•Before I Let Go•

•Chapter 10•

To be completely honest, that particular sound was easy to mimic, which was why Cory's success had come so easily and quickly. It was all a game; the music industry was nothing more than a recycling machine—Cory another cog.

"How old are you anyway—seven?" Cory asked, wondering how many years the little girl had been a fan; it was clearly lifelong.

"I just turned nine." Zora smiled, happy to be closer to an age she felt.

          Cory locked eyes with the little girl for far too long. His mind went into a frenzy—she had happened right after he left—right after Cory had left home, Zora had been conceived.

Cory wished he could say he was fine with that, but he was angry. He was mostly angry at himself, but the thought of one of Aidan's lackeys taking advantage of Alida ignited a fire deep within him.

To think he had left her susceptible to such scum, for them to walk away from something Cory wished he had.

"You know much about astrology?" Cory asked Zora, presuming that she didn't.

To Cory's surprise, Zora answered. "I'm an Aries—Spinster's a Cancer."

"Did you know that Queen's logo is made up of all the band members zodiac signs?" Cory beamed when seeing the little girl's eyes light up.

He was happy that he knew something she didn't—happy she seemed appreciative he bestowed the small piece of knowledge; Zora seemed impressed.

"Did you know Freddie Mercury used to dress Princess Diana up like a man so she could go out with them?" Zora grinned.

       He smiled warmly, cradling his head in his hand while looking toward Alida.

Biting his bottom lip, Cory's eyes narrowed, asking (begging) Alida to tell Zora something she knew he was going to tell her regardless if she objected to it or not.

Alida shrugged, trying to hold back a bashful smile.

"Your Mom used to dress up like a boy. Her and Gretchen, they'd dress up like boys and sneak into parties to spy on me and Aidan." Cory tattled. Alida seemed annoyed by him taking such great pleasure in that. "That's right," Cory's eyes shifted back to Alida, "We knew."

"It was just an excuse to see you." Alida said; perhaps Cory didn't know the reason why. "Gretchen was only spying on Aidan to get proof he was cheating on Heidi. Which, we all knew he was." Alida rolled her eyes at her brother's indiscretion.

He was nothing special; he spoke about women like they were second-class citizens, he was mediocre at sports, and he never put the toilet seat back down after having pissed all over the rim of it. For some reason though, the girls went crazy over him—especially Gretchen's older sister, Heidi.

"Remember the time Aidan walked in on us at Cameron's house party?" Cory smirked with remembrance.

"Oh God..." Alida closed her eyes, trying to forget the memory suddenly playing in her mind.

Alida had taken Cory into the pantry of Cameron's kitchen to get away from the crowd. They were kissing, nothing too scandalous; when Aidan opened the bi-fold door looking for snacks—eyes red, movements slow.

Without thinking it through, Alida smacked Cory in the face and proceeded to chastise him for not telling her about Aidan sleeping around on Heidi.

The look on Cory's face matched Aidan's—both stood in shock. Alida pushed Aidan out of the way, smacking him too to make the act seem more believable.

"He bought it. He actually bought it." Alida spoke in disbelief. The ruse had been stupid, but somehow worked—until it didn't.

"He was too self absorbed to see what was going on." Cory admitted, then immediately bit his tongue—he needed to keep Aidan out of this. "Sorry." He apologized, regretting his admission.

Alida shook her head, "It's the truth."

"What zodiac sign are you?" Zora asked Cory. She didn't care anything about the Uncle she'd never met, or the past Alida and Cory shared.

"Me?" Cory looked surprised, he didn't think Zora would be interested. Zora nodded, "I'm a Taurus. You know... your Mom and I are compatible according to that thing." Cory said.

Alida's face grew hard; she recalled telling Cory that years ago. Instead of taking credit that she had been the one to inform him of that, Alida decided to repeat what Cory would always say to her, "But it's all just bullshit, right? None of that shit's real."

Cory's smile faded just as quickly as it appeared.