|| Two Sides To Every Story
"No�No�Gill�Gillian! Wait a second�no don't hang up�fuck." Shane muttered as he closed his cell phone. Life as an engaged man were definitely not easy. Gillian was pissed at him, yet again. It wasn't his fault he had to work�he just had to. "Well�I suppose I better get back in there" he thought as he headed back into the studio.
"Ok Shane, this here song is new. It was written by Sean Conlon" George, his producer said.
"Sean�isn't that the dude from Five?" Shane took his headphones off and walked out of the recording booth.
"Yes, he stopped singing but he still writes. It's a good song, Louis said that if it'll sound good you can release it as a first single"
"I want to choose my own first single, thank you very much" Shane said and took the paper with the song's lyrics from George's hands. "Let me see�Two Sides To Every Story?" he said reading the song's title.
"Yeah, it's good stuff" George said. "Lets get to work, shall we?"
"Yes we shall" Shane said rolling his eyes.
"Fucking thing" Shane said walking into his apartment in London throwing his jacket on the floor and his cell phone and keys on the table.
He just had a "lovely" conversation with Louis Walsh, his manager. They were talking about Shane's solo album and Shane didn't really approve of everything Louis wanted to do for his album.
"I can make up my mind on my own God damn album"
"I don't think you can" Louis sat back in his chair looking into Shane's eyes. "This whole solo album thing was my idea, since Westlife took a year off. I am the manager, I pull the strings here, understood?"
"No."
"Shane, listen to me - "
"No!" Shane shouted. "For once, just for once you'll let me do what I want. It's my album, my career, my God damn life! You won't tell me if I can marry my fianc�e or not, you won't tell me which songs to record for my album, you won't tell me which song to release as a single. I'm tired of you fucking around with my life"
"Shane please�"
"No! This time you are going to listen to me." Shane said and then lowered his voice to a whisper. "I will decide which songs to record, I'll decide what songs to release as singles, and I'll even decide how the God damn album cover will look like, you got it? I will!" by now he was back to shouting. "And you won't tell me if I can get married or not and won't tell me with who to be! I will not date Samantha Mumba just because you want to pull off another publicity stunt!" he said getting up from his chair. "This conversation is now over and you, my friend, are the weakest link. Goodbye" he said marching out of the room.
"Fuck�" Louis mumbled.
Shane sat down on the couch and sighed. He covered his face with his hands and tried to calm down. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!" he got up quickly. "I need a cold shower. Very cold."
RING! RING!
"Comin'!" Shane shouted at the phone. He ran out of the shower with a towel wrapped around him and answered the phone. "Hello?"
"Shane!"
"Gillian, my love"
"Why did it take you so long to answer?"
"I was in the shower�"
"Oh�I'm sorry about earlier�"
"It's ok"
"No it's not because you need to work and I need to understand that�"
"It's ok, really" Shane said as he headed back to the bathroom. He slipped the towel off him and picked up a clean pair of boxers from the laundry basket and put them on.
"So�how was your day then?" Gillian asked and she sat down on the couch in her parents' house and started flipping the channels on TV.
"Fucked up" he said as he put on a t-shirt he found thrown on the floor.
"Oh really? Why?" Gillian said as she stopped on MTV. Westlife's video 'Tonight' was on. She smiled to herself as Shane's part was on and he started singing to the camera, smiling his charming smile.
"Louis is fucking with me again" Shane said walking out of the bathroom with a towel in his hand, drying his hair.
"Telling you not to marry me again?"
"Not just that�now he wants to decide which songs I'll record for the album and which singles to release�fuck him"
"Well he's just trying to do what's good for your career" Gillian said switching to another channel. 'Tonight' video was over and the new Blue 'U Make Me Wanna' video was on. God, how much she hated Blue.
"Screw him. I can make my own decisions, thank you very much. I don't need him to tell me if I can get married or not, with who to date, what songs to release and what songs to record!"
"Ok, ok�relax sweetie"
"I can't" as he walked into the kitchen. "Well listen, Gill, I'm not in the mood for anything right now, ok? I'll talk to you tomorrow"
"Ok sweetie�good night"
"Night darlin'" and they hung up. Shane just sat there on the kitchen counter looking at his refrigerator. There were so many pictures on it; one of him and Gillian from the day they went out on their first date, one of him riding his horse Carlton Flight, one of him and his dad, one with his mum, one of the whole Filan family and one of him and Westlife. He smiled as he remembered when it was taken. "1999�"
"Nicky! Would you stand still for a min? Just for the picture?" Kian said impatiently.
"Can't! Too flipping happy!" Nicky said bouncing around.
"A minute ago you were crying your eyes out on stage" Bryan pointed out.
"You did too! And I was excited, ok? It's just�we won record of the year!!" Nicky said and kept bouncing around.
"Nicholas Bernard James Adam Byrne! Would you stand still already?" Shane said grabbing onto Nicky's collar and pulling him to stand next to him.
"Ok Westlife, show off your award and give me a huge smile" the photographer said as he was taking the picture.
