The Different Shade Of Grey

Chapter 16

"ALRIGHT, HALLOWEEN WILL BE THE PERFECT TIME. THANK YOU, ONCE AGAIN FOR PUSHING THE GIG TO THAT TIME," I hear Cole's voice. There's a click on a device and the conversation is over then I hear footsteps walk towards me and feel a hand hold mine, "If you're listening, they cancelled the whole thing because you're the main DJ , so they moved it towards Halloween, which is next week Friday. Your friends and family agreed to stay a little longer until your gig is finally over..." There's a long pause and a gentle squeeze on my hand, "You're one crazy bitch, kiddo. Everyone's worried about you. Your boyfriend has this huge bite on his shoulder and he seems to be pissed off you did that to him. Lucky for you, he's still outside waiting on come in and smother you with kisses. I might be your manager but we still good friends. Can't force you to play gigs when you're like this." He finishes and pats my hand. Cole's footsteps exit the room and I'm just left here, 'asleep' and disappointed with myself for letting my fucking dad get to me before a huge gig. Guessing I'm spending Halloween in Miami with friends and fans.
My chest rises and falls as my breathing is back to normal. My current boredom comes to an end when I hear footsteps enter the room. The body sits down and holds my hand and rests it's head on it. I wonder how many people have held my hand.
"Guessing that douche Cole told you about the whole gig being moved to next Friday. Heck, you've been asleep since Friday afternoon, after the whole incident with your dad. It's Sunday afternoon and I'm still anxiously waiting for you to wake up," another long pause coming from Ross. It's later combined with a silent cry, "I just miss you. The pain coming from my shoulder is something else but the pain that I'm experiencing now is way worse. Seeing you like this; all pale with no life in your skin, it's the worst pain that I've ever felt. I love you so much, Phoebe. I miss holding you in my arms." I feel Ross' soft lips kiss up my forearm to my shoulder and back. I feel his hand put a lose strand of my hair behind my ear. Finally, my eyes open slowly. I stretch Ross' hand off and rest back on the pillow. "The shit they gave me is so strong," I complain followed by a smirk. He smiles with the biggest relief and kisses me softly yet passionately. I kiss him back. Missed kissing these lips. I sigh as I break the kiss. Rake my messy copper hair and look into his blue eyes, "What did he say?" Ross frowns but the frown dies as a concerned look takes over his face, "I can't tell you, it might just provoke you and you know what happens when you're provoked." I bite my thumb's nail and roll my eyes. "If he wasn't such a heartless asshole, I would be at the beach and playing music. Bullshit." I sit up and whip my hair to the side. I hate how my dad just makes me seem like the fucking villain when I'm just the victim. The thought makes me cry unexpectedly. My lips twitch and I cover my face with my knees. I hear Ross rise from his seat and sits on the bed. He wraps his arms around me and kisses my shoulder. "Stop crying, I hate it when you cry. Weird thing is, you're still beautiful when you cry," Ross cackles into my ear. I roll my eyes and wrap my arms around him. We lay on the bed with our arms wrapped around each other and legs tangled. It was one of the best cuddles we ever had. Just us two, in complete silence. His nose buried in my hair and his arm over my chest. My hands hanging over his arm. Ross kisses my temple and whispers, "Once you get discharged, I'm taking you out on a romantic date. Expensive dinner." I bite my lip and look up into his eyes, "Does it mean I have to wear a dress?" He pulls me closer and breathes. "I'll pick out a dress for you to wear. A nice one. You'll love it." The idea is exciting. He knows I'm not into wearing dresses but I wonder what kinda dress he's going to get me. We kiss briefly and the kiss is interrupted when the door cracks open. I blush and hide my face as my mom walks into the room. I can sense her smiling from ear-to-ear and Ross must be doing the same thing.
"I'm glad you're up. Been worried about you sweetie," she says. I take my hands off my face and look at her. Ross stands from the bed and kisses my forehead. I look at him, "I'll leave you two to it." He walks towards my mom, gives her a friendly hug and leaves. Mom walks towards the bed and sits on the edge of it. She has a huge box that looks like it's from the bakery. Mom opens it and it is filled with doughnuts. I've been craving these things for days now. I clap my hands in excitement and take on juicy doughnut out. She smiles as I devour the big juicy doughnut. The sweet juices drips down my lips.
"I'm so hungry ma," I say with a mouth full of doughnuts. I lick my fingers and look at her with a frown. "Did dad tell you what I did--"
She closes her eyes and nods, "Everything. He couldn't stop crying when he told me about the way you just cried and passed out. He thought it was your last breath," she sighs and wipes one of her tears. I sigh and reach out for her hand. Mom holds my hand and gives it a squeeze. "What he said to me led me to do this crazy BS. Clearly he hasn't told you," I growl softly. She looks at me with a frown and that's how I knew that, that bastard didn't spill all the beans.

