“I can’t blame her.” Søren scratched the back of his neck.
The bassist was just glancing at them out of the corner of his eye, but he could clearly see the uneasiness taking over Søren.
They hadn’t known each other for that long. Hardly ten months. Yet Marc had learned a few things about him during that time. From the conversations they’d had, he seemed to have an extensive world inside his head, though he rarely let his emotions, thoughts, or anything else show on his face. Save for tonight.
“We all say shit when we’re angry,” Chris said, their voices getting too low for anyone to hear the rest of their conversation as they walked away.
While playing “Comfortably Numb”, Marc sank deep in thought. A part of him was happy these two were finally going to talk. It wasn’t miscommunication or hatred between them, more like stubbornness and fear of showing the scarred side of themselves that might have made the other run for the hills. At least, that was what Leah had told him the previous night. But he agreed to disagree. Was sure that as ugly as she thought those fragments were, they were also the cure to their broken hearts. Leah and Søren loved and longed for each other in ways he hadn’t seen in anyone before. It was torturous, beautiful, and intense. A fucking epic love story that you hardly got to see in real life.
However, if he had to be honest, he wasn’t looking forward to the pain they were going to cause each other before the healing process began.
Sighing, he yawned for the third time in the last hour. It wasn’t that late, but his eyelids had been feeling heavy for longer than he cared to admit.
Another yawn.Ugh.
Time to pack up, even if that meant the rest would rag on him for leaving so early.
He had just gotten up when one of the Aussie twins shouted, “Going to bed already, little baby?”
“Yeah,” he replied. “You can keep me company, though. I’ll takerealgood care of you.”
“I think I’ll pass tonight. Let’s talk about it tomorrow.”
“Whenever you want.” Marc grabbed his guitar and waved at them.
“Night, night, sweet cheeks.” The twin blew him a kiss.
After putting the six-string in its case and packing it in the bus’s trailer, Marc strolled towards the picnic area where Erik had been talking to Julia. It was isolated, sheltered by trees, and away from all the noise of the city and the murmurs coming from where everyone was hanging out.
With his mind still reeling, jumping from one worry to the next, Marc reached into the lower side pocket of his pants and got the packet of tobacco out. He could have gone back to the bus, but he didn’t want to disturb Leah and Søren and the conversation they could be having. Besides, this place seemed peaceful enough to disconnect from everything and everyone, even if it was just for a few minutes.
Or so he thought.
“What are you doing here?” Chris’s voice snaked through the dimmed atmosphere, making his entire being vibrate.
“Smoking.”
“I can see that… Why did you come here alone?” he asked, snatching the cig from his fingers as he sat beside him on the picnic table. “When I returned to the group you were gone and you’ve been moody all day… You okay?”
“Yeah. Just wanted to be alone.”
“Want me to leave?” Chris let out a cloud of smoke.
“Nah, it’s fine. The day has been emotionally draining, and I just needed some quiet before going to bed or I won’t be able to sleep.”
Chris chuckled.
Marc took a drag. “What?”
“Nothing,” the guitarist said, a faint smile painted on his face as he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “It’s funny how I usually need the noise to drown out the shit in my head, and you need the silence so it all fades.”
“Yeah.” Marc looked at the dance of lights and shadows the bonfire was painting in the distance. They couldn’t see anyone, and their voices were barely a whisper, but the fire was still connecting their low rumble with the small pinewood. “We’ve always been different in more ways than one.”
“And still, we understand each other pretty well when it comes to the important things.”
“Like music,” Marc said.
“Or the way we care aboutourpeople,” Chris echoed in the same husky tone.
