I went straight home after I left Chris. I didn't want to see anyone. I just wanted to shut myself away from the world. I spent the day curled up on the sofa under a blanket, watching TV, feeling sorry for myself. I was dozing when my phone rang and startled me. When I looked it was Chris. For a moment I hesitated, not sure if I wanted to talk to him just yet. I still felt embarrassed at going round to him last night when I was upset.
In the end I decided to take the call, I figured he'd only worry if I didn't.
"Hi" I said
"Hey Mia. How are you feeling?"
"I'm OK thanks."
"Yeah?" he questioned like he didn't believe me.
"I'm fine Chris..." I said, not wanting him to know about my pity party
"Ok. Good. Look I was thinking..."
There was a slight pause as if he didnt know if he would continue.
"What...?" I said cause I was curious now
"Well... now I've finished my recording with the Foos I'm gonna be concentrating on getting ready for my solos shows..."
Pause again. What is this...?
"....and?" I pleaded
"So why don't you come and stay with me for a few days and we can rehearse together?"
"Stay at your place?" I asked. It was the last thing I'd expected him to say.
"Well yeah. I've got loads of room and I figured maybe you could do with some company...?"
"Yeah... maybe. But I don't want to be in your way. In your house..."
"Don't be silly, you would never be in my way! Besides I don't like the idea of you being alone right now..."
"I'm a big girl I can handle myself."
"I know you can. But... I feel kinda responsible for the way you feel now..."
"Why?"
"Cause I introduced you to that... bastard"
I laughed a little when I heard Chris calling Taylor a bastard.
"See you're laughing already!" He laughed too
"Yeah. I am. And yes, he's a bastard!"
"So what do you say? We need to rehearse anyway."
All of a sudden the idea seemed like the perfect thing to do. Being with him was exactly what I needed to forget about Taylor. Rehearsing would keep my mind occupied and Chris was fun to be with.
"OK sounds like a good idea."
"I'll pick you up in a couple of hours then?"
"I'll be ready." I told him.
"Great. See you soon. Bye Mia."
"Bye Chris."
I smiled as I threw back the blanket and headed for the shower. I was so glad I had him as a friend. After my shower I pulled on clean jeans and a T shirt and started packing my bag ready for Chris to collect me. I was almost ready when my phone rang. As I picked it up I saw Christine's name on the screen.
"Hi Christine."
"Hi Mia. How are you?"
"I'm ok. Why?
"I just wanted to call and make sure you were alright. Rami said that Taylor and Chris had some sort of fight today at the studio."
"Fight?"
"Yeah. He said Chris was really angry and he thought it was about something Taylor had done to you."
"Oh right. So the whole band know?"
"Know what?" Christine asked "All they know is that Chris was fucking angry. Apparently he punched Taylor."
"Punched him?" I asked, shocked.
"I know. I couldn't believe it when Rami said. Chris is always so laid back."
"Oh God I wish I hadn't told him." I sighed.
The last thing I'd wanted was to cause trouble for Chris in the band. They were his friends.
"Told him what Mia? What happened?"
"Taylor came round after the barbecue last night....."
"And...? What did he do?"
"I asked him why we didn't have a normal relationship..."
"What did he say?"
"He said we didn't have a relationship..."
"But you'd been on dates..."
"He didn't care about me at all. It was only ever about sex." I felt myself start to choke up as I said it.
"The fucking dick deserved a punch in the face." Christine said "But how does Chris know?"
I swallowed back the tears I could feel forming "When Taylor had gone I needed some air so I went for a walk and somehow ended up at Chris'"
"Oh Mia I'm so sorry."
"Christine please don't tell anyone else. I feel like such an idiot as it is and after what you just said I'm not sure I want to face Chris again right now. He's gonna be here in 30 minutes. What am I gonna fucking do?"
"Hey slow down!" she exclaimed "You're not an idiot. And what do you mean you can't face him right now?"
"He's coming over..."
"Hey, wait. Why?"
"He just called before you did and asked me to stay at his place. That way we can rehearse and I don't have to be alone. He didn't like the thought of me being alone...
"Wow. He's such a gentleman and it sounds like a great idea to me. I always thought Chris was more your type anyway."
"We're just friends!" I told her.
"Hmmm maybe at the moment but Chris has always had a soft spot for you."
"No he hasn't."
"Oh he has. Haven't you ever noticed the way he looks at you?"
"I don't know what you mean." I protested. The thought gave me shivers inside and I wasn't sure why. I liked Chris but we were just friends and besides I had no intention of dating anytime soon after what had just happened with Taylor.
"You need to pay more attention."
"No I don't!"
"Trust me, he likes you and he'd treat you much better than Taylor ever would." I was silent not sure what to make of what she was telling me and even more convinced that staying with Chris was a bad idea. "Mia? You still there?"
"Yeah...."
"Go and stay with Chris."
"Hmmm..."
"Rehearse, have some fun."
"But if you're right about him liking me surely it's not a good idea."
"Go and enjoy yourself. He wants to be your friend, so let him. You like his company don't you?"
"Well yes I do but..."
"But nothing. You need to rehearse so go and rehearse."
I sighed "I guess it'll be alright."
"Of course it will." She sounded so certain I couldn't help but give a small laugh. "So you're going, right?"
"Yes I'm going."
"Good. Well I'll leave you to finish getting ready then. Bye."
