You Never Know

Chapter One Anticipation

"Am I too old to go to the McFly gig?" That was my Facebook status the day I found out McFly were coming to the next town. I was amazed at the number of comments that I got! "No! I'll come with you!" that was from Caitlin, an old friend I'd lost contact with. "You're never too old!" from Donna, one of my ex-students and "I'll go! Looove McFly!" from Shannon, a fellow teacher at my school.

Decision made then!

The night of the gig arrived. I made sure I was ready in plenty of time. One of the best things about SuperCity was the opportunity to win a place at a Meet and Greet. When I saw they were doing one in at our gig, I applied, not expecting to win and I nearly fell off my chair when I got the email to say I had been successful!

I must've changed twenty times before I finally decided what to wear! I'd bought a new Zukie t-shirt in the January sale and decided to wear that! "Casual, but cool". I thought there might be a remote chance of pulling at the gig "you never know", I thought to myself, though I figured most of the blokes there would be half my age and/or gay!

I was meeting Caitlin and Shannon at the venue after the Meet and Greet. I was really nervous about actually meeting the band, especially as I knew I'd be considerably older than the other fans there. For some reason, I decided to grab some of my business cards from the bookcase as I left the house and stuffed them into my pocket.

I waited nervously outside the venue, feeling incredibly old with the other sub-twenty-something M&G'ers all giggling waiting for us to be let in. There were ten of us and we were shown into a side room where we waited for the band to come in. Amazingly, when they came in, there were no screams like when they come on stage and I was reassured that everyone else was as nervous as I was.

I had no idea what I was going to say to them, but they were all incredibly normal and easy to talk to. They posed for pictures with us all individually and signed various photos and body parts. When it came to be my turn to meet Harry, I thought I was going to keel over. He smiled and said "Hi" before giving me a massive hug. He posed for a couple of photos with me, holding me really tight in his wonderful muscley arms. He signed my photo and asked me what I did. I told him I was a teacher and part time photographer. "Really?" he said and seemed genuinely interested. "You're a lot better looking than our regular photographer!"

I could feel myself going red. "I've got some business cards here if you fancy a change!" I said.

"Sure! Always good to work with new people." he said, taking one of my cards. He glanced at it briefly before putting it in his back pocket. Then, my turn was over and he politely kissed me on the cheek before saying he hoped I enjoyed the gig. As they all left, I was sure Harry looked at me in particular as they waved and left, but put it down to over excitement!

It was nearly time for early entry, so we were shown out to the SuperCity queue. There was only about thirty of us and I was amazed to find myself right at the front by the barriers.

The gig was simply awesome! I've seen a lot of bands live and McFly did not disappoint! Funny, talented and amazing. They played an incredible mix of old favourites and some awesome new tunes. I found Caitlin and Shannon as we came out of the auditorium and we hit the bar after the gig ears ringing, conversation buzzing about how great the gig had been and discussing our favourite bits. Caitlin was delighted to have had water spat at her by Dougie!

Around midnight, we parted and I went out to my car (the bad thing about living in the sticks taxi fares are a killer!) I plugged in my iPod. Bit of Radio:ACTIVE on the way home, I think.

I'd just reached the outskirts of town when my iPhone rang. A mobile calling, I didn't recognise the number. Normally, I would've ignored it, but I pulled over to answer as I thought it might've been Shannon or Caitlin in trouble. "Hello?"

"Oh, er, hello" said a male voice, well-spoken and sounding slightly nervous. "Is this Alex?"

"Yes " I said, cautiously. "Who's this?"

"Um" he cleared his throat, "Um, this is Harry".

"Harry?" I said, thinking hard. I didn't know any Harrys. "Harry who?"

"Harry Judd" the male voice said.

"What?" the question came out as more of a squeak than a word. "What? It can't be! Who is it really? Is this a wind up?"

"Erm, no" he said. "This actually is Harry". I recognized his voice now.

Oh my god! This wasn't happening! This couldn't be happening!

"You were at the Meet and Greet earlier, weren't you? The photographer? You gave me your card?"

Somehow I recovered the power of speech. "Um, yes, yes I did! Wow! I can't believe you phoned me, or even kept that!"

"Well, I put it my pocket and I've had it all through the gig then it fell out of my jeans when I got changed, plus you stood out you kind of caught my eye among all the teeny boppers!" He sounded more relaxed now, but I still wasn't buying it.

"Look" he said, suddenly taking control "I'd love to have a drink with you talk about the gig you know "

"Uh, OK", I said. "I've just left but " I still couldn't quite believe what was happening.

"Do you live here?"

"No, I live 20 miles away" suddenly for the first time in my life I wished I didn't!

"Well, can you come back? No, actually, there's still a million people here. Can you meet me somewhere? You say where I don't know this town at all!"

"Well" I was thinking on my feet but was still cautious about meeting someone who claimed to be a famous celebrity. "Where are you now?"

"I'm at the Holiday Inn, do you know it?"

I did, but it was still a bit public, either for him if he was for real, or for me if it was a wind-up and I was about to be humiliated!

"How about you sneak out the back and I'll meet you at the crossroads with Coventry Way. It's just around the corner from your hotel and we can meet there".

"Awesome" he said. "How long?"

"Give me twenty minutes and I'll be there".

"Cool, see you soon, Alex".

"Bye, Harry".

I hung up and just sat looking at the phone in my hand for a while. It sounded like him, but part of me just couldn't believe it was actually him. Only one way to find out. "You never know!" I said aloud as I turned the ignition back on and turned the car around.