IF I WOULD, COULD YOU?

Two weeks have passed. Chris spent a lot of time at Andy's grave, just sitting there in silence or talking to him as if he was still alive. Many people came over to their place, as usual. Only this time everyone was so quiet. They were having dinners, talking about music, but everything was different. Nobody's presence could ever fill the void.
Chris was leaving for England that night. Salem felt this unbearable emptiness, believe it or not, but she's never been away from Chris for so long. She even thought about coming with him after all, but she got the flu a few day prior to that, so there was no way.

"Goodbye baby, I'll miss you so much" — she cried. "Please be safe, call me when you get there."

"I love you so much, I'm sure you and Layne will take good care of each other. I'll call you." — he kissed her goodbye. Chris's lips couldn't resist hers. He didn't want to go, but he knew he had to.

"I love you more, much more" — she whispered and broke down in tears as she saw him leaving in the car. Salem felt a soft touch from behind, Layne's hugs always felt like touching a cloud, or petting a kitten. Later on, they both fell asleep on the couch while watching a movie.

"Shit, why do I keep doing this?" — Salem woke up suddenly. Layne was up, she could hear him scribbling something in his small sketchbook.

"What's that, what are you drawing?" — she asked, still being half awake. Layne gave her a comforting look and got closer. "Here, look... I was thinking this could be our album cover". He showed her a picture of all of the band members, with their faces colored in purple, green and red.

"Hey, I love that! Could be a cool photograph..." - Salem smiled and yawned. "I'm exhausted from today, going to bed" — she got a goodnight hug from Layne. It felt weird to sleep alone, without Chris. Their room seemed so empty and quiet. "Oh where are you baby?" — she asked herself and fell asleep that instant.

X

She woke up from a phone call. It was Chris.

"Hi love, how are you? We just landed, I couldn't sleep on the plane, I was thinking about you... I miss you so much" — he sounded tired.

"I love you... and miss you like crazy. Your smile, your hair in my face, your smell... come home soon... how is everyone?" — she asked quietly.

"You know I love you more than anything... we're all really tired, going to our hotel to rest up before the show tomorrow. Our taxi just arrived, I gotta go. Call you later, tell me how Layne's doing too. I love you" — Salem's heart sank.

"I love you so much" — she whispered. Salem could feel Chris's smile from a thousand miles away. She went back to sleep for a while.

...

She woke up about an hour later, took a shower and put on Chris's Led Zeppelin t-shirt. The water was dripping from her brown locks, she looked tired.

Layne was waiting for her in the kitchen. His smile greeted her as their eyes met.

"Hi! Want some coffee?" — he asked and she nodded in agreement. He turned away and she saw his sketchbook on the counter. Salem carefully grabbed it and opened it on the page with a beautiful orange-red drawing. The center piece was a lady laying in the middle of the desert, naked, with her long hair covering her body.

"Layne, this is so good! Kinda looks like ..." — she paused just to realize the drawing looked like her, "hold on, is this... me?"

He tried to rip the sketchbook out of her hands. "No, why would you say that?"

"But... but Layne, it looks exactly like..." — she got interrupted.

"Give me that!" — he finally got ahold of his possession and stormed out of the room, but Salem followed him.

"Hey, what's wrong? Why did you do that?... Why me?" — she yelled. He'd never seen her that way. Layne fell down onto his bed and Salem sat down next to him.

"It's you... it's always been about you... I never told you but I fell for you the first time I saw you" — he looked away but she could tell he was about to cry.

"Layne... I had no idea" — Salem said quietly.

"I wanted to tell you... but then I saw how you looked at him. I could never... ruin that. But I did. I'm sorry" — he looked at her with his big blue eyes.

"It's okay. Come here" — she reached for a hug and Layne drowned in her arms. He couldn't say anything. He just enjoyed being around her but the guilt was taking over.

"I... I need some time alone. Please" — Layne insisted.

"Okay" — Salem said softly and left the room. Chris called again and she didn't even realize how she spent about an hour talking to him. He was so sweet and she couldn't wait to see him again. After that long phone call, she walked into the kitchen to grab a bite. The sun was shining bright through the windows, but she couldn't stop thinking about what Layne had said. Why did he never tell her? Suddenly, she saw a note on the counter. It said: "I'm sorry Salem, I can't". "Crap!" — she thought. She stormed into her room to change, quickly grabbed her keys and got into Chris's pickup truck. She knew exactly where she was going.

X

"LAYNE!" — she yelled, "I know you're here, open up, now!". Salem spent about 5 minutes knocking, but eventually she gave up and sat down in front of his door, questioning whether he was actually there. All of the sudden she heard a weak voice: "go away".

"I'm not going anywhere Layne, I care about you... and I won't tell Chris, I promise" — silence, "I'm not going anywhere until you open the goddamn door. I'll sleep here if I have to. I can't leave you alone LAYNE!" — she punched the door and she heard a click. Salem quickly got up and saw Layne. She couldn't tell if he was drunk or high, but he didn't look okay. His eyes were half open and had that glassy look.

"What have you done? What did you take? Is Jerry home, does he know about this?" — she cried. "Come on, you're coming with me. I can't stand to see you like this, I just can't".

"No, I can't. Not after I had told you how I feel about you. I can never look Chris in the eyes again" — he said quietly.

"Don't argue with me. Get in the car" — Salem said firmly so he couldn't refuse.

...

As they were approaching Capitol Hill, Layne finally broke the silence: "you know, we're playing a show on the 10th... at the Crocodile, you should come."

Salem smiled at looked over at Layne. "I will" — she said.