After they left the restaurant with full stomachs Chris followed his brother's truck to Norah's favorite store, it was an antique store that she hasn't been to in months. Norah loved antiques, that was all in her house, and even though she bought a lot her children never said anything bad about it. They parked beside each other then walked into the store, hearing some soft entertaining music playing over the intercom. The store wasn't busy, there was a handful of people looking around including them. They walked together for a while then eventually got separated, the two brothers were together and the three women stayed together.
"So," Chelsea said as she walked slowly beside Audrina watching Norah look at the antiques with interest. "do you like my brother?"
"Honestly?" Audrina asked, Chelsea nodded then looked at her. "no I don't, or at least I don't think I do."
"Is it because of his career?"
"No it's not," Audrina replied then sighed softly with awkwardness. "it's hard to explain and I definitely don't want to talk bad about your brother."
"Hey don't worry about it, Nick and I talk bad about him all the time. But of course we're playing, if something is going on I can help and I definitely won't tell my mom?" Chelsea said, lowering her voice.
"I doubt Chris would want me to tell you."
"Chris doesn't have to know." Chelsea told her with a smirk, Audrina laughed.
"I'll give you some information, alright?"
"Okay, hit me." she said, her walking slowed down so they were getting further away from Norah but she hadn't noticed that. Audrina swallowed hard then looked at Chelsea.
"I didn't know Chris was dating this girl Sabrina, he never mentioned it to me and I only found out because one of the band members. We hate each other, all we do is argue and just treat each other like shit. We're miserable with each other and I see it. I've tried to avoid him several times, ignoring his phone calls, text messages, video chats. But every time he found his way back into my life, showing up at my house, contacting me on everything I own. It's hard to ditch him and he won't step out of my life. He asked me to come here with him so we can work out what we want, I don't even know if I want to continue this with him. I know he likes Sabrina and I don't even know why he keeps me around, I think we're just addicted to the pain we give each other."
"Wow," Chelsea said. "I didn't know he was that hooked with you, I just thought you two were friends. Though the way he looks at you looks like he's ready to choke you out or just pull you into a tight hug and squeeze you to death."
"Trust me, there's been times where I've wanted to kill him."
"Well if you hate him, why did you agree to come to Pennsylvania?"
"Because I'm stupid," Audrina replied with a shrug. "but I honestly don't know, I guess in some weird way I don't want him out of my life."
"Can I ask something, I just want a simple yes or no answer, and that's all I need to know."
"Sure?"
"Are you pregnant?" she asked.
"No, I'm definitely not pregnant."
Chelsea sighed loudly. "Oh thank you, because I was thinking that's why you two were trying to work things out."
Audrina laughed. "No that's not it, I'm definitely not pregnant and I don't want to be."
"So he broke up with Sabrina..."
"So he wasn't cheating." Audrina told her. Her mouth formed an O.
"Wow, this is so weird! I definitely have no words at all."
"Chelsea," Norah called. "come look at this."
"Excuse me." Chelsea said politely then walked away to her mother who stood at the very end of the aisle, Audrina continued to walk slow with thoughts. She shouldn't have said anything, shouldn't she? But it was too late to change anything now. She continued to walk with Chelsea and Norah to another aisle, where there was a lot of unique things Audrina has never laid eyes on before.
"Oh wow, look at this cash register." Norah said, pointing towards a very old cash register. It was spotless though, very clean and Audrina knew they cleaned it just to jump up the price for it probably. Who would buy a dirty, rusty cash register anyways? Who would buy a cash register period? She looked at both sides of the aisle when suddenly someone bumped hard into her from behind, she fell forward, tripping over her own feet she landed on her hands and knees. Thankful she didn't land on her face.
"Oh shit, I'm sorry!" said a male's voice behind her, it wasn't Chris' nor Nick's voice.
"Are you alright?" Norah asked as she and Chelsea helped her up from the floor, her knee caps ached and so did her palms but beside that and the embarrassment, she was fine.
"I'm fine, it's okay, really."
"What the hell happened?" Chris' voice asked in a sharp tone, before Audrina could look at Chris' face he grasped her hip and pulled her beside him as if he thought the guy hurt her in some way. Audrina was able to look at Chris, she saw he was staring at the guy with slight anger imprinted on his face.
"I bumped into her, it was an accident." replied the guy defensively. He was a little shorter than Chris and smaller, but he looked like he was in his twenties. He wore a black snapback with the word "YOLO" imprinted on the front of it, he also wore tight jeans, shoes without laces and a zipped up bright red hoodie. He had a girl behind him and another guy, but they were silent.
