stories from the city; damon albarn

42- Cannes

A year and some more time had passed since the events of the Hans Erlich show. The year was 1996. And over the past few months there had been radio silence between Chloe Erlich and Damon Albarn. They'd entirely stopped speaking to one another after the events of New York.

He'd fallen back in love with Justine apparently and maybe even more so with heron. Chloe was enamored with Ewan. Even more so than she had been before. In all honesty she felt secure for the first time in her life.

She'd begun the process of finalizing her first photography book, which was sort of a play by play of her favorite shots throughout the years. It had been a slightly hectic year. Especially with Ewan beginning to film for Velvet Goldmine and the other career opportunities that had begun popping up for him, most notably, he'd been asked to play Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars Prequels that were being developed.

The pair was even starting to look at houses or apartments to share. As they were getting tired of having to take refuge in a hotel room, or the Erlich estate. It was difficult to do either of those things as people were constantly around.

In fact, Chloe's final straw had been two weeks ago when a very notable musician had walked in on her and Ewan. It hadn't even been the middle of the day. It had been around 3 AM and Chloe's room was soundproof. The musician in question had accidentally thought her room was her father's studio.

Ewan didn't believe that. But he obviously wasn't going to say that. Not outloud at least.

But the duo was at Cannes for Trainspotting, hanging out among all the other famous actors and celebrities who had decided to attend. It was a bit of a shit show, but after realizing how much of the talent was British this year, Chloe felt a lot better about it all.

Chloe's sister Joan, a supermodel, had shipped her clothes for Cannes. Meaning that every single outfit she had was some new designer piece. Either custom made. Or not even being sold yet.

It was a bit much. Especially for Chloe. Who tended to stick to her jeans and tevas at this point in the summer.

So, there she stood, in her plaid outfit, sunglasses perched on her nose, looking over at Ewan's outfit and groaning. "It's not fair that you can wear that."

"You don't think I'm all gussied up?" He jokes, pointing towards his green corduroy pants, and red bomber jacket.

"No I don't think you are. You look like Ewan as Ewan. I look like Chloe, at the Grammys."

He looks at her strangely for a second "You don't want to wear my jeans do you?"

"No." She says exasperatedly "I'll pass."

"You look stunning." He says grinning "I'm serious. You do."

"And you look like you're walking to buy cigarettes."

"Oh that was rude." He says playfully, following her out of their hotel door, eventually making their way out and around, somewhat in the direction of the festival.

To be fair, they were driven there and Ewan's manager was directing the two of them around and away from the hoards of paparazzi there to take photos of the stars.

"Who all is coming to this?" She asks "For Trainspotting." She adds

"Most of the main crew. Minus Jonny."

Chloe frowns. She rather liked him. He was funny to hang out with.

"Why couldn't he come?"

"Marriage problems." Ewan answers shortly.

Jonny was married to Angelina Jolie. Little known fact, the two got along great half of the time, and then either fought or ignored the other. And if Jonny was missing Cannes and his own movie because of that, then something was really wrong.

Or he just didn't care for these kind of appearances. Chloe figured it was a mix of both. He didn't seem like the type to like watching his own films, unless through a vaguely critical lense.

"But everyone else is here?" She asks, gazing around the various white tents, spotting a few familiar faces overall.

"Maybe."

Ewan nervously shoved his hands in his pockets. This was an important weekend. Trainspotting would be getting its debut. He was here with Chloe and there were so many things he needed to say and do.

It was nerve wrecking.

His silence is broken by the sound of Chloe chattering away with someone, and when he looks up, he recognizes the person to be Noel Gallagher. Perhaps the more tolerable Oasis brother

"Why are you here?" Chloe asked playfully

"Why are you dressed like a fucking detective?" He says defensively "Can't a guy see a damn movie?"

Chloe snickers before saying "Is Liam here?"

Noel scowls "If one more person asks me that I might as well fucking kill myself right here and right now."

Ewan's face scrunches up as the Mancunian said this aloud. It wasn't the prettiest picture to imagine. Let alone verbalize.

"Besides, he's got girl problems at the moment. Apparently he's all in a tizzy. Seeing too many people at once."

"Isn't he engaged?"

Noel shrugs "Yeah, but he's got other commitments."

Chloe knew who that was and decided she didn't really want to hear anymore about they, and excused herself from the conversation. Ewan however, wished he could've gotten the information as he was just finally starting to get the gist of the conversation.

"Who's the other commitment?" He asks sounding puzzled

"Avery Pince I bet. Saw her a few weeks ago, was acting way different than normal. And I know what she looks like when she's sane."

Ewan nods his head, understanding what she had said. "Is there anyone you want to meet? Or introduce us to? I'm sure you're familiar with more of the folks here than I am"

It was embarrassing but sometimes Ewan did feel a little out of place when he was at events like these. It was comforting to see that he'd aligned with the semi casual dress code, but there were always moments where he doubted his position, name and everything.

There were times where he felt isolated from everyone, even Chloe, just due to the fact that she blended into the world he was unsure about half of the time.

Even more, he worried if his relationship was satisfactory for Chloe.

He really loved her. He did. But he was scared that he was holding her back, or that maybe he wasn't good enough for her. Something founded purely on the idea of who Chloe was and wasn't supposed to be.