Harold's Point Of View
September 15th
I wake up this morning with a bit of relief to find myself in my house, my bedroom. Being away and touring so much has made me miss my bed, it's so comfortable. I decide to spend an extra minute and enjoy finally being at home. It's been so long since the last day I haven't had to set an alarm.
Although I'm now home, I must keep the routine going, so I regretfully leave the bed, get dressed and head downstairs to my gym. I put some music and start my training. After an exhausting hour, I take a long cold shower. God, it feels good to be home!
I head back to my room to get dressed but get too tempted to rest some more, so I let myself collapse on my bed. In a matter of seconds, sleep is getting to me. I can feel myself drifting away in sleep when my phone buzzes on my night stand. Great... Who is it? I sit up with annoyance and take the call before it stops ringing.
It's the job. I must go to London to record quick videos for upcoming events.
I sigh, disappointed that I won't be spending that day relaxing as I had planned, and put some skinny trousers and the first comfy jumper I see. I tie my still wet hair in a bun and leave for work.
I get in my car and open my garage door, relieved there are no paps yet in my driveway. I drive slowly while looking for my sunglasses. There are so many, but I want my aviators. They hide more my face and I must look like shit from exhaustion. I feel like I have the worst hangover ever. The second this meeting is over I come back and get to bed. I find them and put them on. I buckle my seat belt when something hits my car very hard. I jump in surprise and immediately think of the worst. I can't be pictured in this situation. I need to handle this quickly. I look outside my window and get shocked at what's just happened.
Oh my God! I hit someone! I quickly get out to see the young woman down next to my front tire. Is she hurt? Does she need to go to the hospital? It's my fault, I should have watched where I was going.
"Ouch!" She says obviously dizzy, but with the cutest little voice. She has a laugh in her voice that calms me down a little. I don't think she's hurt that bad.
"Hey! Are you OK?" I ask her, leaning in to try to help her sit. I hope she's OK, but from how laid on the sidewalk she is I see that her jeans are a little scratched as well as her elbows and sadly her forehead. Her helmet slid back, it must be too loose. But thank God she was wearing one at all!
She nods and immediately tries to stand up. What is she trying to do? I knocked her really bad, she should sit and not stand so soon. She might have a concussion.
"I think I've hit something..." She lets out, looking around blindly. I can't help but laugh. Yeah she did, that something is my car!
"Are you sure you're OK? Do you need something?" I ask after staring at her a little too long. She might be physically fine, but maybe it's best to take her to the hospital.
"I'm hungry... What was that smell?" She responds, clearly coming to her senses. I can't help but smile. Who is this girl? She's been hit by my car and the first thing she talks about is eating. That's interesting. She's clearly doing fine, or the exact opposite to be asking that.
"It's the Spaniards' Inn. Hey? Do you want to go? I feel terribly sorry, I didn't see you."
"It's OK, don't be! I'm used to it, last week no one could hear me either so..." She responds as I laugh again. Surely this girl has not a lot of luck.
I'm considering letting her go, but I look at her bike. It's a wreck, totally broken, so she must walk. I feel too bad to do nothing. I look around trying to figure something out. And an idea strikes me.
"I'm sorry I wrecked your bicycle... Let me take you to the Inn for lunch, then I'll drive you home."
"You really don't have to, I'm fine really..." She politely declines looking up at me for the first time. She looks familiar. Have I seen her before? I look at her blue eyes and they move quickly looking up and down at me. It's cute... She's cute! Forget about my meeting, I'll get there when I get there.
"I insist, hop in!" I insist without giving her a choice, inviting her to my car with a sign of my arm.
"What about my bike?"
"I'll hide it for now until I buy you another one..." I calmly say as I take it and bring it to hide it in my garden. I close my garage door and I see her trying to get in the driver side. I brightly smile. What is she doing?!
"Other side, love. Unless you want to drive!" I laugh with bit of a grin.
"Right, I forgot..." She forgot? Where is she from?!