"Can I keep bouncing now?" Nicky asked.
"Yeah" Shane said rolling his eyes.
"Nicky." Shane said suddenly. "I gotta call Nicky."
"Hello?" a man's voice answered. It was Mike, Nicky's dorm room roommate.
"Um�Can I�can I�" Shane mumbled.
"Can you what mate? C'mon, haven't got all day for you" Mike said winking at Nicky that was sitting on his bed playing football on his playstation.
"Can I talk to Nicky please?" Shane said.
"Sure, who's asking?"
"Shane. Shane Filan"
"Nicholas! Your Westlifer friend is on the phone!" Mike shouted at Nicky.
"Which one?" Nicky laughed.
"Um�Sean"
"Shane" Nicky corrected him.
"Yeah whatever" Mike said, handing Nicky the phone.
"Hey Shay, how's it going?" Nicky said cheerfully.
"Nix�hi�how's college?" Shane said as he jumped off the kitchen counter and opened the refrigerator.
"It's cool, mate. Too bad you didn't come with me, I'm sure you would have had a blast"
"Yeah but I've got this solo thing going on now�you know�"
"Yeah�I miss Westlife�I miss everything about it, you know?" Nicky said as he sat down at his desk. "I miss hanging out with you, Bryan, Mark and Kian�I miss performing on stage. I miss the buzz I get whenever a fan shouts my name�heck, I even miss working with Simon Cowell!"
"Man, no shit�I miss Westlife too. I'm locked up in this studio all day recording all kinds of songs I don't even like and being bossed around by Louis�I want back to Westlife�" Shane said taking out a can of coke from the refrigerator.
"Ah well�after this year we'll be back up and about. You'll see. Westlife will be back, better than ever" Nicky said smiling.
"Yeah, you're right�" Shane smiled and took a sip of his coke. "Thanks Nix, I needed to hear that"
"Hey no problem! What are best friends for?"
"To borrow clothes and money from?" Shane laughed.
"Dude! Borrowing clothes from me? You out of your God damn right mind?"
"No�" Shane laughed. "Well yeah�you do have a point there."
"Of course I do, I always do."
"Yeah right" Shane rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I better go to sleep�I have a long day of recording tomorrow�talk to you soon, ok?"
"Ok, bye mate!"
"Bye�" and they both hung up. "Yeah�" Shane said. "Westlife will be back, pretty damn soon too" he smiled to himself as he drank the rest of the coke and threw the empty can to the trash.
"Ok Shane�here's your schedule for next week" Jack, his tour manager said handing him a bunch of papers.
"Schedule? Why do I need a schedule? I'm a recording artist. All I ever do is go into the studio, lay out some tracks and go out of the studio" Shane said looking at the papers, surprised to see a CDUK interview that was scheduled to Saturday. "CDUK?"
"Yes my friend, you are going to start promoting your new single now" Jack smiled at him.
"Oh the flipping joy" Shane rolled his eyes. "Can't wait for Saturday�"
"And now, for today's show's very special guest, Shane Filan! And he's here alone, without his Westlife bandmates. Hello Shane" Cat, CDUK's host said, smiling sweetly.
"Hi" Shane said and smiled. Intently the girls in the audience started screaming.
"Whoa, aren't you loved?" Cat laughed. "Ok, relax girls, he just said 'Hi'!"
"Shane!!! I love you!!!" one of the girls in the audience shouted right at his ear. She was sitting right behind him, damn her.
"Thank you" he smiled sweetly.
"Shane, where are Nicky, Bryan, Kian and Mark?" Cat asked.
"Nicky's in college�Bryan is doing some TV shows with Kerry and focusing on raising his kids�Kian is building a house for himself in Sligo and Mark�he's just chilling back home in Sligo." Shane said.
"Nice�and you, you recorded a solo album"
"Yes"
"Is that the end of Westlife then?"
"No�Westlife took a year off�we'll be back next year and we'll release a new album. We'll be bigger and better than ever." Shane said smiling.
"Hmmm�but don't you think Nicky will want to stay in college and study and Kian will want to stay home and maybe find himself a girl and settle down, Bryan will want to keep working with his wife and spending time with his girls and Mark will want to keep on with his normal life back home with his family and friends?" Cat asked.
"No�I talked to Nicky the other day and he said he can't wait to get back to Westlife�I can't wait either"
"But this solo thing, don't you enjoy it?"
"Of course I do but�I enjoy Westlife too" Shane said. He was getting the feeling all his future interviews will look like that, and he didn't like it.
"Holy fuck! That's like the 100th fucking interview I'm asked if Westlife are splitting up�FUCK!" Shane said walking back and forth in Gillian's apartment.
"Shane stop that, you'll make a hole in the floor" Gillian said as she was sitting there on the couch looking at him.
"I'm sick of it, Gillian. So sick of chanting the same lines over and over and OVER again!" he said and collapsed on the couch next to her.
"Don't worry�they'll get the hint eventually" she said playing with his hair.
