Save Me From Myself

Chapter 50-The Story

Nina's POV

I took another sip from the glass, lit myself a cigarette and waited. I looked at him and I could see that telling his life story would be hard.

"And how did you and Mel meet?"
"We met through Mark...He introduced me to her and we sort of clicked. She was almost as tall as I was and I guess that was the first thing that made me feel attracted to her. Then I realised we went to the same school, only she was a bit younger than me. I quit high school and still we kept in touch. After she finished high school we started dating. At first I thought we were a match made in heaven, you know all the shit that you might think of...and when I left with Mark to LA well, things started not going too well. I tried though to make things work, but she started being involved in more and more modelling projects and we fell apart."
"Just like that?"
"Well, she always thought that music wasn't the thing for me...she thought it was a waste of time, but I proved her wrong. Just as things started to move in my career we broke up..."
"Did you love her?"
"Yes, I did, a lot. She was my first love and my first heartbreak. As a kid and a teenager I remember being the type of guy that would meet one girl and things would just...I dunno, click and we would date, then get married, have children and grow old together. I wasn't the type of guy to jump from a relationship to another, I grew up with strong family values."

I went closer to him hugging him tightly. He kissed my forehead and poured another round of drinks.

"I have to tell you my story, I have to come clean, at least in your eyes. A lot of people assume that I'm some sort of a flirt, that I like chasing girls, that I party all night. I'm not that type of guy...I am a very discrete person, I try to keep myself away from trouble...the best I can. I spent a long time single, thinking where did I go wrong with Mel, until I met Alexis, my wife...damn...she had the most beautiful dark blue eyes, which turned into a shade of brown when she was angry or sad. I could always tell when she wasn't happy..."
"How did you two meet?"

I knew I wasn't prepared to hear about Alexis, somehow I feared her...I feared her more than any of his exes, because she was the one that actually tamed him down.

"In a bar in Dublin...I saved her from years of abuse, me, Mark and Glen. Since she couldn't stay with any of them, she stayed in my place, in Dublin...and she kinda grew on me, slowly. She was shy and sweet, scared and I was the one who gave her hope and courage. But I fucked things up...very bad...it was the first time and the only time I cheated on a woman....and I wanted to kill myself because I hurt her. She needed someone to rely on and I proved to be the same as the others. But I loved her so much. And still she forgave me...we got married and I got sick...I was almost at the point of being paralysed and I became her worst enemy at that point. I couldn't give her the love she needed, so naturally she looked for the love that she didn't get from me somewhere else...Glen...damn Glen loved her probably more than I did. He was devastated when she killed herself. For me her death was a blow, but I was already trying to fit the pieces of my life back to where they used to be with Liv. She became my closest friend, and we tried dating but no matter how much we tried we couldn't deny that we just weren't meant to be together...there were far too many things at stake and, to be honest we belonged in different worlds..."

He has been through so much pain that I couldn't understand how he was able to function properly. At the end of the day he longed to have someone to turn to after a tour, he wanted someone to love. Danny wasn't the socialite everyone thought, he was just lonely....a loneliness that weighed heavy down his shoulders. Wherever he would turn, he would see happy faces, kids, people who had a purpose...even Glen had a son, and he had nothing...

"And what about us? What are we going to do?"
"If what I told you didn't scare you...I don't know Nina...I have no fucking clue how it will be between us, I pray to god you'll forgive me and that we could start over, but given the stress that I've put you through I have no idea if you want that too..."
"I do, I do...but I'm scared Danny, I'm so fucking scared."
"Scared of me?"
"No...that it might not work out between us...scared that things will be so bad that it will tear us apart...I'm not a child anymore, although sometimes I wish I was a child...I didn't even have time to properly live my adolescence. I got pregnant and I basically ended my life there...I had to take care of Robin, then I got a divorce and then...well, I chased my ex husband until I ended up here in England. He had Robin and for me she is a priority. She will always be a priority."
"I know...I know and I would never do anything to hurt you...I know I said that once before and I did, but let me make it up for it..."

Just as he said that my phone started ringing. Robin.

"Yes love where are you?"
"Help mum I'm in front of the apartment and aaaaaargh!!!"

All I could hear afterwards was a weird noise and Robin screaming.

"Where is she?"
"In front of the apartment!", I shouted rushing down the stairs followed by Danny.

Because of his height we could spot her easily. She was surrounded by them, trying to make her way out of the crowd without any success. Danny darted in that direction and I quickly followed him, both elbowing and punching everyone. I punched one of them straight in the face, only thinking about getting quicker to where Robin was. The rest of them were happily taking pictures of the whole scene.

Danny managed to pull out Robin from the crowd taking her in his arms as we made our way out. She was shaking and was visibly affected by everything.

"Are you okay?, I asked her taking her from Danny's arms and hugging her tightly.
"Yes. Pissed off to say the least! Sorry mum I had to say it..."
"Let's go home."
"They were asking questions about you, Danny, me, if I slept with any of the other band members! Jesus I'm 15!"
"Come on let's get you back home and to rest, okay?"
"Okay...", she nodded as Danny took her in his arms again.

A couple of hours later she fell asleep.

"You know...this will look really bad in court...", said Danny as I have him a cup of tea.
"I don't give a shit! If I have to punch another thousand photographers to see my kid safe I will do it.", I said taking a sip from the tea.
"Mark and Glen will arrive tomorrow. We will try to sort everything out. When is the next date in court?"
"In two weeks..."
"I can't be there...fucking shit...why does everything have to be so messed up?"
"I don't know Danny. It really doesn't matter how fucked up we are, somehow we still find a way to get back...", I replied smiling.

We looked in each other's eyes, tears sparkling. Together we felt safe. We will get through that... I had hope that we will get through it. I took his hand and our jackets.

"Where are we going?", he asked me.
"Robin is asleep. Take me to the studio...", I said.
"To the studio?"
"Yes...I want this..."
"Okay.", he said simply, putting his jacket on.

The crowd of photographers scattered because they had nothing else to see or to photograph, or to harass.

"I have them tamed.", laughed Danny.
"How come?"
"They know that when I do something and I get back to the apartment, I won't be back outside for a while. So, they just leave."
"That's reassuring...in a way...", I said taking his hand.

We wandered down the streets until Dan took me to a glass building. He took out a key card and got us inside.

"What do you wanna do?", he asked me as he opened the lights in the studio.
"Well...I don't know if you remember but Robin once told you I could sing...and I haven't done this in a while..."
"I'm sorry I forgot that...sing to me..."
"What Robin doesn't know is that I play a bit of piano...only a bit..."
"Really? Jesus...play to me. I want to hear..."

As I played a bit of tunes on the piano, he sat himself next to me, wrapping his arms around my body, guiding my hands on the piano and singing alongside with me. I inhaled his perfume, his smell as we enjoyed the moment.

"You have such a soothing voice. So sweet and unique.", he said to me as we rested our hands on the piano keys.
"I'm rusty. But I loved music...as a kid music got me out of a lot of trouble.", I smiled.
"And it got you into a lot of trouble because of me...", he said sadly.
"I don't regret anything...trust me. Danny I love you so much. I really do, I want to be with you."
"You don't know how happy these words make me. They really do."