MOON

28

"I miss you." I say after the overwhelming silence became too much.

"Tatum.." She says my name with a sigh, "Don't say that."

"Why not?" I wrap a blanket around my shoulders. "You always told me not to lie, Renee. I always told you the truth, so why would I stop now?"

Renee looks at me with those beautiful green eyes. I nearly lose my breath from her gaze, "I miss you too."

Tears fill my already swollen eyes, "That song.." I shake my head. "Part of it was our song, Nae.. It was so beautiful and now I can't even listen to it.."

"I wrote it on a napkin on my flight home. It was in the heat of the moment, Tatum."

I shake my head, I have no right to be mad over a song she wrote about our breakup. It's what she does, it's her job.

"Your fans love it." I say as I try my best to support her, "It seems like it's their favorite."

She nods but disengage the topic, "How are you doing, Tate. Vivian told me you haven't been yourself lately."

"How could I be myself when I lost my other half?"

Renee gulps and looks away from me, "Tatum-"

"I didn't cheat on you, Renee. I promise you, I would never in a million years do something like that." I explain, "Addie and I never had a good relationship even when we were together two years ago. She cheated on me with her friend Danny so I ended things as soon as possible."

"Tatum, you don't have to explain anything."

"Yes I do, Renee." I continue, "She reached out to me as soon as me and you started dating. I should've known that she was bad news from the start, so yes, this is all my fault. I never should have trusted her." I shake my head and sigh as Renee listens, "I love you, Renee, and I'm so sorry that I hurt you.. but please believe me when I tell you that it wasn't intentional. I didn't know she was going to kiss me. I didn't want to kiss her, I wanted to come home to you and kiss you."

My words leave her silent. She's debating with herself whether to believe me or not, I can tell.

"Babe, come to bed." A voice other than hers speaks.

My heart breaks even more.

Renee's face drops when she notices I heard the person speak. "Tate that's not-"

"Here I am apologizing yet you're doing the same exact fucking thing. God, Renee, we're so stupid." I laugh humorlessly.

Renee shakes her head, "No, that's just my friend."

"Yeah, whatever." I hang up the phone without giving her a chance to explain, just like what she did to me. "V, here's your phone. I'm going out."

"Where? Did something happen?" She asks as she comes back to the living room.

"She's fine without me. She actually already moved on." I shrug and hand her phone back to her, "I'll be back by sunrise."

"Be careful."

I nod without taking any consideration into her words. I leave her apartment and go down to my car.

I arrive at the closest bar and park my car near the entrance. When I enter, all eyes are on me. I ignore them and go straight to the bartender to order a few shots of vodka.

"Hey there, gorgeous." A man comes up behind me and talks into my ear, "Looking for a good time?"

When I turn around, I catch a glimpse of a wedding ring on his finger. "I'm not so sure your wife would appreciate you asking me that."

The man's face turns red, "What wife? This old thing?" He shows me his ring, "This isn't a wedding ring, sweetheart, it's from my pops. He passed-"

"I'm not interested in your sob story." I wave him off and take one of my shots when I catch a girl across the bar who looks semi similar to my ex, Renee.

The room spins a bit when I get up off my chair but I manage to make my way over to her and lean against the wall for help, "Hey!" I smile at her.

"Hey!" She smiles back and I hand her a shot, she takes it like a champ, "Thanks!"

"No problem!" We shout over the music. "Wanna get out of here?"

"Let's go!"

———

Before we even made it out of the bar, I remember throwing up on the dance floor.

Now I'm laying flat on the bathroom floor in a stall, not remembering anything that happened a few hours prior.

I slowly sit up, holding my dizzy head, and look around at my surroundings. I'm still at the bar.

I pull out my phone and dial Vivian's number. "Please answer.."

"This is Vivian! I'm busy at the moment so call me again later!"

"Fuck." I swear to myself and try again.

"This is Vivian! I'm busy at the moment-" I hang up when I get her voicemail again.

I scroll through my contacts and press on Wyatt's number instead. As it rings, I suddenly feel nauseous again.

"Tate?" That's not Wyatt.

I pull the phone away from my ear and see I've clicked Renee's contact instead of Wyatt. Shit. "Renee.."

"Are you okay? You don't sound too good."

"I um.." I sigh as tears fill my eyes, "I think I got drugged last night.." I wipe my eyes with shaking hands, "I'm scared and Vivian won't answer her phone.. I tried to call Wyatt but I clicked your number instead and-"

"Hey, take a few deep breaths. You're okay, Tate, I promise. Can you tell me the name of the bar?"

It's only 6am here, shes probably exhausted over in LA. "I don't know, I didn't pay attention.." I cry.

"That's okay, I still have your location on my phone." I hear her type a few things on her phone, "Wyatt is coming to get you, I'll be in Pittsburgh by noon."

"You don't have to-" I get cut off by myself as I throw up into the toilet. I expect Renee to hang up but when I look back at my phone, she's still there.

"I'm coming, we have to talk anyway." She sighs