"You think?" he turned to look at her.
"I'm sure of that�" she said and smiled.
"Thanks Gill, you're an angel"
"I know, I know" she laughed and leaned to kiss him. "You know there's something really enchanting about being the only woman that's allowed to kiss Shane Filan"
"Oh really?" he said and smiled. "Well you earned it babe."
"Ok Shane, now please take your shirt off" Smash Hits' photographer said.
"What the fuck? I'm not taking my shirt off!" Shane protested. '
"Shane, babe" Jack said walking to him and putting his hand on Shane's shoulder. "There's nothing you can do about it, Louis signed a contract that you'll pose shirt-less for this article. It's good for you, it'll draw attention"
"Are you out of your fucking right mind? What am I a piece of meat for the Teenyboppers to drool on?" Shane said staring him.
"No, but that's what you gotta do�" Jack said shaking his head. "There's no way outta it"
"Fuck." Shane said taking his shirt off. "I'll have a long talk with Louis afterwards about this whole shit�"
"Video shoot for Shane Filan's video In Love. Scene one. Take one." The assistant director of Shane's video said.
"Dave! A word if you don't mind!" Shane shouted to his director. "I feel ridicules wearing this" he said pointing down at the Y-fronts swimming suit he was wearing.
"Well sex sells and you, my friend, are a sex icon." Dave said.
"Yeah, whatever" Shane rolled his eyes. "How the fuck does a song about a guy that is totally in love with a girl has to do with a video on the beach in Miami with me wearing a Y-fronts swimming suit??"
"I don't know, Shane my friend. I don't know" Dave said shaking his head.
"So why are we doing this?" Shane asked.
"Louis's orders"
"Fuck him�" Shane said.
"Ok, what you need to do is just go into the water and start running around, diving, swimming and playing with the water, ok?" Dave asked.
"Sure" Shane sighed deeply. "Sex icon my ass�"
"Oh my God, hold me before I faint" Sarah said grabbing her friend Danielle's arm.
"What? What is it?" Danielle asked confused.
"There" Sarah pointed. "Shane Stiven Filan!"
"WHAT??" Danielle shouted. "Where??"
"There!" Sarah pointed at the park on other side of the street where Shane was sitting down on a bench, leaning down and holding his head with his hands.
"He looks depressed�" Danielle said.
"Yeah, lets go show him some love, I'm sure that'll cheer him up!" Sarah said and they both walked to Shane's direction.
"Shane!"
Shane picked his head up to see two teenage girls, about 13 or 14 years old. "Hey" he said smiling a bit.
"I'm Sarah and that's Danielle" Sarah said, introducing herself and her friend.
"I'm Shane�but�you already know that�" Shane said.
"Yeah! Shane Filan! We know all about you, we're big�no wait, HUGE fans!" Sarah said smiling.
"Oh really?" Shane asked.
"Yeah, we read everything that was ever written about you. We have a fansite about you and we just wanted to say we totally support you about the solo thing, 100 per cent. We heard In Love and we think it's brilliant!"
"Right�" Shane smiled. He signed them and they were off on their way. They noticed he wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. "Damn" he sighed. "They don't know nothing about me" he said, remembering the song he recorded a couple of weeks ago. Two Sides To Every Story. "Sean knew what he was writing about" he said as he got up and slowly walked back to his apartment, singing to himself.
Two sides, from the heart�
Well it's alright, alright�
You wanna know about me?
Well it's the way it's got to be
There's more to me than what you see on TV screens is make believe
Think you know about us?
Well it's an element of trust
Come talk to me respectfully
Cos these days I'm public property
Oh oh oh, from the heart
Oh oh oh oh, like me from the start
Because there's two sides to every story
Think you know me?
You gotta show me
But it's alright, don't be sorry
It's just the way I am
Because there's two sides to every story
Think you know me?
You gotta show me
But I'm telling you once again
You gotta go for who I am
I'm telling you once again
you gotta go for who I am
Yeah, yeah, it's alright
I'm tellin' you
There's two sides
Yeah, yeah, it's alright
It's just the way I am
Do you care about me?
Or the pictures that you see
Am I just a face without a personality?
Do you care about us?
Or the funkin' that we bust
There more to me than magazines and dance routines and teenage
dreams
Oh oh oh, from the heart
Oh oh oh, like us from the start
Because there's two sides to every story
Think you know me?
You gotta show me
But it's alright, don't be sorry
It's just the way I am
Because there's two sides to every story
Think you know me?
You gotta show me
But I'm telling you once again
You gotta go for who I am
I'm telling you once again
you gotta go for who I am
Yeah, yeah, it's alright
I'm tellin' you
There's two sides
Yeah, yeah, it's alright
It's just the way I am
Because there's two sides to every story
Think you know me?
You gotta show me
But it's alright, don't be sorry
It's just the way I am
Because there's two sides to every story
Think you know me?
You gotta show me
But I'm telling you once again
You gotta go for who I am
I'm telling you once again
You gotta go for who I am