Chapter 5 – Bea
I’m feeling really guilty for making Marco so angry at me. But like Blakely said, this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I can’t just let it slip by me.
But that’s not to say I don’t miss him and the girls. I almost feel like I can’t breathe when I think about them; nevertheless, I see a picture of them.
Before all of this music stuff exploded, I was really waiting for Marco to pop the question after Caroline found that ring in his closet.
Am I making a mistake?
At what seems like the perfect time, Blakely calls me.
“Hello?”
“Hey! Just calling to make sure you’re okay. I know you said you kind of had cold feet.”
“I did?” I have no idea what I did or didn’t say in my drunken stoper last night.
“Yes. And it’s totally valid. I can call them back and see if they’d be interested in me as a solo artist. There’s always a chance they’d say no . . .”
“No, I don’t want you to do that.” I can’t risk him getting the life he’s always wanted just because I’m unsure about my trajectory of mine. “I’ll go.”
“Oh, my God. Thank you so much, Bea. Pri, she said she’s going to go!” he yells to his girlfriend, who is away from the phone.
“Do you want us to pick you up then?”
“Would you mind?”
“Not at all. Pri or I will text you when we’re outside the hotel.”
“Sounds good!”
While I wait for that time to come, I turn on the TV and flip through the channels. Then, when I fail to find something, I turn it back off and bite at my thumbnail. My phone is on the bed next to me, and it looks like it’s just glaring at me. So, I can’t resist picking it up and calling Marco. I just want to hear his voice. And I want to tell him I’m sorry and that I love him so, so much.
But it goes straight to voicemail.
I assume he’s on another call, so I wait a bit and try again. Voicemail.
“What the actual hell? Did he fucking block me? What if there was an emergency?”
I throw it across the room in anger.
Then, I see his stupid Italian book that I paid the equivalent of a day’s worth of income for me down at the record store. I walk over to it and want to burn it or something. But I flip through some pages, and I see amore mio, something he’s called me before.
So, instead of the hateful thoughts that were once raging through my brain, I remember the good times. The first time we made love—he was drenched, but I didn’t even care. When he met my parents, and brought my father a nice bottle of whiskey. Just tucking Alessia and Aurora into bed together. Our life together has been simple but in all the best ways.
I continue reminiscing until my internal dialogue is interrupted by a ding on my phone.
Okay, it’s go time. I stand up and smooth my long, sandy-colored hair. Instead of my usual band t-shirt and tattered jeans, I’m dressed more like I have an office job. I’m wearing a nice blouse with a blazer over it.
However, when I get out to meet Blakely and Priscilla, I see that he’s in his usual attire.
“You look…interesting,” he says.
I adjust the lapel of my jacket as I sit in the back seat. “I just thought it was a good opportunity to look nice.”
His girlfriend turns around. “I think you look very pretty and grown up.”
“Thank you.”
Eventually, we pull up to a ginormous building, and a valet driver comes out to take control of Blakely’s rusted 1988 T-bird.
Then, we walk into the reception area.
“We have a meeting with Kassidy Jepson,” he says.
“Oh, sure,” the man behind the desk says. “The elevators are right over there, and her offices are on the seventh floor.”
“Thank you.”
Priscilla stays back and will still be picking a magazine when we leave her.
After following her directions, we’re introduced to Kassidy’s assistant, Brendon. He has a green mohawk and a septum piercing.
“I’m actually the one who saw your video and passed it on, Kass,” he says with pride.
“Well, thank you very, very much.”
“No problem.” He guides us to her door and knocks to make sure she’s ready for us.
“Oh, yes. Please, come on in.”
We shake her hand and then sit down. The walls are covered with golden awards and other accolades.
“It’s so nice to meet you.”
“You too. Thank you so much for reaching out to us.”
“How could I not? Obviously, the whole world loves the way you two sound together. So, who’s song was that in the first place?”
I lick my lips and tuck some hair behind my ear. “Mine.”
She points her pen at me. “You? Did you write it by yourself?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She then leans forward a little. “What was the inspiration?”
“…um, my boyfriend.”
“No shit. That’s adorable. We can definitely market that.”
I didn’t write it for its marketability. I wrote it to express my love for him.
“What about you?” Her focus shifts to Blakely. “Can you write?”
“Absolutely. I have at least five originals in my arsenal.”
She gets up and picks up a guitar in the corner of the room. “Can you please give me some?”
“I’d be happy to.”
She strums to make sure it’s in tune before handing it to him.
He proceeds to play a lovely tune that seems to be about Priscilla’s affinity for wearing his t-shirts and how she looks better in them than he does.
“Wow,” Kassidy says.
“Is that a good wow or a bad one?” he asks while gently putting the instrument down.
“Very good. You two really are cheeseballs in love.”
“But not with each other,” I clarify.
“Maybe not in real life. But trust me, that shit sells.”
I furrow my eyebrows. “What are you saying? We’re going to pretend to be into each other?”
“Yeah, artists do it all of the time. Do you really think Camilla Cabello and Shawn Mendes dated just for the fun of it? No way.”
I do not like the sound of this. “But what happens when we’re with our real partners?”
“Cheating scandals are also hot gossip.”
Blakely and I exchange worried looks.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t start my music career to sell magazines and bate paparazzi.”
Kassidy shrugs. “But that’s what successful musicians need to do.”
Now, more than ever, I desire to have my small, uncomplicated, and unfabricated life with Marco back.
Then, she received a call at what seemed like the perfect time.
“Do you mind if I take this? It’s my husband.”
“Of course not.”
“Hey, honey. What’s wrong? Oh, it’s the stuffed otter. That always calms her down. Did you find it?”
That makes me think of Alessia’s security toy. It’s also a stuffed otter that she named Randall. I want to squeeze her, and it”s so tight that they’ll burst.
That is my purpose and passion, I think.
“Uh, I’m sorry. I actually need to go—” Kassidy and Blakely look at me like I’m crazy. “You’ve heard him play; he’s incredibly talented. Would you ever consider signing him as a solo act?”
“Um…I guess so.”
I sigh in relief. “That’s great. I—I’m just gonna head out then.” I grab and squeeze my friend’s hand on the way out. “Thank you for everything.”
Priscilla cocks her head after she sees me in the lobby. “Did it go badly? Where’s Blakely?” She looks around for him.
“He’s still up there. I’m going home.”
“To the hotel?”
“No. To my family.”
I kiss her on both sides of her cheek before hailing a cab, packing all of my stuff up, checking out, and booking a flight back to Wisconsin.
The ticket is almost $1,000, but it’s worth every penny. And I’m so wired that I don’t sleep a wink during the ten-hour flight.
But the journey doesn’t stop when I’m in my home state. Instead, I have to rent a car and drive from the Appleton International Airport to Hazelhurst.
My heart is racing when I finally pull up to his house.
I park, get out of my car, and go to knock on the front door.
There are noises of chaos inside, and it’s like music to my ears.
“Hold on, hold on, girls!” Marco yells.
Then, he opens it, and I see his gorgeous face. It’s dusk, and the setting sun is reflecting in his dark eyes.
“Bea?”
“I’m back. For good. I’m so sorry—”
He does not respond with words. He just scoops me up in his arms and kisses me deeply.