Tony POV
About an hour after I got home from the grocery store, I hopped in my car and drove to a random restaurant to meet the band. I scanned the parking lot and saw Vic's car, empty. I assumed they carpooled and walked inside. I glanced around the room looking for the guys when I heard a familiar voice shout.
"Tone!" Jaimie hollered from a booth. I walked over and sat down next to Vic.
"How's it goin, man?" he smiled. "Glad to be home?"
"Yeah," I nodded.
We sat there for a while, ordered our food, briefly talked about the premise for our next album, then just talked about life.
"Any new ladies in your life, Turtle?" Jaimie teased, as if he knew.
I glanced at Mike, sitting across from me. I always hide stuff like this from the guys, but I decided to just tell them before they grill me about it. I swallowed hard before speaking. "I saw her," I spoke, deadpan.
Silence. I never really talked about her unless I had been drinking, but I knew that as soon as I said it, Mike knew. He gave me a knowing look, while Vic and Jaimie looked slightly confused. "Braxton," I said again, quietly.
"What do you mean, saw her, Tone?" Mike asked.
"I just ran into her, and she looked bad, like real bad," I stuttered. "We talked for a bit the other day, and she's been having a rough time. I ran into her again today, and i'm seeing her again tonight."
The table was silent for a few moments, other than the clanking if silverware throughout the restaurant. Vic finally broke the silence. "Just be careful, Tone. Be careful with her."
A few months back, him and I were alone in a hotel room while on tour. We just started talking about our lives, and I told him all about her. How we grew up together. How I loved her. How I left her. He pressed me for years to try and reach out to her, but I felt so bad after I left, and I thought she hated me and I didn't blame her. I told him about the things she went through growing up, how fragile it made her and the brave face she always put up. He had never even met her but he had a great deal of sympathy for her. We wrote the song "Stained glass eyes and colourful tears" about that conversation we had. Because I knew I wanted to get back to her someday. I just never knew how.
Braxton POV
Is it weird how excited I was for dinner with Tony? Nervous, of course, but really excited. My phone buzzed and made a sound against the glass coffee table in my living room. I reached over to pick it up and read the text.
Tony: Still on for 6? :)
I smiled.
Me: Yeah, see you then (:
I glanced at the time on my phone, 5:16. I had already gotten ready, now i just had to pick out an outfit. I strolled over to my closet and began to rifle through my clothes. Were we going somewhere fancy, or casual? A large, full length mirror was propped up on the wall beside my light wood closet doors. I studied myself. I just had on a pair of PJ shorts and a tank top. My thin legs and arms were still covered in bruises, now yellow, green and shade of purple. They were so dark you couldn't see my tattoos. On my left arm, I had some traditional style roses, a vine in the same style wrapping my wrist, along with some tiny filler tattoos. The all black ink made the bruises appear darker. Between the bruises and the healing cuts, at least there was some color somewhere. I sauntered back to my closet and picked out my black turtle neck body suit, similar to the one I often wore to teach. It had snaps in the crotch, and a big open back. I paired it with some old levi's that I wore in high school, and some black suede booties. After changing, I studied myself in the mirror again. The jeans were once skinny jeans on me, but now they bagged around my hips and legs. I turned my body to look at my back, more bruises peeked out from the hole in my body suit. I sighed, throwing my long hair that I had put into loose, messy curls to cover it. My hair was so long it reached my butt, so you could hardly even tell. My makeup was very light and natural, but a lip stain just a little darker than my natural lip color made my lips look full and bright. It was 5:45 at this point, meaning I had to leave soon. I hurried into my bathroom, rummaged through the medicine cabinet and slipped on my tiny little turtle necklace, and I was ready. I grabbed my phone, keys and wallet and headed out the door.
I arrived at Tony's apartment at 5:57, where he was waiting on the street outside the lobby for me. He wore all black slip on Vans, black chino pants and a short-sleeved button down shirt. If it weren't for the Anthem Made snapback on his head, with tendrils of his hair peeking out, the tattoos and piercings, he would have almost looked preppy. He smiled when he saw me walking up to him. "We look like we're going to a funeral," he joked, referencing our all black outfits.
I giggled. "Well you know what they say; black is slimming," I joked back.
He rolled his eyes. "I don't think you can get any slimmer. Now let's go get some food."
We walked for about 10 minutes and arrived at this really cool pub/restaurant called Tribe. The interior was cool, the ceiling was a copper tin pattern, brick walls painted white, ambient lighting and plants filled the room. I can't believe for all the time I have lived in my apartment, I never knew how close I lived to Tony, let alone knew about this place. We were seated by our waitress at a table in the corner, right by a huge window. Tony ordered a beer and I ordered a glass of wine. After not eating all day, I got a quick buzz which helped calm my nerves and made conversing easier.
"I never knew you sang," Tony grinned, taking a swig of his beer.
"What do you mean?" I was confused.
"The day I waited for you at the coffee shop, I heard a cover of one of Pierce's song playing. I asked the lady who was working there and she said it was you. Your voice is incredible. Seriously Brae, you turned that song into something I never saw it as," he was beaming.
I looked down at my hands to try and hide my flushed cheeks. "I can't believe Lisa plays that in the shop, and I can't believe she told you it was me," I was so embarrassed.
Our food arrived, Tony got a burger and fries, and I got a blackened chicken salad. As we ate, we chatted about life; the good old days, catching up for the last 6 years. He told me about his tours, life on the road and his love for performing. For how shy he is, he loves being up on that stage, he said he just loses himself in the music. That's how I feel about dancing, for such a shy person I get such a rush out of performing. I hadn't been on stage for years, but teaching keeps me close enough to it. I told him about college, my various side jobs I had outside of teaching, just to keep me busy. I've never been a person to enjoy downtime.
After we ate, we ordered more drinks and continued our catching up. It was super nice to be with him again, and just talk to someone who understands you. A lot can change in 6 years, but it was the same Tony and Braxton. For the first time in 6 years, the resentment I had toward him for leaving me was gone. I felt at peace.
"I cannot believe you still have that!" Tony exclaimed, reaching for my necklace. "Don't mind me, it just means a lot that you still have that."
I smiled. "I got rid of so many things, when I moved out I took one suitcase, and basically started from scratch. This was the one thing I held on to."
He grinned. "I'm glad you held onto it. And I'm sorry things went the way they did. It was wrong of me, I won't let go this time. I really missed you Brae..."
During his apology, my eyes stared to drift to a man sitting a few tables away, staring directly at me. He had a shaved head, piercing grey eyes and a leather jacket. The second we made eye contact, he pulled out his phone, clicked a number and pressed it to his ear. We never broke eye contact.
"Brae?" Tony said, snapping me out of my daze.
I jumped. "Sorry, sorry... I zoned out for a second. I really missed you too, Toto." I swallowed hard as I glanced back at the man. "Tone?" I asked, in a small whisper. "Can we go? Like, right now?"
