I Recommend rereading the chapter "Broaden My Horizons" before you read this one!
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November 11, 2013
Yup, they meant officially.
Starting in January the boys (this statement now including Matt and James) would be doing an eleven date arena tour performing some of Busted and McFly's greatest hits.
And it was announced today.
The tickets went on sale in three days. Most fans seemed ecstatic, however some loyal McFly fans were nervous about the future of the four piece. I wasn't. And either way, it seemed like, through social media, that sales wouldn't be too bad.
But we were all nervous. Matt said he didn't think anyone would buy tickets considering they're all "old" now and that definitely started to worry us all. Surely at least one person would buy tickets. Still...that's not enough to save funding or their prides...
The McFly boys had put out their books Unsaid Things and it had done extremely well. Better than I had ever imagined. I hadn't read it yet, but a few copies sat on my coffee table at home.
And now that the fuss about all that was over the six-piece was rehearsing everyday.
I had certainly underestimated the difficulty of this whole McBusted thing. Sure, McFly had five albums, which is kind of a lot to remember all the songs from, especially some of the ones written over ten years ago, but Busted only had two albums, so there wasn't even that much more for them to take on.
But the remembering wasn't the hard part. Well, it was for Danny, but the hardest part was the instruments. When Tom, Harry, Danny and Dougie played, it was easy. They all had different parts. Tom played rhythm guitar and usually sang higher melodies, Danny played lead guitar and usually sang lower melodies, Dougie did the highest harmonies and the bass line and Harry kept rhythm with the drums.
But now having multiple people playing multiple instruments? It sounded best if Dougie and Matt didn't play the same bass line, because if they weren't perfectly on time it sounded weird, which meant that additional bass lines had to be thought up for every song, since neither Busted nor McFly ever had more than one bassist. And don't even get me started on the fact that there now had to be three guitar parts. Harry was doing well, however.
Most of the time, the guys stayed pretty calm (unlike in some unfortunate rehearsals we'd been through in 2005) and seemed completely chill. Like they weren't nervous at all. I don't know how. I was nervous as hell, but tried not to show it. I was just glad they had started rehearsing early.
It was almost painful being at rehearsals, as nothing could keep me from thinking about all the anxiety this 'supergroup' was causing me.
Well, almost nothing.
"How about this." I smile at Tom, as we're all taking a lunch break. "You sell out all the shows on this tour and you have to dye your hair blue."
"What? Why?" Tom asks.
"Because! You made me do it for the RAH without even asking first AND you did it wrong!"
"Danny did it too! And it washed out." He scoffs, taking a bite of his kale salad.
"Danny didn't make up the idea on a live podcast." I say.
"Ooh! Burn!" Matt chuckles. He had the most infectious laugh.
"Plus it was green for two weeks! My accountant thought I was loosing my mind." I say.
"You were." Danny smiles.
"No way. Not doing it." Tom says.
"What?" Matt asks, sitting up. "Don't be a pansy, Mate."
"No one like a pansy." James adds.
"Okay, well just after tour my wife is going to be having my son. My first son and I don't want his first memory of his super-cool father to have blue hair. Plus it could confuse him. Kids don't get that blue hair isn't natural." Tom says.
"He's not going to remember anything, Tom. He'll be like, a month old." Danny says. "Hell, I'm 27 and I barely remember anything now."
"Well that's just you, Danny." Dougie smiles.
"I'm not doing it." Tom says.
"WIMP!" Matt calls, putting his hands around his mouth so it echoed through the studio. then all the other boys started chanting wimp along with him.
"You know what, fine." Tom says. "I'll make a compromise. We didn't lighten your hair last time. That's why it turned green, right?"
"Yeah?" I question where he's going with this.
"So if we sell out the tour, which we probably won't anyway, I'll bleach my hair platinum."
"Ooo!" James exclaims, taking a bite out of his sandwich. "Pretty good!"
"Pretty good." I say. "But I don't know. Seems like you're taking the easy way out. What do you think, Harry?" I direct my attention to the drummer, who's been on his phone this whole time, ignoring our conversation.
"What do I think?" He asks, as if he has been listening. "I think I'd like to know what this is all about." He turns his phone to face us, revealing a news article with a photo of Dougie and a blonde girl at...a basketball game? They're on a kiss cam projection. Dougie's smiling and blushing and The girl is covering her face.
"Harry-" Dougie starts.
"Who's that?" Danny asks.
"Ellie Goulding." Harry answers.
"What?" Tom asks, eyes practically popping out of his head. "The Ellie Goulding?"
I knew that name. I'd heard her on the radio before. I liked her songs. She was a fast growing artist.
"Guys, come on." Dougie sighs. He's less embarrassed than he used to be when the boys called him out about being with a girl. "We're just friends." My heart leapt.
"Just friends?" Harry asks. "Or," he wiggles his eyebrows, "just friends?" The other boys laugh.
"Just don't say anything, okay? It's nothing official." He looks down at his lunch. "I really like her."
And my heart stops leaping.
The boys go on to ask Dougie questions, most of which are something like "How did you end up with her?". They asked that about us once upon a time.
Did Dougie start talking to Ellie before or after we almost made out under Harry's drum platform at the Royal Albert Hall? That was the question I'd like to ask...
I wasn't sure if I was mad. I knew I shouldn't be. It's not like Dougie and I were dating. He probably was just...caught up in the moment. But still. I would like to know.
All I knew was that I didn't want to be at rehearsal anymore, and when it finally ended and I finally got home, and practically collapsed onto my couch.
Just when I thought something was happening. I don't mean anything to him. Nothing like that, at least.
I lay there for a while, I'm not sure how long, but it starts to get dark, and I know I should do something like eat, or sleep, but I don't want to.
I sit up and grab the one of the books off my coffee table and look at the photo of the four on the front. That photo was taken a while ago. I sigh, flipping open the the table of contents. These chapter titles are so weird, even when I knew what most of them were about.
The Alien at the Window. The beginning. How Tom met Fletch and his 24-hour Busted experience.
I Don't Feel Like Dancin'. How Danny met Tom.
The Golden Ticket. How Harry and Dougie heard about McFly and how Harry got in.
The Five-knuckle Shuffle. Gross. How Dougie got in. But then some of them were a blur.
The Grass Isn't Always Greener. Stuff about Dougie's dad...I think.
C***, W**ker, D***head and Tw*t. I'm not reliving that.
Star Girl. Pretty sure this had to do with Lindsay Lohan. I'll avoid this chapter.
Girls Allowed. Also, not reliving that.
It's Not the Size of Your Boat...haha.
Elton's John. DEFINITELY reading this later.
The Great Depression. Everything that happened around the time Above the Noise came out.
Dougie's Secret
I stopped, and then flipped quickly to the page and read the first sentence. Just when I thought it couldn't hurt anymore...
"The truth, I've found, is always better than lies. But how can you be honest with other people when you're not even being honest with yourself?"
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