Life without you * English story *

Chapter 4

Just a small-town boy and girl

Living in a crazy worldTrying to figure out what is and isn't true

Taylor Swift – I'm only Me when I'm with you

It is now half past nine when many people from the crew are already gone and only Danny, Katie, and I and the guys from Wild Things who are sitting at a table a little further up are left. All three of us have a glass of wine in front of us. I now think that tomorrow the tour will finally start again, the European tour. I'm really looking forward to it. To play in Europe and especially to finish in the Netherlands, my native country. I hope I also have the chance to go to Groningen to see my parents again. I regularly speak to my parents over the phone or FaceTime. But seeing and speaking in real life is the best. Then I see from the corner of my left eye that the four boys are standing up. I see three boys leaving the room and one boy standing there. Then he turns around and walks over to our table. "Hi can I come and sit with you? " he asks us. "Yes of course man come on," Danny says before I can say anything and points to an empty chair that is at another table. 'Thank you'. He grabs the chair and slides it to our table. "You're a Wild Things person? " I ask him. He nods. 'yes that's right I'm the drummer ' He laughs. ' And your name.....? Katie looks at him questioningly. "Oh, sorry, I didn't say it, but I'm Glen," he introduces himself. I take a sip of my wine and set the glass down on the table. 'Welcome Glen, I'm Danny and this is Katie ' Danny points to Katie sitting next to me. "And Liz you know," he quickly adds. Glen laughs. 'Of course thanks to you we are here ' . Glen looks at me. "No thanks," I reply back. Then suddenly Katie and Danny get up at the same time. I look at them in surprise. "Where are you going? " I look at them in amazement. "To my hotel room, I'm tired" Katie yawns. I stare at her half-full glass of wine. "What about your wine? I point to her glass. "Oh, I'll take that one" Katie grabs her glass and beckons Danny.
He nods. 'See you tomorrow '. And away are Katie and Danny and I'm sitting here with Glen at a big table.

Glen orders a cup of tea and I'm still sitting at my glass of wine which is now almost empty. Glen starts talking to himself. He talks about his band Wild Things. And how it all started a year ago. Their dream is to become even better known in Europe and hopefully also outside Europe. "Well then at least this is a good step," I say to Glen. Glen nods. 'Sure'. The waiter comes with a cup of tea for Glen. 
Tea for you? " I ask him in surprise. Glen chuckles. 'Yes that's right, I don't drink alcohol because of an accident a few years ago'. The word accident starts to put my brain back to work.

It's dark. I hear all kinds of things. But I wanted to say something but I couldn't. My lips remained tightly together. Where is Max? I feel shoots of pain in my neck and especially in my head. What happened? I try to open my eyes but it feels like it's two very heavy hatches that are difficult to open.

"Liz? ' suddenly I startle up and look at Glen. He looks at me with his big blue eyes, "Did you hear what I said? " he laughs. 'Sorry I was somewhere else ' I reply back. "A jet lag? " he guesses. 'Yes, that's right' I readily admit. I don't want to say I was thinking about the accident 5 years ago. "Oh, maybe we should stop? " Glen then says. "Nope... Stay! I mean it's okay ' I say quickly. Then I take my last sip of wine and set the empty glass down on the table in front of me. "Really? I mean... "Glen starts and he looks at me. 'Yes, really, but tell me more or do I have to tell you something about myself? " I laugh. Glen nods. For the rest of the evening, I tell you a bit about myself. What I like to do outside the spotlight, where I live, and whether I exercise.

It's almost 11 o'clock when Glen and I say goodbye to each other and I walk to my hotel room. When I go up in the elevator I think about the conversation with Glen. And what a sweet boy Glen is. When I hear another ping, I'm on my floor. Once in bed, I can't sleep. I'm still wide awake. There are too many things I have to think about right now. One of them is Max. Why it's playing out like this again, the loss of Max? I turn around in bed. And I pick up my phone. I open the photos and scroll all the way to the top. To pictures of me and Max. Smiling selfies at home, or holiday snaps together in Italy and in Spain. How I miss him! And how I want so badly to show him what I'm doing now. Tears spring to my eyes again. And there's another cry. With my phone, I turn on my stomach and fall face down into the pillow. Tears flow from my eyes.