Secrets of the Past

Need to Know

"I just can't wrap my head around it," Brian said to Sal. They were on set, in between takes. "I don't understand why it's a big deal." He was relaying to Sal the conversation from the night before.

"But why do you need to know? She said it's not relevant to what you two have going on so why push the issue?"

" I don't know, man. I guess now part of it is the unknowing. The fact that it IS such a big deal to her. Now it'll just eat away at me. It just feels like she's hiding something."

"Well she is," Sal said. "I mean she's got something in her past that she doesn't want to talk about."

"But WHAT?"

"Dude, I don't know. Maybe she doesn't have any family. Maybe she was abused. Maybe she was raped. Could be anything. Whatever it is, it must be pretty bad if she is that adamant about not talking about it."

"I never thought of any of those possibilities before now," Brian said, wondering why that was. "I'm such a fucking asshole."

"Well I won't argue with that but in this case I think your curiosity just got the better of you."

"I mean, if something horrific happened then that makes sense. I'm sure I wouldn't want to talk about it. Fuck, man. I need to make this right."

"I'd give her a couple of days to cool off, bro," Sal said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, I guess. Enough about that. Tell me about this chick you met the other day. Did you text her?"

"Yeah, I did. And I felt like a dope doing it. But she remembered who I was and was interested. We went out last night. Bro, she's such a cool chick. And hot. Did I mention she's hot?"

"Once or twice. Did she know you were a big tv star when you met her?" Brian asked with a smirk.

"No, she didn't know who I was."

"I assume you've told her?"

"Well, before I actually had the chance to talk to her about it I got asked for a picture. That was embarrassing. But she was cool with it. During and afterwards when I told her about the show."

"And what did she say when you told her?" Brian asked.

"She wasn't phased by it. I'm telling you, she's cool. She's into stand up comedy, likes a lot of the same music I do, and she's just fun. Doesn't seem to be at all needy or clingy. When we talk it's like we've known each other forever."

"Did you fuck her?"

"No. She had to be up really early today, earlier than me. So it wasn't a long date."

"Well I'm happy for you buddy. Good luck with her." Just then they were called back to set.

Brian decided to take Sal's advice and he didn't contact her. He still couldn't process what could have happened to her that made her so upset. She was on his mind all day and Sal could tell that left to his own devices he would probably do something he'd later regret.

When filming was over Sal told him they were going out. He tried to argue but Sal wouldn't hear it. They went to a bar near where they had filmed that day. It had an outdoor patio and they each grabbed a beer on their way out to find a table.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Sal broke the ice. "What's goin' on buddy? You still thinking about Giovanna?"

Brian nodded. "Dude, I can't...I don't know what to do."

"What do you mean?"

"I NEED to know. I've been thinking about it all day."

"You NEED to let it go," Sal said, taking a swig of his beer. "She doesn't want to tell you. If you can't live with that then you should just move on. You'll only push her away if you keep persisting." Brian let out a sigh and took a long pull of his beer.

They stayed at the bar for about an hour before Sal suggested a karaoke bar that was nearby. Brian wasn't into karaoke as much as Sal was but he was already buzzed and knew he could use the distraction.

Seeing as it was only 8:30 on a week night the bar was only about half full. They each got 2 shots of Jameson before heading over to the karaoke stage.

It was after midnight when they stumbled out of the bar. They were still in Manhattan and neither of them was in any shape to drive. They had to work back in Manhattan the next day so Brian decided to leave his car and get it tomorrow. Sal could drive them in the morning. They hailed a cab and headed to Sal's house. Brian would just stay there and sleep in Sal's spare room.

In the cab Brian took his phone out and checked for missed calls and texts. Nothing. He stared at her name in his list of ongoing text conversations. He really wanted to talk to her. He started to type out a message but Sal saw him.

"What are you doing?" he asked in a slurred voice. "Are you texting her? You can't do that. Give me your phone." He reached over and tried to take the phone out of Brian's hand. They wrestled with it and Sal was eventually successful.

"Give me my fucking phone," Brian said angrily to him. "I can do whatever the fuck I want."

"I'm just trying to stop you from making a mistake. You'll say something stupid and then you'll really piss her off."

"How do you know? You don't know what I was going to say."

"Q, you do not want to text her like this. You'll regret it in the morning. Wait until tomorrow, when you have a clear head."

"Fine," Brian relented. "But give me back my fucking phone." Sal handed it over and Brian put it in his pocket. He would wait until he got to Sal's and was alone, then he would text her.

When they pulled up to Sal's Brian paid the driver then they both toppled out of the cab. Once inside they each went to their own room. Brian collapsed on the bed and laid there with an arm over his eyes. He would text her as soon as the room stopped spinning. He fell asleep before that happened.