Once Upon A Thought

Promises

I know I promised, but I couldn't stay.

I see him on stage, he looks so happy. This is everything he wanted. Everything he worked for and nothing could make me happier by seeing him happy. Lynn grabs my hand and I look over in her direction. She gives me a warm smile and I return one, while placing my head on her shoulder.

"I can't believe he performed tonight, because I came back to town," Lynn jokes. I roll my eyes and tell her, "You should put that as your caption on insta." She laughs and tells me, "I will." I'm dreading the concert ending soon, because I'll have to face him afterwards. "You okay?" I hear her ask. I nod my head, but don't look away from the stage. Away from him.

Lynn's hand remains around mine as we make our way backstage after the concert. "Here goes nothing," I say out loud, more for myself. His manager nods at me, letting me know it's okay to go in now. I knock once, before turning the knob. Then, just like that, there he is. He looks up from the fan he has his face in front of and then he's on his feet. "Eliza," my name slips off his tongue. I fight the urge to cry, not here, not now. "Holling," I barely get out.

Two steps forward and he has me in his arms. Lynn's hand is out of mine, but it's okay now. I'm in his arms now. I wrap my arms around him and we're pressed against each other. I can't help the few tears that escape my eyes.

"I didn't know you were coming tonight. I would've loved for you to join me for a song on stage," Holling tells me while pulling back to see my face, but still keeping me in his embrace. "Lynn actually got the tickets and surprised me. Holling, I know why you're in town, was this on purpose?" I ask bluntly. His arms drop from around me and he paces a few times before answering, "Of course. I can't do this without you. So, when I found out I was going to be on tour for the anniversary, I needed to make sure it was with you. No, actually neither of us deserve to do this alone."

More tears are falling, and I look away from him. I shake my head no, I didn't think it was true. I thought maybe I was imaging the situation in my head. However, here he is admitting everything I thought couldn't be real.

I don't have any words to say, so I do what feels right. I wrap my arms around Holling's neck and my face is against his chest as I begin to cry. He holds me close and I can feel his own tears. "It's okay Eliza, I'm here. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere," he whispers while placing a kiss on the top of my head.

The car ride back to the apartment was quiet. I don't know if Lynn is even looking in my direction, I've been trying to avoid any eye contact. She knows about my past with him. I told her everything, because she means a lot to me. However, she's never seen us together. Hearing about something is different than seeing it. I've never been able to describe what Holling and I have, even to myself, so I couldn't face her. Not after that.

As we make our way to each bedroom, Lynn asks, "Does Tom know?" I pause and leave my hand on the door handle of the door I opened. "No," I reply truthfully. "Eliza..." she begins with, but I interrupt with, "I never knew how to tell him Lynn." Then I step into my room and shut the door.

The next morning, I can feel the drowsiness from the uneasy sleep I got the night before. I don't like squalling with Lynn, but I can't discuss this further with her. Not today at least. Not on the anniversary.

I slowly make my way to the conference room. I would rather avoid everyone today, but I know that's not possible. I'm meeting Holling later today, so I need to keep it together before then.

The moment I lock eyes with Tom there's a smile automatically on his face. What a sucker. However, it causes me to have a small smile too. I can't help it, he gets to me. There's a seat open to next to him, my guess he saved it, but I make my way over.

Tom places a kiss on my cheek as I sit down and intertwines our fingers. "How was last night? Lynn said you were tired and went to bed early," he leans closer to me to ask. "It was good. Holling was great as expected," I reply. Leaving out my breakdown, until a later time to discuss it at least. "Tell me about it, that man sure can put on a show," he teases while giving his big sweet smile. I roll my eyes playfully and joke back, "Keep it in your pants bud." His smile only gets bigger though. However, I start to feel better. Tom knows how to always make me feel better. I lean over and kiss him on the lips. I took him by surprise, but he returns the kiss before I lean back.

Lynn is across the table from us and I glance at her, to find her quickly look away. This is going to be a long day.

--

I wasn't going to publish this story, because there are so many gaps, but I thought it was a good start either way. I had plans for a deeper story that revealed the unanswered questions from this short snippet. If you'd like to know more about what I had planned for the story and certain questions, feel free to ask me.