Sleepless Dreams

Chapter Three

The interview went very well. Emily covered all the usually questions, plus, what were their own musical tastes outside the band? Were they able to lead normal lives, despite the renewed success? And what did they think of the fans that stayed at their hotels and followed them round on tour?

The guys seemed to enjoy the questions. In particular they had a long discussion between themselves about their fans and whether they liked them being around at the hotels and such.

During the interview Howard was fairly quiet but she wasn’t surprised from the clips she’d seen, he didn’t always join in as much as the others. At one point, Emily caught Howard looking at her in a very intense way, as though he was trying to work something out.

After about an hour, Lara reminded Emily of the time and that the photographer was due to arrive in a few minutes. He’d text Lara to say he was on his way. Emily wound up the interview and thanked them for their co-operation. They had been so down-to-earth and patient with the all the questions. They were obviously used to being interviewed, but they were 10 times better than some of the bands she’d interviewed, who seemed to be on a mission to be as awkward as possible.

Will the photographer arrived shortly afterwards. When he arrived the band were all really please to see him because he had worked with them before, on some of the promo for the Ultimate Tour.

“That’s good that you know each other” Emily said.

“Yes, they’ll behave for me.” laughed Will.

“What, we always behave!” Gary tried to sound indignant, but failed, laughing at Will as he rolled his eyes in mock despair.

“Of course you do Gary, it’s the others I’ve gotta watch” Will replied, smiling at the others as they shook their heads.

“Right, lets go up to the roof before it rains or the light goes.” Will announced.

Lara and Tom ushered the guys out of the room and Emily followed as Tom had asked earlier, if she was staying to watch the shoot.

Usually Emily would have politely declined and gone back to the office. But she was fascinated by them for some reason…There was a sort of aura around them…Plus Howard, he was intriguing her and - well - she had to admit to a certain attraction, but she didn’t for a minute think he would be interested.

“I’m sure he has far more glamorous women chatting him up all the time.” She thought to herself and smiled looking down at her “work” clothes: skinny black jeans, a tee-shirt under a military-style, three-quarter length coat, a long scarf to keep out the cold and black boots. Her hair was pulled back in a loose pony hair and she had little make-up on, save some mascara, a bit of blusher and some lip-gloss, that’d long worn off during the day.

It was a very quick shoot. Will chatted to the band about what he wanted to achieve with the pictures. Then he was off, snapping away and every now and again checking the images, then showing it to the guys and if they all agreed. He’d move on to the next set.

Every now and again Emily noticed Howard looking over at her and giving her a friendly smile. She’d smiled back while her heart did a little flip. This was not happening! Surely he wasn’t really interested in her? An ordinary girl from the suburbs? She lived in a trendy part of east London now but she was still a suburban girl at heart.

In all it took about an hour and a half. The light was starting to fade as Will declared he’d got enough shots. The band did a little theatrical cheer and then in turn thanked and then hugged Will goodbye. Then they went over to Emily and thanked her again and said their goodbyes. Emily thanked them back and was just about to start back down the stairs into the building, when Howard called out, “ Hey, do you want a lift back to your office?”