𝑫𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝑬𝒄𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒚 ☘︎ Robert Keating

016

⋆. 𐙚 ̊ july 2021

The lights were low, warm-toned and hazy, making everyone look a bit more golden than they really were. The flat was packed, friends of the band, family, random industry people who suddenly cared now that the debut was out. Elijah was glowing. Noora stood next to him, proud but pretending not to be.

June had found Rob tucked into the corner booth where the music wasn't too loud, a pint in his hand and that familiar grin on his face when she sat down beside him. She'd decided to pretend she didn't know about Clara. his girlfriend. The energy wasnt weird or uncomfortable, just two friends who've known eachotehr a long time.

They'd been talking for what felt like an hour, about lyrics, guitar pedals, the weird story behind track six. Their knees touched under the table, and neither of them moved away. Her chest felt light. It felt easy. Like nothing had ever happened.

"Can I show you the vinyls?" He suddenly asked, standing up already without waiting for an answer. June stood as well, following him.

"Come here," like it was a secret. He led her through the crowd toward the table where stacks of glossy new vinyls were spread out like treasure.

He picked one up and carefully slid out the inner sleeve. On the front were all the lyrics, handwritten, and on the back was a black-and-white photo of the band, all leaning into each other, smirks and half-grins like they'd been caught between jokes. Above it was the neat block of credits and production notes.

Then, at the bottom left, also in someones handwriting, there was a paragraph.

"Read that," Robert said, tapping his finger against it.

June leaned in, 'A special thanks to...' she scanned through the names, some she knew instantly, some she didn't. And then her eyes stopped cold.

June McCartney.

Her breath caught. She looked up at him, blinking too fast to keep the prickling in her eyes away. "What.."

He shrugged, a tiny smile at the corner of his mouth. "You were there at the start. Those first writing sessions in 2018-19? They shaped a lot of where we went. Even if you didn't write this album with us, you... influenced it. A lot. I mean, you were there when we wrote the title-track."

It hit her deeper than she expected, pride swelling up so fast it almost hurt, happiness threading through it like gold. She forgot about all the awkward silences lately, forgot about the playlist and the girl, forgot about everything except this moment.

She was about to say something, anything, when someone walked up to Robert with a half-empty pint.

"Hey, is Clara coming tonight?"

The sound of her name was like a sharp knock on glass.

June looked away quickly, pretending to study the tracklist, willing herself not to let her face give anything away. The warmth from a second ago dimmed, replaced by something heavy in her chest.

Robert hesitated before answering. "Uh, yeah... later."

And just like that, June remembered.

She tilted her head and smiled. Teasing. Playing it cool.

"Clara?" she echoed, as if it were a new name to her, like she hadn't already spent three nights scrolling through Spotify and piecing them together from online crumbs.

Her voice sounded steady, even playful. Inside, she felt like her ribcage had tilted just slightly off centre.

Rob gave a half-laugh. Scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah.... My girlfriend."