8
JASON
“You like her, right?”
“Huh?”
We’re in the warehouse trying to get the orders in with our contracts, our notes and our thoughts.
We rehearsed for a few hours before the pub opened. We’re looking to come out with something new because my father is still intending to give us a hand with the music.
We’re not leading ourselves on, that train has already left the station for us. We lost our big break after Patrick walked out on us in London last year in the middle of a meeting with a record company, so he could go to Erin. I don’t think there are any other concrete possibilities of future chances, but it doesn’t hurt to try our luck, especially now that things have calmed down and we’re all in the same place again.
Patrick is less of an asshole than usual, Aaron is fine, Liam is back and is behaving much better.
Everyone can go back to breathing.
Everyone but me.
“Alex, I mean.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Liam,” I tell him.
“Come on Jay, I saw how you were looking at her the other night.”
“We were friends, we still are, more or less.”
“Listen, I know the story.” He interrupts himself, but I know what he was going to say.
“Yes, well just because you know what happened doesn’t mean you know what you’re talking about. It’s…complicated.”
“Complicated? Friend, life is complicated.”
“Seems like I’m talking with my dad again.”
“You still like Alex, it’s obvious and I can see that she still likes you. She’s always liked you and Rain told me that she’s never had eyes for anyone else. Just because her illness has struck twice, it doesn’t mean it has to happen again.”
I’m about to respond to his words in the same tone of voice but stop short at his words.
“Two times? Actually, it only happened that one time…”
“And then again with Conor, last year.”
I sit down on a case of beer, upset by this revelation. I knew that sooner or later Alex would have found someone else, but knowing it for certain makes me want to punch a wall.
“Who the fuck is Conor? And what the hell happened?” I ask, raising my voice.
“He was her boyfriend. She had some kind of problem and that idiot called the ambulance.”
I clench my fists and try to control the rage even though I truly do not know where it’s coming from.
Alex had a boyfriend.
That boyfriend was not me.
Am I jealous, perhaps? Yes, I am.
“They were about to…okay, it’s better not to go into details. Rain told me in confidence.”
