For Life

Part 23

"They're here" Dec sobbed into Ant's chest,as he rocked himself to and fro "they're here"

"What are you talking about?" Ant asked confused "who's here?"

"Those bastards" Dec wept "they're there in the front row,watching me,not taking their eyes off me,singing my songs...they're my songs,not theirs"

"Dec,you're not making any sense" Ant stated confused "look at me"

He pulled Dec up,so that he was in the sitting position.

"Now deep breaths ok?" Ant smiled "in through your nose,out through your mouth"

Dec nodded sadly and followed Ant's lead and he immediately started to feel a little bit calmer.

"Now,do you want to tell me what's going on?" Ant asked gently "who is here?is it record producers?other singers?why are you so worried about whoever it is singing your songs?that's what people do at concerts right?"

"DEC?" both of them were startled by a hard thumping on the door.

"What the hell are you doing in there?" Max,Dec's guitarist shouted through the closed door "we've still got the encore to do,the crowd are getting impatient...come on,let's go"

Dec looked at Ant helplessly.

"Look" Ant said,while placing a comforting arm around Dec's shoulder "I don't know what's going on here,but just go and get the encore done,it's only two more songs right?then we can talk properly,listen to that crowd,they want you back out there"

They both listened to the chants of 'DECLAN,DECLAN,DECLAN' that were coming from the packed auditorium.

"I don't think I can" Dec replied.

"Come on" Ant encouraged "I'll come with you"

He took Dec's hand and led him back towards the stage where someone thrust a microphone into his hand.

"Two songs" Ant reminded Dec and stroked his cheek.

Dec nodded and ran back out onto the stage to deafening applause.

Ever the professional,Dec continued to give an amazing performance and no one except Ant had any idea that anything was wrong.

Ant didn't take his eyes off of Dec for a few minutes,completely baffled by what the problem was,but as Dec and his band took their bows,Ant scanned the front row,looking for who might be the source of Dec's upset.

But of course nothing or no one looked out of the ordinary to Ant,it was just a lot of people enjoying themselves,but he was glad when the concert was over so he could get to the bottom of this.

"So,are you going to tell me what's going on?" Ant asked as they returned to the dressing room "What the hell has got you in this state?or who?"

"I need a shower" Dec stated.

Ant knew that taking a shower was always the first thing Dec liked to do when he came off stage,which Ant totally understood as he sweated like a pig whenever he was performing.

"Go on then" Ant sighed "but afterwards,you tell me what this is all about"

"Back in a few minutes" Dec announced.

Ant was worried,really worried.

He'd never seen Dec behave like this at a concert before.

Usually he was on cloud nine and buzzing for ages afterwards.

Ant smiled when Dec reappeared ten minutes later.

"Better baby?" Ant asked softly and patted the space on the sofa next to him.