priorities-2

31

Toronto

I smash into Carrie throwing her backwards, stumbling into the wall. She kisses mycheck and wraps her arms around me, "It's so great to see you!" she gushes."Right!" I kiss her cheek, smelling her. We don't let go, exaggerating our hug. Ihave a car bringing us to the concert. The driver will take your bags back to our place.We still have your bed! 

"That's great!" I say releasing her. She leads the way to the car. I place my bag inthe trunk and we're driven to the concert. "Where are we sitting?" I ask.She looks at me agog, "Backstage of course!""You should have warned me! I'm not dressed," I don't finish my thought, I'm notdressed good enough to see Slasher, but she knows what I'm going to say."You look amazing," she says pouring me a drink in the back of the limousine,"Here, to loosen up," she offers.I down it in one sip."Another?" she asks."Sure," I need liquid courage. 

She pours me another and I down it as quickly as the first. We are there in no timeflat, and the limousine takes us through the tunnel into the private area. We walk brisklybecause the concert is about to start and arrive just as the opening band takes the stage.There are two cozy chairs on the side of the stage with a table of drinks and food just forus, "Nice," I say.We go to our seats excited to see the new bands Slasher's chose to tour with. "Doyou want to go see him," she partially yells into my ear as the singers are performing."It's okay," I shy off. "Does he know I'm here?" I ask."No, he thinks it's me and Hunter," she confides. We enjoy two bands and thealcohol kicks in as I bop in my chair to the music. The lights dim and then Slasher isannounced. He runs out on stage looking sharp as a tack, his hair is longer and he's buff,not a minuscule of fat to be found anywhere on his body.

The songs flow, the order the same. I close my eyes and let the sweet music of hisgravelly voice sweep me away. I open them to see him see me. I swallow and give him asmall wave, a serious expression washes over him. The concert continues but it feels likewe're the only ones here. I grab Carries hand and hold it tight. She understands andsqueezes me back."You need to talk to him," she says loudly in my ear."No," I say stubbornly.The concert ends and my choice is removed from me, he comes directly to mychair and grabs my arm and pulls me into his dressing room. He doesn't give me achance to speak, nor does he try, his lips cover mine and he consumes me. Theexcitement of the concert doesn't near to how I feel right now. We're inseparable. I hearthe door behind me, must be Carrie, "What about John?" she questions shocked at ourchemistry.I can't bare to hear his name, I pull away for a fraction of a second, "Stop," I tell herand continue with Slasher, "I've missed you so much," I say in between kisses."I'll see you back at the apartment," Carrie surrenders, "then we're going to talk fora very long time," she threatens. I know she doesn't approve of what I'm doing but Idon't care.She was waiting up in her pj's, "What happened, did you guys talk?""Yes," I answer walking to the bedroom to get changed. She lies on the bed andwatches me."How did you manage that when you couldn't separate," she asks sarcastically. Iopen my suitcase and put my pj's on."We stopped, we just missed each other." I explain to her. "He's still not seeinganyone Carrie, he said he's waiting for me, it's so sad and romantic, we're star-crossedlovers.""What did you tell him?" She asks getting up and leading me to the kitchen to getice cream from the freezer, our go-to comfort food."I told him I'm in love with John and I'm staying in Florida."What did he say?" she pauses scooping the ice cream."It's what he did, he's in denial, thinks I'm going to leave John for him."

"Are you?""No! Of course not! We're just going through a rocky patch, nothing we can't workout.""What's the rocky patch," she says delving into her dish."Well he thinks I'm being lazy because I won't accept just about anything thatcomes my way, he says I'm being too picky.""That's understandable considering what you did for the past while," Carrie sayssitting on the couch. I take the recliner."He doesn't get it. So you and Hunter?""He's just wild, but we're getting along better now.""It's unforgivable," I put my opinion in. "You two are exclusive.""We are when I make time for him.""That's no excuse."There's a knock at the door, we look at each other like who could that be. Carrieanswers it. I stay in the recliner spooning my dessert. She opens the door and Slasher isstanding in the frame, the look of disapproval is apparent on Carrie's face. We don't sayanything, just disappear into my room deserting her.