He surprised himself when he woke and looked at his phone to see it was already 10am.
The text messages were mounting up. Quite a few work related, one from Mark confirming he would see him later and letting him know his address, another from Chris asking how he was getting on.
He smiled and answered them all then turned to his laptop, feeling ready to give his attention to an idea that had been tapping on his shoulder for a while. He sat down and looked out of the window and started to type.
He glanced at the time - 1530.
"What?! No way!"
He had been in the zone and the hours had flown by. He ended his sentence and turned off the computer, quickly showered and looked at his clothes. He sighed and picked up his phone.
"Hey Chris. How are you?"
Chris smiled.
"All good here my man. How are you? Rehearsals go well?"
"Yes, they went really well. I'm after some advice though. I'm off to see a rock band in a bit. What do the cool kids wear to gigs these days."
Chris laughed.
"You're asking me?!
I'm pretty sure you'll be good in jeans and a t shirt. Who are you going to see?"
"It's a band called 'The Riot' they're performing at the concert as well. You have to see the guitarist. She's amazing. My driver had a spare ticket and asked if I wanted to join him. I'm going to their house to have a Sunday tea first."
"Ooh nice! Hope they do those pudding things."
Lin frowned. "Pudding things?"
"Yes. Can't remember what they are but they taste great!"
He laughed.
"No idea but I'll let you know. I better go get dressed I'm running short on time."
They said goodbye and he put on a black t shirt and black jeans. He looked in the mirror and made devil horns signs with his hands. He laughed at himself.
"No, let's not do that!"
He caught a cab outside the hotel gave the driver the address and asked him to swing by a supermarket. He ran in grabbed some coffee and 4 bottles of wine.
They pulled up to the house, he paid and walked up to the door to ring the bell.
It was answered quickly by Mark.
"Lin! So glad you could make it! Come in and say hi to everyone."
He spotted the wine.
"You didn't need to bring anything!"
Lin followed him in.
"I know, but I wanted to, this however I absolutely did have to bring!"
He held up the coffee.
Mark laughed and took the drinks from him. They walked into the room where music was playing and people were standing round talking. The smells of home cooking wafted in from the kitchen.
The talking got noticeably quieter when Lin entered the room. Everyone turned and looked at him.
Julie walked over.
"Hi Lin, I'm Julie, thank you for coming tonight. Please make yourself at home. Although you probably don't have people staring at you at home like you've grown three heads."
She glared at her friends who were all standing open mouthed.
He laughed.
"Thank you for inviting me. Dinner smells amazing."
He hugged Julie taking her by surprise.
"Where's Dhalia?"
She smiled at him.
"We've tried to put her down for her nap. Not sure how that will go!"
Lin looked disappointed. She carried on
"I'll make sure you see her before you go."
She introduced him to everyone in the room and after the initial shock had worn off they started to treat him like an old friend, the conversation flowing easily.
Julie flitted in and out of the kitchen, drinks were refilled.
Mark tapped Lin on the shoulder.
"Sorry to interrupt. Just want to introduce you to Steve and Ashleigh, they were running late. Steve is coming with us tonight as well."
Steve shook Lin's hand.
"So good to meet you! Glad you can come with us it should be a good one."
Ashleigh held out her hand.
"Nice to meet you Mr Hamilton."
