in my head

Chapter 46

"I can't believe you stayed in the house. Was it everything you dreamed of? Does it look the same as in the movie?" Maddy asked as we sat at a cafe along a quiet street in New York.

"The house was even more beautiful than how it looks in the movie, oh and the town close by was like a postcard Italian town with those wooden shutters on windows and little secret passage ways"

We caught up while drinking coffee and eating croissants. I'd missed Maddy and New York weirdly enough and being in the studio which I was heading to after this.

Maddy told me how she'd extended her lease and was looking for a new job. She also caught me up on all the things I'd missed because I'd hardly been on my phone the whole time I was away.

We finished our coffee's and parted ways, telling Maddy before she left to come over tonight and we could order in.

I walked over to the studio and as soon as I entered Summer burst up from her seat to hug me.

"We missed you" she said, squeezing me.

"Uh so have I. I can't wait to hear what you guys have been working on" I said.

"You're gonna love the one we've just finished" Tate called from over by the piano.

I spent the rest of the day writing and giving my approval to a few songs that hadn't been submitted yet which I didn't know why they wanted my approval.

I walked back to my apartment and waited for Maddy to come over. While I was waiting I called my sister and told her about Italy and I asked how everyone was and then I spent the evening with Maddy.

The next few days I was working in the studio. I loved being there, I loved writing and creating music. I'd actually managed to create some melodies which is something I always struggled with when it came to writing songs. I also decided it'd be a good idea to get guitar lessons.

"You know I have a feeling you can sing" Tate said to me while playing some chords on the piano.

"What makes you think that?" I said.

"When you hum the melodies or sometimes I'll catch you singing a few words. It sounds pretty good to me"

"Why don't you give it a go" Summer said.

"Give what a go?" I said.

"Singing" Danny said, another writer that had started only a few weeks ago.

"Because I can't" going back to writing in my notebook.

"Hmm" they all chimed at the same time.

It was Friday and I'd finished for the week. When I came out of the studio building Timothee was walking towards me. He'd asked what time I was finishing so he could meet me,

"Heyyyyy" I said.

"Wanna go for a coffee?" He said putting his arm around my shoulder.

"Yep"

We walked down the street to a coffee shop and both ordered two iced. While Timothee waited in the queue, I stayed outside and watched as people walked past.

Someone nudged into me.

"Sorry" I said even though they were the one who basically walked into me.

As I looked up my face dropped and I felt my heart sink. I froze unable to look away. Maybe he just looked like him, or maybe he had a twin brother. But the way he was looking at me like he'd just been caught committing a crime was how I knew it was him. I was looking at the guy who drugged me, the one from the party.

Timothee came out and went to hand me my coffee and the guy quickly walked away not looking back. I took the ice cold drink from his hand and turned so he couldn't see how panicked I was. He noticed of course.

"Hey, hey what's up?" He said.

"Um-" I could hardly think or breath properly.

"Lucie?" He said now realising that I was trying to avoid eye contact with him.

He walked in front of me so I had to look at him .

"That...that was the guy...the one who was at the party" I said looking straight ahead at the tallish dark haired boy.

Timothee's eyes went straight into shock, pain and rage all at the same time. I'd never seen him like this.

"Timothee it's ok it's fine he's gone" I said but he walked straight to the guy.

I didn't know what to do, I couldn't exactly stop him from confronting him so I just followed him.

Timothee put his hand on the guys shoulder and they both looked at each other. What happened next in hindsight I should've saw coming.

Timothee's fist blew straight into this guys face making him stumble backwards and every single person around us turned to look. They all stood there with hung jaws and instantly got there phones out.

"Timothee come on let's go" I said but he stood there looking at this guy pure rage in his face.

"Timothee" I said putting my hand on his arm and he looked at me.

He put his arm around me again and we walked back to his apartment. Once we got in I put my hands to my head thinking about how much shit Timothee was going to be in from this.

"God Timothee, you didn't need to do that" I said.

"You're joking right. That guy drugged you and god knows how many other girls. He doesn't deserve to just walk away" he shouted.

"Yeah I know but I can't even begin to imagine how many ways people are gonna twist this. I mean this could ruin so many things for you" I said realising how bad this was.

"I care about you and only you" he said.

"I'm surprised your agent isn't ringing you right now" the universe must've heard me because his phone rang.

He looked at me then picked up.

"I know what you're gonna say" he said straight away. He went into his room and came out 10 minutes later, distress in his eyes.

I had my thumb in between my teeth and lay with my feet up on the couch.

"What did she say?" I asked.

"That I'm trending on every social media platform" he let out a laugh.

"I should've never told you" I said shaking my head.

"Yes you should always tell me anything and everything"

"Timothee your career, your passion and talent, the one thing you love could be gone because of this"

"But I love you more"

"Well maybe that's the problem, maybe I'm the problem" I trailed off.

"This isn't your fault, none of this is"

"But it is. I went to that party. I was the one who trusted a stranger. I was the one who was reckless"

"Imagine if what happened to you happened to someone else, another girl. She'd trusted a stranger and went to a party and ended up in the same situation you were. Would you blame her for that?"

"Course not"

"So then why do you blame yourself?"

I shrugged my shoulders because I knew he was right.

"You were taken advantage of and that's something you should never blame yourself for"

Hearing someone say that was like a blow to my chest. This entire time I'd blamed myself for the whole traumatic event and only know had I realised it wasn't my fault. I had been taken advantage of.