Chapter Twenty-SixCynda…
Chapter Twenty-Six
Cynda…
Ugh, seriously? The buzzing in my head was driving me fucking crazy, why wouldn’t it stop? Squinting at the clock I was shocked to see it was after ten and the buzzing was my phone ringing. Shit.
I cleared my throat a few times, trying to sound awake. “Hello?”
“Cynda Pearson, please.”
“This is she.”
“Please hold for Mr. Warner.”
“Okay.” Well I guess the tweet got back to Symmetry already? So much for my job.
“Cynda?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What the hell is going on? I got a call from Rod Dixon about you stealing songs from Raining Chaos? You were supposed to be writing them, not stealing them.”
“I wasn’t stealing.”
“Well it’s all over the twitterverse you were. Or at least a songwriter from our record company. You’re damn lucky she didn’t use your name.”
“I know, believe me, I know. But I wasn’t stealing their songs. Will you let me explain or are you just going to fire me?”
“Explain.”
“Chaos was working on a new song on the bus. I heard it and started making notes on lyrics. One of the backup singers thought I was trying to take it for myself since it was in a private notebook, but that’s where I make my notes. I don’t need to steal their music, why would I?”
“To sell it to other bands?”
“But you said their music wasn’t good enough and that’s why you needed me to write the songs.”
“Yes, but…never mind. I can’t have the company being dragged through the news like this. It’s everywhere today, every news station picked up the story.”
“Are you firing me?”
“I’m considering it, but if what you say is true, then it was a misunderstanding and maybe we can do enough damage control. I’ll get back to you.”
“Okay. Bye.” He’d already disconnected the line.
Sitting up in bed I pushed my hair back, and yawned.
The throbbing in my head sounded like a base drum.
Was it from the alcohol, the crying or both?
I didn’t know and I wasn’t sure I cared either.
Seeing my face in the mirror was a surprise.
My lips were puffy and swollen, my right eye had a huge black and blue bruise under it, and my neck had rows of scratches.
Damn, so did my arms. Lovely. I hope she looked worse.
I found more bruises in the shower, on my back and shoulder and right thigh.
Ouch. I was going to feel these for a few days.
Along with the hickies from Chaos I was covered in little purple bruises.
Great, just freakin’ great. I’d really hoped to wake up feeling better, but no such luck.
At least since I looked this bad, no one would realize my eyes were red and swollen from crying.
The coffee just finished and I was pouring my first cup when Michelle came to find me. “Morning.”
“Morning. Who the hell was on the phone?”
“The record company.”
“Oh shit. How’d that go?” she asked as she poured a cup of coffee and sat at the table.
“I don’t know yet. At least he listened to my side. Apparently dickman is the one who tipped him off about the tweets. I don’t think he saw the picture though, he didn’t say anything about that. He only asked about the song shit. All the news channels talked about it this morning.”
“Fuck. That bitch sure did a number on you.”
I nodded, getting up to refill my cup. I didn’t know if there was enough coffee in the world to make me feel alive today. “She sure did. I hope she looks just as pretty too.”
Michelle laughed. “Me too. I wonder how she’ll cover it up for the show tonight.”
“I should care about that, huh? Too bad I don’t. I don’t even want to think about Raining Chaos. If I never hear the name again it will be too damn soon.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Because you were calling Trent’s name and crying on and off all night. I thought you were awake the first time.”
“I was?” Sighing, I shook my head. It figured, he wouldn’t be easy to erase from my heart or my head. Would it even be possible? Or maybe I’d have to live with this hole in my heart for the rest of my life.
“Yeah, it scared the shit out of me the first time. I’d just fallen asleep and I heard you screaming. I went running in there and you were out cold.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what? The asshat breaking your heart? It’s not your fault.”
“Sure it is. I should have known better. I basically did exactly what my mother did, at least now I kind of understand why.”
“It’ll get better, you know. How many broken hearts have you gotten me over?”
“I don’t know. Too many.” I tried to smile but I don’t think I pulled it off considering how sore my cheeks were.
“You’ll get over him.”
I hoped she was right, but I’d never fallen for anyone before, not like this.
Yeah it’s what everyone said but it really was different.
He touched something inside that no one ever had before.
Tears welled up in my eyes and I brushed them away before they slid down my cheeks.
Damn, after all the crying yesterday, how could I have any tears left?
“Did you check Twitter last night?”
“Nope, I was on the phone with Eric then you came out. I forgot about it by the time we went to bed.”
“I’m not sure if I want to look or not.” I didn’t even remember the last time I’d seen my phone. Oh yeah, in the cab, I’d shut it off and shoved it in my purse. Finding it in the bedroom I dug it out of my purse and went back to the kitchen.
