Laughter Lines

We all have secrets.

‘Thank you for coming, we’ve been Dan Smith.’ With those words, the four guys went off stage. Everything went as planned. It wasn’t a sold out gig, but it wasn’t an empty room either. The crowd responded positively to the songs and returned home satisfied. Re-watching the pictures I took, I could not help but laugh. For almost the entire gig, Dan was hiding behind Will. If that wasn’t enough, he was constantly staring at his feet. I’m not even sure if he’d ever looked up.

‘That was pretty mental, wasn’t it?’A familiar voice said.

I looked up and saw Dan’s grinning face.

‘It was great. Told you they were going to love you!’ I said, poking him.

‘There were more people than I would ever have expected to come, it’s insane.’

I could see the excitement and disbelief on his face. He looked like a 10 year old who had just managed to convince his mum to go to McDonalds for dinner.

‘Oh so you did see something else than your shoes tonight?’ I joked.

I could see a blush appearing on his face.

‘ Haha, yeah.. Everybody must think I’m some kind of weirdo with a serious mental disorder.’

Kyle joined us. ‘This has to be celebrated! It’s the perfect excuse to get terribly drunk!’

‘Definitely. We can hang at my place?’ Dan suggested.

‘Perfect! I’ll go tell Will and Woody, see you in a bit!’

Dan and I stopped by a night shop to buy some more alcohol, just to prevent running out of alcohol on their first ‘We’re a band’ celebration party. I took some snacks with me as well. I was literally starving. Dan grinned when he saw me struggling with all the bags.

‘Let me help you.’  He took over all the bags with ease.

‘Wow, I didn’t know you were that strong Smith!’ I laughed.

‘There’s a lot you don’t know about me.’ He grinned.

‘Is that so? I thought we were soul mates who shared everything? I should know every little detail about you, every thought that ever crossed your mind should be shared. It’s not allowed to have secrets for me, Smith. ’ I pretended to sound offended.

‘Well, I guess there are some things I simply cannot tell you..’ He suddenly sounded serious.

When I turned to face him, he had a sad expression on his face. I was just messing with him, I never meant to upset him. I wondered what I’d said that had upset him this much. Neither one of us said anything. The rest of the ride home was spent in silence. I felt kinda bad. In all this years that we’d been friends we never had a moment like this. Sure, we’ve had our fights. But it never came to a point where we didn’t speak to each other.  

‘I’m sorry’ I said when we entered his apartment.

‘What fore?’  Dan asked. In some way, he sounded confused. As if the last 20 minutes of awkward silence were nothing to worry about.

‘You know.. about what I said earlier. That you aren’t allowed to have secrets for me. I was just joking. I never meant to upset you. Of course you have secrets, we all have.’ 

'Oh no no no.' Dan dropped the bags and almost sprinted towards me. He grabbed my shoulders and said: 'I'm so sorry if I gave you the wrong impression. It's just.. I suddenly got distracted by a melody that came up in my head. I think it might be a tune for a new song. I was so lost in thought that you might have misinterpreted the whole situation. I'm not mad or even slightly upset.'

'You, idiot! I thought you hated me.'

'I could never hate you' He said and pulled me in for a hug. I closed my eyes and buried my head in his chest.

'Let me hear it' I whispered. 

'Let you hear what?' He said. 

'The melody that got stuck in your head.'

For the first time, I didn't have to argue or persuade him to let me hear his work. My head was still buried in his chest, his arms still wrapped around me when he moved his lips towards my ear and softly started to sing.

Your body lies upon the sheet, of paper and words so sweet. I can't say the words, so I wrote you into my verse..'

His words softly drifted through my mind. 

'That's all I got so far.' He whispered quietly..

'Sing it again.' My voice sounded needy, almost desperate.  I don't know what came over me, but I was enchanted by his words. I didn't want it to stop, not just yet. Once again, his lips softly touched my ear and gently he started to sing those words again. I wrapped my arms around him, one hand softly stroking his back. His hand moved towards the back of my head, his fingers fiddling through my hair. I could not understand his actions, or his sudden intimacy. But I didn't need to. All I wanted was to be loved and right now it felt as if I was. 

'Is this a bad time? We can come back later if you want.' Someone said from the doorway.

We quickly let go of each other. It were Kyle, Will and Woody standing in the doorway, smirking. 

'No of course not, come in. We were just.. nothing really.. come in.' Dan said, clearly embarrased. 

'Yeah, nothing..' I mumbled.