Could this be magic (Gary Fanfic)

First let me start by saying, this is only my first FF ever. I've probably made some mistakes since I'm not a native speaker. But here it goes.....

It was 5 AM when Amara got back from the club. It was windy and cold outside so she was shivering while she turned up the heating in her 1-bedroom appartement in the centre of New York.
She decided to have a shower allthough she was very tired after a whole nights work.

For years now she worked in ‘Club Zone’ as weekend dancer. Her day job was working as an assistant to the general manager of a big international company in the US. But she felt like her weekend job allowed her to flee the ordinary world and observe people she wouldn’t normally come in contact with in her everyday job.

Tonight something really awkward happened. While she was bringing some guests in the closed section of the club their drinks (she does this when she’s not dancing), she was stopped by this guy, tall, blond, not so very handsome (by her standards). He asked her if sha was interested in a more challenging job as dancer and gave her his card.
It read ‘Mike Ansfield, PR agent, UK’ as any normal bussiness card would do. She put it on her nightstand, not thinking she would ever call the guy, because she thought he looked kind of dodgy.

Having forgotten all about that awkward meeting and moving on with her everday routine, winter slowly changed in to spring and back into summer. Finally, time for a 3 week holiday. This year she had decided to go to the UK, more specifically Manchester.
She packed her stuff and soon enough she was on a flight to the UK.
Flying first class was the treat she gave herself. Champagne, hot dinner, it was the treat she had imagined. If not for this one guy who was really complaining about everything. The champagne not cold enough, the dinner absolutely disgusting. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing and turned around to see who this guy was that couldn’t do anything more then complain. Green eyes stared back at her, challenging. She remembered these eyes, having seen them in her best friend’s Erin’s bedroom on millions of posters on the wall.

It was Robert Williams!
Am I bothering you?’ he asked. ‘Yes, you are, it’s not because you are a celeb, you can have everything like you want it to’ she replied.
’Well, I might not get it, but I will definatly keep demanding it!’ What an air she thought and turned back round.
The rest of the flight it kept on going but she was not going to let her first holiday in 4 years be ruined by ‘mister celebrity Robbie Williams’. Luckily after a while everything calmed down while passengers were sleeping so she decided to have some shut eye aswell.
As she woke up a voice coming from the cockpit said ‘Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking, We will be landing in Manchester Airport shortly. Outside temperatures are at the moment 9°C and local time is 3AM. We wish you a pleasant stay.’

Only half an hour later she found herself standing outside Manchester airport breathing in UK air. She walked toward the cab lane ‘Hotel Malmaison please’. ‘sure ma’m’ the cabby replied.
As they drove off, she looked out the cab window and saw a big limousine pull up “probably for that stupid *** celeb” she thought. 25 minutes later they arrived at The Malmaison. The only thing she could think about right now was check in and just lay in bed for the rest of the day. She was really exhausted after that long flight.
The check in was not a problem and they gave her her roomkey, ‘room 552 on the 5th floor and you should take the elevator down the corridor there, the room is exactly opposite the elevator’. Amara muttered a little ‘thank you’ and made her way to the elevator.

By her surprise she wasn’t the only one still awake in the hotel, because when she came to the elevator a man walked out. “Handsome man” she thought as she stepped into the elevator and said ‘thanks’ to the man who held it for her.
Up in her room she immediatly went to bed.

Late in the afternoon she woke up by some noise in the hallway. Seemed to be some women almost hysterically talking to eachother. Annoyed she put on her clothes and went out into the hallway to find the women gone , only leaving the cleaning lady.
“damn, i’d better get downstairs now if I don’t wanna miss out on a whole day.” So Amara decided to go do some shopping, since the sun was shining and it was a fabulous day. She put on her yellow summer dress with the big flowers and her allstars and took the elevator down.

Down in the lobby it was as if all hell had broken loose. Girls sitting all around and she noticed everyone of em carrying a camera. As she gave her hotel key to the man at the lobby she asked ‘Is there anyone important staying here, because these girls seem to be waiting for some one?’ The man replied ‘Yeah, Take That are having their Manchester leg of the tour.’
Take That? Somewhere in the back of her mind that rang a bell. She heard it before but where???

‘aaaaaaah’ she turned around and saw the man from the elevator and all the girls , must have been about 20 of them ,surrounding him and taking pictures. As Amara tried to walk out, he bumped right into her in an attempt to get inside. Where it was safe (he thought).
‘So sorry, miss’.
‘not a problem mr. Eum??’ “What was his name?”
‘Barlow’ he said
‘Not a problem mr Barlow’
She was beginning to see what them girls fancied in this guy. He had such lovely eyes and a real capturing voice.
But it was her shopping day and she went on outside trying to get through the crowd of girls still trying to catch a glimpse of their favorite celeb.

The sun was out, it felt like it was about 23°C so it was a fabulous day for shopping. And it was no exception for Amara, at the end of the day she had bought herself a new dress, some great new shoes to go with that dress and a pair of designer Jeans. Feeling thristy she went into the first bar she came across, which was actually quite cosy. It was a bar/restaurant and had a real ‘old’ feel to it. It was situated in a small street and she didn’t quite know where she was but it felt a bit like her grandma’s home. Narrow with old pictures and clocks hanging all over the place.
She ordered a diet Coke and sat at the window so she could watch people pass. Back home it used to be her, passing by in a rush to get to work or to do somethings for her boss. But now, she was enjoying a holiday, letting everything slide by, feeling no stress. ‘ah, the great life’ she whispered.
Later on back at the hotel, all the screaming Take That fans were gone. The hotel was almost empty apart from the staff so after putting her shopping bags in her room. She decided to go have a drink at the bar before having dinner.

‘Hey’ she turned around and saw Mr. Barlow standing right beside her. ‘Going down?’
‘So sorry about before, but them fans just sometimes drive me mad.’
‘As I said , mr Barlow, no problem. So is it always like this?’
‘most of the time yeah’ he replied.
‘must be kind of annoying?’
‘well actually no, they brought us to where we are right now, so we should somewhere be thankfull allthough sometimes I do wish it was a little bit more at ease.But this is my floor, maybe see you later.’ And he got out.

She stayed and wondered for a while was this man really a big popidol? He seemed so down to earth so.... different to what she had thought of celebs all these years she had been working in the VIP area of ‘Club Zone’.

Down in the bar, she had a white Martini and then went for dinner. It smelled so good and she was almost starving, doing all that walking that afternoon.
After dinner she went up to her room ,had a nice long hot bath and again straight to bed.

Again somewhere in the middle of the night she was awakened by someone stumbling across the hall. She went to the door opened it and saw a man going down the hall, just a little tipsy but apparently fine. He seemed familiar somehow.
‘evening’ he said and walked on to his room.
She went back to bed but never really could get back to sleep. What more was she gonna see in this hotel?

By morning Amara was still exhausted and decided to get up anyway to have some breakfast.
In the breakfast room not so many people but she managed to spot some familiar faces.

‘Goodmorning,’ Gary said ‘why don’t you join us at our table, miss??’
‘oh sorry, I never said my name, it’s Amara , Amara Haple’
‘Well mss Haple, care to join us?’ ‘please call me Amara’ ‘Then you can call me Gary and this is my mate Mark’
Friendly hello’s were exchanged.
‘Coffee?’ Amara was startled and realized she had been staring at Gary. ‘eeeeum, sure.’
‘Nothing better to get you awake in the morning then a nice cup of coffee, right Mark’ ‘right Gary, especially after the night I had.’ Mark said just a little embarrased still feeling a bit hung over from last night
As breakfast went on they were chitchatting away ‘till Gary said ‘I do have to ask something here but are you American?’
‘Yes’ Amara replied ‘ I live in New York and work for an international company and in weekends I wait on VIP’s in a nightclub. I’m just here on holiday, heard about this town from my best friend and wanted to check it out for myself.’
‘So? What do you think of Manchester so far?’
‘I think it’s great but I don’t know what to visit first. There is so much to see.’
‘Well’ Gary said ‘we are Mancunians, aren’t we Mark? What if we give you little tour of our old hometown?’
‘Oh that would be lovely’

And so the plans were made. That afternoon they would meet down in the lobby to go do some sightseeing.

