This rockstar life

4.3 Spectrum introspection

"Ugh, you'd think with so many channels there would be something on. It's just news, wrestling, and reruns of Magnum PI."

Steve looks up from the guitar magazine he's studying, "It is the middle of the night, they probably assume everyone's asleep. Anyway, I quite like Magnum."

Alice flicks back to the channel with the moustachioed detective, then gets out of bed and roams aimlessly around the room, picking things up and putting them down again, opening and closing the trouser press, and sniffing the complimentary toiletries.

"D'you think it's worth unpacking, as we're only here two nights?"

Lighting another cigarette, Steve shrugs, "I usually just hang my jackets up."

She hangs a few random items in the wardrobe before resuming her restless pacing.

"Such a weird nomadic existence. Where even are we?"

"Philadelphia? No... Pittsburgh? Dunno. It must say on the menu or something..." He starts rifling through the detritus on the desk.

Alice stops by the window and peers out at the unprepossessing view of freeway, vast car parks and, in the distance, the floodlit wall of the arena.

"Ah, it is Philadelphia - The Spectrum, apparently."

She spins around with sudden eagerness, "Let's go out and look at it!"

"Now?"

"Now!"

"But I haven't got any trousers..."

"Come ON Clarkie!"

Pausing only to scoop a handful of little bottles from the minibar into the pocket of her robe, Alice pushes him out of the door. She raises her finger to her lips to signal quiet (it is 2am after all) and they tiptoe along the corridor. As they reach the lift, there is a ding and the doors start to open, so Alice darts into the stairwell, dragging Steve behind her. Reaching the lobby, she adopts a casual saunter, as if leaving your hotel in the middle of the night in your pyjamas is completely normal. The desk clerk watches them pass, one eyebrow raised, and Steve gives him a grin and a shrug as they escape via the revolving door.

Obviously it's still dark, but the security lighting enables them to make their way across to the building with just the minimum of tripping up kerbs and getting snagged in hedges.

"Wow, it's huge!"

"Yeah. We did even bigger ones on the last tour though."

"Wow. Just. Wow."

Alice flops down on the grass bank facing the entrance, and Steve sits down beside her. She hands him one of the bottles from the stash in her pocket, and he lights a cigarette.

"I just... wow. Do you ever get used to it?"

"Sort of, if you don't think about it too much. They all start to blur into one another after a while."

Alice lapses into thoughtful silence, staring up at the concrete edifice.

"Why am I here?"

"Don't ask me, you're the one who wanted to come out here!"

"No, I mean why am I here? Me specifically. Why am I here with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You could have anyone you wanted."

Steve rolls his eyes, "a) No, I couldn't, and b) I don't want to anyway. I want you. Fuck knows why, because you're clearly bonkers, but here we are."