I turned it on and waited for it to run through the startup shit that seemed to take forever, and poured us each another cup of coffee.
“Holy shit.”
“What?”
“Sixteen missed calls and voicemails.”
“One of those was from me. I bet I can guess who the rest are from.”
“Why would he call me so much? You said Eric told him I was here.”
“I don’t know. Maybe he realized what a huge dick he was and was trying to apologize.”
I laughed and laughed, until the tears started, then came the hiccups. Damn, I hated those things. Michelle got me a glass of water and finally they stopped.
“What was so funny?”
“It wasn’t really. I called him that one of the first times I argued with him and it just I don’t know…” I really didn’t want to go in to it all. The one night we’d had was wonderful, maybe one day I’d be able to think about it without crying, but it wouldn’t be for a long time.
She nodded and I was thankful she didn’t push me for answers. There were some things I wasn’t ready to talk to her about, and maybe I never would.
“I wonder when they’ll let me know about the job. I’d be happy if they did fire me, then I could try to forget about all of this.”
“What exactly did they say?”
“That they’d get back to me.”
“Typical.”
I nodded, it was a total clusterfuck. I scrolled through the missed calls. Michelle was right. They were all from Chaos except for two. One was from her and one from a number I didn’t recognize.
“Are you going to listen to the messages?”
“I don’t think so, at least not yet.”
“Okay. So what do you want to do today?”
“Don’t you have to go to work?”
“Nope, school doesn’t start until next week and I have all the supplies I need to decorate the classroom. I’ll do it tomorrow or the next day. No rush as long as I do it this week.”
“I thought you had in-service days.”
“I do, but not until the end of the week. Don’t worry about me. It’s take care of Cyn time.”
“We don’t need to do anything for me. I’ll wait for the call and see what happens then.”
“Did you want to call the lawyer I found?”
“Maybe, but not right now. All I want for now is to just try to forget for a little while.”
“Cool, so how about I go get us a couple of movies and some ice cream?”
“It’s not even lunch time.”
“So what, ice cream’s dairy.”
I knew there’d be no stopping her. She got dressed and went to the store. As soon as the front door closed my cell rang. It was Chaos again. What the hell was his problem? Maybe I should have left the pages behind, so he’d know I didn’t want his damn song.
I hit the ignore button and went to get the notebook from my purse. When Michelle got back I was sitting on the couch with it in my lap and my iPad on the table. I didn’t know what to do about the song. If Symmetry didn’t fire me, should I turn it in to them, or just forget I’d ever heard it?
“I’m back with movies. Which do you want,” she asked, holding up two pint sized containers of ice cream. “Mocha almond fudge or Double chocolate chip?”
“Give me the mocha. You know it’s my favorite. Bitch.”
“Exactly.”
“What movies did you get?”
“Moonstruck, Simply Irresistible, Phantom of the Opera and Chocolat. Which one first?”
“Good question. How about Simply Irresistible?”
"Great choice,” she laughed and inserted it into the DVD player.
Maybe she was right, watching a movie and eating ice cream worked for her. “Thank you, Michelle. You’re the best.”
She hugged me tight, then handed me a spoon and the ice cream. For the next hour and a half I was glued to the TV and tried not to think about anything else. I hadn’t seen it in ages and I’d forgotten most of it, which was good, and it kept my mind off Chaos until the end.
Michelle decided we needed pizza next. I didn’t usually eat all this junk food but she swore it was the only cure for heartbreak. While she was picking it up from across the street, the phone rang and it was Symmetry records again.
“Hello?”
“Cynda?”
“Yes.”
“Cliff Warner here. I spoke to Rod Dixon and he says it was a misunderstanding and they’ve tweeted it was a mistake. We’ll be issuing a press release by the end of the day saying the same thing. For now you get to keep your job, but try not to start any more trouble.”
“Great.” So how come I wanted to puke up all the ice cream I’d just eaten?
“So when can we expect the songs?”
“My contract says I have three months. It will be then or sooner if I can get them done.”
“Sooner would be better. We’d like to lay down some tracks when they’re on the west coast.”
“Then you shouldn’t have given me three months in the contract.” I knew I sounded bitchy but hell, I was over all of them.
“Well said, Ms. Pearson. Your father would be proud.”
“What do you know about my father?”
“Did you think we’d hire you without a full background check? I knew you were Preston Mitchell’s daughter from the beginning.”
“Is that why I got this job?”
“It might have helped, but your song writing talent is amazing, just like his.”
“Does he know? I mean, that I’m working for you?”
“Not from me. I haven’t spoken to him. They’re on tour in Europe and aren’t working on a new album until they get back.”
“Well, I’d rather you didn’t tell him.”
“No problem. I won’t mention it.”
“Thank you.” He disconnected before I even finished saying thank you. He was one rude ass man.