15. Emerson
Istartled awake.
Confused, I glanced around, trying to get my bearings on where I was. Tilly moaned next to me. I pulled back to see her makeup-smudged cheeks as she lifted her head off the mattress and slowly opened her eyes.
“Why are you up so early?” she asked before dropping her head back into her pillow.
One look at the sun streaming in through her bedroom window and I knew I was going to be late to work. “Get up,” I said as I shoved her shoulder and swung my legs off the bed at the same time.
“You’re the devil,” she murmured, her voice half muffled by the fluff in her pillow.
“We’re going to be late for work,” I called over my shoulder as I shuffled into her bathroom and turned on the light.
I stared at my reflection, wincing at the state of my face. My hair was matted. My makeup was smudged. I could taste my own breath.
We stayed at the bar way too late last night. A producer for Lucky Records bought all the musicians drinks last, and Tilly insisted that we accept. Even though the guy spent the whole night talking to the band who performed two spots before us, Tilly assured me that the producer saw me, and that was the first step in becoming famous.
Brett texted me and asked me where I was. I mindlessly responded because I was too focused on what wasn’t happening between the producer and me. By the time he got there, I was three drinks in, and my inhibitions had been thrown out the window. The rest of the night was a blur, although I do remember Brett asking me to go back to his place. Thankfully, Tilly wouldn’t let me go. We ended up at her place, where we crashed in her bed.
I turned away from the mirror and flipped on the shower. I quickly undressed and slipped under the hot water. Thankfully, this wasn’t the first time that I’d passed out at her apartment, so I kept a spare change of clothes in her closet.
I sudsed up and rinsed off as fast as I could. Once I was clean, I turned off the water, wrapped my hair and my body in a towel, and stepped out. Tilly was waiting, and as soon as I passed her, she jumped in the shower.
I dressed in the green polo and khakis I’d stashed here and waited for Tilly to finish so I could use the mirror without steam covering it. She yawned as she shuffled out of her bathroom in her fluffy robe.
I hurried in and wiped the mirror down and got started on my makeup. Tilly joined me a few minutes later wearing a pair of bike shorts and an oversized tank.
“Last night was crazy,” she said as she stretched. Then she paused, brought her hand up in front of her mouth and blew out a breath. She wrinkled her nose and pulled open the nearby drawer to fish out her toothbrush and toothpaste.
“I wish it had been more fruitful,” I said as I grabbed a beauty blender to smooth out my foundation. The producer had left without us knowing it. As soon as I found out, I withdrew from Brett. He seemed heartbroken, but I really wasn’t interested in talking to him anymore.
I was getting tired of all the disappointment. I just wanted one bite. That was it. But it was beginning to feel like it was never going to happen. I’d already received three lucky charms from some caring stranger. My luck must have been really bad if I needed more than that to get my career off the ground.
I grabbed my mascara and began to swipe it on my eyelashes.
“You don’t know what last night might bring,” Tilly said as she opened her face lotion and scooped it out with her pointer finger.
“Tilly, maybe it’s just too hard. Maybe it’s just not going to happen.” I was tired of hoping.
“What are you talking about? If all else fails, we have Stone in our back pocket.” She gave me a pointed look before she pulled her foundation out of her drawer.
I hated that her whole plan to make me famous hinged on Stone. I would never admit it to her—or anyone for that matter—but my willingness to drink last night may have had something to do with running into Stone and the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
It wasn’t like she was his cousin or something. No, that woman was hanging on him like she owned him. And she wanted me to know that he was hers. I let it get to me. Sure, I said things I shouldn’t have, but I didn’t regret them. I couldn’t believe Stone would tell me off about Brett only to turn around and go out with some other girl that night.
“Hypocrite,” I muttered under my breath.
“Excuse me?” Tilly was staring at me with her eyebrows raised.
I sheepishly smiled at her. “Nothing.”
She frowned before she turned back to the mirror. “What was with that guy last night. Brett?” She side-eyed me. “He was all over you.”
“He’s nice,” I said—and he was. But he wasn’t Stone. And that seemed to be bothering me more and more lately. I didn’t want to, but for some reason, I kept measuring every guy I came across to Stone. There must be some diagnosis for this in the DSM, because it couldn’t be normal.
“Emerson.” Tilly emphasized my name as she stared at me. “This is not the time to start a new relationship with some nice guy. You need to be all about Stone.”
“I’m not dating Stone,” I murmured as I turned to swipe some eyeshadow over my lids.
“I know you’re not dating-dating Stone. But if this is going to work, you can’t have loose ends. Some other guy pining for you is a loose end.” She pointed her eyebrow pencil in my direction.
