Replace Me (Sequel to No Foundations)

An Unexpected Visitor - Chapter 9

"Oh that, sucks..." I say, not knowing whether or not to apologize. I didn't really know how to respond to this situation at all.

"No really it's all my fault. I was an idiot back then. I should have known better. I'm kind of glad I ran into you though! I've always wanted to apologize." He said as he grabbed Sasha's stuff and gave her a fitting room. I stared at him in shock for a second. Has he really changed this much? I suddenly lost all urge to try on new clothes.

"Well, thanks. That means a lot, I guess. It doesn't change the fact that it happened, but it's nice to know you're remorseful." I say, a bit tentative.

"Yeah... I wish I could make it up to you somehow..." He trails off and here comes that vaguely familiar uncomfortable feeling he use to give me.

"Don't worry about it Sal. We're good." I say, trying to end the conversation.

"I know you've been good!" He says, and I cant' help thinking how creepy that is. "I have your album. It's lovely. I remember working on most of them." He smiles.

"Yeah, I remixed them all by myself though." I said, so he knew he had no reason to take any credit.

"Yeah I think I read that in SPIN magazine or something..." He trailed off. "I saw you on the morning show too. I couldn't believe it. You're better than you were when I worked with you, and I didn't think that was possible." He said and I just smiled.

"Thanks." I say, hoping Sasha will come out of the dressing room soon.

"Yeah for sure! So how are you and Harry? Still going strong?" He asks and I nod.

"Yep. We celebrated our year and a half yesterday. I'm sure you saw that on the news." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Yeah, it was cute. You guys are great together." Funny, that's not what he said the last time I saw him... I was about to say something but then Sasha comes back out of the dressing room with a pile of clothes in her hands.

"Okay," Sasha says looking at me. "I'm ready to check out." She says and I smile.

"Well it was nice to see you again Sal." I say and he nods.

"Yeah hopefully I'll see you around again soon!" He smiles and I turn to walk out of the dressing room quickly. As we walk to the registers Sasha is looking at me really funny.

"Who was that?" She asks as we approach the registers.

"That was the guy who sold my song to the record companies without me knowing." I say and she gasps.

"THAT PRICK!? THAT WAS THE PRICK!? I thought I recognized that name!" She said and the lady at the register told her, her total. I handed her my debit card.

"Yeah, I don't know how I feel about running into him." I say, trailing off. The lady at the register distracted me, handing me a receipt to sign.

"Are you going to tell Harry?" She asks and I shrug, signing the receipt and Sasha takes her bags.

"I don't know if I need to. Maybe..." I say as we walk out the door.

"HEY REMINGTON!" I hear a voice yell from behind us and I freeze.

"God dammit." I mumble under my breath and turn around.

"Hey, do you think I could get your number? I'd like to take you and the boys out sometime, just to apologize for everything. I feel really bad for it." He says, handing me his phone. I stare at him for a second, not knowing what to do. I eventually cave and give him my number. "Awesome! Thanks Remington!" He smiles.

"See you later Sal." I say and Sasha and I turn around to leave the store. The paps are instantly on us taking pictures.

"What did you get today Remi?" A man asked me.

"I got some stuff for Sasha, she's going to be staying here for a while, she needed new things. Plus I skipped her birthday." I told them as we kept

walking, a little faster than normal.

"What's the rush?" Another pap asks me and I just smile.

"I miss Harry." I say and they all gawk about how cute that is. That's not the reason though; I just didn't want to deal with them. They're bugging me. The paps didn't bug me much after that. They love it when I say cute stuff about Harry. We reached the parking garage in no time flat and we got into my car.

"Did you actually give that creep your number?" Sasha asked me and I just stared at her.

"Well crap!" I groaned. "I didn't even think about giving him a fake one!" I am so stupid...

"So what are you going to do?" She asked.

"I don't know, go home and tell Harry?" I say, starting the car.

"So you're going to tell him now?" She asks, putting on her sunglasses.

"I'm going to have to." I say, extremely annoyed. Harry still doesn't like Sal. Let's just say it's going to be interesting, bringing him up after all this time.