We get in and I leave my driveway for the Inn, a few meters away.
"So? American?" I ask, glancing quickly at her, before engaging carefully on the road, looking at both sides.
"No!" She says loudly with a laugh. "Why do you ask me that?"
"You got the wrong door!" I laugh and share my observation.
"Maybe I wanted to drive!" She answers quickly with a bit of an attitude. I did not expect that, she's quick at repartee. I find myself wanting to play along. It's on, dear!
"Well, we know how good you are at it, Love!" I mocker her again, putting my blinker to turn.
"Well, we know how good you are at it too!" She replies with a smirk. I look at her quickly and I see her smile growing on her face. She plays my game. I like it! "I'm Canadian." She adds with her warm smile. Of course she is! She seems so kind and warm, always smiling, even though I hit her, moments ago, with my car. She's strong. I like it!
"Nice. I've been there quite a few times myself..." I tell her, parking the car in the busy driveway of the Inn.
She immediately gets out once the engine is turned off and I see she's surprisingly still wearing her helmet. I look at her with more attention. She's so innocent and naive, it makes me smile.
"Do you still need your helmet, love?" I ask looking at her smiling and laughing at herself.
Her smile is familiar and it completely charms me, like it did before... I take a moment to look at her intently, getting the feeling I have seen her before. But once she catches my stare, I head for the pub.
A waitress welcomes us and guides us to a table, luckily, everyone preferred to eat outside, so I take advantage of the intimacy inside the restaurant. She leaves us at an intimate table, away from windows and take a seat.
"So? What's your name?" She asks with her usual optimism. Shit! What do I do? Do I tell her the truth and possible ruin the moment? I decide to play with the truth instead.
"Harold, what's yours?" I respond quickly, hiding behing the menu.
"Virginie! It's nice to meet you Harold!" Wait a minute! I see her smile growing larger on her face. I've seen it before, I'm sure of it now!
"Where were you headed, Harold? Before... you know..." She continues, nicely caring. Could it be!?
"Nothing important, some job stuff..." I blur out, trying to escape the question.
"What do you do?" Shit! That girl is so curious. What can I tell her without revealing my identity? It's nice having a normal conversation with a stranger. I have to think quick.
"I'm...an entertainer."
"Wow! Like a comedian?" She seems genuinely interested, but clueless. That's good!
"Of some sort, yeah! What do you do?" I quickly ask her to change the subject and make it about her. She almost seems surprised that I do.
"Oh, I'm a student at King's College. I am in the French and Film Studies' program. But I want to write stories either for books or movies. That's what I'd like to do... Is 'entertaining' your dream job?" Wow! She's artistic, passionate and she seems intelligent too...
"Yeah, I love it! But sometimes it sure is stressful and tiring..." I see her looking at me intently and smiling.
Whoever she is, I want to see her again. Her bike is just the perfect excuse to get her number. Her presence is very calming and her cute innocence is refreshing. I feel strangely at ease with her, and it would be even more enjoyable if my identity wasn't an issue.
"Can you write me how to reach you somewhere? I really want to pay you back the damaged I've caused you." I try to say with my usual charm, but she declines it. It shocks me.
What am I doing wrong? Doesn't she like me? I'm about to insist when I see her grabbing her blue little notebook out of her bag. Yet again, I'm shocked. Oh my God... I look at the first pages she turns before writing on the fourth. I'm pretty sure it's her! All the evidences are piling up.
I give her my Sharpie. She doesn't just write me her number. What is she doing? She writes for a moment and rips the page before giving it to me. I take it without even thinking about reading it first. I put it safely in my back pocket.
"Why do you still wear your sunglasses inside?" If she is who I think she is, she must not know who I am! Good luck with a lie, buddy!
"My eyes are very sensible to the light... this light... Today is a very sunny day, I guess I'm not used to it." Well done! What an atrocious lie! I roll my eyes to myself.
