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Kai chuckled half-heartedly, but it was too lacklustre. “Yeah, just pre-train jitters, probably. I’ll be grand.” He patted Leo’s shoulder.
“You what? Who getspre-trainjitters? Seriously, what’s up, man?”
Kai rubbed at his head, looking like his world spun for a moment. “I’m good, honestly.”
But with each step, Kai’s shoulders sagged, and his breaths came in laboured. Leo steadied him with a grip on his arm. “Yeah, you’re really not well, mate.”
“Yeah….” Kai seemed to fight throwing up. “I don’t think I can do this. I’m feeling really shite. Like, super shite.”
A knot formed in Leo’s stomach as he looked Kai over. He’d looked pale last night in the hall. Maybe he should have paid more attention to it because he looked in no fit state to undertake a three-hour train journey. “Okay, we’re going home. Come on, I’ll sort another Uber out.”
Kai grabbed Leo’s arm. “No. You go. We’ve come this far. Well,you’vecome this far. You know what these people are like: they’re glory hunters. Tomorrow, one of their runners could be on TikTok and find someone else. If you don’t go now, they’ll forget about us…you, I mean.”
“Us,” Leo imposed.
“Please, go. I’ll be fine, I just can’t manage a train journey, not today. Oh shite, I think I’m going to be sick.”
“That’s it, we’re going home. I can’t do this without you. I mean, I onlywantto do this with you. You’re my best friend, dude.” Leo ushered Kai towards the direction of the toilet, but Kai stopped him.
“Honestly, you need to go or you’ll miss the train. Seriously, I’ll be fine. It’s not like I’m dying.”
“Do you promise? I don’t think I can afford the rent on my own,” joked Leo.
“I promise, you eejit. If I do, I’ll leave you a few quid in my will. Now go on with ya,” insisted Kai, his firm grip now loosening from Leo’s shoulder.
“Well, book an Uber on my account at least. Wrap’d’ll pay.”
“Oh, I will, don’t you worry. But for now I need to… y’know.” Kai puffed out his cheeks.
Okay, he got the point. Leo knew it was the right decision, despite his natural worry about the person who mattered most in his life. He cared so much about Kai. His wellbeing was something he would put before any of this, and he attempted to walk Kai to the toilet, but Kai pulled away.
“Seriously, you need to go.” Kai pushed him towards the train. “I’ll be fine.”
“Okay, I’ll go, but text me when you’re home?”
Kai patted Leo on the shoulders and made his way to the toilet, Leo watching him until he disappeared through the door. He shuffled his rucksack up onto his shoulder and headed towards the platform.
Once Leo had passed through the barriers, his cloud of needless guilt evaporated thanks to an amusing text from Kai, plastered with green puke-face emojis. He sniggered, stuffed his phone in his pocket and boarded the train.
He found his seat and threw his rucksack onto the rack above him, then slumped down, gathering his thoughts.
Adrenaline started to race through Leo’s veins as he tried to arrange in his head what he was going to say to Kris Proud when he met him. He’d never dealt with someone with such titanic status before. The man was not only a legend at Wrap’d records, but within the music industry in general.
Kris had been around since the beginning of the 80s, discovering many of the acts that had inspired Leo to do what he does, from one-hit wonders like Jim Tones, who had sadly passed away before his time, to synth pop acts like Mirage, amongst so many others.
What could Leo say to impress the man who must have seen it all? He nervously played scenarios round in his head, most of them transpiring into embarrassing and cringeworthy ones. He had to pull himself together. Kris was just a human being, like Leo. There really was nothing to be scared of, though. After all, Kris had invited Leo down to London on sheer merit.
However, Leo knew the deal wasn’t sealed until the ink had dried. He wondered how much convincing he might have to do to make sure everything went smoothly. Would he have to make up a load of bullshit shop talk to sell Konshus’s ‘unique’ style, or would the music he made just speak for itself? He had a phenomenal army of followers on social media. Surely that counted for something?
Imposter syndrome writhed its way into his thoughts. Questions that had no right to enter his mind were popping in and out like annoying neighbours.
Was what they were doing really any good? Is anybody going to buy music made by nobodies?
Enough. Leo forced himself to snap out of this whirlwind of negativity. His thoughts drifted back to millions of views and thousands of followers that they’d accumulated over a matter of months. People liked them because they were real. They were having fun and there was nothing people loved more than watching people have fun. It was undeniably infectious.
Leo suddenly felt that surge of excitement as he imagined the possibilities ahead for himself and Kai. Their material could be echoing throughout speakers across the globe, being enjoyed without them knowing anything about it.
Leo knew on a subconscious level that they really could pull this off. He just had to carry on being real, and above all, he needed to believe it with all of his heart. And he really did. This was his purpose. He felt it. Somehow, he had always known that this was what he was meant to do. As far back as he could remember, music was his first love.