1 PM sharp Gary was pacing through the lobby. ‘Relax Gary, she will surely come’ ‘oh, women they always take their time. Never knowing what to wear, while they have a million things to choose from. Takes me less time, I just get something out of the closet and that’s it.’ ‘Well, Gaz that’s why you’re not a woman’ Mark laughed. Gary just smiled and rolled his eyes at Mark for yet again another smart remark.

Up in her room Amara was indeed stressing about what to wear. Was she gonna wear them new designer Jeans she bought yesterday or maybe the new dress? Why was she stressing so much, it was just a day of sightseeing with some “really” lovely guys. She dealt with celebs from all over the world ‘but not anyone this goodlooking and at the same time so normal’ woops, did she say that out loud. Luckily no one was around to hear that then.
Finally she decided to wear her new dress. Black with little red flowers and she had some lovely pumps to go with that. But where were they? What time was it anyway? Ten past one, oh hell, she was late allready.
But the shoes.... Ah there was one, right beside the bed. But now for the other.

Suddenly a soft knock at the door. Probably Gary or Mark checking if she’s allright. ‘I’ll be right out’ she shouted. Where the hell was that shoe????? She had looked everywhere for it... Waaaaait, not UNDER the bed. Damn, there it was. ‘So there you are you stupid ass.’
‘ You talking to me?’ Mark said with a big grin on his face while he saw her lying half underneath the bed with just the shoe on her right foot.
She got up and straightened her dress. ‘No, I was actually talking to this shoe here, I couldn’t find it.’
‘Gary is getting impatient downstairs. You good to go?’
‘I am now. Let’s go!’

So off they went on a daytrip through Manchester Mark, Gary and Amara. They saw Manchester Cathedral, Arndale market, Town hal , offcourse Manchester city stadium, where they actually got a whole tour of the facility thx to the guys because they played there the year before. They explained to her where the stage was and that the whole stadium was filled with girls from so many different nationalities they couldn’t even count.

’Belgian, Dutch, French, German and offcourse English’ Mark said. ‘And oh so many more, and in the end we had big fireworks light up the sky line of Manchester.’
‘It was a great show, that’ Gary said. ‘but I think we topped it this year.’ ‘Pity we can’t go back to America just yet. We have to take good care of our european and UK fans first’
‘You allready were in America then?’ Amara asked.
‘Oh yeah, we were big there with Back for good’ Mark said ‘Very big indeed’ Gary added ‘but it all soon faded.’ A awkward silence fell over our little group.
‘But we won’t let them thoughts spoil our sunny, happy sightseeing afternoon, will we now Gary?’ Mark muttered after what had felt like half an hour.
During that moment, Amara looked at Gary but he seemed somewhat distant. As if he was trying somehow to relive them days.

‘Right, we won’t! Let’s get going. I’m sure you gonna love the next stop, Amara.’

And how!! It was the big ferris wheel in the centre of town. ‘Let’s go for a ride.’ Amara shreeked, she had loved fairs since she was just old enough to pronounce the word.
Gary just rolled his eyes, ‘Women’.

They were just in Market street when they heard a voice behind them ‘You were not thinking of kidnapping this beautiful lady without me right?’
‘Jaaaaaaaaaay, haha, we wouldn’t dream of it. We were just holding her captive for you mate’ Mark answered with the biggest grin Amara had seen of him that day.
‘Amara, Jason’ ‘Jason, Amara’ Gary said being the polite guy he is.
‘nice to meet you, Jason’
‘likewise miss Amara, lovely name by the way, bet you none of these guys have said this before’
‘Well, they haven’t actually no.’
‘Thought so’ jason said.’So predictable these guys. So we’re going for a ride on the ferriswheel are we? Then my lovely lady let me assist you.’ He helped her into the little cart and sat right next to her. Gary sat opposite , Mark right next to him.

Around they went and Amara almost saw the whole of Manchester at the top. ‘Waauw, it’s a bigger city then I imagined. Offcourse New York is bigger.’
‘That’s hardly a comparison indeed. I think New York has what? 10 million inhabitants and Manchester well only 15 thousand. And that’s just an estimate.’
All looked at Gary wondering where he had picked that up. ‘Don’t you guys read any newspapers at all?’ he responded to those questioning looks.

The sun began to set and they all decided it was time to call it a day.
Back at the hotel Amara said goodbye to the guys and thanked them for a lovely day.
As they headed off to the bar, Amara went up to her room to have a look through all her things she had bought and collected this afternoon.

As days passed by they had more and more fun. Off course the guys had their tour going on, but if they were not seeing their parents in the weekends they would go off with Amara, showing her the best spots in Manchester. They were but all to happy to show an American girl around. Gary seemed the most keen of all. Little did Amara know, Gary liked her from the moment he laid eyes on her.

One night at the restaurant Mark introduced the idea of the 4 of them going to his house in the lakes. ‘Just to show you how lovely the UK can be. I know the USA has many more national parks, but the lakes is definatly something we English can be proud of.’ The rest nodded in agreement ‘And then later on we could even stay for the night. If you don’t mind offcourse Amara?’
‘Why should I mind, I’d love to see something different then the city for once.’
So it was arranged. They would go there in 2 days.

That morning, Amara stood in the lobby together with a little suitcase, she had specially bought so she wouldn’t have to carry her large suitcase around. ‘here we are’ It was Gary carrying an almost identical suitcase.
‘we do have to watch out we don’t mix up our suitcases!’ Amara said.
‘And if we do, I think we’ll surely notice quickly enough because I don’t wear dresses you see.’
They both laughed.
‘Where are the others? Mark, Jason and wasn’t Howard going to join us aswell?’
‘Well what I do know is that Mark left a note on my door this morning that he had something to do first and that him, Howard and Jason would join us later.’
‘Oh, we’re good to go then?’
‘Yes we are’ Gary replied. ‘I allready called a taxi from my room so it won’t be too long.’
Five minutes later the taxi arrived and they were all set for a fun day out in The Lakes.

The taxi ride with Gary was nice. They talked all the way through about music and Amara’s wish to learn how to play the piano for so long now.
‘I could try and teach you some basics while we’re at Mark’s place. He has a piano over there.’
‘I’d love that’ Amara said very enthousiastic about her new “teacher”.
Finally they arrived at Mark’s house. Gary paid for the taxi while Amara allready got out their suitcases and carried them to the door.
‘Gary’
‘Yes’
‘there’s another note on the door. It’s addressed to you.’
Gary opened it, read through it quickly and started to laugh.
‘What’s so funny?’
‘well, I’ll tell ya later, come on the key is under the flowerpot there.’

In the meanwhile back at the hotel in Manchester.
‘So you think Gary read our little note allready’ one guy said.
‘By now, yeah I’m sure he has’ another one replied.
‘Just hope he’s not too upset about us setting him up like this. But it was all too obvious the way he talked about her!’
The three guys sitting in the bar were Mark, Jason and Howard.
And here’s what the note said:

Gazza,
We hope you have a great time. By now you must have realized we never intended to come along. Enjoy the few days away from it all!!
Mark, Jason and Howard.