"How was it an accident, I'm sure you weren't walking with your head in the clouds!" Chris snapped.
"Chris, you're overreacting." Audrina told him, but he ignored her words. He didn't need to hear her words right now.
"Why didn't you see her?" Nick challenged the guy, he crossed his arms over his chest and stood beside Chris. Men will be men.
"I was walking backwards---" the guy began, but Chris interrupted.
"Showing off and acting dumb pretty much? Why don't you walk like a person and watch where you're going, you're going to hurt someone and your lucky you didn't hurt her." he spat, the guy swallowed hard.
"Dude I'm sorry."
Audrina suddenly grasped Chris' shirt then jerked him away from the group while Norah began reassuring the guy that it was okay and just an accident, Audrina dragged Chris outside to the front where she released him and turned to face him.
"What is your problem?"
"I always have a problem in your opinion." he hissed.
"There wasn't a reason for you to act like a complete asshole to that guy, it was an accident!"
"Oh you believe that, do you?"
"Yes I do because I'm not an asshole like you, Christopher!"
"Fine, next time you fall on your face because someone 'bumped' into you, I don't want to hear how I didn't act like I care." Chris told her then he turned around and entered the antique store once again, she sighed loudly then headed back inside herself but she didn't bother to find Chris and his family, instead she approached the front to look at the jewelry they had in a protective glass dome. She looked at the rings with colorful jewels from red to black, she looked at the necklaces and the bracelets then the earrings and found several earrings she liked; dream catcher earrings that hung long, diamond chandelier earrings, black chandelier earrings, amethyst studs and small butterflies earrings. They were all beautiful, but the prices were high and she knew she couldn't afford it.
After Norah spent a few dollars on a painting and they all got into the cars, Chris hesitated to start the engine.
"Are we going or not?" Audrina asked him, he suddenly opened the door and got out without answering then entered the antique store again. Audrina watched with confusion but she already had her seat belt on and she wasn't going to get out just to see what he was doing,he was a complicated man, and she was going to let him be complicated. She sighed softly as she looked over to see Chelsea was looking out the window at her, she mouthed "what's he doing" and Audrina just shrugged her shoulders. She turned her head back to the door but didn't see Chris anywhere, she was about to get out of the mustang and go inside but then she thought he may be in the bathroom.
She looked at the screen of the radio and saw Blank Space by I Prevail playing on the radio station Octane, it was a cover of Taylor Swift for the album Punk Goes Pop and it was amazing. Audrina loved it. She reached forward and turned the volume up then began singing along, the song reminded her of Chris and herself. She couldn't explain why though.
While she continued to jam out and sing along the back seat door opened and she jumped. She looked behind her to see Chris putting something on the floorboard, but she couldn't see what. She turned down the volume quickly when he got inside.
"Where did you go?"
"I wanted to get something." he replied then he looked over to see Nick pulling out of the parking space, Chris put the mustang in reverse then followed them to their next plan.
"Oh." she said simply.
"What kind of song were you blasting anyways?"
"Blank Space by I Prevail, do you know it?"
"Yeah, it's been on Octane's countdown for a while now." he said with a soft laugh, Audrina smiled then stared at the radio's screen for a little while when she had a thought.
"Chris?"
"What?"
"You have every CD by your band don't you?"
"Not every CD, but I have my songs on my mix. Why?" Chris said, keeping his eyes on the road as he followed behind Nick's truck.
"Give it to me."
He raised his eyebrows but didn't ask any questions, he reached out and began tapping on the screen.
"Just skip through it." he told her as music began playing, she skipped through songs until she finally found the one she was looking for. Black Damask. She turned up the volume slightly then leaned back into her seat, Chris smirked, thinking about telling her the truth but he didn't. This song, of course, was written about them. But obviously she didn't know that, or else she wouldn't be listening to it right now. People could honestly say he's obsessed with her. He probably couldn't be able to deny it at all, even if he wanted to. Black Damask was written in both of their point of views, as if Audrina told him what words she wanted to be used in the song even though it was Chris singing both parts. The song was written after an argument between the two, he was pretty pissed off, sat down on the couch then gotten inspiration. He grabbed a notebook and a pencil and began furiously writing down some lyrics with his right hand, and that is how Black Damask came to be.
"I thought you didn't like my songs?" Chris yelled over the music.
"I said I didn't like the songs about me!"
Jokes on her he thought with a smirk.
