The Hook-up

Chapter 48

Lauren looked down at her phone later in the week at the office. He had continued to text her telling her she was sorry, but all she could do was sit and roll her eyes. The recent trouble he had gotten in had thrown her back into the spotlight, a place she really didn't like. People knew who she was from dating Justin, but she had quickly faded into early 2000s nostalgia. Everyone was talking about how Bruno Mars could not control his temper and that he was a mess and was probably high on something when all of this happened. He wasn't high, he was drunk. But that was legal. She justified. She felt bad for him, but she needed to figure it all out. He had left for the last leg of his European tour which gave them a bit more space and time to think. She missed him. She missed his voice and his laugh, but found it refreshing not to have to deal with his random and unpredictable mood swings. Let someone else deal with those. Maybe they'll go away after this tour is over. She thought to herself as she flipped through her text messages and e-mails wrapping up some of her work for the weekend.

"Elle?" she was jolted out of her daydream by Estee.

"Oh...yeah..I'm sorry..." she turned to see Justin's business partner.

"We have a meeting in New York later next week. I'd love it if you would go and lay out your strategic plan for our designers. It will be you, me and Diem. J is out with something else." Estee responded.

"Oh. Yeah. That should be okay." Lauren replied.

"I'll get you the info about the trip. It shouldn't be more than three days. Have a good weekend." She smiled closing the door behind her.

"Yeah. I'll try." She said to herself grabbing her purse and keys to her car.

She got in the car turning up the air conditioning and turning up the radio. She had found the quickest way possible to turn off his music, by hitting a button on her steering wheel. I can't deal with his voice. She thought to herself every single time he heard his voice on the radio. But I miss it...she continued to think about all of it while hearing random voices and songs that were just noise to her. She came to a stop near her apartment drifting back into the music hearing the beginning of a song she had never heard before. She moved her head to the first few notes suddenly recognizing the haunting sounds. Fuck. She thought. He would do that. She thought as the words. If you ever leave me, baby... She listened to the words knowing exactly what he was talking about. She wasn't sure if she should be flattered, embarrassed or just aware of what was happening. He had written and recorded that just days after Las Vegas. And now the song was the song for the upcoming Twilight movie. "Sacrifices?" she finally got out as she pulled into her parking space. "Sacrifices? What the fuck sacrifices you've been taking? What the fuck!" she yelled getting out of the car holding onto her phone to call him. She wasn't sure what she was going to say but she was going to yell. She waited to press the call button until she got in the house. She threw her things on the couch hearing the rings. She didn't even care what time it was. She counted on her fingers 8 hours ahead, 2 in the morning. Fuck it. She thought hearing his groggy voice on the other end.

"Lauren?" he questioned.

"Sacrifices? What the fuck sacrifices were you taking being with me? Bruno! What are you talking about?" she exclaimed.

"Elle..." he sat up rubbing his eyes looking at the clock. "I don't know..."

"Is it that you can't get completely shit faced drunk? Or that you can't sleep with every girl at your concerts? Or that you don't hit people anymore? Because those sure sound shitty to me." She told him.

"Lauren...it's not that, baby...it's not that at all..." he said starting to wake up.

"Yes, it was about you, but it was also for a movie. It wasn't all true...I wrote a lot of it when you were mad at me...but it wasn't all..." he told her. "I feel all of that about us. I can't do this without you..." he spilled out as she sat down taking a drink of soda.

"Bruno..." she paused. "You need help."

"I know." He admitted. "But I can't..."

"You can't? What do you mean?" she questioned.

"I just can't. It won't help. It never does." He told her.

"Can you try for me?" she asked. "I need you....but I don't need you like this..."

""Lauren...I know I hurt you. There aren't enough words to say I'm sorry." He told her.

"You have two months to come up with the right words." She told him.

"Lauren...I love you." He told her. "It was all a huge mistake. I can't do this without you." He waited for her to respond not hearing anything from her. "What do I need to do, baby?"

"I need you to be...be...Bruno I need to be able to feel safe around you." She remembered what Alexandra had said to her.

"I would never hurt you, Lauren." He replied.

"You scare me sometimes, Bruno. I don't know what to think. The bruises hurt. The words hurt, everything is just it's not what a relationship should be like. I'm not saying it's all roses and rainbows and sparkles and cake...but Bruno...no relationship can last the way we are acting now. I know I'm not perfect either, but neither are you."

"I want you to be safe and happy..." he answered.

"Okay." She responded.

"It's just a song, Elle." He told her.

"I know." She smiled. "It was good, though. I liked it."

"That's all that matters." He replied.

"Bruno...it's late and you have a show tomorrow. I'll talk to you tomorrow." She said. "I just missed your voice. I'm sorry I yelled."

"You can yell all you want, Laur. I missed your voice too." He said sweetly.

"Okay. I have things I need to do at home tonight. I love you. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"I love you too. Have a good night." He responded.

Lauren placed her phone on the table looking down at the picture of the two of them thatfaded as her phone went to sleep. "He's not that bad."