‘Gary, it’s getting late. Are you sure they are still coming?’
‘I don’t think they are actually. It’s getting too late even for Mark. I just don’t understand. I should give him a call.’
Gary went to the other room to make his phonecall. Amara sat in the chair at the fireplace and looked around. It was really a lovely house and from the piano you could look out over the Lake District. The bedrooms were so big and the bed oh so comfy.
‘Nobody answered. If it was really bad, Mark would call anyway. Let’s not worry too much. Shall I start dinner allready?’
‘I’ll help you prepare. What are we having anyway because we did no shopping?’ Amara wondered.
It turned out the fridge was absolutely filled to the top. And even more surprisingly Gary was an excellent cook!! Amara just stood there watching him, smiling.
‘What are you looking at anyway?’ Gary asked
‘Watching you cook dinner!’
‘you do know it’s annoying people keeping an eye on people while they work, don’t you.’
‘Yeah i know.’ Amara’s smile grew bigger ‘Shall I set the table then?’
‘You could indeed do that!’ Gary looked over his shoulder as she walked to the cupboard to get the plates. “such a stunning woman” he thought and looked back at dinner. He didn’t want to ruin this dinner.

Dinner was lovely, no it was fabulous. Amara did not say much but Gary took it as a big compliment. That means his family recipe was good after all.
‘That was the best dinner I’ve ever had, Gary, thx. What’s the secret to such a wonderfull dish? It was sooooooo tasty.’
‘You’re welcome and I’m not telling. It’s kind of a family recipe and as all family recipes it’s a secret.’ ‘What do you think of me giving that piano lesson after I’ve put the dishes in the washer?’
‘I think,’ Amara said ‘I like your idea.’

‘Let’s first see your hands!’ Gary said.
Amara showed her hands to Gary. ‘hmm, good pianohands!’
‘Let’s try something easy first. Where is the Do?’
Amara hit the Do key on the piano. ‘Allright, that’s a good start you know where that is. Most people don’t even know where it is.’
Gary sat down on the piano stool next to Amara.
‘Now, try this!’ Gary played a little bit on the piano while Amara watched, just a few notes though. Amara tried but sadly failed to play the exact notes. ‘no,no, no all wrong. Here, you should feel it, feel the piano. Hear it!!’ Gary took Amara’s hands and put them on the keys, slowly following her hands while she did play the right notes.

‘That’s it, you feel it now?’ Gary said.
‘I, I think I do.’ Amara stuttered
Gary got up ‘now play me those notes again. But just a little quicker than before.’
Amara did and Gary was amazed at what an quick learner she was. He stood right behind her, again taking her hands and playing more notes.
‘This is the intro to a new song I’ve written with the guys. We don’t have any words yet though.’ He said. Amara couldn’t surpress a shiver running down her back. It felt so good having Gary standing so close to her, holding her hands.
‘Cold?’ Gary whispered.
‘no, not really. Just a little tired’ Amara said while looking up at Gary.
‘I’ll play something now then. We’ll keep the lesson for tomorrow.’ Gary sat down again and started playing. At first he was humming but then he started singing ‘Could it be magic now, now,...’
Amara was so moved by his voice she just sat there watching him play. When he finished she said ‘That was beautiful.’

Gary said nothing, he just smiled, leant over to her and kissed her. Amara felt her heart beat so loudly but this was definatly the best kiss she ever had. She felt this moment should last forever.
But like every kiss, it has to have an end. Gary just looked at her lovingly, got up and took her in his “strong” arms and carried her to his bedroom.
He started with laying her on the bed and taking off his shirt. Amara could do nothing else then just stare at him. “what a sexy guy” she thought while he kissed her again and again. Clothes were thrown aside and it was in Amara’s thoughts the best night she ever had. And probably will not have for a long time more. He was so gentle and sweet to her.
After a long passionate night they both fell asleep but not without Gary putting his arms around Amara.
‘I’m never gonna let you go’ he whispered gently in her ear.

The next morning Amara woke up finding Gary was gone. She had looked throughout the house but no Gary, His suitcase was still there however.
She was just about to go up the stairs to check if he was maybe in one of the other bedrooms. Gary came in holding a few bags.
‘oooh , you’re up allready. I was thinking of making you breakfast in bed. We have to head back soon, cause I’ve got concert to sing tomorrow.’
‘I know’ Amara said ‘and it’s a shame. I don’t want this time to end so soon.’
‘Me neither, but I got a job to do so.’ Gary said while he took her hand and pulled her close.
‘but I do promise you this. As soon as I get the chance to visit you over in America, I’ll be knocking at your door!’

When the both of them arrived at the hotel Mark, Jason and Howard were all in the bar. Amara decided anyway to go have a change and a nice long shower before coming down for dinner.
‘I’ll see you in half an hour, Gary’
‘Jup’ and he gave her a quick kiss.

Amara took the elevator to the 5th floor. While she was standing at the door of her room. She heard the phone ring. She hurried to open the door and threw her suitcase in the corner.

She answered and there was a voice on the other end she had known for years! Her best friend Erin, always worrying.
‘So how was your flight? Did all go well? How is Manchester so far? Any lovely guys??’
‘god, Erin, stop, I can only answer one question at a time you know.’ Amara interrupted her friend. ‘ And the answers are, good, yes, great and well I might have.’
‘oooeeeeeh, tell me tell me. Every little detail, hun’
‘Oh, god Erin it’s late!’
‘What time is it there then?’
‘It’s half past ten here.’ Amara answered ‘but to keep things short before I go to bed.First of all I met Robbie Williams on the plane.’
‘aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah you did, you did? What’s he like? Is he as gorgeous as I think he is?’
‘well, if you ask me he’s a downright ass.’
‘oh’ Erin said with a depressed tone in her voice but as ever she continued as if nothing had happened. ‘And is there more, huh huh? Tell me.’
“Crazy Erin” ‘Yeah, I met some lovely guys down here. To keep story short, full details when I get back offcourse, I bumped into this guy first day of my holiday. And at first him and a friend of his took me on a sightseeing trip of Manchester. He was so nice to carry my documentation bag for me allthough it was really heavy.’
‘What’s he look like? Is he cute? Is he anyone I know?’
‘Erin would you calm down,’ she said laughing, ‘I’m way out of breath by your endless questions alone!’
‘Ok, he’s cute offcourse, as I said he’s very gallant and I don’t think you know him. His name is Gary Barlow.’
The voice on the other end went silent.
‘Erin, you still there?’ Amara asked concerned.
‘Yeah yeah I am. Amara you do know I’m a big fan of RW right? Don’t you remember back in our teens when we were totally swept away by a certain boyband?’
‘Eum, Erin, I remember us being swept away by anything that looked even remotely sexy.’
‘Well, Amara, since you don’t seem to remember. I’ll tell you, the band’s name was Take That with leadsinger your Gary. GARY BARLOW’
Now it was Amara’s turn to be stunned. She just sat there with big frown, trying to remember and then suddenly as if it had been yesterday, she remembered. Mark Owen, Gary Barlow, Jason Orange, Howard Donald and Robbie Williams, she had just met the worlds biggest boyband “well, some of them” and didn’t even realize it. Back for good should have been enough...
‘Amara, you ok, hunny?’
‘yee, yeees I am.’ She stuttered ‘I just can’t believe I didn’t realize.’
‘oh god Amara, you’re gonna have the time of your life with these guys. I just wish I was you right now. I remember you fancying Mark though, not Gary. Anyways, gotta go, Julie’s here we’re having lucnh at Dominic’s. Don’t worry , you just have a great holiday and I surely want every detail when you get back. Bye now!!’

