Authors: Jewel Quinlan
She
looked up at him, clearly torn, and stalked away to the other side of the room
by the window.
“You won’t let me leave
anyway.
Fine, go ahead.”
She wiped at her eyes.
Tears were falling indeed.
He sighed.
“Look,
first of all, that girl on the bus was a crazy groupie.
Absolutely nothing happened.
I had security get rid of her.
She was on the roadies’ bus. They put her in a
taxi to the airport yesterday.”
He
could tell that she didn’t believe him but she said nothing.
“Just
to set the record straight, after I left I did call you.
I called a few times.
I got your roommate a couple of times but you
were never in.”
Her
lips parted and her brow furrowed.
“I
never got any messages.”
“I didn’t
leave any.
I told your roommate I would
call you back.
But after a few times, I
stopped calling, that is true.”
“She
never even told me you called,” said Eve.
“That’s
apparent,” Devon replied.
“But
why didn’t you leave a message with her?”
He
looked down at the ground for a moment.
“You have to understand what a stressful time in my life that was.
I didn’t leave any because I imagined you
were out with your new college friends partying, or in the library
studying.
And there I was, on a crappy
bus, playing at some of the worst dives and sleeping in seedy motels and not
knowing if I was going to make it.
I
could see my future as one long string of crappy gigs, as that’s what happens
with a lot of guys.
I just…felt
like…what could you possibly want with me after meeting college guys?” He
finished miserably.
Now that he was
saying it out loud for the first time, it sounded pretty pathetic.
“You
could have written,” she said stubbornly.
“You never even gave me a chance to decide.
You decided
for
me that it was over and I never got to say anything.”
She was blazing, positively blazing as she
ranted at him, and beautiful.
She
had a point.
He paced to the side and
stopped by the dresser.
“I did try to
write,” he admitted.
“But three months
had already gone by.
You know how I
am.
I suck with words.
Lyrics, yes, I can do that … but a whole long
letter, pouring out my real feelings to you?
Telling you how miserable I was, and how much I missed you?
After three months?
There was no way to put all of that down on
paper.”
“So
you just quit?” her voice rose up at the end in the high pitch of disbelief.
“I
just…I felt that you would be better off without me then,” he said lamely.
There was pain and anger in her expression,
but also a softening.
He felt his hope increase
and took a few steps closer to her as he spoke gently.
“I mean, how would we have been
together?
What would I have done?
Stayed there and watched you go to college
and work some little job?
Should I have
made you leave college and follow me around from place to place?
That wouldn’t have been any kind of life for
you.
I mean, look at what’s already
happened.
In the short time you’ve been
with us you’ve become a sex symbol for the band.”
“And
you’re not?” she retorted.
“You run
around on stage without your shirt off and get stalked and groped by groupies
all the time and that doesn’t make you a sex symbol as well?”
His
head jerked in surprise.
“You’re
right.
I guess I am.
I never really thought about it.”
“And
does that make you a bad person?
Do you
feel like it’s changed who you are?”
He
thought about it for a minute.
“No,” he
said, realizing she was right about that too.
“Well
then, I don’t understand why you worry about that for me.
That you might not like it, I get.
I don’t like those girls fawning all over you
either,” she said.
“You
don’t?” he took another step forward.
For some reason that made him happy.
“Well, just for the record, I don’t really like it either.”
The
beginnings of a smile pulled her lips up.
“As for following you from place to place…this is the best job I’ve ever
had.
What do think I want to do?
Sit around my house and raise some
babies?
Become a soccer mom?”
“Well,
yeah.
Don’t you?” he said in disbelief.
She
shook her head.
“Not right now.
I’m trying to build my business.
Maybe … someday.
Right now I want to live my life.”
He
was right in front of her now and lifted a finger to stroke her cheek.
She didn’t move away.
“Someday?”
She
shrugged.
“Sure.
It’s not impossible.
All kinds of celebrities do it all the time.”
She
had another point.
“True.”