Thankfully, we receive our plates just in time to get me out of this situation. She keeps silent as she starts eating. I sneak a couple of glances her way, trying my best to be subtle. I smile despite of myself. The silence between us doesn't get awkward. It's very simple and easy, but I find myself looking for something to talk to her again. That's when I see that she hasn't touched her beer.
"You don't drink your ale?"
"I'm just not a big drinker, beer isn't really my thing..."
"You must at least taste it, then you can brag about drinking British beer!"
She isn't thrilled to the idea, I see she's maybe a bit disgusted at the thought of it. I'm about to tell her not to if she doesn't want to, but something in her eyes changes. She smiles at me and lifts her glass. Next thing I know she drank it all at once. I can't help but to smile to her.
"That's the spirit!" I let out a laugh as I eye her thoroughly, a smile clinging on my lips.
Her eyes are kind and her smile is contagious. She isn't like any other girl I've met before. I like her simplicity, and yet she has proven to me to have quite some depth. Her curiousity worried me, but it charmed me as well. She's great company. I needed that today.
I'm about to do the same with my beer in sign of support, but I see cars pulling up in a hurry and paparazzis coming in the driveway. I should have known... They always know to find me here, I live too close by. I get up quickly.
"I'll get the tab, we're leaving..." I say before storming out to pay.
I hurry the waitress, she knows me, I've been here a couple of times before. Thankfully, she understands the pressing matter.
I get back to my guest looking like a deer in front of headlights, not knowing what to do. I walk to her and give her directions to avoid getting caught in all this craziness.
"I've unlocked the doors, wait for me in the car and don't talk to anyone!" I push her to leave to avoid the drama of the medias.
Surprisingly, they don't care about her and head right to me. I smile at them and take out my Sharpie to give some autographs to get it over with. When I look at the car, some pap is taking pictures of her and shouting questions. Shit! I immediately run to the car, I notice she gets frightened when I get in, but I leave the parking as quickly as I can.
For once I had a real moment with somebody, and it had to be ruined.
I hope she is ok and does not suspect a thing... Damn paps! We were having a great time and they had to spoil it up. I don't want to make her feel uncomfortable.
It's silent in the car for a while, but she moves on her seat to have a better look at me.
"So you said you've visited Canada a few times? Where did you go?" She asks me like nothing ever happened.
I sigh in relief, and my anger drifts away just as easily.
"I've been to Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Montreal."
"Wow! You've traveled quite a lot! What was your favourite place?" She smiles widely, getting all excited.
"Where are you from?" I ask with a big proud grin, trying my best to charm her.
"No, no... It doesn't work that way! Answer me first and I'll tell you!" She laughs. She doesn't even know me and yet she does!
"I love them all for different reasons, but I must say... I would go back to Montreal anytime. I had a really good time there and I've met some incredible people."
"It's nice to make such good impressions on people that they are driven to come back..." She adds thoughtfully. She's right and it's true. I'm driven to go back to Montreal because of someone and it might be her...
I get lost in my thoughts, living my last trip to Montreal and the amazing people I've met and try to remember her.
When I look up at her she has Batman on her forehead. Two things go through my mind. First, what!? Is she bleeding? Why haven't I seen it before? And second, Batman!? That girl really is something.
"Hey? 'you OK, Virginie?" I try my best to say her name but I don't know how to pronounce it right, I've never heard it before. I've just... read it! On the page of the same notebook the girl had in Montreal! I've found where I have seen her before, but I'm not totally sure yet...
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a scratch... You know, Virginie is a French name that I find out is quite hard for you, British, to pronounce. If you want, you can just call me... Gynie!"
"Yeah, I'm always wondering if I'm pronouncing it right!" I laugh, she really knows me well. How is she doing that? "But Gynie sounds good! Is that your nickname?"
"No, nobody calls me Gynie..."
"Why not?"
"Because everyone I know speaks French and haven't a hard time with it!" She's making fun of me, it's nice. I feel... happy, I'm not in a mood like I was this morning.
"What does it means?"
"In French, it means virginity and purity, but it has other signification in other language."
