Page 19 of Once Upon a Star

“You had ghosted me long before that. Don’t you think I wanted to tell you what was going on? You were the one person I wanted to talk to. You were the first person to believe in me. But I didn’t think I could. You weren’t talking to me. I thought about texting you but too much time had passed and I didn’t know what to say,” Bash said.

“What are you talking about? I wasn’t talking to you?” I asked.

I certainly didn’t remember ghosting him. Though he did a lot of things that annoyed me when I was younger. Had I been the one who caused the rift between us? Had it just been an unfortunate turn of events that made us lose touch?

“You were annoyed that I couldn’t come out to see you. You said if I couldn’t, then you never wanted to talk to me again. I couldn’t. There was nothing I could do and you didn’t understand that. Was I not supposed to take you seriously?” he asked.

“Well, no. I was upset. I was seventeen. I wanted to go to prom with you. I thought you didn’t and that was why you were saying all the things you did. I was upset, I was emotional and I thought you didn’t care. Of course, I said things I didn’t mean.”

I remembered how hurt I had been. I thought he was going to end things with me and I was making it easier for us. I was more trying to see if he would take the bait or fight for me. It hurt that he hadn't tried to contact me.

“You could have fooled me. You sounded pretty darn emphatic when you were yelling at me on the phone,” Bash said.

“Because I was upset,” I said and I took a deep breath to calm myself down as my voice had risen.

Bash looked around as if he was worried someone would recognize us. He took a sip of his drink and then put it down before he said. “I’m sorry I upset you. I was young and stupid. I did want to see you, and I did want to go to prom with you. But I was scared. I didn’t like the idea of having to see your life, your friends, all the things you had that I wasn’t a part of.”

“Did you ever think that I wanted you to be a part of it? I was getting Ella and Layla to move to the city with me. Wouldn’t you think that I wanted you to do the same thing?”

“No. I didn’t,” Bash said, sounding slightly ashamed and shocked that he hadn’t.

Our words had gotten more heated but I could see the tension and the anger leaving Bash at my statement.

“Well, you’re an idiot.” I shook my head and downed the last of my drink. Jill looked over at us. I could tell he wasn’t sure if he should come over and refill the glass. I smiled at him and tried to reassure him it was okay.

We didn’t say anything as Jill filled our order. He could tell that it wasn’t the time to make small talk and left as soon as he finished. I didn’t say anything as I tried to comprehend what Bash had told me. Had this all just been a horrible misunderstanding? Had I lost years with him because we both had been too stubborn to pick up the phone?

“Yes. Yes. I was an idiot,” Bash admitted after a moment.

“Maybe we both were,” I said.

Bash laughed and turned to look at me. “That we were. Ara, I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I never meant to leave you. I never meant for us to not talk for this long. I missed you, every day, every moment. And I hope you will give me the chance to make it up to you.”

Chapter 11

Sebastian

“I missed you, every day, every moment. And I hope you will give me the chance to make it up to you,” I said.

“I missed you too,” Ara said and pulled me toward her.

It wasn’t how the conversation had ended, but I certainly had wanted it to. Ara instead had given me a slow nod. It was enough to tell me that she had heard me but not enough that she was ready to say it back.

I didn’t push. For now, it was enough to get to spend time with her, talk to her, and hopefully move toward something more. She was attracted to me. I could see it in how she looked at me, how she watched me when she didn’t think I knew. It was why I took the chance and opened myself up to her and said what I did. It wasn’t everything I wanted to tell her but it was a start.

“It isn’t going there and that’s final!” Isla, our director, said to Tommy, the writer, and her ex-girlfriend, bringing me back to the present.

“Over my dead body!” she yelled back.

When I had signed on to do the play, Tommy and Isla were going to get married once the play closed. They looked to be the perfect up and coming Broadway power couple and ones that I was lucky to be involved with. The sentiment had continued through the first few months of rehearsals. But a week ago, things had gone south between them and they had broken up.

Now, everything involving the play had turned into an all-out fight. They had progressively gotten more and more agitated with each other the last few days. Yesterday it was about the placement of a table for the set. The day before that it had been the type of shoes I was going to wear. I kept hoping they would iron out their problems and learn how to work together but the situation seemed to keep escalating, not getting better.

“Bet you ten dollars that you’re going to make your kid’s soccer game today,” I said to Angelina, the female lead.

We sat next to each other in the audience seats, waiting to do the next scene. Angelina was a seasoned Broadway character actor who had been in the industry for over ten years. She had slowly been making a name for herself and this was her first lead. We had become fast friends and she was my closest confidant of the cast.

“I’m worried I’m going to be seeing all her soccer practices if this shit keeps up,” she said back.

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