He pulled her into his embrace and her arms
wrapped around his waist.
“Why didn’t I
talk to you about all this five years ago?” he groaned.
“Because
you were an idiot.”
He
laughed, “Yes, you’re right again.
But I
won’t be anymore.
Eve, I have thought
about you every single day since I left.
I didn’t think I was worthy of you back then and I have worked my ass
off trying to become the man we both thought I would be. I will always be glad
that fate brought you back to me even if it’s just to have the chance to tell
you I still love you.”
Tears
trailed down her cheeks, and he could see that her heart was opening again to
him, listening to him.
“I
won’t leave you again.
Just say you’ll
forgive me and let me make up for all the lost time,” he pleaded.
His eyes were getting misty too.
“You
stupid, stupid man.
Yes, I’ll forgive
you.
I’ve been doing everything I can to
fight it all this time, but it won’t go away.
I still love you, too.”
He lowered
his head and gently kissed her lips, one of many more to come.
For a long, long time.
Epilogue
The
plane touched down at LAX and Eve squeezed Devon’s hand, her engagement ring
sparkling on her finger.
A happy smile
lit her face that they were finally back home.
He squeezed her hand back and smiled in return, both of them gazing out
the window as the plane taxied to the gate.
He
had made good on his word.
Since they’d
cleared the air between them, it was as though they had never been apart.
Every second of spare time they’d gotten
during the tour had been spent together and they’d had a grand time exploring
the various cities, creating new memories.
By
the time Arsenal reached New York, for their last US show, their album had gone
from gold to platinum to triple platinum and several social media posts had
gone viral.
They’d played to sold-out
stadiums and more than one other artist had approached Eve and Kate about
enlisting their services.
Clayton
had set up a new contract with Eve and Kate for the European tour.
From New York they’d all flown to Europe,
playing shows in Barcelona, Rome, Vienna, Berlin, London and too many other
cities to name.
By the end of the
European tour, the album reached double diamond status and Eve and Kate had
more work than they could handle.
They
already had interviews lined up for the next day so they could expand the
company.
It
was mind-blowing how different her life was now compared to when she’d left
several months ago.
A whole new and
exciting future lay before her.
Eve
turned away from the window to see people getting off the plane and Devon
watching her.
“What
were you daydreaming about?” he asked.
“How
completely awesome this tour has been.”
“Oh
yeah?
Which part was your favorite?
Seeing the Vatican?
Or standing at the top of the Eiffel
Tower?”
His eyes roamed her face.
“Or maybe it was when I proposed to you on
the beach in Barcelona.”
“None
of those.
I was thinking of something
else.”
Not that anything could surpass
his proposal on the beach, but there was something else that stuck in her mind
she would never forget.
Even
though their separation had been long and painful, she had a shred of gratitude
for the lessons they both had learned.
Devon knew now to speak his feelings, to communicate, instead of stuffing
them away.
Underneath his rocker
exterior he was deeper and more sensitive than she had ever known.
And she knew that her temper made her hasty
and sometimes got in the way of seeing all his complexity.
Even though it would probably never be
perfect, the lessons would serve them well from now on.
Neither of them would let a disastrous
communication error happen again.
“What
could be better than that?”
“The
day you made me talk to you.”
She knew
he would be surprised and it showed on his face.
“Why
that day?”
“Because
it was the day I understood you never stopped loving me.”
His
hand rose to cup her cheek.
“You are the
only woman I’ve ever loved.
You know
that now, right?”
How
she had filled the hole left by him all that time, she would never know.
His love was a warm ember that glowed inside
her, filling her with its light and warmth.
Her
eyes misted.
“Yes, I know, and I feel
the same way about you.
Probably more.”
He
smiled, “We’ll see about that.”
Not
caring who was around, she leaned close to press her lips to his, all the
happiness and joy at being together again pouring through. After all the time
they’d lost already, she wasn’t about to waste a single second.
The End
www.jewelquinlan.com
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