CHAPTER 3: the kindest act

CHAPTER THREE: the kindest act

it had been a long night.
i had just got my third and final student loan the day before and took advantage of it by a wild night out on the town with a group of friends.
i hadn't been so drunk in a long time
but as i sat wide awake in my student flat at 5am i knew i had to sober up
becuase in just over two hours i would be climbing onto the bus to take the five hour journey to birmingham.

i knew i wouldn't last long not being able to see them.
not after that perfect day in newcastle.
but i never thought i'd be off to see them again just six days later!

however it was their last show of the official tour and to see them all in their home city would mean so much to me......
i just hoped it would be as memorable as newcastle had been.

i opened my eyes yawning loudly as i looked out of the bus window and smiled.
i had always been fascinated with birmingham's spagetti junction and to wake up at the exact time we were going over it got me excited.

however as the bus drove on through birmingham my spirit died a bit.
i remembered why i disliked birmingham so much last time i was there.
buildings stood boarded up as even that early in the morning gangs lined the corners of streets.
i was scared to say the least as the bus pulled up in what could only be described as the slums.

terrified, even in broad daylight, i wandered like a lost sole. i was in digabeth, i knew i was in the right place but somehow i couldn't find the venue.....
until finally it popped out at me, hidden in a back ally was the entrance to birmingham barfly.

i was just so relieved to find the venue i lightened up a bit but suddenly remembered i needed a place to stay.

however i was lucky enough to have spotted the pub right next door had a sign saying "b&b" and just desperate to put down my bags i went in, got my room and took a breath.

by the time i settled in, refreshed my make-up and had a rest i was starving and so i set out alone to find somewhere, anywhere to get a bite to eat.

i walked up the dirty streets of digabeth still despising the place, wondering why i was so excited to be there, then i looked up, saw it and gasped.

just up ahead was a big structure, a silver building. i was intrigued so i walked over to it and realised it was a big shopping centre. finally, something cool.

cool wasn't the word! there wasn't only normal shops such as claires accesories and holand and barrets but a load of designer shops such as slefridges. i was in heaven.

in the heat of the moment i forgot about my hunger and went on a shopping spree. i was on the second floor when i spotted the bear factory

realising i had no gifts to give the boys i thought it would be cool to get them a selfmade bear
it was then i had the perfect idea.

the little costumes were too tempting, a white shirt, the bage trousers, the little black shoes, and the offer of the workers making me a red tie. it was an oppertunity i couldn't miss.

grabbing the skin for a ginger bear i imedietly took it to get stuffed, installed in with a heart beat and dressed it up in the specially selected clothes.

thus jim bear was created.

with the bear in it's box and a smile on my face i finally accepted that birmingham WAS cool and headed back to see if the boys had arrived yet.

it was perfect timing. i stood on the street between my hotel and the venue in the pouring rain and a moment later i spotted the black van coming up the street with two smiling faces looking over at me and waving.

happilly i ran over as they got out. i hugged jarvey first, then went over to jim and handed him the bear. he was extremely greatfull, pulled me into a huge hug and gave me a big kiss on the cheek. blushing and smiling i struck up a conversation with them both before bidding them goodbye to allow them to get on unloading the van.

i spent all day in the pub where i was staying. i remembered i was hungry and grabbed my lunch there. i also made friends with a half turkish half greek man called neko. i stayed with him all day.

finally at about 7.30pm i joined the que accompanied by neko. i had briefly seen mark and said hi and was enjoying myself talking to fellow fans.

at 8pm the doors opened. i rushed in and to the front. after a while i got a text from my epal carol. she was there. happilly i rushed over to her and we got aquainted as we watched out for the boys. i was aware she had a school girl type crush on jarvey as she descovered i had a crush on jim.

as the second support came on we walked over and talked to jim and ali. we got a couple of photos taken before they once more rushed backstage to prepare for their show and we took our place at the front of the crowd.