"I am cursed, now go back to the start. I still hear her voice; but she's lost in the fog! I sew my eyes shut just to sleep. We're caught in all the webs we weave, no sonnet for the recently deceased. They lie awake just to hear you scream, strip the world and paint it fucking black! Your "love" is just a frail disguise, to hide the pain behind your eyes. In lacerated lullabies, we all fall down. Your "love" is just your alibi, the antidote of your demise. In lacerated lullabies, we all fall down."
Then the song ended and the music faded, he reached forward and turned down the volume then glanced at her for a second before looking back at the road.
"Happy now?"
"Yes, I am. Thank you." she said with a slight nod. Chris didn't bother to switch back to the radio station, instead he let his mix continue to play while he continued to follow Nick to wherever he was going now.
"So, I saw that you were talking to my sister at the antique store. What were you two saying?" he said suddenly, Audrina's mind immediately said "uh oh" and she tried not to seem guilty.
"Oh, you know. Just girl talk pretty much."
"Girl talk?" Chris asked curiously. "what's girl talk?"
"You know girl talk, about boys and stuff.." Audrina said while her voice trailed, Chris looked straight ahead through the windshield when the word "boys" burned into his mind. He suddenly felt hot, then he looked at her.
"What did you say about me?"
"Nothing much."
Chris obviously didn't believe her. "Audrina, don't you dare lie to me! You told her didn't you?"
"I didn't tell her anything bad."
"Oh bullshit!" Chris snapped. "you'd do anything to have people hate me."
"I'm not that mean Chris, I didn't say anything to have her get a different thought about you!"
"Then tell me what you told her!"
Audrina sighed but she knew she had to. "She asked me if I liked you and I told her no, she thought it was because of your career but I explained it wasn't. I told her that I didn't know you were dating Sabrina and that we hate each other and we're miserable, and that I'm here because you want to work things out somehow. And then she asked if I was pregnant because she thought that was why we were trying to work things out. That's all that was said and if you don't believe me, why don't you ask her?"
"Why did you tell her anything about us in the first place? I don't want people to know what we're doing Audrina!"
"Why?" she challenged. "because you're worried about your image or because you're embarrassed to even have people think we're sleeping together?"
"Does it matter?" Chris asked her.
"Actually it does, I'd like to know why you're so desperate to keep us a secret!"
"It's both alright!" he shouted at her. "I don't want my fans to find out I'm sleeping with a girl I can't stand to be around, I am embarrassed because I can't let your ass go and it's driving me insane. I hate you, I can't stand you and I hate being around you unless we're under the blankets screwing everything away! Do you know what everyone would be saying about me? Do you think I want to hear it? No, I don't, I don't want to see it all over social media or hear it from my fucking family!" he shouted and Audrina knew this was the truth coming out. She didn't speak, instead she looked out the window and watched the cars pass them. It was time for her to go home, to just disappear from his life and keep him out of hers. This was nothing but a waste of time, they hated each other, they were both miserable and it was time to just end it all.
They were both silence for the rest of the ride when they finally pulled into a square parking lot with several cars parked, Chris suddenly had a strange sense of deja vu but he didn't say anything. He parked beside Nick's truck then climbed out of the mustang, not even bothering to wait for Audrina. He heard the passenger door shut but didn't bother to look at her right now, instead he looked at his mom that had a huge smile.
"Do you remember this park, Christopher?"
"I'm having deja vu."
"I would take you and your siblings to this park so you three could run around, the three of you loved it!" Norah said as they began walking through the green grass, Audrina could see family or couples having picnics and could see the children running around in the shining bright hot sun.
"I remember it now, wasn't there a tire swing on a tree somewhere?" Chris said, Norah laughed then nodded with a smile.
"Yep, I remember exactly where it was too. Come on."
They followed Norah to a big oak tree a few miles from the parking lot and surely enough there was a tire swing tied to a huge branch, Chelsea ran to it quickly.
"I have to get in this thing!" she exclaimed then put her legs into the hole of the tire, Norah laughed as Chris began walking behind Chelsea and she watched him with fright.
"Are you ready?"
"No, I don't trust you!" Chelsea said, gripping the tire tightly.
"Oh well, you have to trust me. I'm your brother." Chris told her then began pulling her backwards, Chelsea closed her eyes tight and when Chris had pulled her back as far as he could, he released her and she went swinging through the air. Audrina stood aside while she watched the Cerulli family create new memories while reliving the old ones with smiles, and for once she felt completely out of place.