Story of a Heart

Chapter 4: Small Talk

Lisa's point of view
I got off the train, bag in one hand, holding Faye's hand as if she was a child with the other. I dragged Faye along, glancing behind me just to make sure she was still there as we came off the platform into the main part of the station.
"Alright you can let go!" Faye announced in an irritated tone.
"I don't want you to go wondering off and get lost cause you've been quite spacy today and I know what you can be like. I'm only doing it because I care about you Treacle." I replied.
"Well could you perhaps walk a little slower, I'm having trouble keeping up with you!" She replied.
I slowed my walking pace so she could catch me up without having to run, looking round for a sign towards the place I'd agreed to meet Claire as I paused.
"Hey Faye, Lisa! Wait for me!" A familiar Welsh voice shouted.
I stopped and turned around, causing Faye, who wasn't paying attention to her surroundings to walk into me. I already knew what she was daydreaming about again so I didn't bother to ask. She grumbled about how unimpressed she was, and I hugged her as gently as I could while holding her hand, stood in the middle of a train station with my bag of stuff.
"H!" I said, as I smiled at our bandmate
"Is Lee picking you up?" Faye asked excitedly, not even bothering to greet him. Now both of us knew where her mind was without her even telling H about her crush.
"He was meant to be, but as Claire was meant to be collecting you from the same place at the same time, she agreed to pick me up as well, save Lee the trip." H explained.
"Makes sense..." Faye replied, sounding rather disappointed.
The three of us walked together to the place where Claire was meeting us. We hadn't actually noticed Claire was there until she shouted at us. "Took ya long enough." Me and Faye instinctively looked round to where the voice had come from. Claire, now with shorter hair than before Christmas, and her sunglasses on her head - I'm guessing that it was a fashion statement, it was winter after all and I seriously doubted that Claire of all people would have a hangover - was sat on a bench by the coffee shop. Faye pulled her hand free from mine, ran over and hugged her, dropping her bag in the process, so I picked it up and walked over with H following.
"Hey Claire." I said, acting a lot more normal than my best friend was.
"Hello." H added.
Claire hugged Faye back, rubbing her back just like you'd do to comfort a crying child. "Hey guys! Gosh hasn't it been a long Christmas break without seeing each other! I missed you guys so much! Lee arrived just as I was leaving to collect you guys. And urhm oh yeah we might get a number one in case you didn't know." Claire said, barely bothering to pause for breaths between sentences. I laughed at just how excited Claire sounded, and how Faye tightened her hug when Claire mentioned Lee's name.
"I've missed that. The permanent excitement in your voice!" I giggled in reply. We'd been told twice before we were nearly at the number one spot and both times we'd fallen short so none of us actually expected we'd get there. Faye detached herself from Claire, and sat herself down on the bench next to her.
"I think I did too. But then I missed a certain pair of brunettes too so you know." H replied.
We all laughed, and I gave Faye her bag back.
"Well come on then, we better be getting back." Claire said, holding Faye's hand and helping her up, and linking arms with H. I took hold of H's other hand.
"Anybody do anything fun over Christmas?" H asked. When nobody replied, he re-worded his question and tried again. "Anybody do anything over Christmas?" He asked.
"I mainly looked after Gemma, and my cousins when they got far too drunk. Which was like most of Christmas... god it was as bad as being on tour with you two!" Claire said.
"Well I was just thinking: no change from your normal life there then." Faye replied with a laugh and a glance at me. I thought of all the times Claire had been there for us when we got too drunk. "I discussed boy problems with my sister. I can't actually believe I had to get advice on boyfriends from my sister! I've always had so much more luck with guys than her." She added.
"Oh... that's embarrassing I guess. But... What's this boy you like called then? Do we know him?" Claire replied being usually nosey, unlocking the car as she did.
Faye's face went bright red as she realised she'd mentioned the topic she wanted to avoid. "Lee. His name is Lee." Faye said, looking and sounding very embarrassed.
"What? Lee as in the one who we work with?" H asked.
"Yeah." She replied. She shoved her bag in the car, and then she got in the back of the car, picking the side behind the driver's seat. I sat the other side, and H sat in the front.
"Like Lee from Steps Lee?"
"Yes H." Faye replied almost venomously.
"H! Stop bulling Faye and find the road map, it's in the foot-well on your side." Claire said.
"Do you seriously not know your way to this place yet?" H teased. Claire lobbed a pen at him.
"I know the way; I just can't always remember it." She replied, indignantly.
"What did you do in our Christmas break H?" I asked suddenly to prevent an argument.
"Change of subject, but I helped my parents at the farm for my break. Its so weird being up in the valleys now, like in my house and the houses nearby it's just so normal and like nothing's changed but every time I go to the village there are girls swarming me!" H answered, laughing at the last bit.
"I mean I'm not sure rural Wales has ever produced too many big celebrities that are on TV like every week mate! But nice, glad you got some peace. I tried not to kill any of my brothers over Christmas." I said, laughing slightly.
"Speak for yourself I swear loads of singers come from Wales!" Claire replied.
"Name one then." H retorted.
"Tom Jones."
"Yeah fair play that one's on me." H replied dishearted by how easily she'd got a singer in there and that neither him or me had been that singer.
"Cerys Matthews while we're here. And I guess the rest of that band." Claire added.
"Catatonia" I mumbled, hating how she always forgot. We'd literally met them and she still never remembered the band's name.
"I can name two Claire forgot." Faye piped up from next to me. I was surprised she'd even been paying attention. "Two very talented friends."
"Ohhhhh..."
Faye cut Claire off before she could steal the moment. She put on the worst fake Welsh accent I'd ever heard, much to H and I's amusement as she announced "Lisa and H."
All three of us giggled, though Claire sighed indignantly and ignored us.

