Carnage: Book #1 The Story Of Us (Volume 1)(17)

Sean kisses my hair as I pull away from him. We’ve never been asked to leave before so I’m figuring Len is really pissed off with Marley and is going to give him a bollocking. I’m more than happy to leave, whatever Len is going to say, I hope it works. Marley seems to be permanently stoned these days and when he’s not stoned, he’s sleeping, he’s been missing practice, work and school and my Mum and Dad aren’t happy with him and have threatened to take his car away from him, whatever it takes, I just want my brother back.

Jimmie and I head back out to the pub and join Billy and Tom’s girlfriends at their table near the stage. Cheryl and Linda are okay but they are both eighteen and don’t really have too much to say to Jimmie and me, I know that people talk about us and wonder what Lennon and Sean are doing with a couple of fifteen year olds but they have no idea how it is with us, they don’t know our history or the futures we already have planned out, we stand awkwardly and drink our drinks until the boys come back out and join us; for the last ten minutes of their break, drinks are sent over and hands are shook. Marley eventually cheers up when a pretty little dark haired girl comes over and chats to him; they slow things down a bit with the second half of their set and do a few more love songs, then unexpectedly, the boys set about rearranging the stage and a piano is pushed forward, Marley and Billy sit down on stools with their acoustic guitars either side of Tom at the drums.

Sean sits down at the piano and adjusts the mic, the whole place falls silent. “Okay people, this song, this is a bit different for us but it’s something we’ve been working on and tonight I especially wanted to be able to sing it for my girl. Gia, this is for you, I love ya babe.”

Fucking hell, he’s never dedicated a song to me before, he’s sung songs and stared right at me while he’s been singing and I’ve known that he’s wanted me to hear the words. I have, I do, I know we have a connection that no one else understands, we know that other people think that we’re just a couple of kids and we know how wrong they are. My heart is pounding so hard in my chest that I actually step back from the stage slightly, in case the mic picks up the boom, boom, boom sound that it’s making. Sean hits the first note on the piano and I know in an instant what it is. He proceeds to belt out the most beautiful version of Georgia on my mind that I have ever heard, the whole place is totally silent, I hold on to my sob for as long as I can but it gets to the point where I think I’m actually going to puke so I have to let it go. Jimmie puts her arm around my shoulder and Lennon stands on the other side of me and slides his arm around my waist and kisses my hair, we all know in that moment, that without a shadow of a doubt, the boys are destined for greatness, they are so talented and as much as I love Sean, the song and the dedication, I get this really horrible sense that I’m losing him, wash over me. I swipe at my tears, tuck the feeling away and smile up at Sean as he finishes the song and walks over to the edge of the stage and kneels in front of me with a rose in his hand.

“I love you G, I’ll always love you.”

The whole place goes off with whoops and cheers as I wrap my arms around his neck and tell him that I love him too, once again, he’s given me one of those moments that will stay with me until the day I die.



CHAPTER 5

The rest of 1984 is amazing for the boys; they land a recording contract with a small independent label and are in talks to support a big American band on the European leg of their world tour in the summer of 1985. The record label insist that the pub gigs have to stop and they spend the last part of the year in the studio setting down tracks for their first album, which will be released to coincide with the tour.