It took me close to forty-five minutes to explain why I came home late, why I pissed dad off and why I came to Miami without telling them. She looks blown away when I told her each other dad said to me. I remember them, word for word and they still hurt. I don't want to seem like a tattler but she had to know why I landed her. Pissed, she lets go of my hand silently and she bites her lip. I fiddle with my fingers and look at them, "Don't be mad at him. His crucial words do hurt but I'm still motivated to entertain all those people who are waiting to see me. The thing that hurts the most is the disappointment that must've taken over their excited souls," I hide my face and silently start to cry. I wipe my tears and look at mom as she holds my hand. "Never thought cancelling a gig would mean so much to you," mom says inaudibly. Sighing and nodding, I squeeze her hand, "As soon as I leave this place, I'm deleting all the mashups I planned to play and creating new ones with an emotional message behind them. Dance music with deep lyrics." She smiles and strokes my hand, "I'll come to the gig no matter what. I want my support to motivate you even more." I giggle as she kisses my hand. Within seconds, I get the best idea. "Wanna go costume shopping with Kari, Chey and I?" I ask nervously. Mom smiles then she frowns, "Then what about Ross, Austin and Gregory?" I shrug, "Hm, Ted won't mind, I guess. They're actually really good friends 'cause of me. Especially Ross and him." I roll my eyes and mom giggles. I join in with the laughter.

A few days later, I'm discharged and I'm back to working on my mashups. My friends think I work too hard, mom says I need rest and I haven't seen dad since the day I tried to kill him but I failed, obviously.
Karisma, Cheyenne, mom and I head to the best costume store in Miami and start picking out costumes for my big Halloween event. I had a few ideas in mind: a zombie, vampire or the Joker's slut. Karisma wants to be a burnt up fairy, Cheyenne wants to be a zombie stripper and my mom...I really don't know.

"I'M READY," I smirk at the costume I picked out. Stepping out of the dressing room I've already earned myself two ugly looks from my friends and a giggle from my mother. This makes me frown, they obviously hate it.
"A vampire, really? That's so 2011! What were you thinking, Twilight?" Cheyenne yells at me. Well, it is my favorite novel but I guess I shouldn't think about it. I shrug, "At least I look like the ancient version of Belle. Still a bonus to me." Karisma ignores me and grabs a costume from the spare chair we dumped all the other costumes on. She hands it to me and pushes me back into the dressing room. Closing the door, I undress from the vampire outfit and into the strappy, cut-out costume. Looks extremely revealing but I'm not here to impress my father.
Once I'm done figuring the costume out, I look at myself in the mirror and I'm very surprised by how much skin I'm revealing in this outfit. It's a body hugging black jumpsuit: one leg is normal and the other on has straps going up my leg. It shows a a little bit of my butt cheeks but in an adorable way. Going up the upper body, it has two large open patches on my torso, sorta looks like diamonds. From my chest to my wrists, it's just long sleeves. Now I know what this is. I wear the combat boots that come with it an to be honest, they look really cool. Leather boots with loads of buckles. I walk out of the dressing room and stretch out my arms, "The she-wolf from Shakira's music video dreams, has awoken people!" And the girls love it. No doubt, I love the costume as well even though it's revealing.
Hopefully the fans will love it as well!