𝙇𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝘼𝙩 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛, 𝘽𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙚!

FORTY TWO - Brief Aftermath

Mari never went to John's that night.

She went back to her hotel, slept through the night, then caught the next flight back to Berlin the next morning. She called Brian once she got back to tell him to meet her at the studio, confused, he agreed.

Meanwhile, Corinne knocked on the door of David's room to wake him up. He was already well awake, getting out of where he sat on the bed, writing, to open the door.

"Morning." Corinne greeted, just before looking around the room, "Where's Mari?" she asked, watching as David's light-hearted expression quickly shifted.

"She went back home." He told her, avoiding eye contact. He could see her bewildered and confused expression out the corner of his eyes, "Why?"

He shook his head, "I don't want to talk about it." he avoided, still avoiding eye contact as his voice broke on the last word.

Corinne couldn't help but continue to stare at him, jaw slightly slack as she tried to process what she knew had to have happened; He ran her off. She finally looked away, "Okay, either way, we have things to do today. Get dressed."

He looked back at her, nodded, and did as told.

Back in Berlin, Mari was just walking into the studio, Brain sitting down on one of the sofas, watching her with a confused expression as she sat her purse down on the table in front of where he sat.

"I want to start recording Forthright today." She began. It was the name of the album she'd been writing, she'd finished up the last song on the flight home.

Brain stared back at her, silent, mouth slightly agape, "So, you're not going to explain why you came back after saying you'd be gone for two or three days?"

She looked over at him from where she was just about to sit down behind the sound desk before finally answering, "No."

He watched with amusement as she sat down at the desk and pressed a few buttons, "There's some demos I did when you weren't here—"

"No, no, no, no, no." Brian interrupted, shaking his head as he stood, watching Mari freeze.

"We're not doing this, David is my friend. If something happened with him I should know."

Mari turned back around when Brian finished, the two locking eyes. Her lips remained parted as she processed what he'd said and thought of her response.

"I'm not talking to him until he cleans up, that's all."

Brian's eyebrows furrowed, his mouth falling agape, "You know you're the only one he'll listen to anymore, why don't you just try to help him?"

"You think I didn't try? You think it's healthy that he's depending on one woman that lives four thousand miles away? You act like I don't care at all, you know I'd do anything to help him."

"Well something tells me that in the few hours you two were with each other, there wasn't much effort made to begin with."

Mari's jaw dropped, her eyebrows furrowing in anger as she stood up, on her way out the room before she did something she knew she'd regret.

"You can't help someone like him unless they want help."

She turned her back to the man, swiftly taking her bag off the sofa and exiting the studio. She speed walked down the hallway, Brian making no effort to follow. He knew better.

There was guilt that overtook her the closer and closer she got to home. Was there something she could have done? She should have put in more effort. She shouldn't have given up on him, she knew better.

She went back to her home, wiping tears of frustration from under her eyes as she unlocked the front door. It was barely evening, but that's when she went to sleep.

*

"David..? David?"

Corinne knocked at the bathroom door, her face practically against it as she called and called for the man on the other side of it. She could only guess what would greet her when she finally shoved the thing open, she knew he wouldn't open it for her. This was invite only, apparently.

"David, open this fucking door." She said, stern, as she leaned her figure on the door and repeatedly tugged at the handle. Silence.

She began to consider other possibilities of what lied on the other side of that door, trying to reason out with herself that 'Obviously, the only reason he isn't speaking is because he just wants me to give up and walk away. There's no other logical reason as to why he wouldn't be responding. He's fine.'

She tugged at the door a few more times, kicking it with stress, worry, and frustration, "Fuck!", she exclaimed. She took a few steps back before looking around the room for something she could use to pick the lock, her eyes lighting up before she ran to the kitchen and got three tooth picks from one of the cabinets to pick the lock. When she got back to the bedroom, she went back over to the bathroom door and began to pick the lock. All of a sudden, click, it was unlocked.

She gasped with excitement and opened the door, her expression falling as her eyes lead to where he was laid on the ground, unconscious.

*

Mari woke in the middle of the night, her telephone ringing. She looked over, sighed, shoving her head back into her pillow before getting up just to pick the phone up and hang it back up on the wall, silencing it.

***