Please Don't Try and Turn On the Lights

34. Final Chapter

3 weeks later

I had been in L.A. for longer than I had anticipated. Originally, I had only packed to stay for about a week but I found it hard to leave Alex. He didn't seem to mind and spent every minute outside the studio with me. It had been pure bliss since that night in the shower and I couldn't recall a time in my life where I had been happier (I tried not thinking of Alex going on tour. First with the Monkeys. Then with Miles. I wanted to save that inevitable sadness for the flight home and just be happy while we were together. Afterall, I hadn't bought a new return ticket yet and Alex hadn't mentioned it).

I knew that Matt, Jamie, and Nick were happy that I had stayed in L.A. too - Jamie had pulled me aside one night to tell me how much more relaxed Alex was now that I was around to calm his nerves. Our guess was that he didn't feel the same pressure to amaze me with a perfect album when he knew that I was his for sure.

Katie, however, had to return home on the original date of our flight back seeing as she had a modeling job back in England that she had to attend. So I spent my days alone by the pool, by the beach, or by working a little for the university.

One particular afternoon, as I was working on an especially hard equation for enzyme kinetics, I could hear Alex call my name from the front door.

"Rhea - you home?"

"Yes, I'm upstairs," I called out and could soon hear him running up the stairs.

"We're done!" he panted with a triumphant smile, "produced the last song today - the demo is ready" He held up a cd in a see-through case.

"Put it on! I'm so excited to hear what you've been working on!"

"Actually, I would much rather you heard it tonight - we're playing at a small bar downtown."

"A small bar? One of the greatest rock bands right now is playing at a small bar?"

"Well, we're not going under the name 'Arctic Monkeys' tonight. We want to know what people think without being biased."

"And which name are you guys playing under then?"

"Well, we're calling ourselves 'L.A. Ghost Riders'" he exclaimed. He was clearly excited, "so are you coming or what?"

"Of course I'm coming," I laughed, "I wouldn't want to miss it for the world! Plus, you haven't really played me any of the songs yet - and I want to see if I recognize the tunes you've been humming"

He laughed a little, "yeah we'll see about that.. Anyway, I'm meeting up with the lads in an hour and a half to do some sound testing - do you think you can be ready to leave in about an hour? Or would you rather wait and meet us later?"

"I'll be ready"

-

"The taxi will be here in 10 minutes," I called to Alex who had been barricading himself in the bathroom the last hour.

The door opened slowly and Alex emerged, "what do you think?" he said and held out his arms.

He was not in his usual classic rockstar attire but had put on light coloured pants and a blue bomber jacket with cherry blossoms. He had his hair slicked back - but to be honest, that's how he wore it most these days - he looked so different from the Alex I had met all those months ago.

"You look....different," was all I could say.

"Well, tonight I'm not Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys," he said, "Tonight I'm Alex Turner of L.A. Ghost Riders - Of course I look different. Question is if it's different good or different bad?"