Amara just sat there for what seemed half an hour still holding the phone in her hand. Trying to figure out what exactly she just heard. All of a sudden she stood up, almost dropping the phone that was lying on her lap and decided to have a nice hot bath. That might clear up her mind. She totally forgot about dinner.
As she sat in the bathtub soaking in bubbles she thought to herself “Take That, offcourse and Back for good. How could I miss this?”
She was 17 back in the day and went to highschool together with her then neighbour Erin. Erin was fan of Take That and listened to their music all day long. One night they had sleepover and Erin decided to put on a concert of “the boyz”. Take That in Berlin it was called. Amara was always kind of sceptic when it came to these Popbands but now she immediatly fell for this guy singing “Babe”. Such a sweet voice and oh that wonderfull smile of his. “Mark”
The day they decided to come to America they were the first to get tickets to their very first performance. Front row seats no matter. They screamed , danced, cried and sang along to every song. And then....
It was over. 13 february 1996, Take That was no more. She was starting University soon so she had not much time to be sad over this. At Uni she met lots of boys, who had broken her heart over the years.
“god, could this really be them.” She thought as she stepped out of bath and put her pyjama’s on.
She didn’t have lots of time time to think about it because she was so exhausted she immediatly fell asleep.

She didn’t sleep all too well though, in the middle of the night she woke up. Not by any noise this time, but she had a ‘what she liked to call’ a true dream.
She was back at the concert she was at 15 years ago. And back for good was sung but not by Gary as usual but by Mark this time. With Gary standing next to him just listening. Mark sang it to her!! She was actually the only one in the whole arena. How awkward she felt during the dream, the more weird it felt thinking she had actually met them.

Slowly it became morning and she decided not to go to breakfast because it would be so weird now to see them, especially Gary. She wouldn’t know what to say. “It would just be awkward for me as well as for them. They would have never cared so much for showing me around if they knew.Gary would have probably never given me that piano lesson either.” She thought

At 10 AM a soft knock at the door. She went to the door to open it.
‘Missed you at dinner and breakfast , I suppose you were too tired to come down. Thought you might like a cup of coffee now though. I never want to miss my coffee in the morning.’ Suddenly realizing she was just standing there, not being able to say anything. Gary asked: ‘No coffee this morning? You feel ok? You look kind of pale, bad nights sleep?’
There it was, the dreaded moment. She would have to tell him, all of them actually. But how??
‘Gary, eum, I, I,…’
‘What’s up? Almost seems like you’ve seen a ghost. Ok, I’ve lost some weight over the years but not that much, hahaha’
Was it best to tell him or not?? I mean he’s so sweet. But he surely deserves the truth.

While she stood there pondering she felt the words coming out of her mouth ‘No, I’m fine, just had rough night actually. Some bad dreams that’s all.’
‘I think I will stay in my room today.’
‘Ok, Gary said, ‘Too bad but if you’re not feeling well I do understand.’ ‘ We still had some things planned for you actually but we’ll do it another time. Should I leave the coffee anyway?’
‘Yes thank you so much for that, Gary’
While she shut the door she thought “Other things planned?” and “Oh my god why did I say that?”
No going back now, well she could off course tell him some other time when she was more up to it. Sure, that was what she was going to do. Tell him when she had gathered enough courage.
She just stood there with her back against the door. “It’s time for some action.” She needed to put her mind to something else but what?
She decided to go out for a walk. Hoping she would not encounter any of the guys.
She was very nervous going out of the hotel but the only ones in the hallways and the lobby she passed were staff. The guys must have gone out.
She turned to the right and crossed the street towards the station. She was thinking of going to the country side. Just away from the busy city, just relax and clear her mind. So she bought a ticket to Rydal. She had never heard of the town but it didn’t matter to her. She just wanted to get out of Manchester as soon as possible.
Once there she even booked her a hotel for the night at the lions Inn. It was so peacefull there, she had nothing to worry about. Her clothes were all in Manchester but she was gonna go back tomorrow anyway.

Meanwhile back in Manchester….

Gary was out with the lads. Having the weekend off from touring, they had begun writing their new album this afternoon and all went very well. He had some things on his mind though but writing made him forget about them for a while. But now they were in a club and he just sat on the barstool drinking his beer. Howard came up to him ‘Gazza mate are you ok?’ ‘You seem a little distant tonight?’
‘Hum, Oh Howard, did you just say something?’
‘Yes I did mate. I said that you looked a little distant tonight. What’s on your mind? We did well writing those 2 new songs this afternoon.’
‘It’s not that, Howard. It is absolutely great that we were able to write them two tracks today. Basics anyway. It’s just… I don’t know… I’ve got a few things on my mind.’
‘You don’t like the songs? ‘You’ had absolutely fabulous lyrics, you said so yourself nothing needed to be changed on the lyrics.’
‘I did, I did and again it’s not that.’
‘come on guys, let’s have some fun’ Mark said ‘brighten up Gary, Howard why don’t you play us something.’
He put on their favourite record and Mark got hold of Gary’s sleeve and pulled him to the dance floor. Gary, first not very eager to come to the dance floor, forgot about his problems as soon as Mark reached him another pint, which he drank way too fast.

A couple of days passed. Gary was occupied with writing songs and Amara had decided to stay in Rydal for a longer while, so the following day she had gone to Manchester to get some of her clothes and pyjamas.
It was getting pretty close to her last day now. Only 2 more days and her three weeks were over, so this time it was time to go back to Manchester.
8AM it was when she saw the train to Manchester stop right in front of her. It took the train about an hour to reach Manchester city centre. It felt like the longest hour of her life. She was still not ready to face up to the truth she had to tell Gary she had been a fan so many years ago. A Mark fan but still a Take That fan.
She got off the train in Piccadilly which was not such a long walk over to The Malmaison. Her feet grew heavier with every step but then finally she was in the lobby. No one…
She couldn’t help but feel relief.
‘Hey you, it’s been a while’
She was startled and turned around quickly. It was Jason!
‘oh hey, I’ve been visiting the countryside actually.’
‘Oh nice, you liked it I hope?’
‘Yeah off course, just a few days more and I’ll be flying back to New York. I’m sure I’ll miss it here.’
‘Who wouldn’t miss Manchester when they live in New York right? Such a quiet town. By the way have you seen Gary lately? He’s been looking for you!’
“Gary.” She didn’t quite feel ready to face him just now but she had prepared in her mind what she was gonna say. She couldn’t think of anything more.
‘ No, I haven’t actually. But if you see him you can tell him I’m back.’
‘OK love, I will.’
Jason walked on through the hallway into a room. Amara was left alone thinking about the next day.
If only she had known Gary wasn’t gonna wait ‘till the next day.

