Like an Angel | Simon Le Bon

The Frontman

Birmingham, England

May 1980

"Oh, Neen, he's perfect!" John Taylor, her best friend of seven years, exclaimed over the phone. "You have to meet him! Tonight!"

"What's tonight?" Nina Stevens gave him her full attention finally after she zoned out while he gushed about their new front man for nearly ten minutes.

"We're going to celebrate our official lineup at the Rum Runner." He explained what tonight was. "You in?"

She quickly thought about any plans that were made for this evening, but none came to mind. She nodded into the phone, "Yeah, okay."

"Alright, cool. Invite Zoe, Nick won't expect it." He chuckled about Nina's friend, Zoe.

Nick Rhodes was the third member of their trio and he happened to like Zoe very much.

His chuckling died down and his tone grew monotone, "Oh and uh you can invite Diane too if you want.

Diane was another friend of Nina and had a similar situation like Nick. Diane liked John and he was very aware of that, but he didn't feel the same. He had his eyes on someone else.

Nina said she would and confirmed that the three of them will be there tonight.

"See you tonight, Neen. You're going to love him!" John said with pure excitement and ended the call.

All Nina could do was laugh and gently place the phone back on the receiver.

'You're going to love him!'

The last time Nina had heard John talk so highly of a musician was earlier this year when their now guitarist, Andy Taylor, came all the way down from Newcastle for an audition. All the talk was true, Andy was so versatile and incredible. Maybe the talk about this new frontman was going to live up to it just how it did for Andy.

Nina picked up the phone again with one hand and with the other began dialing the numbers of her girlfriends.

-

"I wonder what he looks like!" Zoe said cheerfully, imagining his hair color, eye color, etc. as they passed through the city of Birmingham by bus.

"No matter that, I wonder what he sounds like." Diane pointed out the most important trait of the new member. "That's crucial."

The three girls nodded in agreement.

"Did John or Nick tell you anything about him?" Zoe asked Nina.

Nina recalled on the phone call from earlier today and only bits came back to her, "John was really excited about this new guy. He kept going on and on about him. I stopped paying attention at one point."

Diane giggled, "Well I guess we'll be meeting him with an open mind."

"Speaking of John," Zoe gave Diane a cheeky smirk. "Did you end up calling him last night, Di?"

Nina furrowed her brows at hearing this information for the first time. When did Ava get his number? Why didn't John tell her? Ava was her friend, but John was her best friend. John had always told her everything, whether it was bigger or small.

"I did." Diane tried to say coolly but Nina knew she wanted to burst. "We talked for about an hour. I'd like to say that I know loads more about him."

"Not more than Neen though!" Zoe teased but Nina gave her a weird look.

"Yeah, well obviously I don't," Diane tried to play it off but you could hear annoyance was present in her tone. "Anyway, want to know what we talked about?"