Tracks (Rock Bottom) (16 page)

“Dad…” I sta
rt, but I hear the phone click.

I hang up the phone. Theresa grabs it from me and
places it on the receiver. “Wow,” she says, a little proudly and a little shocked.

I walk over and plop down on the couch. I put my head in my hands. Theresa plops next to me. “Now
what am I going to do?” I say.

“Well, I think you should have an amazing night with him. Don’t pressure him too much. He’s a loner, Dylan. He always has been. I’ve never
heard of him with a steady girlfriend. I wish I could tell you better news, but just think of the time you had with him. It will give you better options in the future. Boys are kind of like stepping stones. At least you’re finally dating. And you have feelings for someone else.”

She rubs my back. I know what she’s saying is right, but it still hurts to think of him leaving
so soon. “I’m going to take a shower,” I say. I get up from the couch and walk into the bathroom, shutting the door.

After the shower, Theresa does my hair again. This time I let it hang long and straight, the way I usually wear it, but Theresa uses a straightening iron. Tonight she lends me a green strapless dress that fits against my body and stops below my knees. The top has a silver strap right underneath my breasts wrapping around me. The green of the fabric really brings out my eyes. I don’t put a lot of make-up on; I want to look more like myself than I did the night before. I don’t want to feel like it’s all a fantasy or dream.

At 7:35, the doorbell rings. That will be Rich. I put in my last
tear-drop silver earring and head to answer the door, sliding into my green high heels on the way. Theresa exits her room as I pass, wearing a little black mini-dress with spaghetti straps. I smile at her. She looks so pretty. I run to the door and open it.

Jeremy stands on my landing, wearing a black collared shirt, unbuttoned to the top of his chest, and dark blue jeans.
His dirty blonde hair is in tousled spikes. His rests his right hand on my doorway and leans. When our eyes meet, he smiles a bright smile, and his blue eyes sparkle.

I smile back at him and he stands straight, gliding towards me. He grabs my chin and pulls it to his face, kissing me hard. He runs his other hand from my hip slowly up to my shoulders. I shudder.

He pulls away and says, “Dylan.” I motion for him to come in.

He steps into my house and I close the door behind him. "Dylan, you..." Jeremy says, looking me up and down. Jeremy turns his head as Theresa appears from the kitchen and freezes. S
he gives Jeremy a warm smile.

"Hi, Theresa," Jeremy says and walks forward gracefully. He puts his arms around her and kisses her cheek. Her eyes bulge open and a goofy smile appears on her face. I roll my eyes. Jeremy steps bac
k from her. "You look lovely."

"Hi. I...date.
.." she says, pointing at herself. She smiles a ridiculous smile and walks towards the kitchen table where her clutch sits.

Jeremy smiles and walks towards me, extending his hand. I grab it as he opens the door and walks out with me. "By
e Therese!" I call as I shut the door behind me. Jeremy and I start to walk down the stairs.

"You do that on pur
pose to her," I say, smiling.

He shrugs. "I just want her to like me. I assume her
opinion matters a lot to you."

We reach the familiar black car and, surprisingly, he opens the
front passenger door for me. I look confused as I get in and notice that there’s no driver and no Rich. Jeremy opens the driver’s side door, climbing in and reaching for his seat belt. “Where’s Rich?” I say, looking in the back seat.

Jeremy starts the car and motions backwards with his thumb. I turn to look through the back windshield and see
Rich in a red car behind us, with another big man sitting next to him. I turn around and sit back down as Jeremy pulls away from the curb.

“Why isn’t
he riding with us?” I inquire.

“Because I want this to feel, you know, as
normal
as possible.”

I chuckle. He looks over at me,
puzzled, and then back at the road. “What?” he says.

“I’m going to see you perform at your s
old out concert on your sold out national tour.”

He laughs and sighs. “Rich told me about the reporters this morning. I guess I jus
t want you to feel…normal.”

I blush and look at my lap. He’s really making an effort with me.
I admit I’m shocked and humbled by this discovery. He cares what Theresa thinks of him, because he cares what I think of him. He’s going out of his way and ignoring his own safety, by putting distance between us and his body guards, so I can feel normal.

We pull up to the back door at the arena. Luckily, there are no reporters, just the usual few guards. The fans must be at another door again. Jer
emy orders me to stay seated as he gets out of the car. I see him walk around the front of the car and over to my door. He opens it and extends his hand.

I laugh and take it as he helps me up. “What a gentleman,” I say, sarcastically. He pulls me close to him, wrapping
his arms dangerously low around my waist. “Oh, I’m no gentlemen,” he croons, soft and low. My stomach tightens.

He lets me go and, grabbing my hand, leads me to the door. When we get inside, he’s immediately surrounded by the same group of people. There are the men in
business suits, a few groupies, and security guards. One of the guards hands him a beer, which he takes and chugs as we walk down the hall.

I quickly scan the group for the weasel-faced boy from the night before, but I don’t see him. Th
ere are a few more groupies that I recognize. I’m relieved not to see the pixie or big breasted blonde from what seems like forever ago. He must have kept his word on not keeping them around.

We find his dressing room and the crowd begins to disperse, some shaking Jeremy’s hand, some telling him “see you later.” Jeremy opens the door for me and I walk in. I see a girl, with blue hair and a spiky collar, standing by the wall across from the door
that hasn’t left with the others. It looks like she hasn’t slept in days. She has dark circles under her eyes, accented by her dark eye make-up. She looks young- maybe 18 or 19- and despite her at first shocking appearance, she’s quite attractive. She’s much skinnier than my size 10- probably a zero- and her black mini skirt and ripped up black tank top is made to show off her body.

