Page 57 of Play Me

I open my mouth to make a joke and then stop, realizing he doesn’t have any reason to trust me more than me him, and it’s not the time to test that.

“No. Except, maybe, that I didn’t make it sooner.”

***

It’s dark when we load ourselves into the rentalcar. The hire guy tells us that our resort isn’t far from there but to make sure we have our cell phone charged because there’s hardly any traffic at this time of day and into the night, and if we need help, the best thing is to call rather than wait for help.

“You ready?” Sebastian asks once I’ve clicked in my seatbelt.

“As I’ll ever be!”

We drive in a comfortable silence for a moment. It’s almost pitch black once we leave the main highway, and I look out into the dark and wonder what is looking back at me. It’s unnerving but somehow poetic at the same time. The refocus of our senses when any stimulation of one sense is completely nil. It reminds me a little of the opening of the band’s intro.

Our ruminations are interrupted by the vibration of his phone.

“Seb, we said no phones.” I remind him, when he takes his eyes off the road for a moment to glance at his phone.

“I just...I just have to take this one call, sorry.” He says before swerving to the side of the road and pressing the answer button on the phone.

“Hey.” He says.

And I can hear the female voice reply. It’s Hailey.

“Hey, what’s up?” Her tinny voice through the earpiece says.

“Yeah, um, just letting you guys know that Cadence and I won’t be at rehearsal until Monday, probably. Can you let your Dad and the guys know? And I won’t be reachable until then either.”

There’s a pause.

“Why?” She asks, and I turn towards my window, hiding the scrunched up look on my face.

“Just tell them, Hails.”

“You OK?”

“Better than ever.” I hear him reply and he pokes me gently in the back.

“You with her?”

“OK, relay the message, OK? Thanks. Talk to you soon.”

He hangs up the phone and turns to me. “All done, no more calls, I promise.”

I can’t face him yet, so I continue staring out into the dark.

“Hey, you OK?”

“She’s always going to come between us, isn’t she?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Hailey.”

“Oh god, not this again.”

“Yes, exactly, that’s exactly what I think. Every time.”

“I told you. There’s nothing –” He starts to deny.