A Greek Odyssey - Jason Fic

CHAPTER 164

'That is what I do for a living, Nick.' Jason replied, a wry grin on his face. 'I'm in Take That.'

'Come on, Jason. Seriously. What is it you do for a living?' He looked quizzically at Jason, thinking he probably wasn't in the building trade, given his slim build. He'd hazard a guess at maybe an arty kind of job, like a Graphic designer or something similar.

'I am being serious.' Jason replied tersely. It was quite obvious Nick hadn't a clue what the names of Take That were, maybe with the exception of Gary - everyone seemed to know who Gary was, Jason thought to himself. Most of the time he was glad that he was one of the members of the band who seemed to blend effortlessly into the background when they weren't doing promotions. Of course, that wasn't always the case, but he was recognised far less than Gary was.

Nick's smile died on his face. 'You're serious aren't you? I'd never have recognised you, mate.' He said, shaking his head in wonderment. 'Sorry.'

'That's what I said. I am serious.' Jason repeated patiently. 'And don't be sorry. I'm glad no-one recognised me tonight. It does get a bit wearing when you're trying to do something mundane and someone catches on to who you are,' he sipped his beer, wiping the cold froth off his top lip with the back of his hand before continuing. 'Sometimes they just follow you around and won't leave you alone. Sometimes they just want to kiss you and all you want to do is be alone. Goes with the job I guess,' he shrugged and gave them both a shy smile.

Reaching under the wooden pub bench, Lexi squeezed his hand supportively. She'd guessed correctly that he was feeling somewhat uncomfortable at Nick's stupified realisation as to who he was. Her gaze came to rest on Sally's face which was a picture of incredulous surprise.

'You ok?' she smiled at Sally, her eyebrow arched questioningly.

'Uh huh. It's not every day you meet someone really famous and don't even realise who they are. I'm mortified to be honest that I didn't realise who you are,' Sally's face flushed crimson with embarassment and her eyes flickered down, so she didn't have to look him in the eye.

'Don't be...' Jason replied simply, as he managed to catch her eye and gave her a small encouraging smile. 'You wouldn't believe how boring it can be, y'know being recognised. It was nice to go somewhere and no-one catch on to who I am.'

Sally smiled back, picked up her drink and took a sip of it. 'Well, we certainly didn't catch onto who you were, did we Nick?'

Shaking his head, Nick fixed Jason with a lop-sided grin. 'Bet the good out-weighs the bad though, eh mate?'

'Yeah. It does. I'm really grateful for how things have turned out and I wouldn't change it for the world, but I guess it's like all jobs - there's good days and bad days.' He drained his glass, looking intently at Nick to gauge whether things were now different now that he knew who Jason was. There was nothing. He'd lost count of the times where he'd met someone who hadn't known who he was and the minute they realised, everything changed and the friendship seemed to shift on an invisible axis. This time, however, Nick seemed not the slightest bit over-awed and now that Sally had got over the initial shock she was chatting away to Lexi as if nothing had happened.

Half an hour later Jason covertly looked at his watch and saw that the time was nearly 11pm. 'Ready?' he asked Lexi, interrupting her and Sally's conversation. He looked at both Nick and Sally in turn. 'Sorry guys, it's been lovely meeting you both, but I've got to be on a flight to Glasgow first thing tomorrow morning - we're playing Hampden Park for three nights.' Looking at them both apologetically, he held his hand out so Lexi could clamber over the wooden bench they'd been sitting on, without fear of falling.

'It's no problem. It was lovely meeting you both too.' Nick smiled warmly at them both, noticing Lexi making a "call me" sign with her hands to Sally so they could arrange a lunch date. 'I hope it goes well for you. I noticed the press comments were positive - well, apart from the drunken yummy mummies,' he remarked, his eyes sparkling at Jason as he teased him.