The Only Thing I Ever Really Loved (Corey Taylor)

Chapter 24

"What do you mean?" Travis asks, peering out the window himself.

"Um, the fact that his hair is basically matted to his head and he looks like he's ready to pass out. That's not a normal look for him. Marriage isn't supposed to make you look worse." I point out.

"Well it kind of can, and how do you know that's even what's going on? Tour does take a lot out of a guy."

I shook my head, but said, "I guess you're right."

I decided then to take up Travis' offer and went to hangout in his bunk, the wheels in my head spinning as I thought of what was going on with Corey. I tried to remind myself that it doesn't concern me, at least not anymore.

The next day I finally got to meet Jenny right before the show and I was surprised by how friendly she was. Anthony seemed like an excited kid as he guided me over to blonde hair, blue eyed girl. A classic appearance when it comes to Anthony's taste.

"Hey Ashley!" She shouted waving at me happily causing several of the people backstage to look at me, one of them being Corey.

He seemed shocked to see me, so I guess that meant Anthony didn't tell him I was going to be here. I decided not to acknowledge his gaze on me as I walked over to Jenny. "Hi Jenny."

"It's so nice to meet you! I'm sorry for yelling at you, I've just heard so much about you and I got carried away."

I smiled at her, "It's alright, it's good to meet you too."  

"So from what I've heard you're basically Iowa's local superhero."

I laughed at that saying, "Not really, I'm just one to always be in the middle of something I guess and I somehow manage to work out things to the best of my ability."

"That's more than a lot of people can say."

I decided then to change the subject, "So how exactly did you meet my brother?"

"We both had went to the same restaurant out here and accidentally got seated together, so we decided to just stay where we were since the place was fairly full. After that we got to talking and realized we like each other."

"That's really cool." I say with a grin.

"Hey Ashley." Another voice speaks behind me and I instantly know who it is, so I don't turn around. 

"Anthony said something about this possibly happening." She mumbled more to herself than me.

"What happening?"

"So let me guess, you're plan is to ignore me?" Corey asked in disbelief.

I looked at him while crossing my arms over my chest, only giving him a nod.

"You are ridiculous, but fine. Have it your way." He states, throwing his hands in the air and walking away.

"Would you mind explaining you two?" Jenny questions once Corey is out of sight.

"Me and him? There isn't much to tell now."

"Now? So there actually was something going on between you both before?" She seemed very interested at this point. 

"You could say that, but nothing ever came out of whatever was going on with us."

"How come?"

I shrugged, "He's always been with Sarah ever since I met him."

"Oh scandalous!"

I laughed at her words, Anthony really had a picked out a colorful person. "Okay then, let's go with that. Why'd you want to know anyway?"

"Anthony mentioned you all living together for a while. On top of that, I can tell that you guys have more history than just that. From what I was told you and Corey have such a mixture of tension and chemistry when you're around each other it's hard to ignore. It's obviously true."

"Yeah, we kind of do." I murmur in agreement. 

"You still care about him, don't you?" She asked, but it felt more like a statement.

"Yes, but don't let anybody else know that."

She made an X over her heart declaring, "Girl scouts honor, I won't tell a soul. I must say though, it has to be be fun to have one of the scariest guys in rock music today have a soft spot for you."

"Trust me, even then it's pretty scary."    

"Ladies! The show is getting ready to start, let's go!" Nick shouted before running off again. 

I followed Jenny to the side of the stage as the lights began to dim and right before everything went dark I saw Sarah standing at the opposite side, looking like she was dressed way too fancy for a rock concert. I brushed off my confusion and started cheering along with everyone else when the music began to play. By the third song I noticed something that struck me as odd Travis kept walking over to Sarah, giving her second fast touches that someone else might have not seen, but I did. Was there something going on between them? No, I'm trying to make something out of nothing over someone I'm jealous of. 

"Are you okay?" Jenny asked over the music.

I only nodded, but I didn't move my attention away from what I was watching. What I saw next made me let out such a loud gasp that the people around me all sent me wondering glances. Like a flash of light Travis leaned over to kiss Sarah on the cheek and she giggled at the contact. What made it worse was I caught sight of Corey right after that and I knew he had seen it as well from the expression on his face, but he just turned away. What the hell was he doing? How can he allow something like that to happen?

I wanted to run across the stage and knock some sense into Sarah. How could she do something like that when she's married? It was clear now, none of us in this situation were sinless. We had all hurt each other in one way or another, but I don't know if I can just stand by and watch her do this to Corey. I pondered over it for a moment longer, if Corey truly hated what was going on around him he could always just leave her. Clearly this doesn't bother him badly enough to do that. So I won't let it get to me either.