AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Elena smiled slightly and cocked her head. “What do you mean by that?”
Skylar shrugged. “A lot of your new stuff is about breaking free and being yourself and loving yourself. I love that, don’t get me wrong.”
“But?” Elena arched an eyebrow as she waited for the criticism to come.
“But it makes me wonder if you couldn’t use your platform for more.”
“What do you mean?”
Skylar didn’t respond; she simply lowered her eyes and started to strum on her guitar. But Elena wasn’t going to let her off the hook that easily. She wanted to know what Skylar meant. So she asked, “What do you mean?”
“Come on, Elena,” she laughed, although it lacked any humor, “you know what I mean.”
“Enlighten me.”
She shrugged again, setting the guitar on the floor as she spoke. “The world is different now than it was years ago when we were together. Those songs we were scared to write or put out, or the songs we changed to fit the market would do amazing now. There are people out there just like us that want to hear songs about love between two women. Your songs are great, but they could be more if you’d get out of your own way.”
Elena felt her blood start to boil. Was Skylar insinuating Elena wasn’t good enough? That she could be better if she publicly announced her sexuality to the world? She knew that wouldn’t do anything but turn some of her longtime fans against her, and Elena didn’t want to risk that. She’d worked too hard for too long to be derailed by Skylar’s agenda.
“My sexuality shouldn’t be used to increase record sales.”
“I agree.”
“So, why are you insinuating I should change my lyrics?”
“Because, as a bisexual singer with a large following, you might help to make a difference for the queer community.”
Despite having known she was bisexual for over a decade, Elena had never felt a part of the queer community. Especially since she was most often seen on the arms of men. That didn’t change Elena’s sexuality, though; she was still attached to both men and women, no matter who she was dating at the time. Even when she married Peter, she was still bisexual. But she found it hard to relate to the queer community because, on the outside looking in, she appeared to be in a very heterosexual relationship.
“It’s not like I’m saying you have to go out on stage and kiss a woman. I’m just saying that maybe you could write a song with female pronouns. That’s all.”
“That might work for you in the Cove, but the mainstream doesn’t often play songs like that.”
“They would if it was the newest Elena Cruz song.”
“This isn’t the Cove, Skylar.”
Standing, Elena sat her empty wine glass down on the table and crossed her arms over her robe. She wasn’t sure why Skylar’s comments were offending her so much. Maybe it was because, yet again, Skylar was trying to force her out of the closet when she wasn’t ready.
“I know you live in your little gay bubble, but the real world isn’t like the Cove. People lose their careers when they say anything about the LGBT community. I can’t risk that. Not after how hard I’ve worked. I hope you get that, but I know you’ll still be on their crusade tomorrow. It’s always the same song and dance with you.”
“Well, maybe if you’d finally accept your sexuality outside of a closed bedroom door when you’re going down on me, we could change the tune.”
Elena was literally too stunned to speak. Not a single word filled her brain as she narrowed her eyes at Skylar. Part of her expected Skylar to back down and apologize, but she didn’t. She sat on the couch with her arms over the back and an annoying grin on her face.
“I don’t have time for this.” Elena tossed up her hands. Picking up the wine glass, she walked toward the stairs.”
“Yeah, just walk away because you’d rather do that than admit your feelings.”
Elena spun around on her bare feet. “Let’s not forget it was you that walked away from me and the band. Not the other way around.”
“And did you ever stop to think why I walked away?” Skylar stood, crossing her arms over her chest. “You were keeping me locked in your closet like I was Rapunzel. That was never fair to me, and even years later, you still don’t realize that. Because to you, it’s always what Elena wants and never what anyone else needs.”
Every fiber in Elena’s body wanted to respond. She wanted to yell back at Skylar and tell her how much her leaving had hurt. But instead, Elena stormed up the stairs and stomped to her bedroom. She slammed the door shut, startling Leo, who had been sleeping on the edge of her bed.
“She drives me fucking crazy,” she said aloud in the empty room. Discarding her robe, Elena angrily got into bed and tried to force herself to go to sleep. Maybe if she could turn off her brain, she could turn off her feelings and thoughts about Skylar.
How dare she say those things about me, she scoffed.
