? It's Noel" he said sounding concerned.
"Hey, what's up?" I asked
"Lyla, it's over" he said sounding flustered.
"What's over?" I asked confused
"Oasis. I'm done" he said
"Noel, don't be silly, go out and play for those people, they've been waiting for you" I said trying to reason with him
"No Lyla you don't understand" he said sounding like he was about to cry.
"Noel please calm down, think about what you're doing, are you sure this is what you want" I reasoned
"Yes Lyla, I've done it, I'm coming home, I'm in the airport" he said
"Noel..." I sighed.
"Meet me at heathrow in 2 hours" he said before hanging up.

I couldn't believe it. The end of oasis. I sat staring into the countryside trying to process what Noel had just told me. Liam would be devastated. It was going to be weird not going to award shows with the band anymore, or Noel being on tour, or turning on the telly to see them on top of the pops. What would the world do without their songs. They meant so much to so many people. They were more than just the 5 of them, they were everyone in a way.

The time ticked by, I sent Jamie and Elton to bed and called my friend to babysit them while I went to get Noel from the airport. I could hardly move for my pregnancy, it was a lot more pressure on my bladder this time, probably due to my age, I was getting on for a mother, 36. I got into the car and drove to heathrow, it probably wasn't the best idea driving when I was pregnant but I had to. I got to heathrow for the time that Noel had told me to. I sped to the terminal that he was coming from, the flight from paris hadn't landed yet and was due in 10 minutes. I sat on the cold metal chairs of the airport and sipped my Diet Coke.

I sat nervously waiting for him to walk down the tunnel from the plane after I watched it roll in.

He walked down with his bag slung over his shoulder and sunglasses perched on his nose. He was wearing a pair of jeans with a brown leather jacket and a black Fred perry polo shirt. He walked towards me, his arms outstretched. He collapsed into me and hugged me tightly. His head was rested in the crook of my neck and he wept lightly into the fabric of my clothes.
"Oh Noelie" I whispered into his ear. I wrapped my arms around him best I could. I rubbed his back trying to comfort him.
"Let's go home" I said.

We walked out of the airport hand in hand, leaving Noel's old life behind. And at that moment, we felt free. Noel wasn't chained to oasis and the press weren't anywhere around as he wasn't meant to be in the airport. We felt almost normal, and it was great.

The End