She was in her room. Trying to pack her suitcase filled with new clothes. They didn’t all fit in there though, so she decided to throw away some of the clothes she didn’t want anymore. She was so busy, she didn’t even hear the door opening.
Suddenly someone grabbed her from behind, kissed her in the neck and whispered ‘hi love.’
Gary let go of her and she turned around to face him.
‘Where were you the last couple of days?’ he asked.
‘Away, just needed some time to think.’
‘Think about what?’
Amara was too surprised to say anything so Gary continued.
‘I know these are your last days in the UK. And yesterday I got the perfect invitation to give you a goodbye party. We were all invited to afterparty of some awards show. What do you say?’
Amara was still speechless. She didn’t know where to start.
’Gary,’ she said ...
‘I take that as a yes.’ And he smiled. ‘ you were supposed to come anyway. It said Gary and guest so...’’It’s gonna be a fabulous party anyhow.Anyways, just came in to tell you that. Need to go now, concert time. Love ya.’
He kissed her again and then he was gone.
“why couldn’t I tell him” Amara thought to herself. “He didn’t give me the chance... rattling on like that”

The day of the party Amara was pretty nervous. She had her suitcases packed and ready to go because she had a flight at 2AM so it was going to be a sleepless night. That’s why she slept in this morning. She hadn’t seen Gary either allthough she had been sitting at the bar for about 2 hours now.
There was Mark.
‘Amara, we missed you.’ He gave her a big hug. ‘How are things?’
‘Good, feeling good.’
‘So tonight you’re flying back to America, right?’ he asked
‘Yes I am. Looking forward to it as well. I miss my appartement just a little. Most of all I miss my friends.’
‘I see, well you’ve had us as friends now. Could you wish for anything better?’
“If only he knew.” She thought
But she had decided to tell Gary first. He was the one needing to hear it from her mouth.
‘Do you know where Gary is, Mark?’
‘I did see him walking down the lobby just a couple of moments ago. He went outside though. Don’t know where he went.’
She thought it was better to stay where she was in case Gary was coming back. She never saw him leave. If she would have, she would have said she wanted to talk to him.
Gary never came back and as it was almost time for the Party, so Amara decided to get ready. She put on the black dress with the little red flowers again, the one she wore on their first day out in Manchester.
Down in the lobby, Jason, Howard and Mark were allready waiting for her.
‘Where’s Gary?’ she asked Howard. ‘I just don’t know, he sent me a message couple of minutes ago, I’ll see you guys at the party is all it said.’
Weird, but then again they had to go there so they all took a taxi together.
The party had clearly allready started judging by the loud music coming from inside. But still no Gary. Amara was getting worried.

‘Where could Gary be now? Do you see him Mark?’ Jason asked. ‘I have no idea, I can’t see him anywhere, but then again I’m probably too small.’ Mark said with a smile.
All of a sudden, lights went down. The music died and there was only one lightbeam pointing at the stage.
Where there was a white piano and .... Gary!!
Amara looked at him frowning. What was going on? She looked at the others, they were just looking really puzzled too, so no help there.
Then Gary started playing and Amara remembered. It was the same song he sang at Mark’s place in the Lakes. ‘Could it be magic’. ‘oh god, Gary’ she whispered and you could see a tear running down Amara’s cheek.
She was almost overwhelmed with emotions so hard that she wanted to run outside and never come back. “be strong Amara” she thought. “you need to tell him tonight, no matter what.”
Gary finished the song and everyone was clapping and cheering him on as he came down the stairs of the stage. He was stopped by so many people who wanted to congratulate him on his singing but he had only one thing he could think of. ‘Amara’.

As soon as he reached the little group at the back of the room he held her and kissed her very passionately. Even the guys were surprised at this because Gary told them about the evening in The Lakes but apparently not everything.
Amara stopped him when he was about to kiss her again. ‘Gary,’ she said ‘ I need to talk to you.’ He looked at her stunned that she stopped him. ‘ok’ he said.
‘not here, outside.’ So he followed her outside.
‘What’s wrong? Didn’t you like it?’ he said with a sulky face.
‘No, it’s not that. It was wonderfull. It’s just.... I realized something a couple of days ago.’
‘Remember that morning when you brought me a coffee?’
‘Yeah, you looked like you hadn’t slept all night.’
‘Well, the night before I had a call from my best friend Erin and as you know girls gossip.’
‘I do know that yes.’ Gary said smiling.
‘Please, let me finish. We did gossip about you as you can understand. I just said your name though. All of a sudden Erin went quiet. I was like ,What’s wrong? You still there?. And then she asked me if I remembered we were once madly in love with some sexy guys from the UK. I didn’t actually but then she went on, it was Take That with your Gary as leadsinger. It all came back to me then. We were indeed big fans, and that’s why the name ‘Take That’ and Back for good at first rang a bell but not clear enough for me to realize. I feel real awkward about this whole thing now since I never told you before. There you have it.’

Gary was quiet, too quiet she thought. He was actually thinking about what she had just said. “She was a fan.”
He finally said ‘I don’t know what to say really. What do you want me to say? It’s ok, it’s fine. I,I,... I just don’t know what.’ ‘you say you didn’t remember but it’s kind of hard to believe don’t you think?’
Amara just nodded. Was it really going to end this way? She didn’t want it to end, but she had to be honest and tell him the truth. She owed that to him and to herself.
They were just standing there, when howard came out. ‘hey there, you both allright? Great singing there Gary. Any girl would be swept of her feet by that.’

Amara decided it was time to go. It was half past 12 anyway and she had to be at the airport an hour early to check in.
‘Gary, I have to go now. My flight leaves at 2 AM.’
Gary just stared right passed her, she could see he was dissappointed. She went back inside to say goodbye to the others and made her way to a taxi.

Back in the USA every day life went on as Amara started working again. Rush hours, traffic jams, back in New York where people only lived day to day. But not Amara, she kept thinking back with an ache in her heart. She really hurt Gary and she could never forgive herself.
If only she had remembered.

A couple of weeks later on a saturday night ,she still had some nights off at ‘Club Zone’ so, she met up with Erin.
‘hey hunny, how was your holiday with Take That?’
‘Sadly not as good as I imagined’ she said. And she began telling the whole story of the sightseeing tour to the night in the Lakes.
She also showed her all the pics she took of her and the guys. Erin was totally stunned at how much fun they seemed to have had. And that Take That had changed so much over the years. They had become sexy men, all of them. Even Jason and that was absolutely her least favorite back in the day.
‘Hell, sister, you’ve got it going on!!!!’ Erin yelled.
‘I wish i had, Erin, I wish I had.’’ I ruined it all by telling Gary the truth. Me and my big mouth.’
‘oh I’m sure, by what you told me allready, he’ll be back for ya, hunny. Back for good maybe?’ she laughed.
Amara didn’t feel like smiling at all. So she decided to have a few apple martini’s to stop thinking and just get drunk. I wasn’t too far to her appartment on 5th avenue anyway.
It was about 5AM when they finally left the club, totally wasted off course. Erin and her were giggly, just like the two schoolgirls they used to be.
‘Let’s go watch some Take That in Berlin. I still have that vid somewhere.’ Erin said.
Hell, why not she was too drunk too mind. And the Gary from way back then, was not the Gary she knew now so maybe she wouldn’t care so much anyway.

All of a sudden Erin said ‘Hey, ain’t that Robbie across the street. Robbieeeeeeee!’
The man came closer and as a matter of fact it was Robbie Williams.
‘hey , I think I remember you’ he said to Amara as they came closer ‘You were in the newspapers in England. Gary’s new girl.’
She was drunk but not that drunk ‘What??’ she yelled.
‘Come on, I’ll show you.’ He walked over to his car and got out the newspaper dated the day after she left.
On the front page of The Sun no matter, there it was.
GARY’S NEW GIRL??? And the whole story about how he sang to her at the award afterparty. And a big picture of them standing outside.
How Gary was going to hate her now. Smeared all over the tabloids.
‘So? Is any of it true?’ Robbie asked.
‘The song part is. But apart from that I haven’t seen or spoken to him in weeks. It’s not true anyhow.’ Amara said with a crack in her voice.
‘They will be in LA soon. Remastering their newest album, you’re welcome to come and see them if you want.’
‘I want to.’ Erin replied. ‘come on Amara, let’s just go see them.’
After about half an hour she finally gave in to her best mate. She wasn’t gonna deny her this pleasure because she had ruined it for herself.