As soon as Jeremy sees her, he can’t take his eyes off of her. I stare at him, strangely, until I see her finally make eye contact back at him. Both of them smile at each other, she in a flirtatious way.

Jeremy turns and smiles at me in the doorway. “I’ll be right back. I have some business to take care of, okay? Turn on some music.”

I smile and nod, and glance again at the girl. Jeremy kisses my cheek and
almost shuts the door, leaving just a crack open. I peer through the crack, watching him walk down the hallway with the girl standing close to him.

My mouth drops open in shock. I hope he knows I did get accepted to Harvard Law. I’m not going to buy that ‘I have to take care of business’ crap. I can only think of one business
that
chick could be in. And it’s not a business I’d want
my
boyfriend to be messing with.

I sto
mp over and flop down on the red couch, trying not to be mad at him, or think about what he’s doing. ‘Womanizer,’ my subconscious taunts me again. ‘Technically,’ I respond, ‘he’s NOT my boyfriend.’ But I know that doesn’t do anything to quell my anger. But it doesn’t make sense that he would leave and go off with her, when I’m here and so willing for him. Would he really go off with that woman while I was here? But if it isn’t for something sexual, what possibly could it be for?

I run my hands through my hair. I’m kidding myself if I think I can keep a man like him. He can have anyone. I’m some awkward nerdy kid. I’m not skinny, and I’m
not even particularly pretty. Let’s face it- even my mom couldn’t be bothered with me. The fact that he’s paid me any attention at all, and that he’s sweet to me, is miracle enough. But I can’t bear the thought of him never being in my life again.

I’m flipping through the music channels on the TV, trying to find something while I’m thinking. 10 or 15 minutes later, I hear the door squeak open.
I purposely don’t turn towards him, to make it clear that I’m angry, when I hear a female voice say “Oh!”

I turn quickly around in surprise. Across from me is the big breasted blonde that I had seen the first night I met Jeremy. Only this
time, she was clothed and sober…kind of. She has on a white peasant top that flows over her stomach, showing off a lot of cleavage, and light blue jeans. My mouth drops open in shock, and I stand.

“Hi there,” she says, staring at me up and dow
n. I furrow my eyebrows at her.

“Hi?” I say as a question.

“Is Jeremy here? One of his guards left me a weird message on my phone saying not to come around anymore?”

“Is that so?” I say, curtly.
Then, why the hell are you here?

She puts her white leather bag down on the floor and smiles at me. She tosses her blonde hair back with her finger.
She laughs. “I assume that was due to you?” She looks me up and down again. “You have pretty eyes, baby,” she says.

I
freeze, my face hard. Is she flirting with me? “…Thanks?”

She begins to walk towards me. “Will Jeremy be back soon?
”

I back up a step. “I don’t know,” I say, sadly. She stops
inches from my face.

“You are very beautiful. I see why he likes you.
Though you seem a little…fresh for him.”

I stand very still.
I’m not sure what she’s after.

“
Maybe we should give him a show. He loves that.” She runs her fingers up and down my arm.

“He does?”
I say. My heart sinks a little. That’s something I know I’d never do for him. Is that why he keeps extra girls around? Maybe he’s into things that he assumes, and probably correctly, I’d never do.

But,
I want to keep him. Even if he’s never mine, I know in this moment I’d do anything to be close to him. To make him happy. I want to show him he doesn’t have to go off with other size zero women; that I can do anything he needs me to do.

“Sure,” she says, and raises a
hand to my face. She really is very attractive, I think, annoyed. Her blue eyes stare into mine.

Hesitantly, she leans forward and kisses me softly on the lips.
I freeze, disgusted, unsure of what to do. She continues. I think of Jeremy off with the blue haired girl and my stomach knots.

I
decide to kiss back, and she moans. She pulls away after a minute and walks back towards the door. I’m frozen in my place.

She looks both ways down the hallway and steps back inside the room, closing the door behind her. She undoes the strap of her white halter top, letting the top fall and exposing her breasts.
She slides the top up over her head, and goes for the button on her jeans.

The woman walks over to me and begins kissing me again.
I think immediately of Jeremy. I kiss her back, closing my eyes and thinking of his messy hair. When she grabs the zipper on my dress, I think of his rough hands undressing me. I moan as she kisses down my body, and I think of the scruff of his face against my skin.

Suddenly, as she’s on her knees
and attempting to get me to lay down on the floor, the door opens. My eyes open at the noise and I see him standing there, mouth open and eyes red.

He turns and slams
the door. “Sabrina?!” he screams. “What the fuck?”

She stands and turns
towards him. I see her smile from the corner of my eye. “Hey baby. I like this one. Come on over,” she beckons to him.

He bends over and scoops up her clothes in one motion. He
stands, his face full of glorious rage as he stares at her. Her smile fades when she takes in his expression. He throws the clothes at her, hitting her in the chest as her arms rise to catch them.

“Get.
Out.” He annunciates each word.

She begins to hastily throw on her underwear and jeans. “I don’t understand,” she says, breathless
ly. “I thought you liked this?”

“
Not with you. Not with her. Get out!” he screeches in his beautiful voice. She’s tying the string on her shirt when he grabs her forcefully with one hand and opens the door with his other. I take a step backwards, finally moving, and cross my arms over my half-naked body.

He practically throws her out in the
hallway as she says, “Jeremy!”

“Don’t ever contact me again,”
he growls, and slams the door.

He leans against the doo
r with both hands outstretched, head down. She pounds at the door furiously. “Whatever, you fucking pathetic drunk! You lonely womanizing asshole! Go ahead; tell her how you really are!”