Chapter 5
"No I'm not going back tonight...Fuck the tour..I'm a dad now I wanna stay with my son and wife..the fans mean a shit load less to me than Claire and James...Fine, find a replacement bass player for this tour, but the
others won't go along with it..ok here's John,"Paul said.
He was in the lobby talking to Brian
"'ello? no..I won't tour without Paul... That's insane..he just had a baby, Brian...Eppy, I'm sure they'll take a rain check..then sod them,"John said.
He looked around the lobby. No one was in there. He guess Paul was back with Claire, adn he knew the other five had gone to get food. he deciede now was as good a time as any for a small smoking break. He walked outside and around to the dumpster. As he was lighting his joint, Sydney walked up.
"Mind if I join you"she asked.
"Nope..."John said as he gave her the joint.
She took a drag and handed it back.
"When do you four have to go back?" she asked.
"Saturday,"John said.
"But that's only 4 days,"Sydney said shocked.
"We know,"John said.
When they had finished, they went back to Claire's room with the others.
"so are you going to stay with Claire while we're gone?"George asked Sydney.
"Of course,"Sydney said.
"I'm so sorry I have to go, but you get to leave this evening, so I'll be at home to help the baby get accomadated,"Paul said.
"I know, darling. And I wish you could stay, but Sydney'll be there to help. And I'll call you if we have trouble. Promise me you won't worry,"Claire said.
"I'll try,"Paul said.
All too soon it was Saturday, and the lads were to leave soon for the states. They had gone back to Claire and Paul's house. When they all entered the nursery, they all had diffrent reactions
"It's PERFECT!!!"Claire said.
"It sure is..green,"John said.
"Sydney, you did an execellent job. Thank you so much,"Paul had said.
The baby had done nicely in the new room and Sydney had gotten to spend the time with George which she was very happy about. Saturday morning Sydney had brought even more of her things over and they had said their good byes.
The weeks passed. Sydney had started experementing with drugs at the parties she went to and started using them in her room at home. The boys toured, but Paul, and sometimes George too, would call to check in evry night. Sydney kept her drugs to herself, not even telling George, and Claire was too busy
with a baby to notice. Sydney became less help to Claire, which was causing Claire to become very stressed out. Claire had tried when it first began to hide it from Paul, but he began to hear it in her voice causing him to worry. However, by the time it became really bad, Sydney was too into her drugs to notice or feel gulity.
"I'll be back later,"Sydney called.
"Alright! I'll see you,"Claire called back as she put James to sleep.
Claire had quickly become use to being a mother and loved her son more than she had imagined. As she rocked James's cradle, the phone rang.
"Hello?" She said.
"Hello darling! It's me," Paul's voice said from the other end.
"Paul!" Claire said excitedly. "How was your concert? How is everyone?"
"We're all fine, except we're all sad we can't be helping out. How are you feeling? Are you less stressed?"Paul asked.
"Yes yes! Oh I can't wait for you to come home! James is so precious!"Claire said.
"Well, we have a day off in a week, so we're all going to fly down that night, then stay a day, and fly out the next morning!" Paul said.
"Really!!!!! Oh I can't wait to tell Sydney,"Claire said.
"You can't wait? Isn't she there with you?" Paul asked.
"No she's out. We can't expect her to stop her life because I had a baby,"Claire said.
"Isn't her life here playing lead guitar?"Paul asked.
"Well, she just goes to parties and such. Nothing big,"Claire said.
"But she helps you during the day..."Paul said.
Claire thought.
"Yes, of course!"she said.
James started to cry.
"Darling, I have to go take care of James, I love you and I can't wait for you to be home,"Claire said.
"I love you too! Bye" Paul said as they hung up.
That night when Sydney got home, Claire was relaxing and watching tv.
"Hey!" Sydney said having come back to earth from the party.
"Oh great news! The guys are coming back for a day in a week,"Claire said.
"That's terrific! How's George?" Sydney asked.
"I didn't get to ask. James started to cry, so I had to go check on him,"Claire said.
Sydney looked at Claire closer than she had in a while.
"Claire, you look exhausted," Sydney said.
"Do I? Oh well, it's just I'm still getting used to taking care ofa baby,"Claire said chuckling.
Sydney suddenly felt very guilty. She realized she ahdn't been helping Claire as much as was needed.