"Bye Christine and thanks."
"Anytime. And if you need someone to chat to just call me."
"I will." And with that she was gone.
As I finished getting my things together I thought about all the things Christine had said. I hoped Chris hadn't got himself into trouble because of me and had he really liked me all this time? He was always really nice to me but surely that was just because he was my friend. But what if he liked me as something more than a friend. I haven't even thought about that before. Well. I had hoped for him inviting me to a date that first night, after we had met, but then Taylor had been around and I had been blinded, so blinded, by him. And seeing as Chris had invited me to meet his friends I had always thought it was just friendly he was. Nothing more. But now....?
By the time I heard a knock on the door I was so confused my head was spinning. I shook it a little to clear the fog inside and took a deep breath as I walked along the hallway. When I opened the door Chris stood there smiling
"Hey Mia, you ready?"
As I looked into his eyes I couldn't help but smile back.
"Yep, I'll grab my bag" I answered as I decided now was not the time to worry about these things, now was the time to rehearse, we had some gigs to do after all.
"Here let me help you." Chris said following me into my apartment. He picked up my bag and I collected my guitar. I followed him out to his car and placed my guitar inside then I climbed in beside him and we set off.
I sat quietly at first as Chris hummed along to the radio but in the end I had to ask
"Chris, what happened in the studio today?"
"What?!" he asked glancing over at me surprised.
"Christine called."
"Oh right....."
"She said you and Taylor had a fight."
"Look I'm sorry OK. I'm not proud of what I did but Taylor was talking about clubbing and picking up a good woman and I just lost it."
"Lost it?"
"Yeah. I told him he wouldn't know a fucking good woman if he met one. I don't even remember what he said next or actually throwing the punch I just remember him holding his nose and Dave yelling."
"So are you in loads of trouble?"
"No, it's fine. Dave understood and he's gonna talk to Taylor while I'm doing my solo shows. He'll sort it."
"Look Chris I don't want you to fall out with the band because of me. They're your friends."
"Yes they are but so are you. Taylor behaved badly and I just told him he had."
"But you punched him, are you really gonna be able to work together after that?" I still couldn't get over the fact that he'd done it, he always seemed so calm.
"Yeah, we'll be fine. Don't worry about it." I looked over at him, he glanced at me and smiled but I wasn't sure that he really believed it was going to be that easy. Still there was nothing I could do so I decided to forget about it for now and concentrate on the shows that were coming up instead.
When we got back to Chris' house he carried my bag into the room I'd woken up in that morning
"Make yourself at home" he told me as he placed it on the floor "I'll go and grab us a beer. See you in a few minutes."
"Great. Thanks." I smiled at him.
He smiled back and for a moment he held my gaze before turning and leaving the room. Christine's words flashed through my head. Had that really been just a friendly look? Of course it was, I thought. I couldn't start looking for things that weren't there or I'd only cause myself more heartache. Chris was a good friend but that was all.
I sat on the edge of the bed, the events of the last twenty four hours running through my head, so much had changed and although what had happened with Taylor still really hurt, a part of me knew the change had been for the better.
After a few minutes I went to the living room where Chris was sat a beer in his hand. As I walked in he looked up, smiled and then handed an open beer to me. I took it and sat down beside him.
"So when do you want to start rehearsing?" he asked.
"As soon as possible I guess."
"So do you wanna grab your guitar and we'll start now. We can get an hour or so in before we get hungry and then we'll order takeaway. Sound OK to you?"
I felt the smile spread across my face as I answered
"Sounds great to me."
I couldn't think of a better way to spend my evening right now than rehearsing followed by a takeaway with him.
He led me to a room with loads of guitars, there was so many to look at, I stood gazing in awe. I heard Chris give a chuckle
"Do you like it?" He said with an amused grin on his face
"I love it." I replied "So many great instruments."
"Well feel free to try any of them out if you want to."
"I might take you up on that offer one day." I laughed "But right now we should be rehearsing. You have some gigs coming up and I don't want to let you down by getting it wrong."
"You could never let me down." he said quickly and as I turned to face him he held my gaze with such a serious look I felt a lump in my throat. I swallowed hard trying to think of an answer but I couldn't. In the end Chris broke the silence. "So have you got any idea which songs you want to play?"
The next hour passed quickly, we played through a few songs and chose three that worked the best. I found it so easy working with Chris, somehow we just fit together naturally. When we got hungry I left my guitar in the room with his and we went back to the living room discussing which takeaway we wanted. Time with Chris always flew by, I was so relaxed with him and even though I hadn't known him long he already felt like my best friend.
We spent the evening eating takeaway, drinking beer and listening to music while discussing plans for the upcoming gigs. I was a little disappointed that he would be leaving for the tour before me but I had work and I couldn't get the time off straight away. But at least we had this week working together and he was right being at his house would make it so much easier. I could go straight to his place form work and we could rehearse until we needed to sleep. There would be no having to go home after work to collect things or heading home for bed as I had everything I needed right here. That thought struck me and I glanced across at Chris, he was sat back on the sofa, a beer in his hand. Was this everything I needed? Was he everything I needed? I turned away from him quickly, I had to stop thinking like that. Chris was my friend, my best friend.... but.... why did I think like this? Why is he stuck in my head...? Get a grip Mia. You cant do more heartache right now.