Summer '18 / H.S.

04

Los Angeles, USA
June 2021

(mind the dates)

He was lucky enough to get a seat facing the window. Being alone, while everyone else in the cafe was in groups of 3 or 4, it wasn't that hard to find a small, lonely table for two.

Honestly, the view wasn't great. Despite the altitude, you couldn't see the beach below or the Hollywood sign above. All that was to be seen from the windows of the cafe was the empty eponymous street surrounded by huge houses from the residential area.

Despite that, Harry was always enchanted by that view, and by all of Los Angeles. It felt like the place he belonged to. He loved being on the road more than anything, but he knew that if he ever had to settle down anywhere, it would be L.A.

He checked his phone. Already 3:23 pm. He locked it back, brushing away all the negative thoughts that invaded his mind as soon as he realized that it was already 23 minutes past the set meeting hour.

An old, white Peugeot passed on the street and Harry immediately took notice. After a confusing deja-vu moment, he finally recognized the car from an old French movie he was forced to watch 3 years prior. The film was set in Marseille, not coincidentally the city he was in at the moment of watching it.

It took him right back to that night in the French port-city. It was his first show with her by his side. Harry recalled the way she stood far back in the audience, trying to hide a shy smile everytime they made eye contact. He remembered how much he loved doing that: from the stage, he could look down at anyone, but it only felt familiar when his gaze met hers. He wished he could go back to that time, when everything was so much easier.

At the same time, he wouldn't change a thing. Everything worked out, didn't it? He was exactly where he wished he would be 3 years ago, when he sang for the first time, alone, in that pub in London. He made it, right?

Just then, Harry's coffee arrived.