That Blue Gibson

CH 7

Liz walked to the middle of the massive bedroom before turning to face Dave, watching him close and lock the door behind them. "Thank you," she said quietly, surprised that she felt tears welling in her eyes. "It's just that he's..."

Dave smiled warmly at her. "He's a little intense with you," he said, crossing the room to look out the window. "Anything going on there?"

Liz sighed. It was a long, convoluted drama that she didn't want to pile onto an innocent party.

"I mean, I know we got off on the wrong foot earlier and you don't really know me, but I can listen surprisingly well for an old rock star," Dave pushed away from the window and sat on the edge of the huge bed in the middle of the room.

"An old rock star is the one that started all this," Liz said with a smirk.

"McCartney?" he asked.

Liz only nodded.

Dave dramatically crossed his legs, resting his elbow on his knee. "Spill, girl," he lisped, failing to hide his smile.

Liz laughed and took a breath to explain. "He-"

"Sit, you're making me nervous," Dave interrupted and hit the space on the bed next to him with his palm.

Liz immediately crossed the room and sat next to him. "He's got it in his head that I belong to him," she said, trying not to sound whiny. "We were fine the first month on set. We had great chemistry that worked on camera, but he allowed it to spill over. I was going through some shit and he... I don't know... saw a weakness? Then Paul showed up the second month and encouraged the situation, which doesn't help when you're stuck on a goddamn island with no access to reasonable people." When Liz realized her words were coming faster and faster, she stopped to take a breath.

"And the studio encouraged a 'match' if you will," Dave said quietly.

Liz looked up at him in surprise. "They thought that they could use the 'they found love after nasty divorces' angle to push the movie."

"So was there ever a thing between you two?" Dave asked, suddenly very interested in an errant string on the bedspread between them.

"No," Liz said quickly. "Well-," she felt Dave tense with her admission. "We maybe kissed when I was blackout drunk the night my divorce was finalized. I have zero recollection of it, though."

Dave only nodded.

"I'm sorry," Liz said quietly. "I shouldn't have dragged you into this high school bullshit. It's so embarrassing."

"I stole his girl once before, you know," Dave said after a moment.

Liz felt her heart leap into her throat. "Sorry, what?"

"He was in New York, she was in LA and appeared backstage at my show at the Viper Room claiming he had left her for some British supermodel," Dave stared at the wall in front of them. "William tried to get with her, but fucking crashed and burned," he remembered with a laugh. "I was on the rebound, so she fell into my lap, literally, and that was that. Come to find out, not only were they not broken up... they were fucking engaged."

Liz felt a little more nauseous with each word. "Dave...," she quickly stood up and turned to him. "That's not what this-"

"No, I know," Dave shook his head, reaching up to grab her arms. He sat her back down on the bed next to him before resting his elbows on his knees and looked back at her with a half grin. "It was her weird manipulative thing, but he and I were caught in the middle of it. I manned up and apologized, he acted like a fucking child. And now, twenty years later..." he gestured around the room.

"I wouldn't have done this if I had known," Liz whispered.

"I'm serious, Liz, it's fine," he shifted his body so he was facing her.

She sat silently, watching his face and trying to figure out what to say. After a moment, he stood and began opening drawers on a massive mission style chest at the foot of the bed.

"Looking for something?" Liz asked as he slammed a drawer shut.

Dave paused when he found what he was looking for, turning around slowly to face Liz with a wide smile. "We're up here for a good time, aren't we?"