In Another Life (1993-1996)

Tender Age In Bloom

The snotty receptionist nodded her head slightly as Ben and I walked into the 1st floor lobby of Creation Records. She needed to realise she was only a assistant of an indie record company that is really, not that big at all, because she seemed to think she was the personal assistant of the Queen. Ben looked up at the ceiling and saw the words ‘Northern Ignorance’ scrawled on there.

“Don’t ask.” I muttered as he looked confused. The boss around here had got high and wrote it whilst walking the length of the room on the tables. Noel had loved it and informed me that it was the only reason he signed here. I checked for him in the recording studio and the instrument room but he wasn’t there, meaning he was in the writing room as he called it. Looking quickly around the door to see if he is alone, I walked in. Ben followed after me, acting awkward. Noel looked in as we entered, his pen poised over editing a song written on lined paper. I sat down next to him and read it over his shoulder.

‘The music is his drug

He need no more or less

When you see him playing

You hear his thought at best

He nothing but a wanderer

But for a moment he’s a star

People pay to see his street show

Before he moves on by.’

“I don’t remember this one?” I said as I read through the rest of the song and checking my memory of Oasis hits.

“Well you better start learning it, I wrote it for you.” He said still reading through his creation, still checking for mistakes. I screamed happily.

“Really?” I asked as he had wound me up like this before too many times. He looked at me, smirking a little in reply. I hugged him tight around his shoulders.

“Do you wanna learn the chords?” He picked up his acoustic and handed it to me, picking the electric for him. He played Am, plucking the strings gently, and then moved to the C, then went G, D and E, strumming the last three chords.

“It’s just the same thing over and over until the bridge.” He said.

“Why, what is the bridge?” I asked, playing what he had already shown me.

“Whatever you think fits. You make it up. Just do something different.”I was overjoyed. He was letting edit a song that had his name on it. Ben tapped his foot along to the catchy rhythm of the song. He smiled at me, and mouthed ‘you’re really good’ not wanting to interrupt my playing. I played it the whole way through, twice. The bridge had been an easy choice. C, D, G. I strummed heavily with snappy gaps in between.

“I like that; it breaks it up a little.” Noel said, nodding in approval. “What you playing tonight then?”

“Urm, Free, Partners In Crime and Warrior Angels, they’re both mine. Then I might play this one, I’ve got the hang of it now. Then the other one you wrote me. I might do a cover of Love Me Do and then I think I’m done!” I said, smiling madly.

“So, have you written any girly love songs about me?” Noel said, smiling smugly as he played some sweet chords on the guitar. I blushed.

“No.” I said a little too quickly.

“You have, haven’t you?”

“No.”

“It’s okay if you have.”

“I haven’t!”

“Not even a little one about your amazing writer?”

“No!”

“About how you find me very sexy?”

“NO!” I practically screamed. Noel looked shocked and then burst out laughing. He was laughing so hard at my bright red face; a mixture of embarrassment that Ben had just heard all that and anger that Noel was teasing me again. Tears were rolling down his face and he had reached a point where he wasn’t making any noise. When he looked up and saw Ben’s awkward face and new found attention with his Roast Beef Monster Munch, he roared with laughed even harder. His face was now rivalling mine.

After about 10 minutes he had calmed down enough for legible speech. Ben had finished his crisps and I was playing around with guitar chords. They sounded really good together with the capo on the fourth fret. G, D, C, Em. It sounded like a Beatles song to me. The simplistic style of playing was key to penning a hit and they definitely had a lot of hits. Noel had stopped laughing fully now and was listening, apparently figuring out a tune. He hummed it softly beneath his breath for a while and I began think up lyrics. But nothing came to me. I sighed, and then checked my watch. I had an hour and a half to get my lunch and be ready for the concert. I had began to gather my stuff together before Ben realised we were leaving.

“How about I think up some lyrics to that tune?” Noel said, packing away his guitar.

“Yeah, that’d be great. Are you coming to the show tonight?” I asked walking slowly to the door, where Ben was already standing.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, baby.” He said, going back to his notepad. I took a few more steps towards the door whilst replying

“You’re only going to see my looking sexy on stage.”

“Oh, definitely. You’ll look a babe up there.”

“You won’t know, you’ll be backstage hoping to be a groupie.”

“Yes, of course. But seriously, you’ll be great. And if you fail I’ll jump on stage and start cracking jokes, did I ever tell you I’m a king of stand up?” I giggled and he laughed along too. I was ready for tonight. I was ready for anything, if Noel was there to catch me.I waved lazily over my shoulder as I left and went down stairs again.

Ben was silent the whole walked back, pushing my hand away if I tried to slip in into his. We reached the house, still with no one speaking. I didn’t know what was wrong with him, so I didn’t know how to start a conversation. He pulled out his key and unlocked the door, Wanda wasn’t in. Well, this was going to be awkward. He headed into the living room, closing the door behind him in my face. I growled and entered, sick of the mardy attitude.

“What? What have I done?” I said, holding my hips angrily. He looked up at me, annoyed.

“You completely ignored me in there; it was like I wasn’t good enough for you and your older band mates. Do you like him? Because you seem all happy now that he’s back. Is that who that the letter was from? It is, isn’t it? And I actually thought you liked me.” He sighed and flopped back onto the sofa, as he had stood up during his rant. I was shocked. I didn’t realise he was angry that I didn’t talk to him for those 20 minutes we were there. He had seemed pretty happy when I looked over.

“I’m sorry. I just needed to sought out the songs, and he writes them for me. We’re just friends. I promise. I do like you, you fool.” I smiled and sat on the sofa next to him. After a second of him not saying anything, I snuggled into his body. He sighed again and then dropped his arm around my shoulder. He spoke quietly.

“I’m sorry too. I over reacted. So, what are you wearing tonight? Is it something sexy” He asked, faking innocence. I giggled and got up.

“Do you wanna see?”He nodded and I ran up the stairs to get changed.