CHAPTER EIGHT
The morning sun settles on Jewel’s face, just enough to gently wake her from sleep. On the other side of the bed lies Ash, still sleeping. Lying here with him, she feels no regret, like she originally intended. Instead, she is glad that she was able to satisfy her own needs.
While lying here looking at Ash, she knows that she can walk away and be okay. She isn’t making things complicated. To prove it to herself, she starts to get out of bed. She locates her clothes and starts to get dressed. As she is about to walk away, she feels Ash’s hand grab her wrist. The next second he lets her go. She turns away.
“You should come to our show tonight, just one town over,” Ash says, leaning up in the bed. Jewel doesn’t respond, so he lays back down and closes his eyes, leaving Jewel to her own devices. Jewel heads to the bathroom to check herself over and then leaves the sunny hotel room.
Making her way down the hall, she begins to wonder where Alyssa is.
“Oh, Vince!” The words are moaned. It sounds like Alyssa coming from another room just down the hall.
“I guess I don’t have to worry about her,” Jewel whispers to herself as she finishes her walk down the hallway to the elevator. Jewel takes out her cell phone and pulls up the Uber app.
Five minutes. Perfect.
Jewel waits patiently in the lobby until her car shows up. They head across town toward the club to pick up her car. Jewel stares out the window and takes time to reflect. She can’t help but to think about everything that happened last night. Her date with the optometrist, the concert, meeting the managers, sleeping with the lead singer of Seven Ravens. Somehow, that’s how it always happens, minus the boring date, of course. There’s always some reason that Jewel manages to get backstage, sometimes alone, sometimes with friends. And she always seems to get with the band members. It’s as if she’s meant to be with a musician, whether she likes it or not.
Her thoughts turn to the negative side of this lifestyle. She remembers opening the van doors on her ex-boyfriend, and how all rockers seem to have so many girls swooning over them. There are thousands every day dying to sleep with them. Thinking about it makes Jewel huff. There is no happy medium. It’s take it or leave it, and she realizes her decision to leave it hasn’t exactly worked out yet.
Once back home Jewel makes a quick bite to eat and plops down on the sofa, thankful to find some solitude. She’s still exhausted from her adventure, and after a few minutes she gets up to make her way to her bedroom to get in a nap before facing the rest of her day.
When she gets up again she feels relieved, mostly because she isn’t lying next to a rockstar this time. That means that she can lay in bed as long as she wants without fear of getting attached. She reflects on how she’s gone about things differently this time. She wished she’d done it this way the first time she hooked up with her ex, but then decides it’s all in the past.
No use crying over spilt milk. You’ve moved on. You got what you wanted with no extra baggage. Actually, it turned out much better than you wanted! She while quietly replays last night’s events in her mind.
Jewel feels happy, but something is wrong. She can’t stop thinking about Ash. She had hoped to get up and run some errands, but keeps lying in bed with only one thing on her mind.
“Ash is definitely more of a giver than a taker,” she whispers to herself. She bites her lip, remembering how excited she felt last night. She takes a deep breath and tries to calm her mind.
Lying in her bed, trying not to think of Ash Steele, only makes her think of him even more. In an attempt to distract herself she starts to think about him and his band, and what happened over the years to get him where he is today. She lets herself ponder all the questions she had before, like how he could afford a room like that and why the band was roughing up the club’s managers over money.
She knows there has to be more to the story than she can see. She reaches onto her nightstand and grabs her phone, making herself comfortable while she Googles Ash Steele’s name.
The headlines for many of the articles allude to him partying out of control and trashing hotel rooms. Some of the seedier tabloid sites have articles with pictures of various models and actresses with Ash, some snapped while they were leaving hotels. It was obvious that they were taking the walk of shame the morning after. Jewel lets out a disgusted sigh as she continues scrolling. There are more images and headlines for many more pages. A picture of a grim reaper patch stands out, but before she clicks on the article, Jewel’s phone vibrates with a text.
It’s Alyssa: “Heeyy love. I went with the band to their next gig. You totally have to come! Let me know if you need directions.”
Jewel rolls her eyes.
Jewel: “Not a good idea. Quitting musicians, remember?”
Alyssa: “It’s only an hour away, and you don’t work today!”
What does that have to do with anything?! She knows I don’t want to get involved. Jewel hesitates as she lets out another frustrated sigh.
She knows if I go back I won’t be able to cut the ties to him this time. Why does she do this to me? Jewel punches her pillow as she finishes complaining to herself.
Jewel: “So what? It’s a nice day. I just want to relax.”
Alyssa: “It might be your last chance to see Ash again. He’s been asking about you.”
That makes her heart skip a beat. She holds her phone to her chest and breathes in deeply before giving herself a stern and out loud, “No.”
Jewel: “And?”
Alyssa: “And I told him that you’d be here.”
Jewel: “Alyssa, I can’t.”
Alyssa: “C’mon. You owe me a ride home.”
With an annoyed, “Fine,” Jewel responds and tosses her phone across the room.
How in the world Alyssa’s adventures require me to put my own heart on the line, I have no idea. How selfish. With another moment, Jewel pauses and calms herself down.
Being angry and starting a fight with Alyssa won’t do either one of us any good. They’ve been great friends for a long time, and she knows that she should expect this much from Alyssa. As she finally relaxes, she accepts that she needs to be there for her friend.
Or are you just caving in, as usual?