Back in the UK, Gary was overworked and stressed out completely. All these journalist always asking the same questions that he didn’t know the answer to or just didn’t want to answer.
He just did not know what was of Amara. She had left that night and he didn’t hear from her again. Stupid enough he didn’t exchange telephone numbers to begin with.
Yes, he was mad at her for not telling she was a fan all along. But in the end he knew he had to trust her when she said , she didn’t even realize. Why would she lie about such a thing anyway, she could simply not have hidden it for so long.
He thought back of that day in Mark’s house a lot. The dinner, her eyes, her lips, her body.
He shook his head and tried to concentrate.
He was at home in his studio doing some work on the new CD because next week they would have to go and remaster it in LA. Together with the video shoot for their brand new single.
He just knew the fans would love the new CD, it had some great songs on there. Only one was special to him in particular. So he asked the others if he could do the vocals on this one even though it was written for Howard’s voice, not for his. ‘You’ was special to him in that way, that he played the intro to Amara in Mark’s house. But at the time he didn’t have the lyrics yet.

‘You want that tea now Gaz?’
It was Howard asking that. He was there looking after his best friend. He was actually the only one that knew the whole story. And he was a little worried about Gary now. He was allright before but then he started working, working and working. But he too, saw what the papparazzi bothered Gary every time over and over again. They were slowly draining his energy and he was just there to make sure Gary looked after himself..

‘yeah, I’d love a cup of tea now thx.’
‘How’s it going with the samples?’ Howard asked.
‘It’s going beaudiful actually, nearly finished, so completely ready to go to LA next week.’
‘You think she’ll be there?’
‘Who?’ Gary said while he knew good enough who Howard meant. He just didn’t want to talk about her right now. He didn’t want to think about the possibility of her turning up in the studio. Even though LA is on the other side of the country.
Howard, who noticed that his best friend didn’t want to talk about it, went off to fetch the tea.


The phone rang at Mark’s place. It was Emma who answered it. ‘Hi, it’s Robbie, could I speak to my pal Marky please?’
‘Hi Bob, how’ve you been? What’s LA weather like, so I know what to pack for next week.’
‘Hold on Marky , me lad, I got some good news for mr. Gazman up there. I saw his girl last saturday.’
‘His girl? .... Mark frowned but soon enough he said ‘You saw Amara? How is she?’ Mark couldn’t help but sound enthousiastic.
‘She looked fine to me, little drunk but fine. Say, you wouldn’t mind right, I invited her over to LA next week.’ Robbie said.
‘And is she coming?’
‘She didn’t seem to keen on it at first, but her friend kept going on and on and on. She said yes so she probably will be there. But Marky?? Can you keep it a secret? I want to surprise Gary with it.’
When he put down the phone Marky was so over the moon he had to tell someone. He decided to phone Howard.
‘Guess what How, Amara is joining us next week in the studio. She encountered Robbie and he invited her. Isn’t that just fabulous?’
‘Are you sure Robbie’s not just teasing you again? Because I don’t know if this would do Gary any good. He doesn’t even want to talk about her to me.’
‘we’ll have to wait and see then, won’t we. Robbie told me not to tell anyone so let it be a surprise to Gary.’

A week later, Mark aswell as Howard had forgotten all about the secret.
They were at the airport and a mass of fans were there to wave them off. Most faces they knew but there were also a couple of new faces.
Gary as always was the first to enter the gate. And for sure, it was Mark they all had to wait for. He just couldn’t go without giving some autographs and talking to some fans. He owed that to them, he always said. It was true though, the fans respected them for that reason. They were a huge hit but still with their feet on the ground “manband”. As they liked to call it.

They all got out their passports and only 15 minutes later they boarded the plane.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We love to welcome you all aboard American Airlines flight A125 to Los Angeles. In a few minutes you’ll get our safety demonstration. Please pay attention and enjoy the rest of your flight.’
As they had been on so many planes before, they offcourse paid no attention what so ever to the safety demo and were all joking around. Except for Gary, he was allready fast asleep
Mark whispered ‘How, you think he’s ok?’
‘I’m sure he is,Marky. He’s just a little tired, that’s all.’

About 11 hours later they landed in Los Angeles International airport. It was still some time before they had to be in the studio so they decided to have a drink in the bar of their hotel ‘the four seasons’ in LA.
As they were sitting there having their drink, Robbie entered. ‘Hi fellas!’
‘Rob!’ as in one voice. They were all hugging him and asking him how he was.
‘Fine, fine.’ He replied laughing. ‘So how’s the CD going? Samples ready?’
‘Offcourse, Rob, we never deliver only half of a masterpiece. You know that!’ Gary said just a bit annoyed.
‘Hold on to your socks, Gary, I was only joking! So how’s your new girly?’
Howard looked at him as if he had just shot Gary.
Gary just shook his head and went ‘I don’t know Rob. Far as I know she’s not my girly.’
Howard was kinda relieved that he didn’t take it too seriously.
‘I’m sorry Gazman, I just read it in the papers when I was over in London for a quick visit to my mum. Let’s just go to the studio now, there’s still a lot to be done.’
‘good idea.’ Howard said still a bit worried about Gary actually.
There was not much need to worry though. Gary had put the thoughts of Amara aside, the album came first and off course their fans.

They took a cab to the studio. Rob, Mark and Howard in one and Jason and Gary in another.
‘Mark, remember our little secret?’ Rob asked. Mark looked puzzled, he didn’t remember. Howard however realized what he was talking about. ‘I do Rob, sorry but Mark told me. He was too excited. Gary doesn’t know though.’
‘Well’ Rob started....


‘She’s in town. Staying at the holiday inn hotel with her friend Erin. Don’t know yet if she’ll be coming to the studio yet though. Spoke to them last night and she didn’t seem to eager. Erin will be there though.’
‘Oh, that’s wonderfull news’ Mark said. ‘Gary can maybe look her up and talk to her.’
‘Not sure, Marky.’ Howard replied ‘if he do wants to see her. You heard what he said in the bar.’
‘He’ll be thrilled to know she’s in LA, I’m sure!’
‘You don’t know him like I do, Mark. Let’s just wait and see.’ Howard said with a doubting look in his eyes. It did trouble him that she was here, now that Gary had finally started to get a little better. Maybe he should go and talk to her first.

At the holiday inn Erin was getting ready to meet Take That for the first time in her life. She was just a little excited though because her best friend wasn’t going to join her.
‘Amara, hunny , would you please reconsider? What’s he going to do? There are 4 others there.’
‘I know but still I couldn’t bear the thought of him sitting there completely ignoring me.’
‘He won’t I’m sure, come on sweetypie!’
‘You’re not going to change my mind, Erin, the more you try , the stronger my resentement gets.’
‘Ok then, I’m going, wish me luck’
‘You won’t need that, just be yourself.’ Amara replied while she thought “At least they’ll know from the start you’re a fan.”

In the meantime the cabs had arrived at the studio. And they were all chitchatting away while Gary put the samples of their new tracks on the Studio’s system.
There it was, ‘The Garden’ blasting through the speakers. ‘And this my dear Rob, is the new single.’ Gary skipped ‘the garden’ and put on ‘Greatest day’. .... today this could be, the greatest day of our lives, before....
‘Love the sound of that!’ Robbie said.
The tracks kept on coming untill it came to number 10. Gary skipped this song almost instantly.
‘Hey, Gaz, let’s hear it. Why did you skip ‘You’. We all love the number.’ Jason looked over to Gary really surprised. He thought Gary loved the number as well since he was so keen on taking over the leadvocals from Howard.
When the songs were all finished Rob added ‘I must say, waaaauw and one big hell of an applause to you all. It’s a superb track list. Especially The Garden, Up all night and You. I love the lyrics on those.’
Gary couldn’t help but sigh at that moment. He had listened to it again. He never did listen to it when anyone was around. He only put it on late at night when he was alone. He even played it on his piano a couple of times while remembering his hands on hers.
The others couldn’t help but notice Gary’s change of being. He had been cheerfull all day but now he was quiet.

