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“Yeah, maybe. What’s going on, Aud? Why weren’t you answering me back last night? I was so worried about you. There are all these pictures online of the two of you sitting there and talking. Don’t get more wrong, you look miserable in most of them. But they’re playing it off like Serena was comforting a mourning friend.”
“Wow, she really can spin anything,” I remark.
“Audrey” is all he says.
I know he wants more, but I’m not sure what else to say. I’m not sure what else to give him at this point. “I don’t know, Derek. She made me feel like maybe we shouldn’t be doing this. Like maybe you and I really don’t belong together. I might not fit into your world—ever. I don’t want to be the reason you’re held back from things, and I don’t want to wake up one day and find out that you’re not who I thought you might be.”
“You would never. You wouldn’t. I am exactly the same man from that beach in Corolla. The same kid that came up to you and used to steal your Oreos during movie nights. I’m just a little more well-known than that kid used to be.”
I don’t say anything because I’m not sure what to say to that. He speaks again.
“Come on! I did not just piss off everyone I know for you to end this on me over the phone because of something that spoiled bitch said. We are better than that. Our relationship is stronger than that! Please, Audrey,” he pleads with me.
I start to cry, thinking about all she said and all he’s saying to me. “I just feel like you could have done so much better than me. Someone like Serena can offer you so much more than I can, Derek. Maybe this shouldn’t have ever started.”
“No, no, this should have started a long time ago. You are the woman I love and the exact woman that I want. Do not let her twist things or hurt us. That’s what she’s trying to do. She’s trying to see if you’ll break up with me and then come back to her, and it’s fucking working. How can it be working? You know exactly who I am. You know me. Grow a set of those balls I know you have and stay with me.”
I’m laughing by the end of his little speech. “Oh, Derek. I do love you,” I tell him.
“Then that’s it. That’s all there needs to be,” he says. I can hear the desperation coming through over the phone. I hate that I’m doing this to him, but I’m just not sure. She’s made me question everything, and I hate her for that.
“What if she’s right, though? I hate that she’s made me question everything. I really do, but at some point, she’s gotta have a point, right?”
“Audrey.” He sighs into the phone. “Don’t let her manipulate you the way she has all of her fans. Be stronger and smarter than that. I know she caught you in a rough time, and I know you hate what happened. I know you hate that your dad saw all of this before he died, and you never got to tell him the truth. But trust me, he knew the truth. The same way you do. Come on, Aud. Stay with me.”
“It’s just so much harder than I thought it would be,” I admit. “Being here away from you and having no idea when I’m going to see you again… that’s a little hard to take.”
“So, what if we make a plan to see each other, will that help? Will you come out here to LA to be with me? Will you come out and go to an event with me?”
“Um, what kind of an event?” I ask him. “I want to see you, but why do I feel like you’re about to throw me into the deep end here?”
“It’s not the Met Gala, Aud. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“You wouldn’t be invited,” I snark back.
He laughs. “There’s my girl. Now you sound more like you.”
“I guess I wigged a little bit there, and all I really needed was to hear your voice.”
“I wish you would have called me last night and we could have talked this over. I didn’t get much sleep, dreading this conversation. Ask the boys. I almost jumped on a plane to show up at your doorstep.”
“I’m sorry. It was such a long day, and then I went out for drinks with Jess. It was nice to see her and hang out, but I would have much rather come home to see you at my doorstep.”
“You know you could always see me at the end of your long days,” he reminds me.
“Let’s get back to this event you want me to go to.”
“There’s this party that the record label is throwing for us in Vegas. You’d just have to come out here to LA, and we would all go to Vegas together.”
“That sounds fancy,” I say. “I wouldn’t have a thing to wear.”
“Well, baby, I would take care of all of those things for you. You just get here, and I’ll make sure you have an outfit that matches me. It’ll be just like prom,” he teases me.
“I hated my prom,” I remind him.
“That’s because you went with that douchebag Scotty Wilson. How could you have dated someone named Scotty?” He laughs and I love the sound of it.
“You and Aiden made sure that no one sane would date me,” I remind him. “I had limited options.”
