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As she sat in the back of a taxi next to Alex, Lola couldn't seem to shift the grin from her face. He reciprocated a wide smile back at her.
"I don't know why I'm so excited to wander round Sheffield at 1am," Lola laughed. "I've lived here my entire life and normally I'd be too worried about the chance that I'd be murdered, but it just seems so... liberating! It's like waking up in the city that never sleeps, rather than sleeping in the city that never wakes up."
"What can I say, love? Dorothy was right though." Alex winked with a grin. He turned to the driver and raised a hand. "Can you just drop us off here, mate? And would you mind staying here, while we pop out for a little while."
The taxi driver grumbled something about losing money and Alex wasting his time.
"If you wait here for the next half an hour," Alex bartered, "I'll give you 200 quid."
"You're a very reasonable young man," the driver replied graciously. "I am at your command." He streched his hand out and Alex placed the money in it.
"You have that kind of money lying around?" Lola asked in surprise.
"Well, people seem to pay a lot to see four lanky gits from Sheffield. I think it's the hair."
"If you're getting paid that kind of money just for having greasy hair, I might give it a try sometime." She chuckled and reached for the door to leave, but it was firmly shut and refused to budge.
After waiting a second, Alex leaned over her and pushed it open. "Red light indicates doors are secured. You gotta wait for it to flash off."
"Do you ever stop quoting your own songs?"
"You've heard them haven't you? Do you really blame me?"
Lola rolled her eyes jokingly. "Dick," she mumbled.
The two climbed out of the car and onto the street. The taxi drove off round a corner with the driver shouting out the window how he would come back for them in 30 minutes.
Turning around, Lola saw that they were at a secondary school of some sorts. "Where are we?"
"Stocksbridge High School. This is where me and Matt used to go. We formed the Monkeys when we were 16 with Jamie and another mate, who left a year after our debut. Jamie didn't come here. We knew him because he lived on my street and always banged on about his guitars." Alex laughed. "One time, I remember when Jamie broke into our school. At least, I say broke in... the door was wide open."