“I know,” I whispered. I turned my focus back to the mirror. I meant what I said to Stone. There was no way I was going to turn away suitors just because I’d agreed to this fake relationship with Stone. I knew what was going to eventually happen. He was going to leave, and I wouldn’t be able to face that again.
“So…what do you need to do?” She looked expectantly over at me.
I studied my reflection in the mirror. “Become polyamorous?”
“Ha.” She frowned. “No.” She stood and walked out of the bathroom. A few seconds later, she returned with my phone in her hand. “You need to break things off with Brett.”
I stared at my phone in her outstretched hand. “What?”
“You need to tell him that you can’t date him.”
“That feels presumptuous. We’ve never said we were dating.”
“Girl, from the way he was staring at you last night, he wants to do more than date you.”
My cheeks flushed as I picked up my phone. I stared at the black screen before I pressed the side button to wake it up. “Can’t I just?—”
“Tell him no. It’s not fair to him either. Leading him on. What’s going to happen when he sees you out with Stone?”
True. I didn’t want to hurt Brett. “Fine,” I said as I opened my contacts and searched for his name. I put it on speaker and it rang five times before he picked up. I almost thought I was going to have to leave this all in a message.
“Hello.” His tone was more curt than I’d anticipated.
“Brett?”
“Yeah.”
“Hey, it’s Emerson.”
Silence. I glanced over at Tilly, who circled her hand in a forward motion. She wanted me to get this over with. I narrowed my eyes at her and turned so I could focus on how I was going to put this.
“Listen, I think you’re a great guy. It’s just that…” I blew out my breath. “Well, things are a little complicated right now. It’s best if we just stay friends.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “Do you think we can be friends?”
Silence. I glanced at my screen to make sure I hadn’t accidentally hung up on him. The call was still active. “Brett?”
Silence. “I’m here.”
I closed my eyes and said a silent hallelujah. I couldn’t imagine having to call him back and reiterate what I’d just said. “I’m really sorry. I am. Things are just crazy for me right now, and I don’t want to drag you into my mess.” I opened my eyes and stared at the vanity counter in front of me. “I really hope you can forgive me.”
I waited for his response. He seemed so cold and distant. I hadn’t expected him to act like this. It wasn’t like I’d ever agreed to be his girlfriend. We’d only flirted a few times. He was acting a little ridiculous for how little we actually knew each other.
He sighed, and it caused me to sit up.
“Listen, I get that we aren’t dating, but to give me your wrong address…and then to see a guy coming out of your apartment this morning…I guess I just thought you were different.”
I pulled away from the phone, confused. I glanced over at Tilly, who—thankfully—looked just as confused as I did. She mouthed, “What?” and I nodded in response.
“I’m so confused,” I whispered. When Brett didn’t respond, I focused on what he just said. “When did I give you my address?”
He paused. “Last night. You wrote it down on an old receipt and shoved it into my hand, telling me that I should come over and play Yahtzee sometime.”
Tilly laughed and pointed at me. “That sounds like you.”
“And I wrote the wrong address?”
“Yeah.” He rattled off my address.
I glanced at Tilly. I’d only lived at Poppy’s for a week, but that sounded right.
She nodded, “That’s right.”
“Yeah, that’s the right one.”
“Oh, ’cause some guy answered the doorbell and said that you were 4A not 4B.”
“Umm…what?”
Tilly had abandoned her makeup and was now laser-focused on me. “Some guy?” she whispered. “Maybe someone hacked the doorbell?”
That was weird. I stared at her. “Can people really do that?”
She shrugged and returned to the mirror. “Hackers can do anything these days.”
My stomach twisted at the thought of someone being able to hack into something you purchased to make you feel safe. Realizing that I’d ignored Brett for too long, I turned my attention back to the phone. “I am so sorry for earlier. I don’t know what happened today, but I wasn’t even home. I spent the night at Tilly’s.”
Brett was quiet for a moment. “So, some guy wasn’t leaving your apartment this morning?”
Nerves rushed through my stomach. Did someone else have a key to my apartment? Did Poppy not tell me? “No. But now I’m nervous that there was someone in there without my permission.” I paused. “You said someone came out of 4B?”
“4A.”
4A. His response echoed in my mind for a moment before relief flooded my body. 4A was Stone. He must have been leaving to go to work this morning. I blew out my breath. “That’s just my neighbor.”
Brett must not have recognized Stone, which I was grateful for. He’d seen him at my gigs and at the coffee shop yesterday. I wasn’t sure how I was going to explain to Brett that the man I dragged into a supply closet just so happened to be the guy living next door to me.
It would make for an awkward conversation.
“Oh, I see.” He laughed, and I could tell that he felt sheepish. “I’m so sorry I jumped to conclusions.”
