Soak Up The Sun

Loaded

Sophie felt surprisingly calm and liberated once an overwhelming thought popped into her head. Why did any of this matter if potentially none of this was real? She had no copy editing or interview skills so then why did any of this matter? She could give the most horrendous interview anyone had ever experienced and it wouldn't make a bit of difference.

She exhaled deeply and felt her shoulders come down. None of this was real. It was just a really vivid, long dream. It was the only explanation. Fuck it.

She noticed Liam and Noel standing slightly awkwardly and she realised it was her job to make them comfortable. Or uncomfortable. She smiled. This was going to be fun. They were meant to be notoriously difficult in interviews so she was going to give as good as she got.

"Take a seat. Coffee? Tea?" She poured them water and set them down at the table. .

"Yeah." Said Liam.

Sophie frowned.

"Well which is it coffee or tea?" She asked with a raised brow.

Liam held her gaze smiling slowly.

"Tea."

Noel assented to this also. She phoned reception twirling the phone cord between her fingers mindlessly as she ordered their teas.

Sophie sat down cross legged on the couch opposite and read through the interview questions. Her eyes widened they were...terrible. Well in her opinion anyway. Over the top. Written by an academic. Questions they would soon be sick of answering. In an impetuous moment of complete 'fuck it why not?' She launched the question sheet behind her head and heard them all flutter to the ground behind her.

She smiled feeling the liberation of her situation. There would be no consequences in here. Her angry Godmother person had told her that.

Liam looked at her with a tentative half smile and Noel looked slightly worried. And so he should be she was clearly mental.

"Just trust me when I say those questions Mark left were terrible."

"So what do we do now?" Asked Noel.

Sophie shrugged.

"I'll improvise."

The secretary brought their teas and eyed Sophie with a worried expression as if she were worried for her safety. Sophie watched her go and felt a twinge of regret for the young men in front of her on the cusp of greatness. In the papers growing up she'd always thought them arrogant, entitled, hooligans, obnoxious. But as they sat across from her fidgeting with their mugs they looked so vulnerable. She felt a twinge in her chest.

"Does that bother you?" She asked them quietly.

Noel frowned as he stared into his mug.

"What?"

"That people are scared of you or people from here view you as this...exotic thing to be looked at?"

Noel's eyes locked with hers and he smiled sadly.

"Yeah...a bit. But at least people are looking now aren't they? And hopefully listening."

Sophie nodded and picked up the pen and notepad and the recorder on the desk.  She started recording after struggling to get to grips with the tape controls for a minute. It had been a while.

She could feel their eyes on her and that unnerved her. They knew she was a fraud.

"They're definitely listening. But does it get you down that sometimes your...antics get in the oress more than your music?"