OKAYYY ONCE AGAIN VERY VERY LONG CHAPTER BUT TOTALLY WORTH IT!!! Please comment and tell me what you think!!!
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Laurence looked at Alex for a few moments before sighting and standing up silently, closing the door of his office, and turning around to see a confused but serious Alex, who was trying to maintain his severe posture. A couple of minutes before, Alex had told Laurence every single emotion and feeling that he felt for Arabella; he confessed his profound love for her, and how nothing in the entire world would make him change his feelings towards her, not even a bloody album or a stupid song.
"I hoped it would be just a simple crush, you know; that in a matter of weeks or months you would give up on her and move towards another lady, but guess that I was wrong" muttered Laurence with tiredness, "Unfortunately, I was indeed wrong"
"I'm sorry, Laurence" apologize Alex sincerely, "But truth is that nothing can change the way I feel about her"
"And I didn't really wanted to tell you this, but you leave me no choice" said Laurence as he slowly walked towards his desk.
Alex looked at him confused, "Tell me what?"
Laurence sat back again on his big chair and brought his fingers to the bridge of his nose; his irritation and tiredness were prominently visible, and for an instance Alex thought that he looked even older than before. His withered fingers revealed the passing of time that was so inevitable and unavoidable, and the bags under his blue eyes contained all the years of work and stress that his job commanded. But there was something different about his lost and vulnerable gaze, something that Alex had never seen before in Laurence, and that was even surprised that his whole expression could portray it; without any doubt, Laurence's eyes had an inexplicable and slightly trace of sadness.
"How much do you know about Arabella, son?" said Laurence finally, "How much did she actually told you about herself?"
Alex looked at him quietly without changing even a single facial expression from his youthful but angry face; only his jawline reflected the tension and slightly fear that was starting to be created inside his being. But despite all that, Alex was unable to answer the question to Laurence, mainly because he already knew the sincere answer, only that he didn't wanted to hear it from someone like him.
Laurence understood instantly, "Not very much, huh? That's what I imagined"
"So... If my conclusions are right, you want some answers..." said Laurence with a seductively convincing tone, "You want the truth, right?"
"Because I have what you want, kid" continued Laurence now changing his voice into a more paternal tone, "I can tell you everything you want to know about her, from the very start to the actual ending"
Alex's confusion was now even clearer than before, and he could feel how his heart was rapidly beating inside his chest, so loud and so fast that he could hear the echoes that were concealed inside him. His breathing was now inexplicably rushed but at the same time calm, still in control, but his hands were starting to sweat profusely and his throat became extremely dry.
"But I just want you to promise me one thing before I tell you everything, Alex" said Laurence with a serious tone.
"And what would that be, Laurence?" managed to say Alex despite the burning fire that he felt inside his throat.
"Don't get mad at me for telling you the ugly truth" said Laurence with sharp eyes.
"Sounds fair enough" concluded Alex briefly.
Laurence waited a few seconds before letting out a gasp of breath and turning his face away from Alex's, looking deeply and thoughtfully at the window that was beside them. It was as if he was trying to find the exact words to express himself, or where to actually start.
"Did I ever tell you how I discovered The Golden Jaggers?" said Laurence still looking at the window, "Well, how I discovered her actually"
"I'm afraid I've never heard the story" muttered Alex.
"I've had this big and awful fight with my wife - she threw me from our home, she just kicked me out, in the middle of the night!" said Laurence remembering everything, "And I was just so devastate that I started to walk around the many bars of LA, hoping that maybe a drink or two would cease my pain"
"So I stepped inside this bar that had all this colorful lights outside, and to my surprise it was full of younger people and everyone was having a laugh and watching this band which I didn't really cared about. I just entered and sat in the bar counter and ordered a whisky" said Laurence now looking at Alex, "Everyone was dancing around to the sound of the music and I was just so completely unaware of it; I was just absorbed on my own misery, you know"
"But then this really massive and fulfilling silence was made, and all of the colorful lights that were in the bar joined into a single white one, and all of the members of the band exited the stage except for the singer, who was this really beautiful and young girl that just grabbed her acoustic guitar and a chair and sat in the middle of the stage with the microphone"
"At first I was just captivated by her beauty - I remembered thinking that I hadn't really seen a girl as beautiful as she her... I just couldn't keep looking at her, it was magnetizing"
"And then she started talking; she said something about her band called The Golden Jaggers and how they just moved from England to LA to pursue they dream and all that hopeful shit" continued Laurence, "But then she started singing a song that she composed, called Chelsea Hotel N.2"
Laurence's expression then transformed completely and the curves of his lips drew a simple and gentle smile which revealed the thoughts and memories behind it.