A knock at the door made him look up. Was there a spark of hope in his eyes? ‘Enter.’

Erin slowly opened the door. ‘There she is!!!’ Robbie was delighted she had decided to come. But where was Amara?
‘Guys, I met this lovely lady a few weeks ago and decided to invite her to our little get together. She’s an American fan and well...’
‘Hi, I’m Erin’
She went round and shook hands with everyone. She finally reached Gary and looked at him. He looked a bit “weird” but he got up and hugged her, gave her kiss on both cheeks and sat back down.
‘It’s wonderfull to meet an American fan.’ He said. ‘Surprises me we still got any fans over here.’
‘Well, you do actually, my friend’s a fan aswell but she had to work so she couldn’t come.’
How, Rob and Mark knew for a fact she didn’t have to work. But they did not say anything.

The day went by as planned and they actually had some real good fun while still getting the work done they needed to. Robbie joking around as he always does, Howard singing along as the tunes passed... Erin just loved their company and they loved having her around.

It was time to call it a day. It was half past 6 in the evening and they were all still tired from their flight. It was time to say goodbye.
Again kisses were exchanged, hugs came and went untill Howard hugged Erin.
‘I’m going to come over later this week.’ he whispered in her ear. ‘ Don’t tell her, I don’t want her to know. I just wanna talk to her, ok?’
‘Ok Howard, byeee.’ “I knew they never intented anything bad.” She thought as the cabs drove off and she was left standing on the sidewalk. It was a short walk to the hotel so she decided to go on foot.

‘So how was your day with the guys?’ Amara was just a little curious. Maybe they had said something about her.
‘It was wonderfull, they were all wonderfull. Especially Jason, he looked gorgeous and was so sweet. I wouldn’t exchange it for anything. It was the Greatest Day of my life!! Do you know that’s going to be their new single. They’re not going to release it in The states though, pity...’
Amara only heard half of it. She was thinking of Gary. ‘How was Gary?’
‘Oh, Gary. He was nice but sooo focused on his work. He was laughing and making jokes throughout the day. He looked a bit dissappointed when I came in though. Real weird.’

They finished their CD in time. And they all agreed the end result was fabulous and they couldn’t wait to hear the reaction of the fans. But first they needed to shoot the video for ‘Greatest day’.
The first day of shooting went well. There were lots of people standing outside. They were offcourse wondering what was going on on top of that building. Pretty soon it went dark and they decided to go back to their hotel.

The guys had all finished their dinner and were now sipping some wine. Not Howard though, he needed to do something else first. ‘I’m going out for a walk. Might pop into a bar aswell so don’t wait up for me.’
‘OK Howard’
‘Why don’t I join ya?’ Gary said while getting up to go with him.
‘Oh, I just wanna be alone for a while, Gaz, sorry mate.’

Gary wasn’t to know Howard was going to the hotel Amara stayed at. He wanted to talk to her. And he was sure Gary being there was only going to make it way more difficult. He felt sorry for his mate but he felt he had to do this.... alone.

As he walked down to the corner of the street ,to avoid the guys seeing him get in a cab, he started thinking what he wanted to say to her.
Gary certainly wasn’t being his normal self, he could tell straight away. Ever since they got on that plane it seemed he had changed his mind from being down, to being utterly cheerfull.
Howard was sure Gary’s mind was somewhere else though, to be specific in New York. Little did he know the girl he was daydreaming about was staying at a hotel just a few blocks away from theirs.

He arrived at the hotel but how was he going to find them? He had forgotten to ask for the room number. He couldn’t see any staff around so he went to the bar. Maybe someone there could help him.
He had just made his way down the stairs when he saw them. Erin together with what he thought could be Amara. He couldn’t see her face though.
He went up to them and said ‘hey there Erin fancy meeting you here. Hi Amara.’
Amara look at Howard ‘Ho... Howard? What are you doing here?’
‘I just wanted to talk to you for a while. Is there some place quiet the both of us can talk?’
Howard seemed very serious about this. She couldn’t think of any place quiet though, only their room.
‘Go ahead, here’s the roomkey.’ Erin handed over the key to Amara and she took it heasitantly but she took it. Howard had allready gone to the lobby.
‘What am I to say, Erin? Why is he here?’
‘I just know he wants to talk to you. That’s all ,sweets, now go.’

All the way up to her room Howard said nothing. He seemed to be thinking of something.
Amara opened the door and let Howard go first. She closed it and turned around, Howard was sitting on the bed.

‘Dear Amara’ he said, as if he was about to start a letter. ‘Robbie told us about your visit.’
‘He told Gary aswell?’
‘No, Mark and I thought it best not to tell him. He still thinks you’re in New York at the moment. I just wanted to talk to you. Get your point of view, I heard Gary’s story and before you say anything. I’m the only one that knows. I didn’t tell anyone else.’
‘Thank you. But I still don’t see why you are here? Gary thinks I’m in New York anyway. Why not leave it like that.’
‘Because, Amara, I’ve known Gary for years now. And I can see he’s not doing well at all. He’s working all the time trying to set his mind to something else. But he’s not succeeding. He thinks nobody knows but I can tell by the way he reacts to certain things. He doesn’t want to talk about you anymore. He’s restless, one moment being so depressed while just a minute later he’s making jokes with Robbie.’

Howard sighed, ‘he’s not doing well since you left Amara. Sure, he was mad at you at first. But now, I can’t even tell the difference no more.’
‘What do you want me to say Howard? I’ll come with you and talk to him? I just can’t. I can’t face him, not now... I know I made a terrible mistake by not telling but I never realized myself I ...’ She was lost for words, caught up in the emotion. She started biting her lip, because she felt she was about to burst out into tears and she didn’t want Howard to see that.
‘I think now, I just wanted you to know. I know, I’m not Gary in person saying this. But as a matter of fact, I think he wouldn’t say it anyway. He’s just carefull with showing his feelings. He’s been hurt before, like anyone of us.’
‘Anyway, if you want, I did bring you the samples of our new CD. You should really listen to number 10. I think you might know some of it. Goodbye Amara.’
He gave her a hug and slowly went out the door.
Amara was just standing there holding the CD-case in her hands when Erin walked in.
‘What did he say?’
‘I don’t know really. I think he’s trying to say Gary’s not mad at me like I thought.’
‘What’s that CD you’re holding?’
‘Oh, it’s their new CD, he told me to listen to number 10. And that I might recognize it.’
Erin took the CD off Amara and put it in the player. She skipped to number 10 and sat down on the bed with her best friend.
The piano started playing and yes Amara recognized it. It was the intro Gary had told her about at Mark’s place. She felt her heart skip a beat thinking back of that night. His body against hers, so sweet, so caring. She was about to start crying but then Gary started singing :

It's not a spark that gives me light
It's not the days, i'm up all night
Is it a story i have read
or a picture in my head

It's not the world that pulls me through
It wasn't a question before i knew
It was just an awnser here by my side
I found it out just in time

It's you, yeah
It's you, it's you

Give me your hurt if your feeling pain
Tell me your secrets i'll keep them safe
Give me your love mixed up with sin
Every part of everything

It's you, ohhh yeah
It's you, it's you

From now till the end, from now till the end
From now till the end, my friend
It's a moment of glory, my one and only

It's you, ohhh yeah
It's you, it's you
It's you, it's you
It's you

‘Oh god Amara. That’s the song Gary always skipped this afternoon. It’s so nice!! Why would he skip a song like that?’
Amara had an idea but she was not telling her best friend. Not yet, she had to know for sure. She decided to go see Gary after all, she had to know.

