Pictures Of You

Ceremony

Maggie bit her lip and sighed in resignation as she read over Noel's essay/application for the third time. He was into music. More than that he was passionate about it. She didn't agree with most of it but they did share a few artists in common. She thought the Jam were boring as fuck but the way he expressed his love for them...it was clear that he was not only knowledgeable but that it was in his soul. Fuck. Well she didn't really have an excuse for him not to get the job. Sifter would take him no questions asked anyway.

Noel...made her feel strange. He'd been decent to her more decent than lots of other people would be. He was a stranger yet he hadn't shouted abuse at her in the street. He hadn't been a cunt like Ben, in fact he'd stepped in and stood up for her. But...there was something about him she couldn't get a read on. A barrier. It scared her a bit. She'd at first thought he was a clone but she suddenly realised Noel was probably one of the most strange and unusual people she'd ever encountered. What was he hiding? Why? Why did she care? Ugh. She was running late she had no time for this.

Her head was clouded and muddled like cheap cider. She'd had too much to drink last night and too much had happened with Ben. With Noel. The adrenaline in her system meant She'd slept poorly. She stared into her black coffee cup in the shop as Burnage crawled out of their hungover beds around her.

Noel's intense blue eyes crossed her mind again. They had flickered with anger and determination as he'd held Ben's gaze. Although physically smaller than Ben his gaze alone could have slain an army of men. An inner fire of bottled up and restrained hatred and rage... about what she didn't know. But it scared her. Truly it did.

"Rough night?" Asked Mr Sifter giving her a fatherly look of soft disapproval.

She nodded.

"In more ways than one. A lad came in about the job yesterday...handed in a 5 page essay..."

She said showing him the pages.

Mr Sifter's eyes popped.

"He's got the job."

Maggie nodded with a resigned sigh.

"Yeah."

"Anyone I know?"

"You know that kid that comes in all the time Liam? His older brother."

Sifter hesitated then nodded.

"Noel Gallagher."

Maggie's eyes lit up.

"You know him? What's his story?"

Sifter's lips quirked up in amusement.

"Think he'd rather tell you that himself. He used to come in all the time when he was his brother's age. Not seen him in a long while. I'm glad...maybe this'll settle him down a bit. Heard he's in The Haçienda a lot. Doing things...that young people do...well most of them anyway."
He said giving her a pointed look.

Maggie felt her face heat slightly. The Haçienda. She'd never been. Heard it was all pills and rave music. The odd live show had interested her but she'd been too afraid to enter into the industrial construction site of a nightclub. A yellow and black lined hellscape. Danger. Keep Out it warned.

She imagined Noel his hair wet from the ecstasy sweat, curling around the back of his neck and ears. His pupils blown so that only a ring of the beautiful blue irises remained. Flushed cheeks. Soft, parted lips moist with alcohol, saliva and lip gloss from some girl he'd just finished kissing. Maggie's heart pounded and she pushed the image from her head. What was this?

"Trouble then?" She asked.

Sifter hesitated then shook his head again.

"His mam's a good woman. Brought them up right. As best as she could. Liam was young when they came here. When she left their dad. Or...escaped. Hear things around here that he was a bad man. A bad husband. And a bad father. But you know what gossip in this place is like."