Pieces of You(6)
“Chill out. He’s just escorting me to the restroom.”
“I can do that,” I say as I slide out of the booth.
Senia throws me a look like I’m being a total buzzkill. I don’t want to let her go anywhere with him. The last thing she needs right now is another heartbreak. But maybe she just needs to get this out of her system. Having meaningless sex after a breakup seems to be a ritual we’ve all come to accept as normal.
I sit back down and Julie’s head is resting on top of the table. She’s passed out. I would sit next to her so that Abby and Ben aren’t squished together, but I’m afraid of what will happen if she wakes up and finds Tristan gone.
About fifteen minutes later, Tristan returns without Senia. He slides into the booth as if nothing happened.
“Where’s Senia?”
“Is that her name?” Tristan replies, looking completely bored. “She’s still in the restroom.”
“You’re such an asshole,” I mutter as I leave and barrel through the crowd toward the restroom sign in the corner.
I make it to the door with the gold handle and shove it open. Four girls are standing in front of the mirror washing their hands and fixing their makeup and all the stalls are occupied.
“Senia?”
“What?” she calls back, and I can tell she’s crying.
I knock on the door of the stall and she fumbles with the latch before it opens. She’s sitting on the toilet, fully-clothed, with a giant wad of toilet paper in her hands. Almost all her makeup is gone and caked on the toilet paper as tears stream continuously down her face.
I lock the door behind me and kneel down in front of her. “What happened? Did Tristan do something to you?”
She laughs then blows her nose. “I was so ready to do it,” she slurs, “but I just kept thinking, ‘That’s not how Eddie would kiss me. That’s not how Eddie would touch me.’ Then I started crying and he left. Totally pathetic.”
“It’s not pathetic,” I say as I grab a clean bunch of toilet paper off the roll and exchange it for the filthy wad in her hands. “You and Eddie loved each other. Even if he did turn out to be a royal asshole, I know he loved you in his own way. It’s okay to feel lost right now, but you’re beautiful and smart and you will find someone else. And not Tristan, who’s an even bigger asshole than Eddie.”
“Ugh. He is. But I must admit that he has a bigger… bass than Eddie.”
“See? You’re still cracking jokes. You’re gonna be just fine.”
She chuckles as she wipes off the rest of her eye makeup then looks up at me. “He said something horrible to me.”
“Who said something horrible?”
“Tristan. He said, ‘I guess you’ll do.’”
“He said that to you?!” I stand up, ready to storm out of the stall and give that douche a piece of my mind, but Senia grabs my arm.
“No, you can’t say anything.”
“Why?”
She grimaces as she replies, “I think he was talking about you.”
“I don’t get it.”
“It doesn’t matter. Let’s get out of here before I make an even bigger fool of myself.”
Chapter Three
Chris
THIS IS MY SECOND TIME in London, and I never travel with a bodyguard overseas, but I think that policy has officially changed.
As soon as I step out of the cab in front of the hotel on Warwick, I’m swarmed by five girls who are waiting for me at 7:30 a.m. Tristan and Jake didn’t come with me to play this gig in London. I booked this show for one reason and it has nothing to do with the current tour or my UK fans.
I sign autographs for them while a girl with teased hair and too much eye shadow gently squeezes my bicep. Why do girls wear so much fucking makeup? I wonder if she put all that shit on her face before she came here thinking it would impress me. Another girl with auburn hair gazes at me with a dazed expression as I sign a picture of me she obviously ripped out of a magazine. I hand the picture back to her and she smiles.
“I love you so much,” she says in a breathy English accent. “Relentless is my favorite song of all time.”
This shit gets old. How do you pretend to be excited to hear the same phrase you’ve heard a million times before? I’m a musician, not a fucking actor.
“Thanks. It’s really close to my heart, too. Have a great day, ladies.”
I take off quickly before they can start jabbering. I make it to the room and pull my phone out of my pocket before I collapse onto the bed. The curtains are pulled tight so the room is nice and dark even though the morning sun is shining bright outside. I glance at my screen and scroll through the six new texts I’ve received since I left the airport. Nothing from Claire.