Page 119 of Under Your Spell

‘Hello, London,’ he purrs into the mic as the stunned crowd catch up with what’s happening and start to go wild. ‘I heard my mate Theo was having a party with two thousand of his closest friends.’

The audience screeches, delighted by this weird and wonderful turn of events.

‘Now while he attends to some business, I wondered if you’d indulge me. It’s been a while since I played for such a good-looking crowd.’ And then, he picks up Theo’s guitar, strums it a couple of times, and launches into one of his most famous tracks. The rest of the band share a brief what the fuck is going on? look, and then gamely start playing along. Soon the place is full of the sound of two thousand people singing a tune that Rolling Stone magazine ranked number nine in the top 500 songs of all time.

Of course, all of this is barely on my radar, because I’m so busy staring at Theo, who is smouldering at me with the shirtless intensity of a fallen angel.

‘What are you doing here, Clemmie?’ he asks again, his voice steady.

‘I came because I love you, you idiot!’ I hiss, smacking my palms against his chest and pushing him. ‘This was supposed to be a romantic gesture, but you’ve utterly lost your mind, you—’

Theo, the wall of muscle, doesn’t flinch. Instead he puts his fingers gently around my wrist, and tugs me so that I’m falling against him, and then he lowers his head and presses his lips to mine, cutting me off mid-rant.

Fireworks. There are actual fireworks going off in my bloodstream, sparks flying off my skin, everywhere he touches me. We’re a safety hazard. We’re going to burn this building to the ground.

Finally, I pull away.

‘I’m still mad at you,’ I say.

He lets out a long, slow breath. ‘I know.’

‘I heard the album. The real album.’

He starts. ‘How did you… Did Serena give it to you? I told her…’

‘She didn’t,’ I cut him off. ‘I have my sources but they will remain secret.’

‘I didn’t want you to hear it, at least not now. I didn’t want you to feel like I was – like anyone was – pressuring you to release it. I made something else for the label. I completely get why those songs shouldn’t be out for just anyone to hear. I needed to write them, but only for you, for us.’

‘You’re an idiot,’ I say.

‘What?’

‘You heard me. You making a beautiful piece of art about us is not the same as our private lives being splashed around the tabloids. If you don’t release those songs, it will be…’ – I cast around for the right words – ‘it will be a sacrilege, Theo.’

‘I don’t think you understand.’ Theo cups my cheek. ‘If those songs come out, then people will dissect them; they’ll write about them; they’ll tear the lyrics apart and turn them into stories.’

I look into his eyes. ‘Let them,’ I say.

We just stand and stare at each other for a moment.

‘I love you,’ Theo exhales, his fingers tangling with mine.

‘I love you, too.’

The kiss we share then is the fairy-tale kiss, the happily-ever-after, end-of-the-rainbow kiss. It’s soft and sweet and full of promises that I know we’ll both keep.

‘I missed you so much,’ Theo says.

‘I don’t think I want to be an academic anymore,’ I blurt.

Theo blinks, but otherwise doesn’t seem too worried by the change of subject. ‘Okay,’ he says, smoothing the hair back from my face.

‘It’s been making me miserable for a long time,’ I say, ‘but I thought I had to stick at it, because I’ve put so much in. I didn’t want to be a person who quit because it was hard. I thought it was too late to change my mind. I didn’t want to be in my thirties with no idea of what I want to do with my life…’ I trail off.

‘And now?’ Theo asks gently.

I let out a deep breath. ‘Now, I think maybe it’s okay not to have everything figured out. Now I think maybe I don’t need to prove anything to anyone… maybe I’d just like to try… being happy.’