All talking at once, congratulating one another, the members of Livien and Echo hurried off stage and basked in their success. The benefit patrons were still raucously cheering them on as the host tried to get their attention again. “What a rush” Chord breathed out and opened his arms to Emma who hurtled herself at him.
“Oh my god! You’re guys were amazing” Dianna complimented and pulled both Mark and Sean into proud hugs.
“And did you see some of the women out there?” Jonathan asked and gave a low whistle. “Tonight is definitely going to be a good night” he boasted while Eric and Darren both agreed and high fived each other.
“Great job everybody” Mia called out as she stepped forward, grinning briefly at Darren who was too busy staring out the curtain at the lavishly dressed women. “You’ve all been invited to an after party at the Beverly Wilshire and… wait a minute, where did Cory and Lea go?” she demanded and searched around for the missing singers.
“Shh…” Cory coaxed as he and Lea snuck out into one of the dressing rooms. The sound of her manager’s voice carried down the corridors, causing both to snicker quietly at her irritated tone. “In here” he said and pulled Lea behind the closed the door. “Have I told you beautiful you look?” he asked and wasted no time fusing his lips against hers.
Emitting a quiet moan, Lea grabbed onto the lapels of his jacket and tried to get closer. Hands resting on her hips, Cory pulled Lea up against his body and groaned at the feel of her lithe form wiggling around. “What do you mean you haven’t seen them?! They need to be out there to take a final bow with all the other performers” Mia screeched at someone outside their door, effectively bringing the pair out of their sexual haze.
“I swear, that woman’s voice cuts through my head like nails” Cory groaned in Lea's ear, tickling her skin with his warm breath.
“I guess we should get back out there” Lea suggested, defeated.
“Hey, listen for a second” Cory said and tipped her chin up so that their gazes locked. “I hate this too… but until you turn eighteen, we have to keep it a secret. Both our labels would try to split the tour to keep us apart if they found out.”
“I know” Lea agreed and sighed quietly.
“Come here” Cory gently demanded and held her close so that her head rested against his chest. “Just a few more months” he whispered and stroked her back, soothing Lea more with his presence than with his words.
As her eyes fluttered open, Lea didn’t bother to look at the clock as she reached for a pencil and her lyric book.
It was the same each night only this time, Lea decided to use her memories. They had always been the story she told through song but after everything with Cory, she had been loathsome to put herself out there again so personally. Music had become what her band wanted, what their fans liked, not what was in her heart.
Lea decided she couldn’t do that anymore with her solo album. It had to be about her… had to come from her.
Your face it haunts…. My once pleasant dreams…. Your voice it chased away…. All the sanity in me.
“There” she said and tossed the items aside. After snuggling back under the comforter, Lea shut the lamp off and tried to get a few more hours of sleep.
Is the Past Proving too much for Miss Michele??
Sources say Lea Michele, front woman for hit band Echo, has been spending a lot of late nights worrying over her afternoons spent in the studio with former boyfriend, Cory Monteith. The pair, who split three year ago, have been putting in long hours trying to write the tracks for Michele's new solo album. Spokesmen for Columbia Records say the album is coming along in record time and should be expected out this spring. The question which remains to be unasked is whether or not the pair, who are famously known for their heartfelt lyrics and melodic music, can get through this album without once again falling under the spell of their music……………….
“Forget about the tabloids. All they’re interested in is selling papers not printing actual truths” Sarah advised and waved away the latest issue of “In Touch” Magazine. “Now I’ve got you lined up for Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday, an Oprah taping Friday morning and a Cosmo cover shoot scheduled for Sunday afternoon. I’m also penciling Echo in to do the annual Children’s Hospital Benefit” she added, all the while pecking at her palm pilot like an overexcited chicken.
“It’s not… entirely… untrue” Lea admitted and watched her long time friend look up with a sympathetic expression adorning her face.
Three years before, the only people who knew anything about Lea's breakup with Cory had been Sarah and Mia. Mia made it her job to know everything about her clients and passed that information along to Sarah, whose job as publicist was to keep their names clean.
Sometimes it meant having them deeper inside her personal life than even her friends were but in a way, it was also liberating. Sarah wasn’t there to judge and had never tried to either. She simply listened to the story she was told and found every possible way to either keep it quiet or to fix it in the eyes of the press. She was the one person that Lea actually confided in when she began to lose her direction after the whole ordeal.
“I know your heart still has scars but don’t be ashamed of them” Sarah said and placed her palm pilot aside. “You’re human. You hurt, you bleed and most of all, you feel.”
“He scares me” Lea confessed while Sarah's sympathy transformed into concern. “Not like that” she quickly amended. “He scares me because I forget when I’m with him. I forget about the last year of our relationship and I just see that twenty one year old who played my guitar and said I had a great voice. I see the man I crushed on at sixteen. I see the man who kissed me like I was the most precious thing in the world on my seventeenth birthday. I forget that the other person existed at all.”
Sarah seemed to struggle with her words before letting out a quiet sigh. “Mia would kill me for saying this but… Cory isn’t a bad guy, Lea” she stated. “He made mistakes, big ones, but he paid the highest price for them. The fact that you can still look at him and see the person he once was is a true testament to what kind of man he was inside… before all that other stuff got in the way.”
Closing her eyes, Lea allowed her mind to briefly drift back to another time and place. She thought back to that last night. Everything she saw… the look in his eyes… the words she said… the fear she held inside… the anger flowing in her veins… everything. She realized then that Sarah was right. Cory wasn’t that person anymore and maybe if she finally let go of it, she could finally stop hurting.
Nodding, Lea offered Sarah a small smile in thanks. “Right… well if you’re through with me, I have lunch with your sister” she said and gathered up her belongings. “I learned the hard way not to get in between a pregnant Emma and food… a mistake I will never make again.”
