Misprinted Lies (Alice in Chains/Bruno Mars)

Let Me In

The most awful noise was coming out of the women's restroom at the studio. I went near it to check it out. The door was cracked open. I knew it was Lily and it sounded like she was really sick. She was clearly throwing up. I peeked in and I was right, it was her. I knew there was something wrong. When I saw her a couple of days before, she was hiding something.

When she saw me, she panicked, giving one last heave before flushing the toilet. There was blood. Now I was panicking. Lily tried to walk past me, pretending like everything was normal. I grabbed her by the arm at the last second.

"Bruno, let go of me," she scoffed and snarled.

"Are you okay? Are you sick? You should go home...or maybe to the hospital."

"I'm fine, Bruno," she insisted. "Now let go of me."

I had nothing left to say, so I let her go. I called Ryan, who was at a meeting. He was a little ticked that I called him. When I mentioned my concern for Lily, his voice softened.

Ryan sighed. "She's okay, Bruno. She's a tough girl. She doesn't like when people baby her, so please leave her alone."

I didn't want to leave her alone, but I had some promotional interviews lined up so I eventually did leave.

Two months later, I had just finished a tour. I only had a little while before me and the Hooligans were off to Europe. I couldn't believe I was traveling the world like that. I drove myself to Patriot Records to see Lily. From our conversations on the phone, she was really busy. When I came into the recording area, a tall blond-haired guy was sitting on the couch, counting money. He looked confused as I walked in so casually over to her. She didn't hear me walk in; she was wearing her massive headphones.

"Hello!" I yelled with a smile, slowly moving my head between her face and the computer.

She screamed, jumped, and took her headphones off, laughing. I laughed too. She took them off and we both went for a hug at the exact same moment. I never forgot the last time I saw her when she got mad at me. Never would I have ever thought she had that side to her. I was just concerned that she wasn't taking care of herself. She felt really skinny, skinnier than she already was. Her large Seattle Seahawks hoodie had been hiding it well.

We broke off the hug.

"How's it goin'? How you doin'?" I asked.

"Great. Really great. I've been here a lot. How was the U.S tour?"

"AMARSING," I said, glancing over at the guy on the couch.

"Oh sorry," she said, putting her hand over her forehead. "That's Luke. Luke this is Bruno."

We gave each other nods as we said "Hi" to each other. Luke came over to her.

"Hey Lil," Luke said. "I'm going to go home for the day. Are you sure you don't want me to bring you dinner?"

She hesitated and shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I'm not really hungry."

"You sure? You haven't eaten all day."

Luke kissed her and left. It made me happy that she had someone that could hang out with her and be with her while she worked. People were always coming and going in that studio and Lily was the only one that remained.

There was silence for a moment.

"Damn girl," I said in a girly voice, "he's cute."

"Alright," she laughed. "Your man-card is officially revoked."

I started cracking up. "Oh no. So where did you guys meet?"

"Ryan had a party. He knows Luke through a friend. He's a drummer."