The City of Angels.

“Tadhg, it’s live!” I shouted to my friend with glee.

It had been just over a month since Tadhg and I had started our jobs and met Austin and the rest of his band. After a number of inspiring conversations with Austin I felt it was time to start tackling the making of my dreams. I had managed to make a few sample t-shirt designs thanks to some graphic design wiz friends of Austin’s at the record studio, bought a website domain and uploaded my samples.

“It looks awesome, Fi! You should be really proud!” He said with a slap to my back.
“I still can’t believe those t-shirts are mine!” I said in awe.
“Believe it babe! You’re going to be making them in bulk in no time!” Tadhg said with a giggle.
I shot Austin a text to let him know the website was live and within minutes I was tagged in a tweet from Austin that read;

“@austincarlile: Looking for some cool new threads for the upcoming spring months? Check out my girl Fiona’s up & coming line @IrishThreads and fill those closets!!”

Attached to the tweet was an Instagram link. I opened it to find him smiling into a mirror with his phone in hand, his tongue sticking out with a smile playing on his lips and his free hand pointing to shirt he was wearing. I had given him a shirt with the first print I had decided on with his friends, as a thank you. It was a black muscle tee with intricate tattoo font on the front that read “Live & Learn!” I beamed with pride and admiration of my new found friend and shot him a tweet in return that said;

“@IrishThreads: Big up @austincarlile for the shout out. First @OMANDM fan to buy a shirt gets a super romantic date with the man himself.”

I attached my own Instagram link to a photo of myself imitating Austin’s pose, pointing to the Of Mice & Men tee I had thrown on for the picture. He had given me the shirt in return of the shirt I had given him.

Thanks to Austin’s mention of my laughably small company, I had received over 300 followers in the first day of singing up to Twitter. He was currently on tour for a few weeks while Tadhg and Steve were working on the post-production of some of their songs.

“@austincarlile: hahaha thanks for that @IrishThreads. Can’t wait to see your sales.”

Austin and I spoke almost every day while he was touring. It caused some suspicion from Tadhg on my behalf and Austin’s bandmates on his side. There were eyebrows raised and questions asked every time we spoke. It was purely platonic however. Austin and I were both very drawn to each other and there was no denying that. A blind person could pick up on our chemistry. Yet, almost as if we had both made an unspoken agreement we steeled for friendship. I wasn’t the kind of person that ever needed a boyfriend. Honestly, I didn’t entirely enjoy being in a relationship. I preferred to be by own person. Not to mention I only had a handful of girlfriends. I just always got on better with guys. And Austin had been married for a year and a half in the past. A broken marriage isn’t something you conquer overnight. We were both more than happy to remain friends. At least for now.

My Twitter went into overdrive after the banter Austin and I had thrown at each other and I had received 4 orders within an hour of our tweets. I was elated. Although I would have loved to think thought I brought those buyers in by myself and by the look of the shirts, I was under no illusions. I knew the 4 chicks that purchased my “Daydreamer”, “Live & Learn!” and “Inspire” tees were just trying to keep Austin happy and maybe even impress him. But if that’s what it took to get my name out there, I was eternally grateful for him and how he chose to help me out with the voice that he had. It seemed effortless for him to think of someone other than himself. He just did it naturally. And he does so without looking for anything in return. He was truly a gentleman.

“How’s Austey-poo?” Tadhg asked me in a mocking tone.
“He’s good. How’s Stevie-pie?” I asked him in return.
“He’s a fucking prick. But I’m getting to work on an actual record with a big metal band. It could be worse!” He said as he put a plate of chicken curry in front of me. “Dig in, Madame Chanel!” He finished.
“Someday I’ll be bigger than Chanel, young Tadhg. You just wait!” I said in a fake British accent while throwing my head back and opening my arms.

Tadhg and I laughed, whacked into our dinner and finished the evening off with processing the orders for my tees to send out and watching episode after episode of Dexter.

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“Hey Mam!” I said in a chipper tone as she answered the call I had made to her during my lunch break a few days later.
“Hi Fiona. How are you getting on?” She asked in a tone I knew all too well. She was unimpressed. No matter what I was going to tell her, she wasn’t going to give a shit.
“It’s going well over here actually. Tadhg got a job working with a pretty famous band and I made a good few sales on some shirts I made and put online!” I said, hoping she’d be excited for me.
“Tadhg is working? Great! Are you working?” She asked me. Distraction in her voice.
“Y-yeah I am. I’m working in a record store that has a bar. It’s a really cool place!” I said dejected.
“Sounds glorious.” She said. Sarcasm oozing from her voice. “Would you not look for something in an office? Something proper?” She finished.
“Eh, yeah maybe. Did you hear what I said about the shirts I sold?” I asked her, almost regretting the words instantly.
“You’re not still flogging that dead horse are you? It’s time to grow up now, don’t you think? Call me back when you get a proper job. Tell Tadhg I said well done, won’t you? I have to go, your Auntie Catherine has just called to the door.” She said hurriedly.

I was about to tell her to put Catherine on the phone to me. She would be proud to hear how I had done. She was one of the people who advocated for me to go to LA and make something of myself. She had bought a dress off me before I had left and wore it everywhere. I never got the chance to even say goodbye. My Mam had ended the call before I even had the chance to open my mouth.

All of a sudden at 5,200 miles I was not far enough away from her.

Notes

Have a good few chapters written for this story and I really like where it's going.
But I won't be putting them up until I gauge your reaction and feedback and see how you're all feeling about it.
I don't want to be writing for nobody, lol.