Oasis: Time Flies...

Stand By Me

I was used to the stares, after all this time people were still judging me, thinking they know my story. I was young but I wasn't as young as everyone always thought I was.

I should be able to go shopping without everyone glancing at me like I had something on my face, maybe I was still thinking too much into people's looks.

It was a nice, sunny day. There was no April showers in the air today which was really lucky, especially for Manchester.

I went into Woolworths and saw a display of Disney films.

"Why does it take so long for films to get released on video?" I complained seeing Aladdin was "coming soon"

We hadn't seen it yet since she didn't have the attention span for the cinema and I didn't have the time or the money but I couldn't wait to see it.

There wasn't any on display we didn't already own so we moved on.

Some lad was stood at the pick n mix so I couldn't get past him with the pram. I wished I'd just carried the baby in the sling to avoid these maneuvering incidents but I wouldn't be able to carry everything I needed like that.

I "accidentally" knocked the pram into his leg to get him to move.

"Oi! Watch out." he turned and glared at me.

"Sorry, dodgy wheel." I gave my usual excuse without paying any attention to him. I didn't look at him, I just looked down and tried to steer around him now he'd moved aside.

"Oh my God, it's you. What the fuck?" he reacted.

"Noel." I looked up at him, instantly recognising his voice.

"Where the fuck have y'been? Y'just disappeared."

I hadn't seen or heard anything from him since I got pregnant, it was like we were no longer on the same planet.

"Nowhere, I just couldn't hang around with you lot anymore. Things changed."

It was always the same with them, messing around, thinking they were destined to be the next rock stars even though nobody wanted to give them the time of day. They were so stupid thinking they were going to hit it big but it was fun hanging around them while they tried.

"What things?" he frowned.

"Like having my daughter."

"You do not have a daughter."

I pointed down into the pram at and he took a look and watched her sleep. "Fuck off, she's not your daughter."

"She is." I confirmed.

"Who's the dad then? When the fuck did yer have her, how old is she?" he questioned, baffled.

"She's seven months old." I stated.

"Y'don't know?"

I bit my lip not wanting to talk about it. "Y'know how things were when I was hanging around with you lot."

"Y'should've told us."

"Cos that would've gone down well. Look, I've gotta get goin'." I pushed the pram forward, I was impatient enough with shopping as it was without being interrupted.

"Y'can't just walk from me now, I'm not doin' nothin' today." He started following me.

"What about your sweets?"

"I've suddenly not got the stomach for it, we've got to talk about this."

"Alright, y'can come with us while we're shopping." I reluctantly agreed. "I don't know what there is for me t'say though."