I shook my head as I dug around in Tilly’s makeup case for some lip gloss. “You didn’t jump to conclusions. Some guy lied to you.” It was still so weird to me that some hacker would bug my doorbell just to tell a stranger off.
I stopped as I stared at myself in the mirror. “Why did you come over in the first place?” I’d been so focused on the stranger answering my doorbell that I didn’t realize he never told me why he was there to begin with.
The silence felt strained. He sputtered for a moment before he said, “I just wanted to make sure you got home safe. Last night, you disappeared on me, and I was worried.”
I glanced over at Tilly. She gave me an are-you-for-real look before returning back to the mirror. I thought it was sweet, even if Tilly didn’t buy it. What other reason would he have to show up at my place?
“That’s sweet,” I said as I turned my focus back to Brett. “I’m fine. Tilly took good care of me last night.”
“Good. Good.”
Silence fell between us once more. Even if Brett wasn’t my Prince Charming, he was a nice guy. Maybe once my fake relationship with Stone was over, we could hang out. And maybe from there, we could grow to be something more. “Hey, Brett?”
“Yeah?”
“When my life finally settles, and all my complications are, er, no longer complicated, can we hang out?”
He paused. “Sure, Emerson. I’d like that.”
I smiled. At least I wasn’t burning a bridge. In a town as big as Nashville, it was good to have a few allies around. I was a small fish in a big pond. It would behoove me to make some new friends.
“Thanks.”
We said our goodbyes, and I hung up. After I set my phone down on the vanity, I stared at it, trying to piece together my thoughts. Then I glanced over at Tilly. She saw my confusion and matched it. “That was weird,” she said.
“Right?” I paused. “Some guy hacked my doorbell.”
Tilly shrugged. “Or maybe Poppy gave access to someone and they thought it would be a funny joke to scare Brett off.”
Realization passed over me. “That’s it! Someone must have thought Brett was there for Poppy and told them those weird lies to scare him away.” I turned so I could face her fully. “Text Poppy. Ask her if she’s given anyone access to her doorbell.”
Tilly sighed as she set down her blush brush. “Okay,” she said, picking up her phone. After the text was sent, she returned to her makeup.
It only took a minute or two to get a response, but it felt like an eternity. When her phone finally chimed, I cheered and leaned forward, waiting for an answer that wouldn’t have me packing my bags because some strange man had access to the apartment.
“Huh,” Tilly said as her gaze remained glued to her screen.
“What?” This wasn’t a fun game. My heart was pounding a mile a minute. Was I going to have to find a new place? I didn’t have the time, and I doubted that I could find something as perfect as Poppy’s—even if I was living next to Stone.
Tilly pinched her lips as she set her phone—screen-side down—on the vanity. She didn’t look at me as she turned her attention to the mirror.
“Tilly Jenkins. Tell me what she said right now.” I leaned forward to grab her phone, but she beat me to it.
She was fast as she scrambled out of her seat with her hand held high in the air to keep the phone out of my reach. I was not going to let her get away with that, so I lunged after her. She must not have expected my momentum because I managed to knock her onto the ground. Her phone flung out of her hand, and we were both scrambling to pick it up.
Finally, I felt the cool plastic of her phone case, and my fingers wrapped around it before she could get it from me. I held it to my chest and scooted away across her bathroom floor.
“Tell me, Tilly,” I demanded. I pulled the phone away from my chest and glanced down at the screen. It was locked, of course. “You know your phone will lock you out if I try to guess your password too many times.”
“Emerson,” she whined. “I don’t want it to change your commitment.” Her eyes were wide, like she was begging me to promise her something.
“My commitment…” I repeated, trying to piece together what she was getting at. “My commitment…” I whispered.
Stone.
“No.” I shook my head as I tossed Tilly’s phone into her lap. “No. Nope.” Stone had lied to Brett? And then he had the audacity to tell Brett that I had guys coming out of my apartment all the time when he was the one with some girl on his arm last night? After he chewed me out for talking to Brett?
“You better tell me right now if she said Stone, or we are no longer friends.” I narrowed my eyes at Tilly, so she knew I meant business.
Tilly was biting her lips as she stared at me. Finally, she sighed and nodded. “She said Stone.”
Fury built up in my stomach. My skin was hot, and all I could see was red.
What a selfish, hypocritical asshole.
He could date, and I couldn’t? And not only was I forbidden from talking to Brett, but he was actively trying to scare the guy off even though I told him I wanted to keep my options open.
I shook my head. If I wasn’t going to be late for work, I would march over there right now and give him a piece of my mind. But I needed my job, and he probably wasn’t even home.
No. I was going to go to work with these festering feelings, but as soon as I got home, I was going to tell him off.
He deserved it.