as they rushed on to get their instruments ready i took a load of photos, mainly of jarvey as he was right infront of us.... which i'm sure, no doubt, was carol's doing!

the moment they began i smiled more than ever. they were better that night than i had ever seen them do before. i had decided by then that they had won me over completely and were second to no one, not even the hoosiers.

as the lights came back on i demanded i got jim's set list before rushing over to him. he signed my setlist and this time he even signed it with a kiss on the end of it.
carol asked to have her photo taken with him and added that she hoped he wasn't all sweaty like the last time she saw them
once more without thinking i replied "aw i dont mind your sweat jim"
he laughed as i stated that was wrong but reminded him it wasn't the worst i had ever said to him as amused he agreed and got ready to get a picture taken with me.

it was the best picture ever. i had smiled cheekily and looked at him dreamily as he put his suprised face on. laughing i showed ali who agreed it was a brilliant picture and we decided it was the "i want to keep you in my wardrobe" look.

me and carol got more photos taken with them all as neko bid me goodbye. soon after carol left also and i was happily talking to ali when a bouncer aproached me.

he asked if i had any proof that i was 21 years old and since i hadn't he told me i had to leave, not even giving me the chance to explain to the boys.

angry and upset i went out into the pouring rain and grabbed for my ciggerettes. i was even more annoyed when i realised i had none left and so i walked up to the nearest smoker, an oldish man.
he gladly gave me a ciggerete and struck up a conversation with me. he turned out to be jim's dad.

he told me about how jim had gone to the auditions for the band and all about his other son stu, who 5 minutes later joined us and gave me another cigerette. we were happily talking when jim himself walked over. i explained what had happened.
smiling he told me they were moving on soon anyway then much to my suprise asked me if i wanted to come along too.

exstatic i agreed and he told me we would be going to a bar named rainbow first. he said to wait there and if there was a change of plan he would come and get me.

more hyperactive than ever i remained talking to stu and his dad for another 15 minutes until i looked up to see jim once more, coming out with a hoodie, two drumsticks and a sorry look on his face.
he told me apologetically that he wasn't sure if they were moving on now and gave me the gifts.
disapointedly but happy with my gifts i forced a smile and told him it was ok before going next door to put them in my room.

i had settled in the pub for last orders when my phone rang. it was my mam.
i rushed outside so i could hear her speak and spotted the boys packing up. smiling i ran over and helped them a little collering jarvey and mark to say goodbye.
however as i caught up with ali he explained it was rubbish in there and i should hang on as they were moving on afterall!

grinning so much my face ached i resumed talking to jim's family as they cleared away.they said they had seen jim bear and thought it was great! <---side note, this line sounds so wrong
after 15 minutes two girls, a brunette and a blonde came into sight. the brunette began talking to someone as jim smiled, walked over nodded towards the blonde girll and said
"lor, this is hannah, mark's girlfriend"
i smiled at her. she was very pretty. suddenly the brunette turned and started showing jim her new shoes. he showed slight interest but rushed away to help with something else.
"well i like them" i said half laughing as she smiled and thanked me. "so..." i began " are you jim's girlfriend"
she nodded and told me her name was sophie. she was very beautiful, the exact sort i expected jim to be with, i got talking to her and we clicked really well. she was lovely and he deserved a nice girl like her.

as eveyone prepared to set off, at least 15 of us, i bid goodbye to jim's dad who told me i HAD TO be at the next gig he was at. i laughed and told him i would try before catching up with the rest as we set off through the streets of birmingham.

i walked with sophie most of the way, talking to her about the band and jim. mainly about how she hated jim smoking in which he replied "if you pass your driving test i'll quit smoking!" which we both laughed at. she was so cool. after a while jim took her by the hand and they walked on ahead. i walked next to stu quietly.

we walked for what seemed like miles and every so often mark turned and asked "you okay lor?" i smiled, feeling shy around them for the first time, as i nodded.

