Retired musician Maryanne Shore looks back on her big break in the 90s where she meets Blur frontman Damon Albarn...follow the ups and downs of Maryanne and Damon's relationship up to current times 2024.
I'd hardly slept last night, my mind filled with a mish mash of Damon, anticipation of what the tour will be like and the main thing...getting settled on the tour bus. I have never been good at sleeping in a bed that wasn't mine. Must be to do with the smell of your own home washed bedding and being surrounded by familiarity of home comforts.
The tour bus has pulled up in the car park of the record company offices. One by one we dragged our luggages onto the bus and chose our bunks of which was to be ours for the tour.
Damon's bunk was opposite to mine on the other side of the aisle, Alex on top of mine, Graham above Damon and Dave at the back of bus facing down the aisle of the bus.
Alex had been eyeing up the mini bar that was in view from his bunk and he'd given in to the temptation and went over to it and opening up to it's selection of alcoholic beverages. "Fancy a beer Maryanne?", he offered. "Oh yes please Alex that'd be fab", and he threw one over to me. Oh god, this was just what I needed, a nice chilled beer.
The rest of the day was spent with all of us putting away our belongings and going over the setlist and ideally get a good night's sleep before setting up at the Stadium in the morning.
It was midnight by the time things began to settle down and I told the guys I was going to hit the bunk and try get a decent sleep in. Feeling rather tipsy and just exhausted from the day I climbed into the bunk and turned over to try drift off.
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Damon's POV
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I could hear Maryanne's bunk opposite me squeaking as guessed she was possibly having trouble sleeping. A bit cheeky, but deciding to get out quietly out of my bunk and the bus was all dark now and parked in Wembley. It was literally pitch black so I had to feel for her curtains and so I pulled back the curtains on her bunk. I heard she turned her head slightly to try and see who had opened her curtains...I poked my head through..."yes??" Maryanne hissed annoyed..he'd kinda made her jump from his sudden appearance..."do you need some help?" I whispered back laughing and carefully climbed in next to her..."oh it's you Dame, frightened the life out of me... what are you doing??" she went wide-eyed and whisper shouted. "ssshhh, just thought you could do with some help", I said with warmth into her ear. She was still lying facing away from me so I slowly and cautiously wrapped my arm around her to bring her in closer to me. "That's better..." I smiled and kissed the side of her face. I swear I saw a sleepy smile on her face. I must have fallen asleep straight away surrounded by the warmth and closeness of this beautiful woman.
Maryanne's POV
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Maybe drinking those beers hadn't help with getting me to sleep, was doing the opposite actually. The surprise of Damon appearing behind me in the darkness and his hands were everywhere trying to get comfy, he'd even 'accidentally' touched my breast when wrapping his arms around me to which I moved his hands down.. "Oh sorry," he laughed. "Thanks Dame, I whispered to him, though wasn't sure whether he heard but he kissed me on the side of my face before going quiet, I reached up behind me and stroked the side of his face feeling the subtle stubble that was growing. This was just what I needed and the closeness and intimacy of it all brought a feeling to me that further fuelling an already burning flame.