"For fuck's sake she was something, she was genuinely something - she still is, for sure" said Laurence remembering even harder than before, "But in that exact moment, I can honestly tell you that I had never felt this way for any other artist before. I still don't know what it was but her voice and the feelings and emotions that they portrayed with the song she was singing, it made me feel extremely miserable, because I could actually feel her pain and it was just so huge and so emotional that I just wanted to go back to my home and kiss my wife and tell her how much I truly loved her"
"Her voice just filled the entire room and everyone was as astonished as I was" he said looking at Alex with genuine passion in his eyes; and for a minute he could felt Laurence's feelings towards Arabella's singing, because he had felt the same way before.
"Of course you can perfectly imagined what happened next" said Laurence now changing his expression, "I told them to come and see me, a couple of meetings were arranged and then we finally signed with them"
Laurence now looked at Alex in a carefully and delicately way, as if he was once again questioning whether to tell him the truth that he knew would hurt him so badly; but he had to, Laurence didn't had a choice at all. He knew that Alex deserved to know the truth, whether he liked it or not.
"I know that you are aware of our personal and strict policy that demands to know all the information about each and every single person in the band about their past lives, their family, their relationships and their environment - you know, to actually avoid and hide any sort of problems or inconveniencies that the press or media could find about" said Laurence with a serious expression, "And I'm talking about the bad things, obviously; the sort of things that can't be known by the public, right?"
"Yeah, I remember also doing it in the past" said Alex slightly confused of the direction in which the conversation was starting to go.
"So as I suspected and even expected, all of their records were clean" continued Laurence, "Everyone had a pretty normal family and the only one that was a complete womanizer from the very start was Andrew - but none of them had actually done something genuinely bad or had a traumatizing past"
"Except, of course... for one single person"
"Arabella?" said Alex surprised and even with a slightly sense of fear in his voice; he was absolutely scared of what was to come.
Laurence kept silent for a couple of seconds and after looking at his hands for what seemed an eternity, his gaze met Alex's deep brown eyes.
"When Arabella moved to Bristol due to his father work, she was just 15 years-old. She didn't have a lot of friends; she actually had only one through her entire high school years, apart from the boys obviously. You know how she is, not precisely a ball of joy or a glooming sun; the kids were intimidated by her - by her looks and by her cynical and mysterious attitude that made her outstand naturally from the rest of the students"
"I'm sorry Laurence but I don't really see were the problem is" interrupted Alex.
"I'm getting there, kiddo" said Laurence completely serious, "So she only made one girlfriend the very first year she entered school: Elizabeth Gibson. But she suffered from Leukemia and their parents decided to move to London when the situation had gotten worse, you know to provide her a better health care and more expensive and high quality hospitals"
"Arabella truly loved Elizabeth; they were inseparable because Elizabeth wasn't exactly accepted by her fellow classmates either, and from the very first day they created the sort of bond that seemed unswerving" muttered Laurence while he played with the pen that was in his desk, "So you can pretty much imagine Arabella's devastation when her only true friend left her behind, just like everyone did in her life... I imagine that she at least told you about her mother..."
"Yeah, I'm aware of that" said Alex.
Laurence gave him a look of surprise, "Well then I'll guess that she isn't as good as I thought she was in keeping secrets.... Or maybe she was just feeling guilty..."
Alex raised a brow with annoyance, "If you don't mind, could you please continue?"
He didn't really knew why but Alex was feeling slightly scared and fearful of what he was about to hear. All the things that he supposed and imagined about Arabella were now coming to an end, and the truth would be finally revealed to him, whether he actually wanted it or not. But there was something so strange and unusual about how everything felt. He was sensing a hostile environment that was growing profusely as Laurence clarified Arabella's past; Alex felt insecure and mostly, frightened. A part of him didn't want to hear the story anymore, he knew that nothing good could possibly come out of it; but then again another part of him wanted to really reveal everything for once and for all. How could he love a stranger? How could someone that you don't really know anything about cause you such a wonderful and unreal feeling inside you? But the most important unanswered question: what could Arabella possibly be hiding from him?
"Are you aware of Arabella's ex-boyfriend?" said Laurence slowly and seriously.
Alex felt and instant pain inside his chest, "What?" silently muttered.
"Christian" preceded Laurence, "Christian L. Davenport, to be exact"
"Who the fuck is he?" said Alex with a shaking voice.
An evil grin draw Laurence's smile, but it disappeared instantly, completely vanishing in matter of simple seconds.
"He's the cause of everything" said Laurence emotionless, "He's the source of Arabella's deep misery - Christian is the main reason for how Arabella is the way she is, he practically destroyed her to dust and ashes and built her entirely once again, only with evil and bad intentions"
"He corrupted her entirely, Alex" were Laurence's last words before the whole room filled in with a massive and unusual silence.
Alex's anger was now completely visible, and his whole body was entirely tensed with fury and resentment. His deep brown eyes that had always seemed as a black hole were now lightened up by a burning infuriation that was growing and increasing severely.
"What did he do to her?" muttered Alex, revealing a voice full of wrath.
