A Rush of Blood to the Head

Chapter 5

Chris woke up to the sound of someone singing.

"Come on, Oh my star is fading."

Chris stretched himself. It was Max's voice. She was singing?!

"And I swerve, out of control"

He heard the piano playing too. What was going on?

"If I, if I'd only waited"

Amsterdam?! Why was she singing Amsterdam? She did sound quite nice, though.

"I'd not be stuck here in this hole"

Chris slowly stretched himself. It was 12:30 pm. What? He slept this long? Why? Must be those painkillers. And the vodka. He got up and followed the melody. His arms ached. 

He saw Max sitting at his piano and playing the keys in perfect order. 

God. How does she do it? Am I actually imagining her? Or she real?

"Are you out of that dilemma, Chris?", Max asked, still playing the piano. "Or should I wait?"

Chris chuckled.

Yeah she IS a hallucination. She wouldn't have known my thoughts otherwise.

"No, it's okay", Chris said.

"Well, then. Good morning. I trust you had a good night's sleep.", Max said.

"Yeah, I guess", Chris said, yawning.

"Good"

Chris listened to her playing the piano, for a while. She was better than him.

"Why are you playing Amsterdam?", Chris asked.

"You know why", Max said, "It kind of describes your situation right now"

Chris sighed.

Stuck here in this hole......she is right.

It was 27th of December and he was still all alone. He didn't mind being alone, but his life was in pieces now. And he just couldn't find a way to fix this. He sat beside Max.

"So you gonna play something, lad?", Max asked.

"Yeah I think I would.", Chris said, "Let's see"

"Yellow"

"What?"

"Yellow, play Yellow"

"Oh right, I should play that", Chris positioned himself, "Presenting....Yellow, the mellow version"

Max laughed.

"Look at the stars, Look how they shine for you"

Somehow, Chris could only think of Jonny while singing the song. His handsome but shy smile, his calm, cool, composed vibe, his messy hair, and last but certainly the best his beautiful green eyes. 

"Your skin, oh yeah your skin and bones"

Max's eyes gleamed. Just like Jonny's did when he smiled.

"Turn into something beautiful"

He remembered that time when he and Jonny first met. It was the summer of 1996. He had about 12 bags and his dad had to drive him to Ramsay Hall somewhere by the Tottenham Court Road. It was his first time in London. The place was enormous. And it was full of people. He was a bit shy at first. But after downing four bottles of beer he had started playing a song on guitar. And surprisingly enough everybody cheered him. Was he that good? Later he had ditched the guitar and had got hold of....well.....a mop. A really long curly mop. He had started running up and down the corridor with that mop, all the time singing and dancing.....well at least trying to dance. All at once he had caught a very shy looking green eyed guy looking at him. He seemed to be holding a guitar. The guy looked at Chris like he had just witnessed the wackiest and the maddest person alive. Nevertheless the guy seemed to enjoy it. Chris thought of going up to him and introducing himself, but by the time he had finished....mopping, the guy was gone. Chris laughed at how stupid he looked when he was "mopping" the corridor.