It was late when I arrived at the penthouse I shared with Damon. The hallway leading from our private elevator was darkened, and I was wary when I saw a shadowed figure sitting against the wall. As I got closer I saw that it was Damon. “Damon?” I asked questioningly. He looked up. His eyes were bloodshot already, and he was holding a tumbler of what smelled like scotch in his hand. He must have had several since it was so hard for us to get drunk. Not that he didn’t give it his best effort more often than not. It was a good thing that we weren’t normal, since any regular person would have been unable to function with how much he drank most days. He ignored my questioning tone and stood up, sliding up the wall unsteadily to do so.
“Welcome home brother,” he called over his shoulder as he wandered back inside our place.
What the fuck was wrong with him tonight? Not that I could judge, I felt like doing my best to get shit faced myself. But Damon had major demons, as ironic as it was for me to say that about someone whose name literally meant demon.
I would normally try to go talk him off whatever ledge he was standing on, but I didn’t have the energy tonight. Highlight reels of the night and my time spent with Eva cycled through my head, distracting me from whatever issues Damon was dealing with. It made me sick that I didn’t know how to contact her. I had driven into the college campus and attempted to look for her but hadn’t seen her.
I was so desperate that I was willing to reach out to Selena to try and get her information. Although knowing Selena she would probably try to jump me and then give me the wrong information so maybe that would be pointless. I had just gotten to the entryway when I heard the elevator ding. I stopped and looked back expectantly. I wasn’t sure who would have access to our private elevator that would be showing up this late. Maybe a new hookup of Damon’s? The elevator doors opened and my stomach dropped.
I guess it said a lot for me that I had totally forgotten about breaking up with my girlfriend through a text message sent by my manager tonight. Courtney walked out of the elevator and stared at me, one hand on her hip. Courtney was widely considered to be a gorgeous woman. She had platinum blonde hair that she sometimes streaked with different bright colors depending on her mood, a huge fake rack, doe like brown eyes, and legs that went on for days. Right now however she looked like a wreck. Her makeup was smeared all over her face like she had been crying, and her hair was in a greasy, messy bun.
“Court, what are you doing here?” I asked stupidly. She immediately burst into tears. I didn’t know what to do. In the two years we had been together I had seen her do a lot of things, but crying wasn’t one of them.
“You had Kevin send me a fucking text message to break up with me,” she cried.
I took a step back unconsciously. I wasn’t expecting this reaction. “Courtney, you knew this was never a serious thing,” I said insensitively. “You know I’ve always fucked anyone I wanted.”
She looked down at the ground and her bawling got louder. At this point I was pissed. Courtney knew exactly how our “relationship” worked. I had never gotten the impression that she was emotionally invested in the idea of us, and I knew that this reaction was more focused on the publicity and opportunities she would lose from not being my “girlfriend” anymore, than it was from losing us.
“I’m in love with you, you idiot,” she cried suddenly.
I didn’t know what to say to that. I had felt affection for Courtney at times, when she let her barriers down she was actually pleasant and interesting to be around, but none of those emotions had come close to love.
“Court,” I said hesitantly.
“Please Mason…whatever it is we can fix it,” she went on. “I can travel with you, I can do whatever you want, just don’t do this to us.”
My face must have shown what I was feeling because she hurried on.
“Did you meet someone else?” she cried. “Because I’m willing to make it work if you have. Mason, please don’t do this,” she ended softly.
I felt like a prick. Maybe I had totally missed what was going on. “Court, I’m sorry for how I chose to end this, but I just can’t be with you anymore. You’re a great person (I lied through my teeth), but I’m ready to move onto something real. You and I weren’t real and if you think about it you will realize that. I want you to have someone who worships you, and that’s not me.”
She stared at me for a while before she burst into a new round of sobs.
“I’m not going to let you do this to us Mason,” she said in a frenzied tone. “I’ll make you come back to me. You aren’t thinking clearly.”
She seemed to have decided something because her crying abruptly stopped and she got a determined look on her face.
I looked worriedly after her as she turned and stalked back to the elevator and disappeared behind the doors. I rubbed my hand down my face, suddenly exhausted. Drinking until I was wasted was looking more and more appealing. We had some elvish wine stashed somewhere that could usually do the trick. I had hoped Courtney wouldn’t be a problem. All I could hope was that after I found Eva and hopefully convinced her to start something with me that Courtney wouldn’t show up. I finally walked back into the penthouse. Damon was passed out on the couch, the tumbler of scotch spilled beneath him on the floor.
Shaking my head I walked over to the bar and looked at what was out. The bottle of elvish wine sat with the top uncorked. Evidently Damon had started in on that before the scotch. That would explain his current comatose state. I went to grab it but then decided to just go to bed. I wanted to be up early to start the search for Eva and that would give me a nasty hangover.