Page 12 of Rocks You Like a Cabernet

“Look, I’m not proud of the way I’ve been acting towards you. But what happened all those years ago at the audition have really stayed with me. It’s stupid I know,” she holds up a hand like I was about to interrupt her, “but what you said haunted me for months afterwards. Every casting I went to, every audition. I could hear your damn voice in the back of my head reminding me I wasn’t enough.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I honestly don’t remember saying anything vicious about your audition for our music video. I voted for you, not against you.”

“You said, and I quote, the blonde girl isn’t hot enough–she looks like she just got back from the horse ranch.”

I stare at her, waiting for her to say more.

“That’s it?”

“Yes, that’s it. Isn’t that bad enough!”

“I don’t see the problem.”

Leaping up from her seated position, Bryn slams down her wine glass and begins to pace from one end of the room to the other. “Are you fucking kidding me right now Henrik? That comment devastated me for years. Are you seriously going to tell me you didn’t say those words?”

“I said them–”

“See! How could–”

“–but they weren’t directed at you.”

She stops moving. “What? No, that’s impossible.”

“It’s very possible,” I corrected her. “I’m not proud of what I said, but if I remember correctly after I talked about horse girl I told the group that I wanted to go with the brunette. You were the brunette.”

“No, I was blonde at the time.”

“Nope, not from what I remember, You had streaks in your hair but it was brown hair.”

“Highlights,” she interjects.

“Whatever. You had highlights in your brown hair.”

“My hair color was dirty blonde. In what world is that brunette?”

“Well obviously I fucked up. But those comments weren’t about you. I thought you had a great audition for us, that you fit the hot girl persona that we were aiming for in the video. But we worked as a democracy back in those days and my vote was outnumbered.”

“Oh my God. That’s why you hired the redhead.” Bryn’s head falls back so that she can look up at the ceiling and a chuckle of realization leaves her. “I bet another one of your bandmates didn’t know the difference and tied the votes so that the other girl won.” Her hands glide through her hair before falling down to her sides in defeat. “I’ve held this in my chest for years. I’ve hated you for years–all because you don’t know the difference between dirty blonde and brunette.”

She collapses back onto the chair, a stunned look on her face still. I can tell she’s going to need a minute to come to terms with everything.

“I’ll just go get us a refill.” I tiptoe out of the room, grabbing her empty glass on the way. Bryn doesn’t make a sound.

Placing the glasses down on the kitchen island, I brace both palms on the cool surface and give myself a moment to process what just happened. We’d both shared and discovered a lot in the last hour. It was a lot.

Taking a deep inhale before shaking out of my thoughts, I feel a tingle of hope in my chest. We just put a lot out on the table and came to terms with some hard truths. It sucks that Bryn has been thinking I’m a giant asshole this whole time over something she heard incorrectly, but in the end, I can’t really hold that against her. I did say some shitty things—just not about her.

And I feel good about telling her my reasons for going in a different direction than being part of a band. We’re both searching for more. Something to get us both back on track.

Maybe, just maybe, we could help each other reach something great.

Chapter Seven

Bryn

The unthinkable has happened. A phenomenon that I will forever be thinking about.

I like Henrik. He’s a good human.

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