In A World Of Our Own (Westlife Fan Fiction)

Chapter 1

8.30am

 Maidstone, Kent, South East of England

29th April 2012

 The rain pattered down the glass windows of Ellen’s bedroom as she sighed deeply into the wilderness outside. She used to live in the countryside (she moved into a flat at the age of 20) and her house backed onto a large area of land. Her parents owned a farm, with every farm animal imaginable. The farm contained animals that girls would only dream of having, things that would make them ecstatic every time they stepped outside. But Ellen didn’t want to have horses filling fields, or pigs oinking in the barns, she wanted something much simpler, something that would make her so much more complete; love.

 Ellen was a 25 year old woman from a hard working life.  When she was younger she worked on her parent’s farm whilst maintaining a hard working life dedicated to school. Now Ellen was 25 and her favourite boy band would be breaking up this year. Westlife had sold over 40 million albums worldwide, had countless number one’s and had lost a band member, but Ellen didn’t care for their achievements, she didn’t care that they were incredibly good looking, all she cared about was the one member that had made her life turn for so many years now; Kian Egan. Ellen had first been to one of their concerts when they came to her area some years ago when ‘Flying Without Wings’ was number 1, she was only a child. Since then she has never been able to get any tickets to go to another concert, she has only dreamt of the day.

 Ellen made her way out of the main bedroom of her flat and stared longingly into her Westlife poster before she left. She grabbed her keys and left her flat with a solemn look on her face. She had to go to work. She had her own business; a café, which she loved. She was the manager and the chef, so she had to turn up for work, even though she didn’t want to go. Today was Kian’s birthday, and she knew that he would be celebrating with his fellow band mates, getting drunk and partying.  She climbed onto her Vespa. She had managed to persuade her parent’s to let her have a Vespa for her sixteenth birthday, and she hadn’t fallen off yet. She started the engine and kicked up the stand holding it upright. She carefully placed the helmet over her head, the visor slamming shut as she tightened the strap. She twisted her hand on the throttle and she set off on her way to work, pulling out onto the main road and speeding along the road to get to work on time.

 She pulled up at the back entrance of the café and quickly parked her moped and clamped the steering lock on. She slipped in the door and entered the kitchen where she would be until it was time to lock up. She pulled off her red coat and pulled on her uniform, a white chef’s uniform minus the hat. She tied her hair up in a bun and washed her hands. She made her apologies to the staff for being late and got to work.

 Her café was designed according to her very wishes. It was like a retro diner from the Uptown Girl music video, only it had a different name on the front of the building. It was called ‘Ellen’s Diner’ which was obvious and dull, but Ellen liked it. The retro record player could be heard in the background, playing a mixture of songs including some of Westlife’s greatest releases. Her employees were just waitresses and waiters, who just happened to be fans of Westlife. On the days when there wasn’t much business, they danced and sang along to Uptown Girl, recreating what Westlife did in their video. Ellen had amazing memories from that building, but she still felt like she had a hole in her heart.

 Ellen hummed along to the record player and chopped some onions. There were the regular customers in the diner, and they always brought a smile to her face. The small children came up to the counter and Ellen showed them her trick that she showed them every time they came in. They watched in awe through the glass counter as she threw the knife in the air and caught it one handed. Then she did some twists and continued to chopping the onions. The children let out little squeals and returned the table where their parents were sat. Ellen shook her head and smiled as she flipped the saucepan as she placed it down on the hob before scooping the onions in the pan.  She asked one of her waitresses to keep an eye on the kitchen whilst she came over to the small children with two large milkshake sundaes. She called them her ‘Uptown shakes’ and they were the diners speciality. She placed them on the table and pushed away the money the parents were offering her for them. She returned to the counter when she heard the door close.

 It was her best friend Emma, on one of her frequent visits to the diner. Emma was Ellen’s best friend at school, and they were still a couple of schoolgirls at heart. She came over and hugged her friend before she went and sat down over at the far table. Ellen continued to work behind the counter, stirring the onions and flipping burgers. She knew that Emma would want a burger, she couldn’t resist them, and they were good for bribing her with. She twisted her body between the waiters surrounding her and delivered the meal to Emma. The family who were seated rose from their chairs and said goodbye to Ellen as she passed by.

“Extra onions, just how you like it” Ellen smiled innocently.

“Thanks, what do you want?”

“What makes you think that I want something, can’t I just deliver my friend something she wants on this perfectly ordinary day?”

“No you can’t. I know its Kian’s birthday, but you don’t need to shower me with gifts”

“To be honest, I need a favour”

“I knew it, what is it then?” Emma took a large bite out of her burger and chewed slowly with a questioning look on her face.

“Can you talk to my brother for me?”

“Talk to him yourself”

“I don’t speak to him anymore, remember?”

“Yeah, don’t you think that you should build your own bridges, after all, you burnt them in the first place?”

“That’s a bit rude, but I can’t just ask him for something if we haven’t spoken for months.”

“Yes you can, you need to sort this out for yourself” Emma took yet another bite out of her burger and Ellen rose from her chair and slipped back behind the counter. She gave Emma an evil glare and turned her back to her, and tossed some more onions in the pan. The sizzle was the only sound to be heard as the record player changed tracks to one of Ellen’s favourites; Uptown Girl.