Obstruction

Almost Unreal

-Almost Unreal, Roxette -

https://open.spotify.com/track/0Eg4qP0GJUirsZtP1pTV6R

- October 24th -

Sunday morning after the first gig I woke to find Simon sat at the counter in our kitchen eating breakfast. My mum was out of sight.
I had folded out the sofa into a sleeping futon for him before taking myself upstairs for a shower and some sleep.
Oddball and Ethan were gone, presumably having left at some point after my retreat.
Simon smiled as I sat down and stole a piece of bacon from his plate.

"Oy... my food!" He said with minimum amount of annoyance.

"Oy... my house!" I replied and took a slice of his toast.

This had been our thing since childhood. Whenever we stayed over at each others house, the first one to wake made breakfast for both while trying to make it look like it was for just one. Sarah used to say that there was no use setting out two plates. We'd only use the one.

Simon reached to the counter next to him and handed me a mug of coffee.
I took it gratefully and held it in the air. He lifted his own mug and we clinked before drinking.

"You make the best coffee!" I exclaimed after taking a big gulp.

He nodded with his mouth full of bacon. I reached over and took another piece.
He looked at me with a happy smile until I felt the need to frown. His smile was a little bit too wide, and there was a secretive look in his eyes.

"I'm so happy that you joined the band, Izzy!" He said eventually.

"Me too!" I said nodding along and chomping on a piece of toast.

"You have no idea! We have been a year without Billy... A whole year without vocals... I mean... We have Ethan, but you saw him. He can't sing when he's like that," Simon said sincerely

"I know," I replied.

"We haven't had as many gigs as we should and Oddball was hinting about quitting the whole thing," he told me.

I frowned slightly.

"Really?" I asked.

"Ethan has just done a year at the music conservatory. He was considering going back to his classical stuff before you came along," Simon said with a smile.

I raised my eyebrows.

"Yeah... apparently he abandoned a promising violin career to study economics. Go figure!" Simon chuckled.

"It sounds sensible to me," I shrugged.

"I suppose... I mean... He's a sensible dude," Simon replied.

"You know. I haven't heard him sing... at all," I said.

Simon scratched his stubbly face making a sandpapper noise with his nails.

"You've been doing all the backing vocals," I pointed out to him.

"Yeah..." Simon said thoughtfully.

Not that it mattered.

"You should hear him tho... Sings like an angel and blushes like a virgin bride!" Simon chuckled while shaking his head.

"That boy is so strange," I laughed back and took another piece of food.

"Strange?" Simon frowned.

"As if he doesn't want anyone to really know him. Like he holds back," I said.

"But you like him?" Simon asked.

I wondered for a second what kind of like he meant.

"Yeah. Him and Oddball, both," I replied pushing the mental image of a crooked smile to the back of my mind.