No.
Cause if he did or said something stupid, I don’t care how talented he is, I’ll put my fist through his face.
I said no. Everything’s fine. I’m going to bed now. Get home safe.
Will do.
I put down my phone.
I stared at the blank screen.
I picked it back up.
I did a search for Cherry Lips. Dozen of blog posts and news articles mentioning us popped up.
I’d kept my promise. As hard as it had been, I'd gone weeks since last checking the rumor mill online. But what did it matter? My promise to Liam meant nothing anymore.
I had to know. Needed to know. People all over the internet were talking about Cherry Lips and not knowing what they were saying was killing me.
I scrolled mindlessly, skimming the words, looking for key phrases like “fucking rocks” or “totally sucks.”
I stopped. Scrolled back up hastily.
Someone had posted a photo of me and Liam on stage. It was during one of our brief duets, when he would lean into the mic to sing a few words along with me.
In this photo our eyes were locked onto each other's. His lips were mere inches from mine. It didn’t look like a duet at a rock concert. It looked like a snapshot taken moments before a passionate kiss.
The sting of tears hit the back of my eyes again.
I remembered that concert. I’d dragged Liam into a dark office and fucked him senseless afterward. We’d almost gotten caught by the venue manager. We had to pretend we’d gotten lost. Between Liam’s undone jeans button and my messed up lipstick, we were pretty sure he hadn’t bought it.
Pressing my lips firmly together, I started to read the article accompanying the photo. It was the usual concert review, talking about how awesome we were, our crazy fan base, the accolades we’d received so far, even giving a bit of background on our past as an indie band.
But this article had a few sentences at the bottom I’d never read before.
On stage with Cherry Lips was Liam Knight, formerly of the band Forever Night, which was on the cusp of hitting it big before Liam left to pursue his own projects. Click here to view a gallery of Forever Night.
A gallery of photos. Photos of Liam.
I couldn’t help myself. I clicked.
There were dozens of pictures taken throughout Liam’s early career. In some of the photos he looked as young as he had when I’d first met him. In some he looked the exact same as he did now.
In most of the photos they were on stage, but there were also quite a few with them surrounded by groupies. One girl in particular showed up multiple times, always hanging off Liam’s arm. He never looked annoyed at her clinging. In some of the photos he was even smiling softly at her, even as a handful of other women surrounded him.
Maybe she wasn’t a groupie. Maybe she was an old girlfriend. I wondered what had happened to them, if they were no longer together. Liam had never mentioned anything about the people he’d dated before me.
I continued flicking through the photos. When I got to the end, there was a another small blurb.
The former members of Forever Night are now known as Chaotic Neutral. Click here to read a review of their latest concert.
I hadn’t realized the members of Liam’s old band were still active in the scene. It made sense. Just because he was content to be a session musician didn’t mean they wouldn’t go on to form another group.
I clicked the link.
From the photo,Chaotic Neutrallooked like a normal rock band. Lots of black, mesh, skinny jeans, leather jackets and a hint of eyeliner.
There was the same gallery of photos, both the band on stage and surrounded by groupies. As I scanned the pictures, I zoomed in on the guitarist. He looked like a regular guy, tall with dark hair and a cocky smile. He didn’t look like the type who would betray a friend. Then again, Liam didn’t look like the type to spit out horrible accusations like he had that evening.
