The Dying Light

3

It had been one week since party and it was the day of Emily's concert. Anna knew about it since she became my closest friend since the day of the club. We exchanged numbers and literally started texting the minute we woke up. Besides that, we had met two previous time to just talk and let it all out.

"So" Anna started once we had ordered our coffees. "Tonight's the night, how are you feeling?" She asked.

I raised an eyebrow as I crossed one leg over the other. "Do I have to be honest?" Anna nodded. "I have no fucking clue. It's like, I want to see her but at the same time I have this Sam on my shoulder who regrets buying the ticket"

"Well, I mean" Anna said as she set her phone on the table and leant back on the chair. "What is done is done, and you already bought the ticket so you have to go" I lifted my shoulders. "Are you going to try to talk to her or just stand in the back, being the ghost in the room?"

I stared at her a few seconds, actually thinking of my answer. Coming close to her and actually talking to her, or letting her know that I was around, could be a sign of truce which was exactly what I needed. On the other hand, I felt like it wasn't the best way to do it and deep inside me, some irrational jealousy feelings arose every time I thought of her new boyfriend being around.

"What do you think I should do?" I asked her, saying a small thank you to the waiter once our drinks arrived.

"Honestly?" Anna was quick to grab her cup and blow softly into it. "I would just go and say something. If you got the ticket without a second thought is because you want to actually talk to her. If not, you could have just stayed home and enjoyed her show through her Instagram live. You're Sam anyways, I'm sure you have ways of getting backstage without being noticed.

And she had a point, I knew she did. What she did not know is that Emily actually had a character and she had every reason in the world to be mad at me.

"I guess I'll do as I see" I said. "How are you doing with your ex anyways? How was it? Oliver?" Anna chuckled, knowing that I perfectly remembered his name.

"It's Oli for my friends" She said in a 'manly' voice to mock him. "I honestly think I had enough of him. He cannot call me at two in the morning for a quick shag and then go back to being his mean self" I raised my eyebrows as I drank my coffee. "God, I hate men" She muttered. "Not you, of course" She quickly told me.

"Nah, I hate men too"

Finally, we said our goodbyes and I quickly drove home to get a few things and put on my best incognito mode to make it inside the venue alive. I almost could not believe that I had made it inside in one piece and without anyone noticing that I was right there. I mean, I had to thank the security team for that entirely.

Once the light went off, and the crowd cheered, the girl of my dreams walked onto the stage confidently. She was wearing a leathered skirt and a red crop-top, combined with her favourite converse. And she was just a beautiful as I remembered. I stared at her in complete awe for what it felt like forever, with my arms crossed and standing in the back of the room by myself. She sang a few new songs and a couple of others that I remembered when they were just a mere project that she slowly worked on to turn into the most perfect pop-songs that I had heard.

"I wrote this song to uh" She said as she nervously fidget with her guitar, pretending to tune it even if it was perfectly in tune. "After I went through a really personal and complicated situation which left me devastated for while" She glanced down. "My best mate decided to vanish from my life when I needed him the most, you know?" She chuckled into the microphone. "Anyways, this one's called Not Another Rockstar"

And obviously the song felt too close home. Soon after that, the concert came to an end and the security guard let me know that I had the possibility to make it backstage, which my reckless side accepted without a second thought. I could hear a soft chant as I approached her dressing room.

"Here you go" The security guard said before leaving.

"Cheers mate" I thanked him. I softly knocked on the door, making Emily focus her sight on the mirror, to meet my eyes through it.

"Sam" She said before turning around in her chair.

"That was a great show" I could not read Emily's expression, which scared me to death since I was there shaking nervously waiting for answer.

"It was a decent one, yeah" Came as her final answer before turning around and continue to fix her makeup. I awkwardly decided to sit down in a chair behind her.

"How have you been?" I asked.

"Oh, great. Considering that my best friend decided to ghost me the minute I started getting close to someone else" She ironically said.

"Oh, come on Emily, it wasn't like that" I argued. She turned once again, her face showing a mixture of angriness and sadness.

"Oh so you didn't stop answering my calls and my texts once you knew I was seeing Matthew, then?" She said. Maybe I did ghost her. "I can't believe you Sam. And now you come here, acting all innocent as if nothing ever happened for the sake of what?"

"I just..." I sighed. "Listen, Ems. I'm sorry, okay? I was acting like a child and I should have just man up and come to terms with the fact that you were going to meet someone new eventually"

We both glanced down at the same time as Emily licked her bottom lip. "It's too late for that now, is it?" She said. I softly bit my lip, trying to control my emotions.

"Right" I stood up and walked to the door.

"Did you mean it?" Emily asked, making me turn around. "When you said that you're terrified of having kids, Sammy?" I remembered the day I dropped that line of The Dying Light, when I saw fear written all over her face. I knew that ever since that day, she knew that it was over.

"I did, back in the day. If you ask me now... I must admit that I don't have a clear answer" I said.

Emily nodded slowly. "You'd be a great father" I offered her a tight smile. "Take care, Sammy" 

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Long time since I published but I have a really good excuse, really. I moved out of my country and settled in the UK, so with that and starting a new job, the past few weeks have been stressful.