Sarah returned the smile with one of her own and nodded her ascent. More than once, she had been on the receiving end of Emma's pregnancy hormones and deeply sympathized with Lea. “See you soon” Sarah said and accepted a peck against her cheek.
Lost in her musings, Lea rode the elevator down to the garage and only snapped out of it when she heard its loud beep. “Thank you” she said to the parking attendant who had her car ready and waiting the moment Lea stepped out of the building.
“What exactly are we looking for?” Lea asked as she followed Emma around the large record store. More than once, she tried to talk Emma into sitting for a moment but the woman was on a mission to find the perfect birthday present for Chord. For whatever reason, she believed it was waiting for her somewhere in the music store.
“I’m not sure yet” Emma replied, distracted. “I’ll know it when I see it.”
“You’re listening to K-Rock, 92.3FM and I’m your host Nick. For those of you just joining us, that last song was Out of Exile by Audioslave. Up next… a personal favorite by Livien, entitled Numb.”
“This is why I never listen to the radio” Lea stated as Cory's voice flooded the store.
“He sounds so raw and edgy. Who’s this song about, anyway” Emma queried and shot Lea a curious look before returning to her hunt for the perfect gift.
“I’ve become so numb I can’t feel you there…. I’ve become so tired so much more aware…. I’m becoming this all I want to do…. Is be more like me and be less like you…” He sang with so much passion and conviction. To anyone else, it was just a song. Something to play when you’re angry, something to sing at the top of your lungs but to Lea it was so much more.
“His dad” she replied, thinking of the first and only time she ever met Joe Monteith.
“Um… hi, can I help with something?” Lea greeted when she pulled open the door and found a gray haired, middle aged man standing on the other side. She didn’t know his face but there was something about him that seemed familiar. “Wait a second, are you Mr. Monteith?” she asked when she finally looked at his eyes and realized they were the exact same shade as her boyfriend’s.
“Aren’t you the observant one” he grinned though it looked almost feral, rather than friendly. “Where is my son, by the way?” he added and looked past Lea to the foyer, as though expecting Cory to just magically appear.
“He had a meeting with his label but he should be back soon” Lea answered and stepped aside. “Would you like to come inside and wait for him?” she offered, wearing a polite smile. Returning it, Joe stepped through the doorway and followed Lea into the large, spacious living room. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“Tom Collins” he requested and didn’t notice the small frown that crossed Lea's lips.
“I’m sorry… I don’t really know how to make any mixed drinks” Lea admitted a moment later. At seventeen, she was watched like a hawk by her manager and publicist who made sure to keep her name and image clean. Drinking at any time was out of the question and when she wasn’t touring or recording, she never really had the inclination to ask Cory for a taste of whatever he was having. “Can I get you something else” she tentatively asked.
Since they began dating, Lea had only met a few people in Cory's life. There was his band and then there were his people… publicist, manager… agent. His closest friends were his band mates and while he occasionally hung out with another celebrity, Cory was mostly a private person who relished his personal space. He had only mentioned his family a couple times in passing though Lea always got the impression he didn’t want to be asked about them. She respected that and never pushed though now she wondered why it was such a big secret.
Joe seemed nice enough, she thought.
“Anything you can find, straight” Joe amended and offered Lea another one of his grins.
“Sure” she said and hurried off to the kitchen to find something for him to drink. Opening and closing cupboards, she finally found a recently opened bottle of Vodka and poured a liberal amount into a glass tumbler. Some sloshed onto the counter so with her back to the door, she reached for a towel to mop up the spill. “Oh… Mr. Monteith” she said in surprise when she turned and found him standing in front of her. “I was just about to take your drink out to you.”
“Observant… thoughtful… very beautiful” he murmured and ran one, ice cold finger down her cheek. “What’s wrong?” he asked when Lea took a step away from him, fear in her eyes like a prey watching her hunter.
“You know what… Cory mentioned something about um… this… this thing he had tonight. So maybe you should leave and… and um… come back another time” she suggested and continued to step back each time he took a step closer. “Mr. Monteith, I really think you should go now” Lea said in the strongest voice she could muster.
“Well that’s awfully rude, don’t you think?” he asked and reached for the forgotten bottle of Vodka. After drinking the contents of a second glass, he returned his gaze to the frightened teenager pressed up against the counter. “You have nothing to be afraid of. Come on, why don’t we get to know each other a little better” he suggested and held the bottle out towards Lea. “Why don’t you have a sip? Maybe it’ll calm your nerves.”
“Mr. Monteith, I would really like for you to leave now” Lea stated and watched his eyes, so similar to his sons, fill with anger.
“Now you listen to me. This is my son’s house and I will not have some cheap little whore try and tell me what to do” he spat and roughly grabbed her arm, forcing Lea to look up at him. “Do you understand me?” he demanded and dug his hand a little deeper into skin. “Now what…”
Lea blinked and a moment later, she opened her eyes to see Joe Monteith being forcefully pulled away. She hadn’t heard him walk in but relief overwhelmed her senses at the sight of Cory pushing his father out of the house, yelling something that she couldn’t quite grasp.
Moments later he returned and pulled her into his embrace. “I’m so sorry, baby. He’s gone now. I promise, he’s gone” Cory whispered and continuously ran his fingers through her ginger locks, trying to soothe her frazzled nerves. “I’m here” he murmured and held her closer when she began to shake in his arms. “I’m here.”
That was the first time Cory ever opened up to her. That night he told her all about Joe and the relationship he had with him while growing up. It hadn’t been a happy story but it went a long way in explaining the music Cory wrote.
“Oh my god! This is it” Emma exclaimed, holding up a vintage Hot Chelle Rae concert t-shirt. “Happy birthday to Chord!”