Forever And Ever.

33

I stood back and looked at the pretty decent D.I.Y job I had done of hanging the photo of Noel and I up on the feature wall of the dining room. I was going to put it in the livingroom but we already had a painting on the wall above the TV where I thought to hang it. I leant over to the table and picked up my mug of tea, admiring how happy we looked even after such a difficult time in our marriage.
I was distracted by the post coming through the letter box. Today was the day my article is published in NME.
I ran over to it in anticipation and sure enough, several bills, a letter and a copy of NME was there.
I felt like an excited schoolgirl as I threw myself down on the sofa and ripped the clear packaging off it.
I flicked through to my feature. Which, thank god, had photos that had been taken for press releases ect when my hair was long and I was young so I didnt have to take any more for it looking like a drowned rat.
My eyes scanned the page, digesting the words.
'She's Electric: Former NME Journalist and OASIS wife, Jessica Gallagher, tells all' anyone would think it was an article from Hello! or something like that with that title.
'Jessica Gallagher, wife of Noel, walks into my office and marvels at how much it has changed since it belonged to her. She seems pleased to see me but nervous, almost like she is trying to hide something. We talk about how she unfortunately missed out on OASIS live at Knebworth, probably the greatest gig of this decade, due to illness. She chuckles and tells me about how she saw the 70's rock 'n' roll legends Pink Floyd there with her dad in 1976, when she was just nine years old.
She seems to be avoiding the questions a bit. At one point she asks me for a cigarette even though she supposedly hasnt touched one since her daughter, Elizabeth Darlene, was born.
I ask her what its like being married to noel. "Bein' married to Noel is fantastic really, we grew up together. The Noel the world knows and the Noel I know are two completely different people. To the world hes this spokesman for the unemployed population of lads and teens that are angry with the world today, hes seen as being boisterious and larger than life? But the Noel I know is well, the opposite. He does nothing but care about me" she tells me. You can really see how much she loves him just in that statement.
I was trying to get around to the big questions that we all wanted to know. Why are you hiding away from the press? What really happened that night? Are you really ok?.
Eventually we got to them. She told me about how she battled a cocaine addiction and said that she "never gave up" on hope of getting better.
Everything seemed fine for Noel and Jess for a while after her stint in rehab, they lived in a massive house, had a beautiful little girl, two cats and a dog. It seemed like the dream life until one night Jessica was home alone and fell out a second floor window of their home in North london.
She says she was then in a coma for three weeks believing that it was the year 2000 and then she woke up on her thirtieth birthday in hospital where she was later diagnosed Bipolar and had a bleed on the brain. She decided to go on tour with OASIS as she believed she was going to die. When asked how she felt about this, she replied in a solemn tone "heartbroken for Noel and for Eliza. I didnt even care about myself. I just didnt want them to lose me and I just prayed that they wouldnt every night". As someone who has known Jessica her whole career, even I felt saddened when the news broke.
But jess survived and is slowly recovering from it all one step at a time. Will she go back to journalism? I asked "no" she replied flatly "But I am writing a book".
I seemed satisified with that answer but only time will tell. Jess' book on her expriences with OASIS and her life will be avaliable some time next year. END'.

I sighed. Well at least she didnt make me out to be a prick like I thought she would. I seemed nice enough on paper as I am in real life. I was distracted again by the landline ringing. I leant over to the end table next to the sofa and picked it up.
"Hello?" I call down the line, leaning on the sofa with my elbow.

"JESS, ITS LYLA" she shouts in a panic before i can even reply sarcastically that I knew it was her from the caller ID she speaks "I need to drop Eliza off at yours pronto".