The Singer: Part5

"Tell me," I said suddenly, the sun peaking through the edge of the sea. "What happens next?"
"Well we have breakfast then I take you back to the car" Garrett grinned. He knew what I meant.
I had spent the night on the sand in his arms. We sat up and spoke about unimportant things like the weather and the stars. I had spent the night wishing it wouldn't get light again in the morning and listening to the sound of the waves crashing onto the sand near our feet. I spent the night wishing for more, not just a summer fling with this stranger.
"You know what I mean" I replied.
Garrett sighed. "Yeah, I do, and I guess you'll go your way and I'll go mine."
"Do you tour?" I asked suddenly.
"Naw, we just play at the bar. Small and exciting, I guess"
"Maybe it'd be more exciting for you if you played in other places" I replied.
Garrett watched me, wondering if I was joking, then nodded slowly as he got to his feet. He brushed the sand off then helped me up.
"I mean, like, you're a band. A good band. Why don't you get more fans?"
He shrugged. "All our fans come to us"
"Yeah but it'd be nice for you to go to them. You are a band after all. What if some fans can't go to you? What if they don't have the money? Or aren't aloud to travel this far?"
He shrugged again. "All our fans come to us" He repeated.
"What's your problem?" I asked. "What's so bad about going to your fans?"
"Because we have none, Addie. The people that were there yesterday are people we've known for years, always the same group of girls. You're the newest face we've seen in years." He sighed, walking ahead of me. As I caught up to him, I saw a single tear start to roll down his cheek before he wiped it away.
"Talk to me" I whispered.
He froze, his body tensing, then shook his head and turned to look at me. There was something about his face and the tears locked in the corners of his eyes, that made me freeze too.
"You don't know what it's like. They are my best friends, band mates, flat mates and whatever else but everything was just going wrong. Still is. But when I saw you ... I don't know ... It gave me some sort of hope. Like, yeah, that's her. The one I've been waiting for. The one who'll save me, save herself and save us. You're the one who will get the band noticed, I know that now, but I don't want that. I don't want to be noticed. I don't want new fans or to be the next new band. The one hit wonder. I like it as we are, I like me as I am, and I'm sorry but no girl is going to change that" He said then strolled off.

I watched Garrett go until he was a small speck on the sand. I didn't know what happened. What I'd done. I strolled back to the car, taking as long as possible, because I didn't want to face my parents but they seemed to notice and left me alone. I crawled into the back seat of the car and started to cry. I cried more than I had ever done before.
"Hey, Sweetie" My mum cooed, sliding into the car and placing my head on her lap. I carried on crying, letting the soft strokes of her hand on my hair lull me to sleep. They let me sleep most of the day, which was unusual, but when it got to 3 in the afternoon, my mum woke me up. She offered to take me shopping, which I jumped at because I knew that meant a talk, and ended up crying again.

Do you know how embarrassing it is when your mum is holding up a beautiful dress and all you can do is cry? I fell back into the small armchair in the corner of the fitting room, held my face in my hands and wept.
"That bad, huh?" She asked, bending down before me.
"I've known him a day, mum, and I already feel like I've known him for years" I sighed.
My mum gave me a sad smile that didn't seem reflected in her eyes. Her eyes shone with a thousand beautiful memories that she kept locked up in her mind.
"I felt like that with me and your dad. Summer romance that turned into so much more, that's why you can make it work with you and Garrett. Maybe in a different way to what happened between us." She said then laughed. "But you can do it. You're strong and so smart, Baby." She pulled my chin up slowly to look at her. It was the nicest thing my mum had ever said to me and I found myself crying again. She pulled me into a hug.
"Thank you, mummy" I whispered, feeling so small.
She stood up and held out the dress for me. "Try this on, we'll get the other stuff as well, get dinner in a couple of hours and then tomorrow we'll try and get this guy back" She smiled.
I gave her a feeble smile back but it all seemed much better, I took the dress and tried it on.

"Yeah, I've been told its nice here" My mum was saying as she pushed the little brown door open. I followed her and my dad in. It was the pizza place me and Garrett had gone to without eating. I didn't tell my mum because I wanted to see if the pizzas were actually good.
"So what happened between you and that boy?" My dad asked when our drinks arrived at our booth.
I ignored him, slurping on my coke, as mum shook her head.
"Ah mother/daughter thing. Best I don't know then" He smiled then winked.
He always did like when me and mum had our time because it was very rare so when it did happen, he got maybe a little too excited.
"Yes, that is best" And my mum smiled more than I had ever seen before and I found myself smiling back.

That was short lived when a rowdy group came in and sat in the booth on the other side of the room to ours. I saw him straight away, slumping in behind the group, but he slid in first and ended up sitting there facing me. I kept my head down, hoping he wouldn't notice me but I felt his eyes on me.
"He's here" I whispered