"Well, they started a toxic and turbulent relationship that was doomed to a hopeless end from the very beginning - she was 15 and he was 26, and they lasted almost three years together. The main problem was that he dragged her into his world..."
"His world? I don't understand"
Laurence gave Alex a cold look, "I'm talking about drugs, Alex. Sex, drugs, robbery - all of the things that your parents warned you about when you were a teenager" continued Laurence "And I'm not talking about the usual stuff, I'm talking about the real shit, the one that could actually kill you if you decide to party way much than you actually should"
Alex couldn't believe what he was actually hearing, "I don't believe you, it can't be possible - it just simply can't, she wouldn't..."
"Have you ever seen her arms lately? Have you slightly payed any attention to them? I know she's been clean for more than a year now but the heroin marks are still visible if you see them carefully"
He was now even more astonished than before by each and every single word Laurence was using; not only that, but the coldness and the unemotional way in which he said them made Alex shiver with fear.
"I don't understand - why wouldn't she just..."
"Leave him?" interrupted Laurence, "She was too in love to do that, kid. Despite knowing that the guy was cheating on her with every single girl and woman in Bristol, she still loved him with the same passion and tenderness"
Alex drowned his face in his firm hands, "How could she possibly love him? How?"
Laurence now looked at him with a melancholic tenderness and with a slight feeling of empathy towards him. He could perfectly understand the agony that Alex was feeling; how could she possibly love someone like Christian but not admit his love for Alex?
"Because he was the only one that made her feel loved... When the world has been so cruel to you and gave you a million reasons to give up on everyone and yourself, knowing that there is someone that is standing right next to you and taking care of you, is all that you need to keep moving forward... She just didn't want to lose the only person who made her feel content and loved with herself" said Laurence with a melancholic gaze, "So she lied to herself and to everyone else... She tried to convince herself that it was her fault, not his..."
"But that fucking bastard didn't even love her! How could you cheat on someone you love? Explain me that, 'cause I can't fucking understand that" shouted Alex from the top of his lungs.
"He did loved her, Alex" said Laurence with a serious expression, "He loved her fervently and passionately; despite sleeping with thousands of women, he always returned back to her"
"Fucking bullshit" said Alex with an angry but melancholic gaze.
Another eternal silent that simply filled up the room, "So what happened next? How did everything end?" asked Alex.
"Well, not the best way possible actually... There was this particular day in which Arabella and Christian went to the Chelsea Hotel in Bristol, rented their own special and private room and drugged themselves with all sort of substances; but on that day things turned out pretty bad" said Laurence slowly.
"What do you mean?" asked Alex once again fearful.
"Christian - he died of a heroin overdose..." Alex's eyes opened widely but his expression remained the same, "And Arabella she almost - she almost dies too, Al. If it wasn't for Andrew who was terribly worried about her and followed her, she wouldn't be alive right now"
Alex took a moment that seemed everlasting to absorb and process all of the information that he had just heard from Laurence; not only what he said, but the word he used: death. That frightening word seemed to endlessly dance around Alex's mind without disappearing, and it repeated itself as a broken record or as an undying echo. Arabella, death; she could have died. She could have been a pale and dying corpse... She could have died from an overdose - an overdose of heroin. So many inexplicable feelings invaded his mind and body: anger, sadness, annoyance, fury, melancholy but mostly, fear.
"Andrew saved her just on time and took her to the nearest hospital he found. A couple of days passed after the police finally found Christian's body, but Arabella was still in the hospital rehabilitating herself from the drugs that she actually found out about his death a week later, when she finally woke up and was stable enough to process the information. The police didn't found any sort of evidence that could possibly incriminate Arabella and so they categorized Christian death as a suicide. Arabella then accepted going to rehab and only a couple of months passed until she was stable enough to come back home and continue with her life"
Alex was about to say something when the sound of the opening door interrupted him. Laying on one side of the frame was Laurence's secretary.
"I'm sorry to interrupt Mr. Bell but you have a meeting schedule in about five minutes!" said the young girl in a cheerful tone.
"Oh yeah Amanda, you're right! How could I possibly forget that?" said Laurence as he stood up and grabbed his coat, walking towards the door.
Laurence waited for Amanda to exit the room and then slightly turned around to see a depressed Alex who was looking at an inexistent and invisible point that was located in one of the corners of the room; his gaze was completely lost and the brightness of his deep brown eyes vanished completely. Laurence couldn't help but felt an extreme pity for him.
"I know that it must be really difficult to hear all these things, Al" said Laurence genuinely feeling his words, "But you deserved the right to know everything, especially about someone who you thought you deeply loved..."
"If you need anything, just give me a call and I'll be here for you" muttered Laurence before exiting the room.
Alex was left drowning in his own misery and agony, battling his own inner thoughts within the serenity and quietness of Laurence's office. He took a deep breath and grabbed his entire face with both of his hands, burying it on them. After a few seconds Alex started to cry quietly and gradually.