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"Because I'll work it out."
My words seem empty right now. This is too big a crisis for me to simply snap my fingers and fix it.
"Trust me," I ask her, and Andrea nods.
She entangles her fingers with mine, and though I can feel her pulse racing, it slowly begins to calm down as I squeeze her hand. She’s trusting that I have the power to fix this whole misunderstanding.
And for now, that's all I need. I need her to trust me enough to know that I will fix everything in time.
Even if I don't know what strings I'm going to have to pull to do it just yet.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
ANDREA
For the tenth time in less than an hour, my phone rings.
I answer, because I know I can't ignore it any longer, even though our previous conversation wasn’t the kindest.
"Brandon," I greet him as I answer the phone.
"Thank goodness. I thought you'd disappeared again."
He sighs in relief, but the relief won't last him long.
"I plan to. I'm leaving town for a while," I declare.
"You can do no such thing," Brandon claims immediately. "Your tour of the country starts in less than three days."
"I'll cancel it. At the moment, my mental health is more important."
"This will cost us millions, Andrea."
"I'm sure the label will work it out," I state, and I know that Damien agrees with me.
He and I discussed it this afternoon. It’ll be best for me to stay out of the public eye, at least for the time being.
"I'll work on my new album in the meantime," I promise Brandon.
Brandon sounds completely devastated. "Andrea, I don't understand. You're throwing your dreams away for a man. A fucking man."
"Don't talk about Damien like that," I snap at Brandon. I look toward the stairs leading to the second floor of the apartment, where he’s taking a shower.
After making love, we decided to get away from the city, so we've packed everything up to leave for a season in The Hamptons.
Damien's friends are ok with this, too. Their friendship and deep affection for him have impressed me. They’re just trying to protect us during this tough time, and have agreed to back Damien up so that he can get away for a while we wait for all these rumors to die down.
"But it’s true," Brandon argues. "Don't you see, Andrea? He's ruining you. You're not who you used to be."
"Good. Because I hated who I had become," I confess, a lump stuck in my throat. "And this version of me is one I like so much better."
"You're crazy if you think that."
"I might be crazy then," I declare.
Brandon is silent for a moment. "We can still make this right. If you just..."
"No, Brandon," I cut him off. "I think for now, it's time for you to let me go."
