Page 5 of I Love You, It’s Ruining My Life

“Not funny,” I scoffed, thinking back to how horrific their breakup was. Jack had been devastated, and of the two of them, he'd been more invested. There wasn’t enough trying he could've done that would've changed Nalini’s mind. I knew he was playing it off now like it wasn’t a big deal, but Jack had been convinced they’d get married one day.

“Wait,” I said, my thoughts turning as I realized I'd only just picked up the phone, “How do you know she’s here?”

“You went viral,” Noah said, as straightforward as ever, “Multiple people recorded it, so there’s like four or five different camera angles.”

I didn’t want to look. It was bad enough knowing the videos existed, and they’d make Nalini look bad. I didn’t want our history to turn her into a punching bag… again. I could already guess the headlines these posts would stir up, and it was the last thing I wanted for her. She had every right to be mad after what happened last time. I didn’t want to do it to her again.

“How bad is it?” I asked, surprised our publicist, Mel, hadn’t reached out yet. Both of them shrugged in the unspoken language I'd never really mastered — the one that fame seemed to amplify in both of them. Jack was now a solo sensation who'd far eclipsed RaineFall’s success, and Noah'd been so busy acting he was halfway to the EGOT - only missing a Tony and Grammy to complete the set.

“Doesn’t matter, I’ll get the press off you in like ten minutes,” Jack said, tapping something on his phone, “it’s why I called a band meeting.”

I'd hardly classify a video call as a band meeting, especially when RaineFall hadn’t been a band in years. But despite the progress we'd made since we started talking again, we were still too strained to call it a family meeting. It wasn’t that I wanted to avoid my brothers; I just didn’t think any of us knew how to properly fix what we broke.

“Noah’s last three projects flopped,” Jack continued, proving my point.

“Not my fault,” Noah muttered, clearly annoyed at Jack for poking a sore spot.

“The press hasn’t exactly been nice to me lately, and I just gave them more ammunition with my divorce announcement,” Jack continued, and I blinked in surprise.

“Wait… since when are you and Stef getting divorced?” I asked, blinking as I tried to comprehend how nonchalantly he'd brought it up.

“Since last night,” he scoffed, rolling his eyes, “we’re saying irreconcilable differences, or whatever I'd said when I filed with Natalie. But honestly, if I ever see her face again, it’ll be too soon. She threw a vase at me!”

“Did you deserve it?” Noah asked under his breath, and I tried not to show I'd wondered the exact same thing.

“No!” Jack insisted, “Believe it or not, I didn’t do anything. It was all her!” I found that hard to believe — I knew Jack better than anyone. “Anyway,” he continued, sounding like an exasperated boss trying to get a meeting back on track, “I think we should bring RaineFall back.”

“You… what?” I asked, trying to wrap my head around the bomb Jack dropped. The three of us couldn’t even stay in a room together for more than a few hours without things getting nasty; I couldn’t imagine a world where we could handle recording an album together.

“Think about it,” Jack continued, “Nostalgia is in, Noah and I need some good press, and Kam, you desperately need money. Everyone wins.”

“I don’t need good press, I literally have a show coming out in a couple of months,” Noah argued.

“And I don’t desperately need money,” I continued, trying not to sound offended by Jack insinuating I was poor, “I’m perfectly comfortable in Briar Hill. Choosing to live somewhere with a lower cost of living doesn’t mean I’m destitute.”

“It does if it’s Briar Hill,” Jack muttered, pretending it was supposed to be under his breath.

“I know you hate that I moved,” I defended, “I don’t need a giant mortgage or a grocery store that acts like a single loaf of bread is supposed to be thirty dollars. Cassidy has a giant college fund, I don’t have to work unless I want to, and we still have enough royalties coming in. I. Am. Fine.”

“Jack, instead of insulting Kam’s life decisions to guilt him into doing what you want,” Noah bluntly snapped, “why don’t you let us think about this? Bringing RaineFall back can’t be spontaneous. This kind of comeback would require so much planning. I need to look at my schedule to make sure I have time, Kam has Cassidy. Plus…”

“We’re barely back on speaking terms,” I sighed, figuring that was where Noah was going, “I don’t want to bring back the band if it means sacrificing the little progress we’ve made.”

Jack looked like Noah and I'd kicked a newborn puppy, and I forced myself not to feel guilty for it. It didn’t work, but I tried anyway. I wasn’t going to let those habits come back, where Jack had a big idea, and I inevitably guilted myself into caving to what he wanted. I refused to get stuck in that cycle again, and I knew my therapist would be proud of me. Even if it made me feel horrible.

“When do you need an answer?” Noah asked, mediating enough to keep Jack and me from devolving into a screaming match.

“I don’t know,” Jack shrugged, “I figured we’d make an announcement that we were back and figure it out from there.”

“I’m pretty sure Mel would kill you if you pulled that” Noah deadpanned, and I shuddered to think what our publicist would think of Jack’s barely-thought-out idea. “She’d want a whole plan, schedule, and a completed album before we ever thought about making any announcements.”

“Yeah, why don’t you talk to Mel?” I suggested, “Come up with a plan for what bringing back the band would look like. Then once you’ve got details, you can explain it to the two of us.”

“We’re not saying no,” Noah said, and I could tell he was trying to keep Jack’s temper down. I couldn’t blame him. It'd practically been my job growing up, it felt wrong when someone else picked up the role.

“Fine. But if I’m being forced to talk to Mel about this, you two need to look over the songs I wrote and see if they work. And Kam, you can always work your magic and write a few more.”

I hadn’t picked up a guitar in two years. I hadn’t written a song in seven. While “Nalini” was our breakout hit, every popular single we had after was written by me. Officially, we wrote them as a band, but Jack was always happy to take the credit. Another reason I was reluctant to work with him again.