It's the way you make me feel.

The Reunion

It had been 2 months since the bands final show, which meant 2 months since Claire's confession to Faye.
It is safe to say that a lot has happened since then. Claire had filed for divorce from Reece. To her surprise, the decision was a lot more amicable than she had thought it would've been. When telling Reece of her sexuality and that ultimately been the reason for her wanting to separate, he had, in turn, told Claire that he had always had his suspicions, and that as long as she was happy, he could never be angry at her for who she is.
In the weeks that followed, Claire publicly announced that she was bisexual, which caused an eruption of support from the bands group chat. That was everyone but Faye. She had simply replied with a 'congratulations x'.
Claire hadn't spoken to Faye since she left that night in the attempt to give her the space she thought she would need with the hope that she would reach out eventually.
That one message was the only contact.
The group was set to meet today as they were now starting recording for their upcoming single 'Hard 2 Forget'. It was currently the middle of June, and the single was set to be released with a music video on July 7th. This meant 3 weeks of recording both the song and music video. 3 weeks of being together almost every day.

Claire was the first to arrive at the recording studio, shortly followed by Lisa, H, and Lee. Faye arrived last.
"Hi guys! Sorry, I'm so late. Bloody traffic is a nightmare." Said Faye.
"That's ok, darling! We've actually just been having a bit of a catch-up, and Claire has THE most exciting news!" Said H with glee.
"Oh really?" Said Faye, "what's that then?"
She felt her stomach tie up in knots. The past 2 months had been awfully strange for her. She had wanted nothing more than to reach out to Claire and ask how she was doing. She had obviously seen all of the news articles regarding Reece and the Claire coming out. She found herself even feeling somewhat pleased about her divorce. Which had confused her as she didn't want to see her friend upset. She found herself thinking about Claire almost daily, what she was doing, who she was with, and mostly, if she was seeing anybody. She frequently invisioned Claire with somebody. A woman. Which only confused her further as she found herself getting angry every time and didn't understand why.
"Well," clapped H, "our little Clara here has got herself a little girlfriend. Oh, it's just brilliant, isn't it?"
Faye looked at Claire. It had been the first time she had actually looked at her since she arrived. Claire also looked at Faye. She could sense that Claire was nervous. She eyed her up and down. 'She looks beautiful', Faye thought, and then quickly looked away, her cheeks beginning to flush.
She looked back again and said, "That's great news! I'm really happy for you, Claire." This was through gritted teeth and a forced smile. In reality, Faye could feel her blood boiling. She was furious. But why? Who was she? How long had they been together? She already fucking hated this woman, but she couldn't understand why.
It was almost as though Claire had read her mind as she cleared her throat and stated timidly, "Er yes... thank you. Her name's Ava. We've been dating for a few weeks now. She's... she's nice."
'Who the FUCK is Ava?' Thought Faye. She could feel herself getting angry again.
Suddenly, the studio door opened. "Hi everyone, we are ready for you now. Shall we start recording?

5 hours later and the band had put the finishing vocals on 'Hard 2 Forget'. They all agreed it sounded fantastic.
Faye had almost forgotten how angry she had been. It had felt nice being back with the rest of the band, especially Claire. They had both been laughing and joking with one another. It was the first time Faye had felt happy in 2 months. That was until,
"This has been great, guys. The song sounds brilliant, doesn't it? Anyway, I'm going to have to shoot off. I'm meeting Ava for dinner. She doesn't live too far from here, so I'll see you all in the morning for the video shoot. Bye!" Claire waved them all off and left. There was the anger again. Lisa and Lee left shortly after, which just left H and Faye.
"Hey, Faye. Is everything ok? We've barely heard from you since the closing show. Even Lisa has replied more than you in the group chat, and there's a huge time difference between here and Dubai." Laughed H.
"Yes. I'm fine. I've just been really busy, that's all." Faye said sharply.
"Hm, really? Well, it's pretty obvious that something has gone on with you and Claire. You could cut the tension with a knife earlier. Has something happened?"
"No, nothing. Just leave it, Ian. I'm fine. We are fine. I need to get home. I'll see you tomorrow, " Faye said and then left.
H smiled to himself, "Oh Faye. You've never been a good liar."

Thankfully, for Faye, the band was recording in Newcastle. So it was a quick enough journey back home to Sunderland. Especially now that the traffic had calmed down. When she arrived home, Mick greeted her.
"Hey babe. How was your day? Did recording go well? How is everyone?" Mick asked excitedly.
"Yeah, fine. All fine. Hey, do you think we can, you know... go upstairs?" Faye flashed him a seductive smile, grabbed his hand, and led him towards the bedroom.
They then proceeded to have what Faye could only describe as the worst sex she had ever had. She couldn't cum, and spent most of it thinking about what Ava looked like. Was she tall? Blonde? Totally killed the mood. The same couldn't be said for Mick, who rolled off her and onto his back, slightly out of breath and smiling. "Well, that was unexpected and great."  He said. "Now that Ben's at uni, we can do that more often, you know?"
"Yeah, I know, and yeah, it was great," Faye lied, "sorry I'm just so tired now. I think I'm going to go to sleep."
"Yeah, me too! Goodnight, babe." Mick said, planting a kiss on Faye's cheek, then turning onto his side facing away from her and falling asleep. Leaving Faye to stare at the ceiling and with her own thoughts until she to, finally fell to sleep.