9
Zoey
Five YearsLater
Boom,boom!The stage lights flickered blue and white to the rhythm of Jude's double pedal. The crowd was wild, screaming, hooting, and clapping along to the beat. Zoey loved the strong feeling of his drums beating through her body. It always reminded her of when she firstsawhim.
Zoey would have loved to believe that five years into her relationship with Jude Morrison, things were perfect, but she had never been that naive. Between college and Jude's touring, it seemed their relationship was in a never-endingcycle.
Things were going well for her balancing school and working for Black Dog Recordings. Now in graduate school for business, Richard gave her more leeway in finding musicians she thought hadpotential.
With her earnings, she was able to buy a loft near the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. She chose that location not only because Jude loved the area so much, but because she loved looking back to that first day they spent together. That day was a huge turning point in both theirlives.
When Jude came off the road, they lived together in the loft and things couldn't be better. But everything changed once he was on the road. Jude hated life on the road and always asked Zoey to join him, but most of the time she couldn’t. Without her there, Jude turned to the bottle andpills.
Thinking about how many times over the years she showed up at one of Silverlight's shows only to find Jude wrecked with no idea of where he was, she wondered why she stayed for so long. Eventually she simply stopped going to their shows. It was easier to forget what was going on if she didn’t have to see it. Out of sight, outofmind.
This time is different though, she told herself as his solo ended and the crowd roared. The stage went black and she quickly made her way out of the aisle and over to the backstage entrance where she held out her pass as security looked her up and down before letting herthrough.
Like clockwork, the band would take a break after Jude's solo before coming back for an extended encore. She enjoyed watching the show but didn't want to get trampled by the crowd when it was over, so she made it a habit to head backstage during theirbreak.
In the past five years, hardly anything had changed. Zoey still had her straight black hair, but now she wore it just past her shoulders and parted in the middle after letting her bangs grow out years ago. She still loved wearing black too, it was what she felt the most comfortable in. Her Doc Martens had been replaced by Uggs, but everything else was pretty muchthesame.
As she walked past the entrance for the tent they set up under the stage for the groupies, Zoey averted her eyes, wishing she could forget something like it even existed. Unfortunately it put her right in the path of Cade, who was heading towards the tent, and she bumped into him as he tried to step out ofherway.
“We have to stop meeting like this,” Cade joked as he steadied her with his strong hands on her arms. “It's great toseeyou."
She looked up at Cade with his shaggy hair and sunglasses. He smelled like sex and tequila, and it pissed her off. Remembering the sweet guy he had been years ago, she glared at him and couldn't help but blame him for all the problems she and Jude had inthepast.
“You're disgusting, Cade! Look at yourself! What happenedtoyou?"
She didn't wait for an answer. She stepped around him and spotted Jude with his arms around two bimbos. She couldn't move. Her feet were suddenly glued to the floor as a chill swept through herveins.
"Those girls over there are with me," Cade said. "I must havelostthem."
He hurried over to Jude, motioned in her direction, and took the girls away with him. Zoey was used to seeing Jude with girls, but that didn't mean it didn't get her jealous or annoy the shit out of her. Every time Jude would say they meant nothing and she believed him, but that was getting hardertodo.
Smiling as he walked over to her, all her anger melted away. He wrapped his muscular arms around her and lifted her into the air as he spunaround.
"I'm so glad you made it," Jude said. "The show will be over in about fifteen minutes, and then we can relax in the room or do whatever you want. You know what they say, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." He grinnedather.
As she looked at his green eyes with their flecks of gold and his perfect smile, her heart stopped as she noticed glitter on his lips. Reaching up, she rubbed her thumb over his lips, wiping the sparkly pink lipglossoff.
"Really, Jude? Is your buddy going to cover for you now? Where's the bitch who's been kissing my boyfriend?" She looked around at the different girls walking past. "Well, Jude? Which oneisshe?"
"Zoey, relax. It's not like that at all. You know how the fans are, sometimes they want a little peck. That's all it was. You gottabelieveme."
She studied his face for a moment. “You've been drinking, haven't you?" she asked. “You know I said I wasn’t going to tolerate that anymore. I just can’t, Jude. Ican’t.”
"No, I told you it's been tough, but I've got it under control. Rehab did me good, Zoey. I swear I haven’t been drinking,” he said as he reached down and held her hands. “Come on, Zoey. You know I love you." Jude pulled a hotel key out of his pocket and gave it to her. “Look, it’s the penthouse suite. I got it just for us. I wanted this weekend to be special. Please believe me. I don't want tofight."
He seemed so sincere. Zoey knew he never meant to hurt her. Jude loved her. She knew that without a doubt. But she was so confused lately. Dealing with everything over the past five years had reallydrainedher.
"I just need some air," she said as she pushedhimaway.
She saw the hurt cross his face, and he quickly darted his eyes away from her. A lump formed in her throat and she turned away to keep him from seeing her cry. Was she being over-sensitive? Maybe, but there was so much hurt in her that it sometimes trumpedthegood.
Slipping the room key he gave her into her pocket, she walked back the way she came then turned towards the exit. As she reached the large doors, she turned back and saw Donna rubbing Jude’s back. She might have been wrong, but she thought it looked like Donna was wearing pink sparkle lipgloss.
