Working With The Rockstar - JH

Chapter 8

Landon pov

"So who is Marley? Where is he?" Jaden asked when he finished eating.

I looked to my dad to ask him if I should tell him.

"He was your friend. If you want to tell him about Marley, I'm not gonna stop you. But I am going to go and get coffee because I don't wanna hear that all again." He answered as he stood up and walked out of the room.

"Marley is dead. He has been for about two years now." I stated simply.

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't-"

"No it's fine. It's probably better I tell you about him so you don't accidentally grill Liza for questions. Because she'll flip out on you. Anyway.

Marley was, I don't know how to say this. Uh, Marley was essentially the love of her life. She absolutely adored him, but not for the right reasons. You see, they shared trauma, he was abused quite a lot at his home, and she has, for now we'll say damaging childhood. That information will come with due time.

Marley would quite often stay with her at her apartment. She still has his room set up, and no one is allowed inside of it, except me and her. But when that happened, they got a lot closer together and became trauma bonded.

She was happy that she had found someone that could relate to the things that run through her own head. I was happy she found someone that could understand her fully. While I tired to, I could never fully comprehend some of the things she did because we had different childhoods. So when Marley came along, she was buzzing that she had someone like that. But that soon became unhealthy for her mental health.

This is where Marley was a bit of an asshole to her. She became obsessed with him, and he took advantage of it. They had frequent hook ups and anyone from the outside would call them friends with benefits, but it wasn't that from the inside. Both of them loved each other, but Marley would never admit it.

He was scared of loving someone and so he did the next best thing he could. He got inside her head and said so many things to her that to anyone else, would completely tear them down and crush them. But to Liza, she was completely blinded by her love for him that she believed what he was saying, but it didn't have the affect he wanted.

Marley was one of the best people you could ever meet. He was always so smiley and happy. He kept Liza happy, and that was a hard thing to do. He was completely reckless, and always wanted to do illegal things. He always smelt like weed and Bleu de Chanel. Which is why Liza smells him in you. You smell the same. But his home life was really fucking tough.

One night, he had decided that he couldn't take it anymore. I came home to my house to see him laying on the floor, foam coming out of his mouth and a bottle of spilled pills on the floor. I drove him to the hospital as fast I could and called Liza. I knew with what he had taken and the amount, he had killed himself, there was no way the doctors would be able to keep him alive. They managed to wake him up for a little bit, but they couldn't do anything more to keep him here. Liza got there just in time to say goodbye to him before he died.

That was the night my Liza died. She died with him. The really happy and positive girl, you could have met, left when his soul left. His death affected her a hundred times more than it affected me. She wouldn't eat, she wouldn't sleep, she wouldn't shower. She wouldn't do anything. She would just sit in his room and cry, immersing herself in his smell.

We were all scared that we had lost our Liza for good. That was until she found music. She's always been talented, and she used to write stories a lot. When Marley died, instead of writing stories, she would write lyrics. One day I found the book she had written her lyrics in and I forced her to come down here. Then small little pieces of her started to come back. Slowly, Liza was rebuilding herself. And the songs she recorded yesterday were the first two she ever sang for Marley.

I know she still misses him. She still talks to him every week. But I think yesterday was her way of showing me that she's finally accepted that Marley is dead." I finished explaining.

When I talk about Marley, I don't cry. It's almost impossible for me to cry now. But you can definitely hear it in my voice how much it affects me. There was no tone in my voice whatsoever and it was shaky.

"Damn. I'm sorry bro." He breathed out as he leant forward.

"Yeah. Just- just don't bring it up around Liza yet. She'll talk about it with you when she's ready." I warned as he nodded.

"Jaden. You need to decide for someone to do this duet with. Otherwise we'll have to choose for you." Dad said as he walked in, holding a sheet.

"Right. I honestly can't decide. There are too many options and all of them are good singers." He shrugged.

"Can I see that?" I asked as he handed me the lyric sheet. "Dad, what the fuck? Why isn't Liza on here to sing this? This song fits her vibe so well." I asked him as he blinked at me.

"I- anyway, Jaden are you down to have Liza sing this duet?" He asked, completely ignoring my question.

"100% I'm down to have her sing that. But would she do it?" He asked.

"She will."

"Possibly." We answered at the same time.

"How do you know she'll agree to it?" Dad asked me.

"I just know she will. I'm taking this and I'm going to see her now. See you later." I said as I stood up and walked out of the studio.