Treading The Waters [on hold]

Chapter Eleven

I can't even believe what happened the other day. I should have said no to dinner and made up some bullshit excuse about why I couldn't join them. But because I must love to torture myself, I said yes.

That wasn't even the worst part.

First off, his girlfriend is the rude woman who got pissed at me for nearly running into her in the coffee shop not too long ago. It wasn't even that she got ill at me for nearly spilling her drink on her because I would have been a bit upset too. It's about the fact that I apologized for my clumsiness, and she still was rude to me.

It's not that hard to be a decent fucking person.

Then she sits at dinner and asks all these questions about my past—which I don't mind—but then interrogates me about knowing the younger version of Jensen. And then, THEN, she starts talking like she knows him better than anyone, makes digs about my choices and my life, and then assumes that she knows me.

That's what pissed me off. The old me wouldn't have said anything to her but being a part of the music industry will change you. When I got to L.A., I was essentially thrown out of the nest like mama birds do when they teach their chicks to fly because if you didn't form a backbone, you were ran all over.

I know I don't have to like her because I'm not a part of his life anymore...but I don't like her, and I know she'll be around for this wedding because she's with him.

I'm in the middle of working on a new song when I hear my phone ding from the coffee table, letting me know that there's a text.

Lorraine: Hey girl, you busy? I'm at the restaurant for a bit and wanted to know if you'd meet me here to go over some wedding stuff.

The restaurant... the place that holds so much pain. The place I wasn't sure I'd ever go back to. I mean, I didn't expect to come back here either and while things haven't been easy, they're not impossible either.

What about your brother? I text back.

The three little dots pop up almost instantly.

Don't worry about him. He's working so he won't pay attention to us. This just seems like a good place to discuss. Meet me in 15?

I agreed to help her with this wedding. It's only for a bit to discuss wedding stuff and he'll be so busy working that he won't even know we're there.

What could go wrong?

Yeah, I'll be there in 15.

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I pull up and park in the lot of the restaurant, staring out at the open lake. My entire body freezes up as I stare out to the end of the dock, vivid memories of what happened there replaying in my mind like a bad tv show.

Can I do this? Can I walk into this place and not remember all the memories that I had here? I remember everything. This will only solidify those memories.