Band On The Run

I'm Still Standing

Will eyed me up knowingly, but he still relented with a little sigh. "Claire is good; she's busy doing publicity shit of her own for a movie that's about to be released. If you want to know any more you should just call her, she'd love to hear from you."

The fact that I knew she would've been happy to hear from me made me grimace slightly. I could just imagine the brightness in her voice when she realized it was me, always the definition of genuine, and it made my stomach clench with guilt. I was going to develop an ulcer soon.

I averted my eyes down to my drink and started, "And what about –"

"Nope," Will repeated, just as firm as before. "Call Claire and talk to her if you want to hear about her. And if you want to know about Seth, you need to talk to him. I'm not going to be the go between like the old days."

"I just wanted to know how he is," I returned, a bit sharp as I looked up from my drink.

"Talk to him, he's around," Will said steadfastly. "Whatever you guys are fighting about now, you know all you have to do is say one word and he'd go wherever you are."

That information did nothing to help me. I already knew he was around; he was being presented that award tomorrow night. What I wanted to know about were his plans after the award show, but it didn't look as if Will was willing to spill a word.

Leaning his elbows on the table, he leaned towards me, almost conspiratorial. "So are you going to tell me what you guys are fighting about now?"

"The same things we've been arguing about since I was eighteen," I answered by way of not giving an answer. "Some things never change."

Will rolled his eyes dramatically. "Some things do change, though. You're not eighteen anymore, Seth isn't twenty one – everything's different. You don't follow him around with stars in your eyes, and he doesn't act as if the very fact is killing him."

"Jesus," I said, taken aback enough that I leaned away from him. "I see you never learned to soften a blow."

"Ah, but I know you, you've never respected a soul who wasn't straight up with you."

The look I sent him was withering, but it didn't even cause a flicker of doubt across Will's face. "I appreciate some decorum," I said primly.

Yet that just had Will grinning broadly back at me. And I couldn't help the fact that I relented, shoulders slumping slightly, as I raised my eyes to the ceiling in exasperation. So he didn't bother to say another word on that subject, instead choosing to ask, "Have you picked your song yet?"

That wasn't exactly a welcome subject either, and I winced obviously. "Nothing feels right," I complained.

"Tomorrow night you have to get up on stage, and not only present Seth an award, but you're the last in a group of people playing songs in his honour. And you have to do it in front of a crowd, not to mention all the people that will see it live on their TVs. Keely, you have to pick a song already."

"Do you think I don't know that?"

At my nasty tone, Will heaved a gigantic sigh, dropping his forehead into his palm. "Seth still hasn't given Mark a list of the three songs that he's going to play," he told me, finally letting go of a little piece of information. "I think the man is about to have a nervous breakdown."

A frown appeared on my face instantly, and I asked, "Seth?"

"No, Mark of course."

"I did notice that he seemed a bit tense lately," I admitted as I took a sip from my coffee. It was finally a tolerable temperature.