AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Eve! Wait!” I cry. A woman catches me by the wrist. “You’re Vince! Can I get a Selfie?” I nod mutely and smile as I fumble with an iPad to get a photo of us. Eve’s making her way to the parking lot. I sprint to catch her.
“Eve! Wait! I’m sorry!” I howl.
“I don’t want your apology!” she yells back.
I dodge a gaggle of teenagers and catch up to her. “Seriously. Stay for the show at least,” I beg, feeling genuinely bad.
Eve rolls her eyes. “I don’t like your music,” she says with venom.
“Wait, what?”
“I never liked it. It sounds like it should soundtrack a theme park about rainforests or some shit. It’s tacky. It’s the kind of music my mom listens to. They play your songs at the Dentist’s office. Face it, Vince, you’re washed up. That’s why you were using me. You’re an energy vampire.”
“Eve, I never meant to hurt you,” I say softly. I reach out to touch her, but she shies away.
“Well, you fucking failed! You hurt me, Vince.”
“Eve, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
Eve sighs and shakes her head. “Keep telling yourself that. Good luck, Vince,” she says before walking away.
It feels like my feet are glued to the asphalt of the parking lot. I am shocked. I stand dumbfounded. Someone touches my shoulder. “I’m not really in the mood to take a photo right now,” I say morosely.
“Well, good. You need to get ready; you’re on in thirty minutes.” I look up; it is Lyndsey; she looks oddly sympathetic. I can see the pity in her eyes.
“Right, I am.” We walk back to the backdoor entrance in silence.
“How’d it go?” Lyndsey asks tentatively.
“It wasn’t the worst breakup I’ve ever gone through. No one threw anything on me or lit my curtains on fire. Thanks for saving my ass back there.”
“No biggie. It wasn’t exactly in my job description, but I’m happy to help.”
I laugh. “You could add ‘good kisser’ to a resume,” I say.
My heart drops when Lyndsey winks back at me. “Hey, so could you. It wasn’t the worst thing I’ve had to do during a tour. I am sorry about Eve, though. I know how hard it is to date while touring.”
“Thank you. Yeah, and she didn’t get it, nor did she understand when we broke up the first time.” I sigh, then run my fingers through my hair.
“You’re not … on tour …” I babble.
“Nah, I don’t really date. I mean, last summer I dated this random drummer from this So-Cal surf rock band called High Tide, but that was just a fling. I’m not a huge fan of …” Lyndsey searches for the word, “commitment.”
“You might be the first woman who’s ever said that.”
Lyndsey laughs. “Shit, I guess I am in the minority. What about you? Other than Eve, was there anyone else you were uh …”
“Going steady with?” I finish in a cartoonish Elvis-inspired accent.
Lyndsey guffaws. “What the hell? Did the spirit of the fifties possess you momentarily?”
Her laugh is gravelly and sweet. I quickly catalog it in my list of favorite sounds. “You could say that, ‘lil lady,” I try again, cocking my hip to the side.
Lyndsey snorts. “Okay, now you sound like you’re either going to invite me to a sock hop or accuse me of being a communist.”
“I hope you know I was never welcome at any sort of sock-hop or milkshake-slurping adjacent activity.”
“Is that so? Were you too busy causing a ruckus?”