It's really nice! It suits her. She really seems pure, caring, happy and simply beautiful inside and out.
"I like it! It suits you!"
"Thank you..."
She smiles to me slowly but widely, and I get lost looking at her maybe a little too long. She has very deep blue eyes. I didn't really notice them before. I like her. She's peaceful.
"So you speak French? What can you teach me on our fifteen-minute ride to King's College?"
"Anything! Just ask what you want to know." She's excited, that's good!
"Hi, how are you?"
"Bonjour, comment vas-tu?" She says and I repeat.
I ask the silliest questions and she translates, but hearing her speak French is beautiful. She's like a breath of fresh air in my life right now.
"I'm sorry I hit you earlier..."
"Je suis désolé de t'avoir frappée plus tôt..." She translates and I repeat before she understands that I'm apologising to her in first language.
She slowly smiles back at me and shyly look at her towel on her lap. Her forehead isn't bleeding anymore, but it sure will leave a scar.
"Don't be... Honestly, I had a great time getting to know you and it must have been the best burger I've ever tasted. I'm sorry that you missed your 'job stuff' though because of me... I hope I did not leave a mark on your car!"
She's having a great time?! I'm suddenly nervous. I don't care about my car, I can get another one anytime, but I'm thankful that it happened. Because if she is who I think she is, she would have been right under my nose the whole time and I wouldn't have notice a thing.
"You're the one with the mark on your forehead! But I'm glad you had a nice time. I did too..."
"I wonder what was the use of that helmet after all." Shes tries to keep the fun in our conversation.
"If you had crashed into me without your helmet, I don't think we would be having the same discussion."
I respond as I follow the indications for King's College, but I can't help but to feel a little lost. "How am I supposed to get to the campus?"
"Have you never been to University, Harold?"
As she asks me that, I can't help but to feel a little crappy about myself. Most people my age are or have been to University and are getting a good education to accomplish great things. And what am I doing? I 'entertain' people. I love my job, I can't help but feel a little useless right now.
"Do you want me to show you around? I'll make it quick if you want!" She asks me with a bright smile on her face.
Before I can answer her face changes with a grin.
"Then, you can brag about going to a British University!" She imitates me and my accent.
Where has she been all my life?! She's funny and... unexpected!
"Alright! You win, but it's just because I can brag about it!" I respond and mirror her radiant smile..
She shows me around and I'm in awe over the beauty of the library. It's so big! As I'm really beginning to enjoy this tour, she leaves the building. We walk for a bit and she enters another, it looks like the dormitory. We climb a lot of stairs and she shows me the kitchen, the restrooms and the showers she must share. Then, we get to her bedroom.
Usually, I take advantage of these situations and charm the girl to this point, but it's different. She's different. I get in and I'm surprise by how small it is. My bathroom is this size!
"Wow! You have to live in here? It's so small!"
"It's ok... I don't mind it that much. I'm small, I do not take much place!" She lets out with a laugh as I turn to face her bed.
"But surely that flag does!" I laugh, pointing the big Canadian flag on the wall over her bed.
"Yes, but I got it from the most amazing guys I know, it has a lot of value to me."
My heart stops for a moment, and chills run through my body. I need some answers now, or I will always be wondering. I turn around and look at her.
"Where did you get it?"
"At a concert" She responds, making my heart stop a second and I frown. Oh my God!
"When?"
"September 5th." It's her, I'm almost sure of it! What are the odds?
"So you met the band in Montreal?" It's the final question that will assure me it's her without a doubt. I hold my breath.
"Whoa! You sure ask a lot of questions!" She smiles shyly but something in her eyes changes. Shit! I need to leave before she suspects a thing.
"Well it was nice meeting you, I'll get in touch with you soon for your bike..." I say, rushing to the door.
"Those sunglasses aren't for your sensible eyes, are they?!" She says, completely freezing me at her doorsteps. She must know... I got to leave. "I've never told you I was from Montreal..."
.