Last song

Two

Pov Simon
I'm putting on my shirt for the show when Alejandro walks in. He goes to the freezer, takes out a beer and collapses onto the sofa. I go to the mirror and fix my hair.

"Why did you look at the Crown Prince so strangely before?" he asks directly. I shrug my shoulders. "He's just the crown prince" I go to him, grab a bottle of water and also fall onto the sofa.

"Simon Eriksson. I'm starting to know you well enough to know that that's not a look you'd normally give a crown prince. So, what's going on?" "Okay, good" I say annoyed. "I know him. What now?" I take a big sip of water.

"Do you just know him? Or do you know him?" I give him a death stare. "You don’t have to look at me like that" he complains. "You won’t learn any other way" I grin. "You’re stupid" he punches me lightly in the upper arm. "I'm not!" I say indignantly.

"But seriously. Why do you know him?" should I really tell him? He'll find out one way or another, sooner or later. "We went to the same school" "Which one?" "The Hillerska boarding school" he chokes on his beer, which in turn causes me to almost choke too.

"Simon, I know you don't like to talk about it, but could it be that he was the one in the video?" he asks after coughing a few times. I hesitate, but then nod. "Oh my God" he stares at the freezer.

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" "He's Crown Prince?!" "Oh, that’s right, it’s actually logical" he laughs briefly. "You just had something going on with the Crown Prince" I stand up again. "So now you know, but please don't make a big fuss about it, okay?" he nods.

"Do you have everything?" "Yes" we are still standing in the middle of our tent, but now we urgently need to get to the stage because we are already a little late. "Well then. Go!"

As we walk along the relatively short path, Alejandro asks me alot of things about Wille. He does it in such a way that the others don't notice, but it still annoys me.

When we get to the stage, Mom is standing there. "Hey" I give her a quick hug. "Hey" she gives me a smack on the cheek. "Good luck" "Thank you"

I put my in-ears in my ears with a smile. Shortly afterwards I have to go on stage. While I'm still walking out, I see Wille and his girlfriend. They're a bit off to the side with a few others because they need bodyguards and stuff.

Pov Wilhelm
I try not to look at Simon if possible, I don't know why. Probably to avoid having another nervous breakdown or something, I don't know.

After three or four songs, I really look at him for the first time. He's saying something, but I can't understand it because I'm too focused on looking at his outfit. It suits him. He looks really good.

While I'm wondering whether he'll go around like that, the first notes of the next song sound. I recognize it straight away.

It Takes A Fool To Remain Sane.

It hurts. Does he do that extra? Or is that just a coincidence? He glances over at us a few times while singing. And it hurts every time. I didn't want to lose him back then. And certainly not the way it happened.

Suddenly everything gets louder.
The music, Simon, all the people screaming, everything.

My head is pounding and I don't even notice how I'm squeezing Lia's hand tighter and tighter. "Are you okay?" she looks at me worried. "I have to leave for a moment" I reply and walk away. Oskar follows me, but right now I don't care.

In the backstage area I look for a place where there is no one and slowly sit down. For the next few minutes I sit there with my back against a wall. Oskar is standing a few meters away and looks at me a little worried.

"Can I help you in any way?" he looks at me questioningly. I shake my head. This is exactly what happens at almost every meeting or event where there are a lot of people, I feel bad, I walk away from the people a bit, he asks me if he can do something and I always say no, because that's it.

It's just like that and slowly it's really no longer pleasant. Lia tried to calm me down once, but that didn't help at all.

A few people walk past me, but I ignore them and close my eyes because that sometimes helps me calm down, plus it's less bright and my headache goes away quicker. After a few more minutes I feel like someone is staring at me. I slowly open my eyes. Simon is standing in front of me.

He looks at me thoughtfully. I have no idea what he's up to. He clears his throat. "Hi" "Hi" is all I can say, but he doesn't seem to expect anything more.

He puts his water bottle in my hand and sits next to me on the grass. I look at him questioningly. He nods. I take a sip from his bottle. Wordless communication still works.

We sit next to each other for a while. Suddenly I notice that Simon has put his arm around me. It feels good. And somehow so familiar, despite the fact that we haven't seen each other for so long.

"Better?" I nod. "Thanks" "No problem" he smiles. After a short silence he asks: "What was actually going on?" "I have no idea" I stop briefly. "It was just too much" "What do you mean?" he looks at me questioningly.

"Too loud, too hot, too many people, you, too much." "I see" he nods and stares at me wordlessly for a few seconds. "How are you in general?" I hesitate. "Could definitelybe better" "So not really good?" "Yes" short silence.

"Why didn't you get in touch back then?" Simon doesn't look at me, as if he couldn't because it hurts too much.