Tragic Magic

Chapter Thirty Eight

"Hey where have you been all day?" TJ catches me at the Escape The Fate stage.

"I could ask you the same thing," I give him a look.

"I was busy," he rushes his words. "We're going to dinner later, so make sure you're not busy tonight."

"Oh, okay," I feel a little disappointed with his response, but dinner sounds nice.

"Hey guys, I didn't expect to see you all here," TJ greets the two bands.

"We were done for the day, so we came to see your band perform," Derek leads the conversation.

"That's fantastic," TJ's attitude perks up. "This show will be one to remember, trust me."

Allison took care of the pictures for this show, so I kicked back and watched from the sidelines with everyone else.

"What did TJ mean by 'this will be a show to remember?'" Derek asks Ronnie.

"I don't know, maybe their going to set things on fire or something," Ronnie responds casually.

"Wait, what did he say to you, Derek?" I interrupt their conversation.

"Something about the show being one to remember, but I was kinda spaced out when he said it," he shrugs and turns his attention back to the chat circle.

It was probably just a bragging technique, after all, they are being watched by a rival band. Or a shoot out, either one sounds pretty accurate.

For the remainder of the show I hung out with the two bands and kept my attention between their conversations and the actual show. Ronnie took a large interest in everything I had to say, which was a little strange for the most part.

Escape The Fate was doing a lot better than they have in the past, which was a little strange. It was good though, everyone seemed to be feeling on top of the world today.

"Thank you Phoenix, you guys were amazing!" Craig finishes off the show with these words.

"Hold up, it's not over yet," TJ announces.

"It's not?" Craig gives him a confused look.

"Oh, look's like it's time for something to go down," Ryan says, turning our attention towards the stage.

"Someone better burn something or I'm going to be disappointed," Ronnie brings back the fire topic.

Of course, TJ is the one to change things up in the routine. I turn my attention towards the stage and find his eyes fixated on me. Oh no, he better not bring the attention to me.

"Juliet, would you mind joining us for a few seconds?" He asks me in front of the entire audience.

"Shit," I look over at Gerard.

"Just go," he laughs and pushes me out onto the stage. That's not the first time he's pushed me out onto the stage with Escape The Fate.

The audience roars as I walk out to TJ, as if I were famous. The rest of Escape The Fate kept their eyes on the both of us and froze in their spots.

"I haven't seen Juliet since last night because I was busy shopping this morning," TJ announces to the audience. "I had to find the perfect ring for the perfect girl."

Ring? What does that mean? He better not do this in front of Craig.

"Oh no," I shake my head and feel a wall of tears build up in my eyes. Reality was closing in on me and I couldn't handle it.

"So that leads to my final question," TJ drops to one knee and holds out the diamond ring. "Will you marry me, Juliet?"

Craig's face turned a ghostly pale and I could see the life drain out of his body. Time stood still for a very long time as I watched everyone's facial expressions change. Ronnie stood there wide-eyed and shocked as if he were watching a bad accident occur.

I turn my attention back to TJ and feel myself break into a flood of tears as I accept his proposal. This was it for Craig and I, I was finally engaged to TJ. It wasn't the way I expected things to turn out, but I realized that we would all be happy this way. More importantly, I would be happy.

Everything went by so fast after that moment. Craig and Ronnie both nearly fainted when TJ slipped the ring onto my finger. I refused to let go the moment he wrapped his arms around me. I was shaking with happiness, fear, and sadness all at the same time.

I look at Ronnie's shocked face and feel a flood of memories hit me. I can still feel his hand slapping away my cigarette in front of the prison the day he was released. We were so in love, it's almost frightening to think that he once cared that much about me.The days we spent together after his release were so amazing and warm, I almost missed it.

The video shoot for The Drug In Me Is You seemed just like yesterday. To this day, I can still remember the feel of that kiss and the way my emotions would hit after seeing him each day.

But that's all over now, I've chosen the person I will spend the rest of my life with, and I'm happy to be with him.

The moment we walked off stage, the fire finally broke out into chaos.