Page 40 of Our Final Encore

“Not much.” I roll my eyes.

“Today was crazy. We drove all night, I’m running on an hour of sleep and a fuckton of Red Bull. But the show was great.”

Tears begin to form in my eyes, and I curse myself for wanting to cry over this man. I wish I didn’t love his selfish ass so much.

“I think we need to talk,” I grit out.

“What about?” His brow arches like he’s completely confused.

My stomach drops and gurgles. I don’t want to do this. Especially when he’s drunk, which he clearly is. But that’s the thing, he’s drunk nearly every time we speak now. I glance up at the clock on the wall, it’s only 8:00 pm.

“I just want to talk about...” I pause as I try to gather my thoughts. “Our relationship,” I shrug defeatedly.

“Our relationship? What about it? It’s great. You’re dating a rockstar, baby. What could possibly be wrong?” He starts laughing, and I hear another person’s laugh in the background. He’s obviously drunker than I originally thought.

“Who else is with you?” I ask.

“Oh, just a couple people I met tonight and a couple members of the band. They’re cool, no worries.”

No worries?

“I kind of hoped we could have a private conversation.” My voice comes out harsher than I intend for it to, but at this point I don’t even care. I’m sick of being meek and tiptoeing around everyone else, look where it’s gotten me.

Suddenly I hear a feminine voice coming from somewhere else in the room. “Alex! Get off the phone and come take another shot.”

Pretty sure thelastthing he needs is another shot. “Who is that?”

“Oh, that’s just Alexa. Hey Alexa, come here, I’m talking to my girlfriend.”

Jesus Christ. Is he fucking serious? “That’s okay. Let’s just talk another time. You’re obviously busy.” I roll my eyes, getting ready to end the call when the girl with the short blonde hair from the video plops down right beside him on the couch that he’s sitting on.

“Oh, hey! I’ve heard so much about you.” Her demeanor is surprisingly friendly, but that doesn’t make this situation any less off putting.

“Hi.” My lips stretch into a tight, insincere smile. “Alex, let’s just talk tomorrow, okay?”

“Oh, gosh, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” she says, still giggling. I don’t see what’s so damn funny, personally. “Thanks for sharing Alex with us, he’s seriously the best.” She winks at me before getting up and walking away, but the sick feeling in my stomach just seems to burrow deeper and deeper.

“Alex, can you go outside or something so we can actually talk?” The anger in my voice is getting harder to conceal.

“Okay, okay.” I watch as he sways back and forth and eventually makes his way outside where it’s a lot quieter. “Tell me what’s wrong, Opal.”

“Tell you what’s wrong? What do you think is wrong?”

His glassy green eyes flash with alarm suddenly. “I don’t know if you don’t tell me.”

“Alex, it’s my fucking birthday.”

That somehow seems to sober him up, because his eyes perk up and suddenly fill with concern. “Oh fuck…” He pinches thebridge of his nose and closes his eyes. “I’m sorry, baby. I swear I thought your birthday was tomorrow, I guess driving all night got me mixed up.”

I take a deep, shaky breath and let it out. “I don’t know if this is working anymore,” I whisper, more to myself than to him, as if I’m just now figuring it out and accepting it.

“What?” He almost sounds exasperated, like he’s the one who’s been ignored and pulled back and forth, left waiting for an explanation all the time. He has no reason to feel that way.

“Ever since you left everything is just…so different. I don’t feel like I know you anymore.”

“But…” he pauses, threading his fingers through his hair as a worried look covers his face. “Opal, I don’t want that. You’re my best friend. I c-I can’t live without you.”

His words break my heart completely open, any thread that was holding it together is gone now. What am I doing? I know I don’t want to leave him, but he’s essentially already left me.

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