Tragic Magic

Chapter Thirty Five

"Sitting in this room playing Russian roulette!" Gerard blurts out. "Finger on the trigger to my dear Juliet!" Half of the bus responds.

"That's going to haunt me forever," I take a seat next to Ronnie on the sofa, "thanks a lot, dude."

"They lyrics don't even make sense, what were you thinking at the time?" Ryan adds.

"I wasn't very happy at the time," Ronnie admits, "Juliet kinda sucked at being a girlfriend."

"Shut up," I punch his shoulder, "I'm not the one singing about murdering his girlfriend."

I don't blame him, I was a bitch back in the day. I fuss about people cheating when I wasn't originally the victim. Sometimes a person can go too far with their self confidence and end up making a whore of themselves. It was almost like a high and to an extent, it still it.

"So for now." TJ enters the back lounge and joins our group meeting, "take this down a notch."

"Crash my car through your window," Ronnie sings along with him.

They go on and on until Robert joins us. After a very long morning, they have learned to like each other again. Ronnie and the rest of the guys are extremely brave to be sitting on this bus with me, so I have to give them credit for that.

"Well," a voice calls out from the front of the bus, "the blood in your veins really is twenty below." Craig makes an appearance. The bus falls silent and we all stare at each other.

"Mabbitt," Ronnie gives him a glare.

"Spare me the pleasure of your company," he rolls his eyes. "TJ we have a special guest joining us on stage today, I thought I should let you know ahead of time."

"Did you clear it with Claire?" TJ asks.

Claire has been their tour manager for several years now. She knows more about Escape The Fate than anyone else does, including Escape The Fate.

"Yeah, it's fine," Craig dodges the question and leaves the bus.

"That was.." Derek starts.

"Yeah,"I finish his sentence, avoiding the topic.

The three bands started to split up as the morning went on to preform their final shows. Escape The Fate came in and out of the bus engaging in our conversation throughout the morning. TJ stayed by my side the entire morning and I'm not entirely sure why. Of course, he expected me to hang around the set while their show was going on, so I did.

I figured Ashley would be doing the same, so I wasn't thrilled to be backstage for an hour with her. Maybe after the first half I'll head back to the bus and get some sleep before my next interview.

I stood by TJ's side for the past forty eight hours, I wasn't ready to leave him just yet.

"You'll be alright, just stay here, okay?" TJ tells me last minute.

"But I have to stay here with her," I roll my eyes.

"I'm not satisfied with her company either," he looks past my shoulder towards her.

Sometimes I forget I'm not the only one dealing with the heartbreak. "Are you okay?" I wave my hand in front of his face.

"Yeah, sorry," he shakes his head, "you'll be here after the show, right?"

I really don't want to but I can tell he needs it. "Yeah, I guess," I say.

"Thanks, Juliet, I really appreciate it," he wraps his arms around me.

At that very moment I noticed Craig watching out of the corner of my eye. Something in me burned with rage and excitement, it felt so good, I didn't want to let go. I can feel his jealousy from across the stage and it felt fantastic. Deep down, he regrets everything he's done in the past year without me.

The show will begin soon, so the band takes their places. TJ joins Craig's side and Ashley joins mine.

"So what do you think is going to happen?" Ashley engages a conversation with me as if we were friends.

"If you're not familiar with their shows, they perform a few songs and then leave," I snap at her.

"No, I mean why am I going out there later?" She asks me.

So Ashley is Craig's "special guest" then? I should have known from the beginning.

"I don't know. I don't talk to Craig anymore," I avoid eye contact, trying to hide the hurt.

"Oh, I forgot," she responds.

You forgot? How the fuck can you forget? We stood there watching Escape The Fate for a solid ten minutes before she started talking again.

"So how's TJ doing?" She moves closer to me.

I study his every move from off stage. He has a smile that could kill a thousand men. He's such a happy person, how could someone hurt him the way she did?

"He's fine," I keep it vague. She doesn't deserve to know how TJ is feeling, she's the one who brought it upon him.

"I worry about him a lot, I didn't mean to hurt him but-"

"Well, you did," I interrupt her, "you hurt a lot of people in such a short time period."

"I didn't mean to-"

"Yeah, you did," I can feel my anger spilling out. "Look at him," I gesture towards TJ, "how could you hurt such a sweet person like that? What is wrong with you?"

"I don't think I like you, Juliet," she snaps at me, "you're not a nice person."

"I don't care," I finally drop my eyes onto her, "I don't want you to like me and frankly, I don't fucking like you." Holy shit, I forgot how much shorter she is than me. I feel like she's talking to my boobs rather than my face.

"Why are you doing this?" She starts to fall apart.

"Are you seriously crying?" I start to laugh uncontrollably, "how old are we, Ashley? Why are you acting like such a brat?"

"Is it so wrong to cry?" She pulls her act together.

"When you're in your twenties and crying about someone being 'mean' to you, then yes it is." I glance over towards the stage and see TJ's eyes fixated on me. I have to get the message across to her, that's all that matters right now.

"I'm only twenty one," she rolls her eyes at me.

Seriously? No wonder she acts like shes still in high school, she's barely tasting freedom.

"No wonder," I take a deep breath and turn my attention away.

This show just keeps getting worse for me. My luck completely turn when the band starts to play her song. She continues to lean up against me as if we were friends and sing along into my ear.

TJ catches my attention during the song and gives me a look. We exchange pissed off looks throughout the song and it makes me feel so much better. Ashley tries to play along until TJ gives her a disappointed look.

At the end of the song, Craig calls his "special guest" out on stage. I keep my attention on TJ, trying to avoiding a breakdown while he keeps his on me.

"I've gotten the same question since 2008, who is Ashley?" Craig keeps an arm around her, "the suspicion will end today," he continues to talk about her.

I filter out all of Craig's words and keep my focus on TJ. I can't stand to know he's hurting deep inside.

In a matter of seconds I watched my world fall apart. TJ dropped to his knees and broke into millions of pieces before my eyes. I turn my attention toward Craig and to my surprise, I see TJ isn't the only one on his knees.