Be Here Now

2

"I am not working with that band ever again" said Sophie to Jack as they were leaving the studio.

Sophie felt disgusted by Liam's actions. Without Noel she probably would have been so vulnerable. But Noel.... every time she thought about him, time seemed to stop. Nothing else in the world mattered as long as Noel was in it. 

"Fuck that lot, we need to celebrate your first day. Let's go to the pub" said Jack trying to cheer Sophie up.

No matter what has happened in Sophie's day, Jack always seemed to make it better. Even if the day was a good day. Sophie gave a little smile of hope and nodded her head in agreement. A nice cold pint is what she needed. 

When Jack drove them home to get ready, Sophie laid on her bed thinking about what to wear. She didn't want to wear anything over the top as it was just a pub; however, she did like to look stunning on the dance floor. She would never wear anything revealing though as she didn't like to attract people like Liam, today (she didn't have anything revealing in her wardrobe anyway). 

Sophie rolled onto her back, she couldn't stop thinking about Noel. The worst part for her is that she'll probably never see him again as she refuses to work with the band. She glanced over to her record player and saw her Smiths record "Hatful of Hollow". Every song she listened to always seemed to relate back to Noel. "Please, please, please let me get what I want" turned into "please, please, please let me be with Noel".

While the record was blasting, Sophie was also getting ready. She decided to put on a black dress that went down to her knee and some make-up to make her feel a bit more confident. 

"Are you ready yet?" shouted Jack over Sophie's music.

"I'll be there in a minute!" she shouted back. 

Sophie carefully paused her record and put it back into the folder before joining Jack to walk to the pub.

As they walked into the pub, it was crawling with people. They would be lucky to get a table, or even a seat. Bar tenders were pouring drinks repeatedly, people being sick, people having a cheeky smoke; it was all happening. Eventually, they found a seat and Sophie kept a hold of them while Jack went off to go get the drinks. 

When Jack came back, Sophie immediately started chugging her drink. She felt anxious, as if someone was watching her. Maybe she was still on edge about Liam. Sophie started nervously scanning the room and she saw the same blue eyes that she first looked at in the studio- it was Noel. They both made eye contact with each other and the room seemed to go down in slow motion. What was probably 5 seconds for Sophie felt like 5 hours. She was lost within his eyes. She gazed to her right and saw Liam, who was taking shots as if his life depended on it. 

Jack had been trying to talk to Sophie but everything seemed to turn into echos. Eventually she snapped out of her hypnosis and eventually muttered "I need to go to the bathroom".

Sophie got up from her seat in a hurry and made her way to the toilet. She felt so sick. What if the same thing happens to her as it did earlier? Does she talk to Noel and risk the fact Liam might be rude again.

Suddenly, she heard a knock on the door. She thought it might have been Jack checking up on her but, she got a pleasant surprise when she opened it to see Noel.  

"You alright, love?" he seemed genuinely concerned. The uncomfortable feeling from earlier seemed to disappear and turn into butterflies in her stomach again. "Had too much to drink, have we?".

"Not really, I don't drink that much" admitted Sophie. 

"Just be careful, yeah? Anyone would want to pick up a gorgeous bird like you." Noel said with a cheeky smile- similar to his brothers.

This made Sophie's stomach do a back flip in her body. "Thank you, I really liked your Smiths shirt".

This comment made Noel smile which made Sophie's stomach do even more back flips. She couldn't help but gaze at Noel's lips to which she really wanted to kiss.

"Sophie come and dance!" shouted Jack who ruined the moment between Noel and Sophie. 

Sophie began to walk out of the toilet but was stopped as Noel grabbed her arm. She slowly turned around at him to look at him for potentially the last time.

"It was nice seeing you again." said Noel.

"You too." said Sophie with a smile.

Sophie left the toilet a little bit disappointed; she wanted more time with Noel. Jack's hand reached out to Sophie's, she grabbed it. Immediately he pulled her not giving Sophie a chance to react. 

He handed her some shots which she practically inhaled and, then slammed the glass on  the table so she could put her hands in the air to dance besides Jack. 

After a while, she started to feel a bit sick. The hotness of the bar was unbearable and, perhaps the fresh air would do her some good. As the crisp air hit her face, she felt a shiver go from her upper back to her spine (she was going to suffer the consequences in the morning). The smell of smoke entered her lungs as she saw a short boy smoking a fag.

"Hello again, love" said Noel.

"Hello smoker, you do know that those things cause cancer?" said Sophie.

Noel shook his head in laughter and then flicked his cigarette after admiring Sophie again. 

Another man then came stumbling out, he was clearly off of his head. As Sophie made eye contact, it was Liam. He then proceeded to put his hands around Sophie's waist as if he had done it to 100 girls. 

"I wondered if we would see each other again...." Liam whispered into Sophie's ear. She could smell the alcohol on his breath. She could also see his red eyes trail up and down her body. She tried pushing him away; however, he was too strong. 

Noel quickly rushed over and grabbed Liam off of Sophie and shoved him back into the bar. "Fuck off Liam!" he shouted. His eyes then turned from fury to softness as he gazed at Sophie's eyes again. "Are you alright?" he asked. 

Sophie felt the butterflies come back into her stomach, she felt nervous from Liam's stunt but, also that she was speaking to Noel Gallagher again. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I should go."

Noel pressed himself in front of Sophie. His warm body drove Sophie even more crazy. He placed his hand on her arm and started rubbing it. "Please don't go" he said in desperation and he then started to press his forehead onto Sophie's forehead. Sophie placed her hand on his neck and started rubbing his hair. There was a lot more there than she expected but, she didn't want to let go. She knew that this couldn't last no matter how much she wanted this. She tried to pull back but, Noel pulled her closer. "At least let me walk you home." he said.

"I can't just leave Jack!" she said as she pulled away and went back inside to find Jack to go home.