Tragic Magic

Chapter Forty One

"It's only a few hours with her, Julie, you'll be fine," TJ encourages me.

"Fine," I roll my eyes and take a seat next to him on the couch. "It's not my fault if she gets locked in a dressing room though."

"I'm serious," he gives me a look.

"Okay, fine."

Today is the salon appointment for Ashley. She will choose her dress along with ours. Obviously, I'm not excited about it. I was still unfamiliar with Los Angeles, even after a year of living here, so Ashley offered to give me a ride. I wanted to decline, but I thought it would be better than trying to find the place on my own. Next thing I know I'm in a mini cooper jetting down the road with Ashley.

"His house is so beautiful, isn't it?" Ashley tells me as I get into the car.

"What?" I ask, confused.

"TJ. His house is gorgeous," she says.

"Yeah, I guess so," I roll my eyes.

"I've spent many days in this house," she continues to brags.

"Okay, anyways," I attempt to change the subject, I'd rather not listen to her gossip about TJ.

We spent almost a minute driving in silence before she decided to open her mouth again. Time felt like it would never pass.

"So, are you going on the Bury The Hatchet tour?" She asks me, almost demanding an answer.

"I'm sorry?" I give her a blank look. What is the Bury The Hatchet tour?

"Oh," she returns her focus back to the road ahead of us. "I guess it would be a bad idea to see Ronnie anyways."

"Ashley, what are you talking about?" I can feel my confusion turn to anger.

"The Escape The Fate and Falling In Reverse Tour. It's coming up pretty quickly, I'm surprised TJ didn't tell you," she refuses to look at me. "Actually I'm not that surprised, it's what he does."

Escape The Fate and Falling In Reverse performing together? I must be dreaming, Craig wouldn't allow it.

"Funny joke," I roll my eyes.

"No, I'm serious," she searches her handbag for her backstage pass. "See?"

I scanned every inch of the identification card. So it was true then. Why wouldn't TJ tell me about this? It could be my only chance to talk to Ronnie again.

"That's interesting," I hand the pass back to her. "So, what kind of dress are you looking for?"

As Ashley rambled about her fantastic wedding dress, I zoned out and thought about the tour. I need to get there to see Ronnie, but how? Obviously TJ doesn't want me there, otherwise he would tell me about it.

What am I saying? I don't want to see him, I don't even care about him.

"Okay, we're here!" Ashley jumps out of the car and joins a group of perky ladies at the door.

"Great, Ashley's everywhere," I mumble to myself as I follow her in.

"Ladies this is Juliet," Ashley wraps an arm around my shoulder introducing me. "She's my ex boyfriend's girlfriend and my fiance's ex girlfriend."

"Wait," a tall blonde woman with even taller heels stares at me with a blank expression.

"Jazmen, don't think about it too hard, we don't want you to have another episode," another woman comforts her.

Oh no, what have I gotten myself into? I'm surrounded by idiots.

We spent hours watching Ashley try on dresses and cry when she was not happy with them. Being around these people made me feel so much older than them. Teenage mentality is a dangerous thing when you're an adult, you might end up running into someone like me and getting punched in the face for it.

After almost four hours of looking, Ashley finally decided on a strapless gown covered in diamonds. It almost matches her personality perfectly.

The next step in this process was finding bridesmaid dresses for the six of us. It took about two hours, but it was the longest two hours of my life. Sometimes I wish I could try on a bridesmaid dress without getting strange teenage remarks about my body. Obviously ever girl want's to hear, "wow I love your boobs are they real?" Even better, hearing it from a group of strangers.

"Well that was fun!" One of the girls cheered.

"Lunch will be even better," Ashley said. "Are you joining us Juliet?"

Lunch with them? Please, just kill me now.

"No, I actually made plans with TJ," I lie. Anything to get out of spending any more time with these people.

The moment TJ pulled up to the salon, I didn't hesitate to run out of that place as fast as I could. We sat in silence for awhile until TJ finally spoke up.

"So how did that go?" He asks with no intention of finding out.

"What are you doing in January?" I dodge his question.

"Nothing, why?" He lies.

"Oh, well, my Russian grandmother wanted me to go up for a visit. I was wondering if you would like to join me?" I lie along, I need to know the truth.

"Oh, you see," he stutters, "I'm actually going to see my, uh, German grandmother that month."

"Really?" I interrupt, "because you just told me you weren't doing anything a minute ago."

"I forgot."

"Thomas Bell, you tell me what the fuck you're doing next month and why you're lying to me about it," I demand.

"Okay fine," he rolls his eyes. "We're going on tour, but you wouldn't want to come with us anyways."

"I'd love to go," I interrupt.

"Well," he pauses and focuses on the road. "I don't really want you to go."

I knew it, I knew he didn't want me to be around. "Why not?" I ask quietly. Do I even want to know the answer.

"There's someone I don't want you to be around," he responds, equally quiet.

"Who? Craig? I could care less about Craig, TJ."

"No, babe, I could care less as well," he refuses to look me in the eye.

"Then who?" I ask again.

"Ronnie, it's fucking Ronnie, okay? Now can we talk about something else?"

"That's not a problem TJ I've been over him for years." So Ronnie is the problem? Is TJ jealous?

"I don't know, you have this look in your eyes every time you look at him. Craig never noticed, but I did," he shakes his head and focuses on the road.

"What look? I haven't seen Ronnie in over a year!" I become defensive.

"I know, babe. It was a year ago when I noticed. I don't know, it's stupid for me to think like that," he finally looks over at me.

"Don't worry about it, I love you not him," I take his hand and look towards the road.

"You're right, I think you should come along. I'd miss you if you didn't."