finally we reached a small pub named the tap and spile as i began to loosen up i followed the many inside. i went up to the bar and got myself a malabu and lemonade. i had just paid for it when jim came up and asked if i wanted a drink
i explained i had already got one but thanked him anyway and walked over to the ciggerette machine to buy a pack.

i was standing waiting for the rest as the sugababes came on. in a world of my own i began to dance until i looked up and blushed embrarressed as i spotted mark watching me with an amused smile on his face. still looking amused he grabbed his drink, walked over and asked
"coming downstairs then lor?"
still blushing i followed and entered the downstairs bar where everyone else was.

the lot of us filled out a whole corner of the pub. i sat quietly at first, next to jarvey, listening to everyone talking. i talked briefly to their friend turly but stuck mainly to talking to jarvey and mark.

after a while i plucked up the courage to ask if anyone wanted a ciggerette. imedietly stu stood up and followed me outside.

it was nice out there, right next to the canal. it was oddly quite piecefull too. as we lit up our cigerettes i began talking to him. i explained i felt out of place as i only knew him and the band.
smiling he went over everyone and told me who they were. i descovered they were all family, friends and co workers which made me feel worse. i told him i felt like the stupid tag along fan girl and he laughed and told me not to be silly. he was very sweet to me.

it was then i thought maybe it's not just a jim thing........it was a macaulay thing.(lol)

after my chat with stu i began to lighten up. i had a few more drinks and chatted to everyone. i was having the time of my life.

after another half an hour i turned to jim and said
"do you want a ciggerette jim or will sophie kill me?"
imedietly he jumped up and said "no! i'll have one!"
almost as imedietly ali and stu followed.

we were talking outside when a homeless guy came up to us. i gave him a couple of pound. jim explained he didn't have money, just a card... which was genuinely true. we had a laugh with the homeless guy saying he should carry a chip and pin machine with him before he walked away.

after a while jim and stu went back in and me and ali were left to chat. i really got to know ali well that night. he told me all about going to uni in sheffield and how he had friends from where i lived. we somehow got on talking about bullying and i explained i used to be a goth. i told him i had gone through many styles but wasn't sure what style i was now.
what he said next i will always remember.
he smiled and replied with
"it's the envy style, i've been in that phase for four years now"

i went back in not long after that. ali stayed out talking to people. i was chatting away with jarvey when ali burst back in shouting
"A GIRL JUST FELL IN THE CANAL" i wasn't sure wether i had heard things but as everyone burst out laughing i figured i hadn't and listened in to the story.

a short while later and yet another fag break, me ali and stu talked to people over what had happened. some reckoned she had jumped in after a ciggerette which made us laugh even more. we soon descovered though that she had infact just been so drunk she had ran out of the doors, couldn't stop and ran straight into the canal.

of course this made us even worse and as i stood laughing even more with the boys i realised i would probably always remember this as one of the best nights of my life.

once back inside and by this time very drunk, i challenged their friend turly to see who could down a pint quicker. of course i won. and as one person began to tell a really long story to get to a small point we laughed together and i felt accepted.

finally the time came to say goodbye. i was about to get ready to phone for a taxi when mark turned to me and said
"lor hold on you're getting a taxi with me and ali!" i asked if he was sure and he insisted so they knew i got back safely. i had never felt so loved in my life to know that i wasn't just a fan, but they really did care about me.

as we got outside i hugged jim and jarvey and climbed into the taxi. i suggested to ali that they play in sunderland sometime. he seemed interested.
as we pulled up at my hotel i went to get some money to put towards the fare but mark refused. he said i had come so far to see them the least he could do was drop me off.

i almost filled up with tears. he was so kind. i never thought anyone would do such a kind act for me, but he did, he made me feel special.
little did i know it was only the begining of a whole lot of kind acts.

as i bid them goodbye i opened the door, stumbled into my hotel room drunkly, lay on my bed and smiling fell asleep dreaming of the best night i had ever lived through so far.......