A Rush of Blood to the Head

Chapter 8

"It's a good thing though", Chris said, "That Doctor Charlie Hunter never charged me."

Max smiled, "Oh I know...I know"

He smiled back. He had gone back to the clinic the next day and found out that one planned session with the doctor cost about £7,500 each, and an impromptu session...It cost over £10,000.

The doctor had helped me. And I didn't even know.

"Cause you are a pillock", Max said.

They laughed for a while.

"What about this one...Two years later...that day at the park...probably the most significant moment of your life", Max paused.

Chris understood what she was saying.

"When every defense you had was gone, you were left unguarded...And those built up emotions hit you like a truck...And you realised...", Max said pointing at Chris.

"That I had fallen in love with Jonny...", Chris ended her sentence.

"Bingo...", Max said gleefully.

He recalled that day. It was the fall of 2002. They had just released "A Rush Of Blood To The Head" and it had been a great hit. Everything was going nice and steady. They had even planned a world tour.

It was September.

Chris still had feelings for Jonny. But he masked it in a very decent way. No one could tell. The feelings, they used to come in waves. Sometimes they would be gone for months, giving Chris hope, that whatever this was, it was just a little infatuation. But in the end, Jonny would do something, anything that would make those hidden feelings reappear. And they would wipe over Chris like a tsunami. Leaving him withered and vulnerable. He found no way around it. He had found ways to deal with the pain. But with time, it was beginning to become unbearable. But he couldn't tell Jonny. He couldn't risk losing their friendship, or the band. So he had turned to music. Many people had thought that "Green Eyes", was about Erin, Chris' lovely green eyed girlfriend at that time. But Chris knew the truth. Every time he played the song, every time he heard it, it would remind him of Jonny. There were other songs too. Not as obvious as "Green Eyes" per se, but Chris had written hundreds of songs about Jonny. Some of them turned out to be quite good. Some of them were awesome. But Jonny would never know about them. To him it was just another song. He would never know how much Chris adored Jonny. He would never know that he himself was Chris' muse.

Chris woke up with a shudder. He had had the worst nightmare in years. But looking around the hotel room gave him reassurance. The band was in Glastonbury, for their tour. He sat up and looked at his watch. It was 7:30 am.

Time for a jog, perhaps.

He got up and went to the bathroom. After brushing his teeth, he came out and put on a pair of shorts and a hoodie.

The weather seems nice.

He walked out. The city still seemed quite asleep.

Nothing like London, at all.

But the lesser the people, the better. Fans used to follow him everywhere. Especially after releasing Parachutes, it was as if Chris had gained global popularity, overnight. Girls used to worship him now. Even the same girls who had previously considered him a nut-job. Initially he used to like the attention, but after a while it got intolerable.

Whew, let's go.

Chris started running. He didn't pay much attention to the geography. Lately he hadn't been paying much attention to anything. Everything seemed blurry and faded and...stuff. With the new world tour and the things with Jonny and his own family matters... everything was just a mess.