Erin said they were staying at The Four Seasons so when she walked in. She was expecting to see any of the guys walk about or maybe be at the bar. But she saw no one.
‘excuse me,sir. I’m looking for Gary Barlow.’
‘I’m sorry miss, they checked out this morning. I think I did hear something about a final shoot and then flying back to the UK.’
She was too late, at least that’s what she thought. Erin however was walking through downtown LA when she heard music coming from one of the buildings. She asked a bystander what was going on.
‘Seems like someone’s doing a videoshoot or something.’ Then Erin clearly heard ... Today this could be... before it was faded by the noise of the helicopter. “the Greatest Day of our lives. Oh my God Amara” was all she could think of. She took out her cellphone and texted “Get your butt over to Highland Avenue. They’re here shooting the vid.”
When Amara read the message she ran out of the hotel and took the nearest cab she could find. ‘Highland Avenue, please. And hurry!’

She arrived at Highland Avenue and immediatly tried to spot Erin in the crowd that had gathered. ‘Are they here? Are you sure?’ Amara asked.
‘You can shoot me if it’s not them, ok sweets?’
By then the helicopter was no longer in the air and the music had been silenced. The front doors of the building opened and out came Howard carrying a backpack.
Amara tried to get to the front of the crowd but there was nobody that wanted to move. They all wanted to see which celebs were there.
Second came Mark, shortly followed by Jason.
They all got into a grey van.
Amara had moved somewhat to the front but not completely, she did however see Gary coming out. Her heart stopped, he looked gorgeous as ever. She shouted ‘Gary, Gary.’ He looked over but got in the van straight away and it drove off.

Amara burst out in tears, she couldn’t keep it in no longer. Erin rushed over to her and hugged her.
‘I told you he wouldn’t want to see me.’
‘He just couldn’t see you, Am. That’s all. You know where they are headed now?’
‘To the airport. The hotel manager said they had checked out allready.’
‘Come on, let’s see if we can still catch them.’
They got into a cab the both of them, ‘ to the airport and step on it. We’re in a hurry.’ Erin said to the cabby who immediatly drove off.

In the waiting room of the airport the guys were allready talking about Manchester and how their fans would react.
‘I think personally, they will love it.’ Mark said.
‘Sure, why wouldn’t they. They’ve grown more critical over the years but still I do agree it’s a good CD.’
‘It’s just gonna be nice to be home again,’ Gary said. ‘I missed my home.’
‘Same here mate, same here. It’s gonna be good to stay out of hotels for a while.’Howard agreed.

‘Flight M902 for Manchester now boarding at gate 87.’
Amara and Erin ran for their lives. They were now at gate 36. That’s when Erin fell over a suitcase left in the corridor.Amara stopped and turned around to go help her friend.
‘Go, Amara, go, don’t worry about me. Just go.’
Amara had never run so fast before. It was like her feet were carried by little clouds. She finally arrived at gate 87.
It was closed.
‘scuse me, the flight to Manchester?’
‘It just left ,m’am. Were you supposed to be on there?’
‘eum no’ she said
‘but my heart was supposed to be.’ she whispered.

She walked back to the exit of the airport. She felt like she was going to be sick. She ran all that way for what? Nothing. He was gone.
‘Hey Amara!’

…

‘Robbie! What are you doing here?’
‘what kind of a question is that? I was seeing off my friends offcourse. You decided to come after all?’
Amara just grabbed hold of Robbie and hugged him.
‘wow wow, what’s going on?’ He held up her face with both hands and saw she was crying.
‘What’s up? You can tell dear uncle Bob.’
‘I just wanted to talk to Gary. That’s it.’
‘That’s it? You sure?’
‘I just wanted to ask him about ‘You’ the song I mean.’
‘You wanted to know if it was written for you and for you alone.’ Robbie said smiling.
‘You know???’ Amara was looking at Robbie as if she had seen a ghost.
‘Offcourse I know, Everybody knows. He didn’t say it with so many words but... His eyes gave it all away. It’s actually quite easy once you get to know him.’

Erin just stood there smiling. Amara didn’t even notice her untill she sat down next to her. ‘You see, I told you straight away you had nothing to fear.’
‘If only I had....’
‘No more if only’s Amara dear. We ARE getting on a plane tonight. Robbie you know where Gary lives right?’
‘I do yeah’
He quickly scribbled down the address on a piece of paper.
‘Thanks Rob’ Amara whispered while she gave him a big hug. ‘You’re welcome, love,’ he said ‘anything to help love on it’s way.’
They soon enough booked a flight to London, said goodbye to Robbie and boarded the plane.

...

At his house in London, in the meantime, Gary was pacing through the house. ‘What to do, what to do?’
As they were on the flight Mark and Howard, thinking Gary was fast asleep, started talking. ‘So Howard did you really go to the bar that night?’
‘Well,’ he said and looked over to Gary who had his eyes closed but heard every sound but Howard didn’t know that. ‘Actually no, I went over to Erin and Amara at their hotel. I just felt I needed to do something. I told her that Gary wasn’t well at all. He was pretending to be, but he wasn’t at all. And I gave her the CD and told her to listen to ‘You’ ’ Gary, still pretending to be asleep, couldn’t believe what he just heard.
Amara was in LA? Why didn’t she come over? He really would have loved to talk to her. Tell her that it was all ok. Tell her... so many things.
Little did he know she was on her way over there.

He decided to give Rob a call, maybe he knew the address of her best friend Erin.
‘I’m sorry Rob is not available at the time. Please leave amessage after the beep. * beep*’
Gary hung up, he was getting frustrated. Robbie was unreachable, he could try Howard. After all he saw her.
But same thing there.

At the airport the flight from LA had just landed. Amara was still a little scared ‘You are gonna come with me to Gary’s house, aren’t you Erin?’
‘No, sweets, this is something you need to do on your own. I just accompanied you on the flight. You’ll be just fine, Amara.’
They hugged ‘Thank you.’ Was all Amara could say before she went off to find a cab. Erin just smiled and whispered ‘you’re welcome dear.’

…

The house was easy enough to find in the suburbs of London. Amara paid the Taxi driver and thanked him and then he drove off.
There she was, standing on his doorstep, no clothes no nothing. She rang the doorbell.

Gary, still nervous for not being able to reach Robbie was still trying allthough he knew there wasn’t gonna be an answer, was surprised at the sound ‘Who in the hell could that be,’ he wondered ‘don’t they know I’m busy.’
‘What do you want?’ he said angrily as he opened the door. Soon enough realizing those were not the right words. He let go of the phone in his hand and it fell to the floor.
He just stood there.
She couldn’t move or say anything either. She was the first one though who gathered all her courage and said ‘Hi Gary.’
‘H,hi Amara.’ He stuttered. ‘What are you doing here? How did you find the place?’
‘I just thought I wanted to see you and maybe talk to you. Oh and Rob gave me your address.’
Gary laughed. ‘That’s real funny actually, I was just trying to reach Robbie to ask for yours.’ He said picking up the phone that had fallen on the floor.
‘I, I, I missed you. There it’s out. I missed you Amara. Don’t you ever leave like that again. I was mad allright, but I was even more mad, you left me standing there.’
‘I’m sorry. It was never my intention to hurt you.’ Amara said looking straight into his eyes.
Gary sighed, pulled her close and held her like he was never gonna let her go again ever. Amara looked up at Gary and again as in Mark’s house, their lips met in a passionate kiss even the stars up in the sky would be jealous of.
Gary said to her ‘ This is definately magic’ and he closed the door behind them.



THE END