Sméagol's Redeption

Chapter 7

A few minutes later, Lea was at Bri's house, sitting on the couch with her and Damian, and the three of them were eating pizza.

"So, he never showed up, huh?" Bri guessed.

"Nope," Lea said glumly.

"Did you try to call him?"

"Nope."

"At this point, it'd be a waste of time," Damian chimed in. "I mean, she's confronted him like, a thousand times already, right?"

"More like a thousand and one," said Lea.

"Yeah, and he never listens to you."

"Nope."

"I think... what you need to do... is give him the silent treatment. Don't call him. Don't text him. Don't answer his calls or texts. Don't talk to him when you see him. Just completely ignore him."

"Ohh, yeah," Bri agreed. "Then, maybe he'll start missing you, and realize how much he cares about you."

"Right, and if he actually does care about you, maybe he'll make a bloody effort."

"I don't know," Lea said, unsure.

"Look, I know it'll be difficult, but you've tried everything else to get his attention, right? I mean, you tried talking to him, and telling him how you feel."

"Yeah."

"Yeah, and he's not hearing you, so maybe silence will speak louder to him than words will."

"Maybe."

"Give it a try. If he still doesn't get it, then, well, fuck him. Or, on second thought, don't."

Bri and Lea burst out laughing.

"In the meantime," Bri said, still laughing, trying to contain herself, "you should c—damn it, Damian!" She kept laughing, which made Lea laugh harder. "Oh, man!" she cried. "I'm dead!"

Lea snorted from laughing so hard, which made Damian laugh, and made Bri laugh even harder.

Pretty soon, all three of them were laughing loudly, and couldn't stop for a while.

"Oh, man, I'm almost glad Ivan blew me off tonight!" Lea laughed.

Damian snickered. "Blew you off. That sounded so wrong."

Bri and Lea screamed with more laughter. Then, Lea belched out loud from inhaling so much air, which made things even funnier. Eventually, they managed to calm down.

"That felt good," said Lea. "I feel better now."

"Me, too, Honey," Bri agreed. "So, anyway, uh, what was I gonna say?" She thought for a moment. "Oh! So, in the meantime, you should come to the support group I run. It might be a good escape for you."

"Maybe," said Lea. "What do you guys do in the group?"

"Well, it's more like a hangout for people with mental illnesses or just people that need to get away or whatever. We meet every Saturday, and it's a music-based group. That means everyone uses music of whatever form to express themselves and tell their story. Most everyone in the group is a musician, and they're really talented. Some don't have any musical talent, so instead, they might just play a song on their phone that they relate to. Then, after people perform their songs, they talk about what the song was about, how it relates to what's going on in their lives, and... all the things. Then, we help each other and support each other. We do all sorts of fun things. We goof around, make up little games. It's a lot of fun."

"It sounds like it's right up my alley."

"Oh, you'd love it. It's perfect for you."

"Okay, sounds good. So, when's the next meeting?"

"Tomorrow evening at six. We're serving dinner there."

"Should I pick a song to sing?"

"Uh, yeah, duh! Pick a song that talks about what you're going through, and tell your story. They need to hear you sing, girl."