Second Chances

Chapter Six

The next few days pass in a blur. The routine of exercise, breakfast, rehearse, lunch, rehearse, dinner, relax is oddly familiar and comforting albeit a little repetitive. It's good though, and just what I need at the moment. Throwing myself into work is taking my mind off the other issues surrounding my life right now.

Fortunately I've not heard from Adam since the night we arrived and I'm hoping that he's finally got the message. Something inside me tells me that he hasn't though. I don't like that it ended so abruptly but I didn't see the point in prolonging the pain. He needs to accept it and move on. And so do I. I'm determined that my memories of this tour will not be marred by my personal life and I'm consciously trying to throw myself into every opportunity to have fun. I was always considered one of the 'wilder' members of the band and I want to prove that that side of me hasn't disappeared quite yet.

Hanging out with the rest of the group has been really nice and after the initial awkwardness, it's been just like the old times. It's also been nice to catch up with some of the old team like Priscilla, Sam and Cece, although I'd forgotten how hard they used to work us!! We've also spent a lot of time chilling out with our dancers and we get on really well. There are six in total: 4 boys (Jamie, Todd, Kieran and Ashley) and 2 girls (Leanne and Jo). They're all really lovely and we have a real giggle together - especially when we've had a glass (or two) of wine! That was always our motto as a band: work hard but play hard too. It makes the stressful working hours go much quicker if you can have fun with the people you're working with and we definitely needed to relieve stress back in the day!

We've spent the past two evenings relaxing with the dancers in the sitting room watching DVDs and playing games. We played Articulate yesterday. Despite talking gibberish to each other half the time, it turns out that Jo and Brad really don't understand each other as much as they think! It was so funny trying to watch them act out various people, places and objects especially as Jo became more and more frustrated with his lack of general knowledge! Jon was my partner and we came fourth... a respectable position given that we'd both had a few glasses of vino by then!

Tonight signals the end of our first week of rehearsals and I think everyone is feeling quite proud of the progress we've made. Despite our early struggles, we're gradually learning to work as a team again and our choreography and harmonies are starting to come together. It's actually beginning to resemble a show! We've got tomorrow off and everyone is looking forward to it. Rachel even has her family coming to visit for the day which I know is really important to her. She's missing her girls terribly. I think I'm just planning on having a lie in and spending the day relaxing, although I know I should probably get some exercise in too - I'm fairly fit, but I know it's going to take a lot of stamina to perform the show every night!

After a quick shower, I head down to dinner. Tonight's feast is Chinese-inspired and I pile my plate high with chow mein, vegetable noodles and some roast duck with pineapple. In my mind it's fairly healthy, and I keep repeating this to myself as I munch through the prawn crackers that are on our table. Looking around at some of the others though, I shouldn't be so harsh on myself... Brad has gone for a bit of everything as usual and even Jo seems to be going all out with her carb intake tonight! Interestingly, Paul seems to have steered clear and has a very healthy looking plate with just noodles and veg. He's always had a bit of a complex about his size (thanks to some not-so-clever reporting back in the day) and he's making a real effort to eat healthier and exercise more this time around. He's also massively cut down on his alcohol intake and I think he's stopped smoking too. It certainly seems to be paying off - he looks in really good shape.

Shit.

Where did that come from?

Since when have I been noticing his body?