Days of Our Lives (Book 2)

Chapter 19 - Keep Passing the Open Windows

Monday, 21st July, 1986

Somewhere above Austria

The following afternoon I went down to the reception desk and for some tip the receptionist let me know that John had returned to the hotel only in the morning, around 8 or 9, seemingly drunk like hell. For a bit more extra tip he also promised me to ring me up in the suite in case John goes out again. I returned to the suite, sharing my news with Roger and no matter how hard he tried to hide, I've seen that he was also worrying about his friend. Later I called Jim Beach too, to let him know what I managed and to calm him a bit, but mainly to promise that as soon as possible, I'll have a serious conversation with John. But of course first I had to wait until he wakes up. Luckily it was a day off, Gerry surely knew we're gonna have a birthday party for Brian and we'll need the following day to sleep and relax a bit.

The receptionist called me around 9 in the evening that John had just left the hotel again a couple minutes earlier. I looked at Roger, who, rolling his eyes blurted out, saying my exact thoughts actually: "For fuck's sake, he's gone out to party again!" So that's why the next time we all saw him was only the following day, when we flew off to the next location of the tour, to the beautiful Vienna.

Now we were sitting on the jet, the boys talking about the upcoming days. They were all excited, because after these two gigs in Vienna, we were about to head to Hungary, which is a brand new challenge for the boys, playing behind the Iron Curtain. The flight itself was not so long, about 1 and a half an hour, but we had to arrive in time, because our schedule was strict: checking-in the hotel, a short break to pull ourselves together, then going immediately to the venue for soundcheck and the first gig itself - the price of that one day off. John was sitting alone silently in his sunglasses, staring out of the window to the beautiful clouds and not saying a single word to anyone since he arrived. Well, he actually did say one word, one single "Hi" to everyone, barely audible. I stood up, put a light kiss onto Roger's lips, then pointed to John with my eyes. He immediately understood it and nodded, kissing my lips once again.

-Hey honey. - I stepped to John.

-Hey. - he looked at me through his sunglasses.

-May I sit down? - I smiled and pointed to the armrest of his comfortable seat. He looked at me for a long moment, seemingly thinking, then nodded.

-Yeah, sure. - he moved away a bit, so I sat down and put my arm around his shoulder. He turned his head back to stare out of the window and I let him for a couple of minutes, hoping that he's gonna say something. But he wasn't saying any more, so after a while I poked his shoulder:

-John...- I said gently. In the meantime I've seen the others sending curious glances into our direction, but then they quickly continued their conversation.

-John...- I poked his shoulder gently again, for which he finally looked at me:

-Livy, if you came here to talk about Brian's birthday party, then it's unnecessary, you know. I don't wanna talk about it. - he turned his head back to the window.

-Well, you know... - I sighed - it was pretty surprising. Shocking, I'd rather say.

John still didn't look at me just been staring out of the window silently.

-Deaks. - I poked his shoulder gently again and hearing this nickname only me and Roger used, he finally looked at me through his sunglasses, with a light smile.

-Deaks...remember when we said we're like a brother and sister?

-Yeah. - he smiled.

-That we can tell anything and will be there for each other? Do you still feel the same?