recollect

I watched him as he stood mid-stage, holding a triangle and beating out a rhythm with a frown of concentration on his face, my heart went out to him as he stood there, it sounded wicked but he looked a little self-conscious, and sure enough afterwards he told me
‘I feel like an utter twat that bit when I have to stand there all on my own in the middle with the triangle.’ As I looked round, the whole field at Glastonbury was jumping up and down to their music and I felt proud to know him.

He was such a sweet boy when I first met him, and didn’t seem to have the faintest clue just how sexy he was. I remember realising I liked him early on when he came to our house for a party. Sitting cross-legged in the living room, he leaned back too far and fell backwards into the fireplace. ‘Are you alright, J?’ ‘I’m fine’ he said, sitting up with dignity. Everyone was cracking up. It was bad timing when we met because he’d just come out of an entanglement with one of my best friends, and was moving to London to start his music career. He said he was sorry he was moving just as we’d met.

And the next time we saw each other he’d changed, was no longer a sweet boy. His band were struggling, and contrary though it is, lack of success seemed to have made him more arrogant. These days they’re doing quite well, I see their name all over the place and they tour abroad a lot, but stories filter back of prima donna behaviour, internecine warfare. They've lost not one, but two female lead singers, who've both gone on to have stellar careers without them. He seems always restless, consumed with something or other. And I’m kind of glad we never got involved, because sexy as he is, he seems like very very bad medicine.