The Dying Light

2

The sun was shining through the windows. I furrowed my eyebrows before half-opening my eyes. I rubbed my face and grabbed my phone from the nightstand. It was nine in the morning and I already had fifty text messages from my band Whatsapp's group urging me to go to tonight's party, which I had already declined about a hundred times before.

In silence, I stood up and made myself a coffee before getting ready to go to the studio. I literally had zero ideas that were worthy enough to keep on developing, but at least I could leave my house for a couple of hours. Right after sitting down in the ugliest couch of the room I called my home for a few months, another notification echoed in my pocket. 

"Great" I mumbled after seeing that my instagram alerted me that Emily had posted another picture. Against all odds, I decided to click the notification just to know how she was doing.

Her hair was naturally black, no longer dyed. It was shorter and she had decided to grow a fringe. Her once natural makeup had changed into one that made her look older. Still, she was the most beautiful girl I had ever encountered. She was announcing an acoustic show in a week in Newcastle to raise funds for a local shelter, from where we adopted our dog. I hesitated as the idea of liking the picture crossed my mind but then I imagined my manager angrily yelling at me for doing such thing, so I decided against it. But what I did was buying myself a ticket for the event without thinking twice about it.

I literally only managed to write a few lines before going back home and heating one of my mum's meals that I kept on the fridge. After that, I fell asleep on the couch until a knock on my door made me jump from my seat. 

"Oh God" I said. I turned to look at the clock that was hanging in my living room to see that it was already late in the afternoon. There was another knock on the door. "I'm coming" I said. "Jesus, who needs to see me this bad?" I mumbled.

I opened the door to all my band members  standing there. "Hey" They all greeted at different times, making me furrow my eyebrows.

"What are you lot doing here?" I crossed my arms in my chest. I knew exactly why they were standing there.

"We come to pick you up, kid. You're not gonna miss this one" Joe offered his best smile. I rolled my eyes and opened my mouth to speak, but Drew interrupted me.

"She's not going to be there, we promised" I looked at the ground and sighed.

"Alright, come on in and I'll be ready in ten" I said.

Deep inside of me I knew that I needed a few drinks and a couple of cigarettes and it was better if I did both things with someone around who could tell me when to stop. I checked my outfit in the mirror and fixed my hair once again before leaving my place with my mates. The streets were soon filled with laughter and boyish comments about everything that we came across with. I even dared to laugh a few times with the silliest things. 

The club was crowded so I was more than glad when they informed me that we had a room for ourselves and "A couple of other friends" or, that's what my mates said. Truth was, such room was to the tops as well. Nevertheless, no one seemed to give a shite that I was The Sam Fender, which was more than enough for me. I asked for my go to drink and decided to stand back, leaning against a wall, observing everyone's actions. At least, until a blonde girl started walking towards me. She looked nice and was smartly dressed, maybe even a bit overdressed for the occasion. She sat down in a sofa that was besides me and took off her heels. That's when she looked up to meet my eyes.

"God, I hate those shoes" She said. I smiled politely at her.

"I never understood how girls manage to walk in those to be honest" The girl chuckled.

"I'm Anna" She introduced herself and moved to the side so I could sit down besides her, which I did.

"I'm Sam" I said, even if I was well aware that she probably knew that already. She decided to stay in silence for a couple of minutes after that, time that I invested in finishing my drink. 

"You don't really seem to be enjoying yourself, Sam" Anna turned to me. I glanced down before looking at her green eyes.

"First time out in a while" I sighed. "I guess it is hard to get back on track or something" I awkwardly scratched the back of my head. 

"I get it. It's my first night out since my boyfriend dumped me for another girl who has more boobs than I do and my friends are pressuring me into finding someone else" I raised my eyebrows, surprised at how similar our situations were. "But I can't just to do it, you know? Forgetting about someone who actually meant something for me for just one night"

"Yeah, I completely understand you. I haven't really gone out to a party since my ex and I broke up and it's weird not having her around" I scanned the crowd, as if, by any chance, she was going to be there. But she obviously was nowhere to be seen.

"Relationships suck" Anna replied, earning a soft smile from me. "How did yours end?" 

I opened my mouth for a few seconds, trying to find the most suitable answer for this situation. "It's complicated, really" A nervous laugh came out of my mouth. "I guess I was too much of a coward to take the next step and she got tired of waiting" Anna offered a sympathetic smile as if telling me to continue, but I wasn't drunk enough. "She's happy now with someone else tho"

"Well" Anne glanced to a group of girls, who I assumed that were her friends. They were all chatting enthusiastically, almost without being aware that one of them was sitting down far from the group. "Fancy a drink, Sam? For the two hopeless singles who would much rather be anywhere else" I smiled widely.

"I'll drink to that, yeah" We both stood up and walked to the bar to order a drink.

"Are you here with your mates?" I asked as we waited for our drinks.

"If you can call them mates" She mumbled. "We've known each other since forever and that is the only reason I stick to that group of friends, really" She explained. "I don't want to bore you tho with details but each of us went into different directions after the A-Levels and it never felt the same, really"

"You went to uni, then?" Anna nodded.

"Got my degree in education and I work as a teacher" I lifted my eyebrows, surprised. "I love my kids and that but sometimes they get too much" She rolled her eyes. "Enough about me, what about you?" 

That question caught me off guard as I expected her to know me and that being the reason why she was more than happy to have a chat. "Well, I'm Sam and I didn't go to uni because I couldn't be arsed with studying really so I have a band" 

Anna nodded. "Are you any good?" She then asked. I chuckled before answering.

"You could say so, yeah"

After a couple of drinks and me sticking around her the entire night I offered to walk her home. 

"So you're telling you are Sam Fender. The Seventeen Going Under Sam Fender" She was looking down as we walked. After teasing her all night about actually being someone somewhat relevant in the music scene, she decided to go ahead and look for me in Youtube. Turns out she had heard my music but never really put a face to the name.

"You only know that song, aye?" Anna smiled at me as she nodded.

"My brother used to play it every now and then this summer as he went to a festival where you played" I nodded slowly.

Soon enough, we got to her place in comfortable silence.

"Can I ask you for your number?" She asked.

"As long as you actually text me" I replied.