Afterglow || Tommy Lee

13. I Don't Make Everyone Happy, But It's Ok

Malibu California, March 10 2002

It was a couple of weeks later and I was finishing unpacking my last suitcase, hanging up my clothes in the enormous walk-in closet which is a whole room in itself just off of Tommy's bedroom - well I guess now it's our bedroom which feels so weird to say. I didn't have a lot to pack since I still have the condo back in Seattle and I'm working on listing it for sale in the next couple of weeks. I'm basically leaving it furnished as part of the sale price, and I only took my most loved possessions with me. I moved my office from Seattle, since I was only renting the space anyways and I was able to find a larger office space in Hollywood for the same price as I was paying for in Seattle.

As I unzip the one section for my dresses, I find an envelope that I had forgotten to open that I put inside, when I was packing up in Seattle. I take it out of the luggage bag, flip my curls out of my eyes and open it, to see the finalized divorce papers, then behind that was my new drivers license and my change of name papers.

"O'Riden...." I sigh. I haven't seen my own name on anything in so long, I forgot what it even sounded like, let alone looked like. It's almost like Chris and I never happened. I started to feel sadness creeping up, coming out of nowhere which seemed so strange since Chris and I have been broken up for well over 3 years. I know it's not sadness for him, It's that I did everything I could to make that marriage work, but it didn't, and it really fucking sucks.

I fold the papers back up, take my new driver's license card and place it in my back jeans pocket and put the papers back in the envelope, then place the envelope back in the bag until I can find a place to store them. I hang up the last of my dresses, then zip up my luggage bag and slide it into the little cubby hole space of the clothing organizer rack.

Once I finished with the last suitcase, I headed down the large open loft staircase to hear Tommy's voice coming from the kitchen sounding like he was on the phone.

As I step down onto the black and white marbled floor of the foyer, the sun glowing through the tall french doors of the entrance I make my way to the kitchen doorway with Tommy's back turned to me, wearing only black baggy shorts, his black and white Chuck Taylors and pacing slowly back and forth behind the large kitchen island.

"... ok but... no...no, look... Pam, you promised me the boys next weekend... yea I know... no, you know I can't... I have a video shoot this weekend...you were sent my schedule weeks ago... I'm not trying to fight with you... Pam? Pamela? FUCK!"

He then throws the phone on the kitchen counter and stands there, his back still turned to me, breathing deeply, then after a few moments he grabs the closest thing on the counter in front of him, which looked like a coffee mug and whips it across the kitchen and crashes against the floor in the dining room smashing into pieces which makes me flinch.

"Shit, baby... I'm sorry," He says once he notices me standing in the doorway, his expression instantly showing regret for throwing the cup across the room. "C'mere," He says sweetly and I walk over to him and he leans down to me and I wrap my arms around him as he holds me to him burying his face in my curls.

"You don't need to be sorry" I say softly as I slowly stroke his back and love the feeling of his arms around me as he holds me tighter to him. I wasn't scared of him or anything, just the sound of the cup hitting the floor made me jump and I was more concerned at what was going on than him throwing a cup anyways. 

He then places his lips to that spot under my earlobe then moves to my jawline, and places his lips on mine giving me a quick kiss at first then presses his lips to mine once more quickly becoming passionate. He then picks me up and I giggle against his lips as he places me on the counter island, our lips lingering and playing with each other, then he moves to my neck and he moans as I hear him inhale while my fingers trail down his neck.  Then I realize I forgot about his new tattoo and feel bad that I might have hurt him.