The Love I Left Behind

Scene Three

Elsie returned to work the next day at the flower shop she had been at for three years. It was a small place on a busy high street and they made a nice profit most weeks. The work team consisted of just herself, her boss Nina and her boss's daughter, Jennifer.

Elsie got on well with both of them. The boss was a fifty something lady with long curly black hair that was slowly but surely turning grey. She was kind and patient and focused mainly on the wedding and event part of the business with her twenty year old daughter who was almost a doppelganger for her Mum.

Elsie was in charge of the 'shop' side of things. She had to make and display bouquets for customers who were popping in looking for a quick bunch of flowers. She actually loved this side of things because Nina let her get creative for the most part. The customers always seemed at impressed at what was on display and the shop got great feedback.

As much as she got on with Nina and Jennifer, they weren't exactly close in terms of friendship. They never saw each other outside of work and they had never been to a theatre show, which is why Elsie kept what happened at the stage door to herself.

Another week went by until she had another day off. That morning, she decided to look online on the off chance to see if there were any random tickets left for 'Singing and Winning' that day. She usually bought her tickets this way, finding out that you could quite often get good deals at the last minute.

There was one seat left on the second row. Every other seat had been taken and that single second row ticket seemed to be calling out to her. She booked it and got ready for her day. She debated about telling Jess she was going to the show, but then decided not to. After all, there were no seats left so it wasn't as if Jess could get a ticket now. And it may have sounded selfish, but after last time, she realised that she much preferred going to the theatre on her own. At least then if she made a fool of herself, there was nobody around to witness it.

The day went by fast as she made her way to London and grabbed herself a drink and something to eat at a little cafe near the theatre. She had been to the theatre many times by herself before, but tonight was going to be different. It would be her first stage door experience, alone. She was definitely going to go to stage door, if only to prove to Lucas that she was normal. That she was capable of praising him up and asking for an autograph and then saying bye like a normal fan. She wasn't nervous. The worst had already happened in front of him and his tweet last week had made her feel much better.

Jess had sent her promotional clips of the show with Lucas now playing Danny, but Elsie had decided not to watch them. She wanted to see him on stage for herself and besides, she convinced herself that if she didn't look at him, then she wouldn't remember just how much he had made her heart flutter.

As she walked into the theatre, she looked around at the decor, impressed. This was becoming her favourite theatre by far, the building was beautiful and the old fashioned marble pillars and statues were devine. She picked her ticket up from the box office and then went and found her seat. The seat in question was two away from the end of the row on the right side. She had a perfect view, but also felt safe and secure sitting here. She remembered that the character of Danny was pretty much the centre of all songs and performances so he wouldn't come near her that much.

She exchanged pleasantries with the people beside her, an older couple who seemed impressed that she was brave enough to go to the theatre on her own. She was pleased that they thought so, but it was no big deal to her. Her family and friends didn't have the theatre bug like she did, so she had become used to going off by herself to catch a show.

The lights dimmed and the audience hushed as the standard pre show announcement about turning phones off was made.

Elsie's heart started racing as it always did when a show was starting. The lights, the music, the adrenaline... It was such a buzz. The opening song was brilliant as usual. It gave you a feel of the location and era of what was about to take place. The ensemble were fabulous. The second song was where the audience met the boy band. Elsie held her breath as 'Danny' walked on, amazed at just how much he was already affecting her.