Heaven Help Us

Break

I was severely disappointed with how little time I had with Jeph. Finally, after four more excruciating months of work, I called at least a week’s break. Rain and Dante invited me to stay for that week, and I agreed.

Rain took my stuff into her room, even though I told her that I could do it.

“No, this is my odd revenge on you for all the times I told you I could carry my stuff and you didn’t let me.” She had said.

So later that night, I sat down with Jeph again.

“Andrew was sitting on the couch with his bassist when the girl came in. The first thing she did was hug David. Jealousy boiled up in Andrew’s stomach at this. He didn’t do much for the majority of the party; just kind of sat there on the couch. But around midnight, his hand fell into hers and he led her outside. He asked her why they couldn’t be together. She said they just couldn’t be…Every time she said no, it stung like hell. She left him standing outside as she ended the conversation and retreated back into the party. Andrew cried when he got home. It was tears of frustration and heartbreak, but he still wasn’t going to give up. After a week passed, he went to go visit her. He got right to the point and asked her exactly why she kept saying no. She’d been ignoring his calls and texts, and it hurt. She told him the same reasons that she always told him. She confided that she was running out of money, so she was going to go look for an apartment with David. Andrew offered to let her stay with him, but she refused. He offered to hook her up with the record deal she deserved and wanted. She declined. He asked her to go on tour with him again. She said she would think about it, but it was highly unlikely considering that she was entered in a contest now. It was a singing/band contest and she wanted to win so badly. Andrew quickly worked his way back into a comfortable temporary friend zone with the girl.”

Jeph giggled. “Andrew was friend-zoned? Ooooh. That’s not good.” He sang.

I smiled at him and scrunched up my face. “Oh, just you wait, kiddo. So he went with the girl and David while they looked for an apartment. And as luck would have it, the first one was perfect! They didn’t hesitate to move in. By the end of the day, they were moved into the place. The girl asked Andrew to stick around. She had decided to do one of his band’s songs for the contest. Andrew talked to a couple of his friends and managers and got them into a studio, where he recorded her vocals and dubbed it onto one of the master tracks. She sounded perfect. He knew that she would win, easily. He spent the night at their place. He and the girl fell asleep together watching Batman Begins. The next morning, the girl received a message with a link to the music video for Concrete Angel by Martina McBride. Andrew watched it with her and hugged her as she started crying. He could see the pain resting in her eyes. It was pretty much her life story wrapped up into a song. When it was over, he consoled her, and she rested her head in the crook of his neck. Andrew was pretty content; he would be fine with never moving again. But then the people who were dropping off a couch for David and the girl showed up. Later that day, they practiced her song some more for the contest. On Thursday, David and the girl were pretty much completely moved in. Andrew had just taken a shower, and went to sit next to the girl. She was stressed over the contest, so Andrew gave her a massage. She relaxed some, and, not being able to stop himself, Andrew kissed her skin softly. This time, she was the one to kiss him. His heart was soaring. He was in heaven, now. It was so perfect.”

Jeph grinned brightly, but I noticed that it was just a shade dimmer than any other smile I’d seen on him. It was more tired. “Finally,” he said.

“Andrew thought the same thing,” I laughed. “We’ll leave it there tonight, okay?”

“Okay.”

I ran my hand through his hair and noticed that his skin felt warmer than usual. I shrugged it off; what did I know?

“Goodnight, kiddo.”

“Goodnight, Daddy.”

He didn’t even stop me to tell me to say goodnight to Batman. Perhaps he was just super tired…

Rain and I got ready for bed and fell asleep talking, holding hands.

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I'm super tired tonight. :/