H's point of view
Lisa has a cute laugh and a cute voice. I missed her when we were apart, mostly because she was an amazing friend. She was certainly one of the friends that I didn't ever want to lose. I wasn't attracted to her in any way, those sorts of feelings were reserved for Lee, although even if we'd never date and I was now sure I'd always see her as a sister, she was a brilliant friend. Faye's words were still echoing around in my head though. Both of us wanted to date the same guy, and she by far had a better chance than me because, first things first, she was a girl and I was a guy.
I flicked through the a-z, looking for where we were. Surrendering on that front, I used the index to find the name of a street we were about to pass, a much easier method than the one I originally chose. I put my forefinger onto the map where we were, tracing the route we were taking with my finger. Claire turned on the radio, as nobody could think of anything to say, and it killed an awkward silence. Throughout the journey out of the centre of London surprisingly nobody had anything to say, so the only sound to be heard was the radio and the somewhat usual sound of someone singing.
Don't Stop Believing came on then, which killed the peace, as Lisa and Faye both started singing, I laughed at how the both started singing at the same moment and then joined in myself as they broke out into giggles at how in sync they were. Even Claire was singing along. It was just brilliant fun getting to be together and completely doing as we wanted.
As the song ended, we reached a road junction, and Claire went right.
"Urrr... Claire I think you're meant to go left there." Lisa said.
"No, I think it's right." Faye replied.
I looked down at the road map, which I was fortunately still following the route on. "No it is right." I told Claire, "Lisa, this is why you're not allowed to drive places." I joked.
She slapped me playfully from behind. "At least I can drive and, Claire, when I do I end up where I'm meant to be if I follow a map." She said sarcastically. Me, Faye and Lisa laughed, while Claire probably did her usual job of eye rolling because somebody was taking the mick. This was why I loved these guys. They were my second family, there was no doubt about it. Sure we argued, but deep down we all loved each other really no matter how much hate Faye and I could yell down a hallway at each other some nights.

Faye's point of view
The silence was overwhelming after our directional debate. I quickly lost myself in thoughts, I wished Lee was here. Then this awkward silence wouldn't exist. I brushed my hands through my hair, making myself more comfortable, and caught my finger on the necklace Lisa gave me. I leant over to her. "Thanks." I whispered again, indicating to the necklace.
"No problem." She whispered back with a grin
The song on the radio came to an end, and another song came one. I recognised the intro, and swore under my breath. While One for Sorrow was a good song, it still irritated me. Claire began to sing along, don't get me wrong, Claire was a really good singer, it was just she was very in your face about being able to. Fortunately, as the second verse started, we pulled up outside the house. The finding of this specific house had come about when my engagement had been broken off. Having nowhere else to go I moved in with Lisa, which was the final straw and got her kicked out of the flat she shared with a friend, so we both moved into Claire's tiny flat. When within a week we'd irritated Claire, we started looking for a bigger flat, which had been when Lee had joined the search, mostly because he didn't really enjoy living alone although we all knew it was because he didn't trust the three of us to live together without something stupid happening. H had joined for the sake of it. We'd eventually found this pretty little place about an hour from the studio where we usually recorded. The best thing about it was that we all called the place home.