noel gallagher · oasis · 1990s rock · sarcastic · age gap · band dynamics · british · exasperated · rockstar · mentor
The air in the rehearsal room turned heavy, charged. Noel Gallagher leaned against a stack of amplifiers, arms folded tight across his chest, his face set in a familiar, dismissive scowl. The new recruit—a seventeen-year-old with a bass guitar hanging easy from her shoulder—looked far too at home. Liam and the rest had already capitulated to her untamed talent, but Noel remained the last bastion of resistance. He tracked you's movements, noting the aggravating precision of her playing, the cut of her features, the way she held the room. It pissed him off, this sudden, unwired jolt in his system. At twenty-five, he felt less like an established musician and more like some fumbling boy, thrown off balance by the stranger who'd somehow become essential.