Us and Them

Chapter Thirty Nine

I patiently waited in the club for a taxi to arrive.

“You’re just going to leave like that?”

I turned my head to look at David before staring back out in front of me at the glass doors.

“You’re not exactly a joy to be around, so it’s not even worth being here.” I confessed rudely. “You seem distant, David.”

He walked in closer to me and I could smell the booze and pot off of him. “I seem distant? I’m not the one that left you for two fucking weeks so you could be alone.”

I glared at him. “You know exactly why I had to leave.”

“No! I don’t!” He shouted, ignoring the fact that people were staring at us. “You could have stayed with me and we could have worked out everything! But no, you insisted on leaving me.”

“You’re being unfair-”

“No, what’s not fair is the fact that I do so much for you and it’s never fucking good enough.” He snapped.

“Oh, so it’s my fault that we’re drifting apart?”

He didn’t say anything.

I shook my head. “Are you fucking kidding me right now? Bad things happen to me and all of the sudden it’s my fault? Fuck sakes, you go touring for months on end and I wait for you to come home… but when I reach a nervous breakdown I can’t get away for a mere two weeks?!”

“Emma-”

I ignored him and walked outside into the clear star-lit night.

“Wait!” David followed me out and put his hand on my shoulder. I quickly turned around and pushed him off.

“You think I don’t do anything for you?” I questioned, remembering what he said to me earlier. “My father came back into my life finally, after all of those years of wishing he would do just that… and what did I do? I pushed him away because he was getting in the way of us, of our marriage.”

Tears rolled down my cheeks. The taxi finally pulled up by the curb. “You know what? He was right.”

“What?”

“My father, he was right. Marrying a rockstar is a terrible mistake.”

And with that, I broke his heart along with mine. My stomach quivered and my heart thumped loudly in my chest.

I brushed my hair off my face and then I noticed that I had the engagement ring on my finger. I quickly slid it off and threw it at him angrily.

“I hope you know that you ruined my entire life.” I sneered.

“Emma, don’t do this.”

I turned away from him and got into the car. I took one last look into his mesmerizing blue eyes that had once captivated me and drew me in so many times before, and then he was gone.

—

“I didn’t want to let go but it felt like I already lost him.”

I sat on Hailey’s couch after the taxi dropped me off at her apartment. I didn’t want to go home- I didn’t want the painful reminder.

“Sometimes that’s all you can do, just let go.” She handed me a cup of tea.

“Maybe I’m making a mistake in leaving him.”

“Emma, if things got so bad to the point where you had to leave him, then I really don’t think it’s a mistake.”

“I broke his fucking heart.” I mumbled.

She looked at me worriedly. “You should get some sleep, Em. It’s been a long day.”

But I couldn’t sleep. I stayed up all night, tossing and turning in the bed, playing Rolling Stones songs that reminded me of him. Why? I really don’t know.

I was still feeling the same in the morning, and all throughout the day. I sat at the kitchen table and sipped on a cup of tea while I heard a knock at the door. Hailey went to go answer it.

I couldn’t hear who it was, but after a while, I heard voices starting to raise.

I got up from the chair and turned around the corner to see David standing at the door, looking just as rough as I did.

“Can I talk to her?” He asked tiredly.

“I don’t think she wants to talk to you.” Hailey told him.

He looked down at the ground and then picked up a box to hand to her. “Well, these are some of her things. I’ll bring the rest later.”

I leaned on the wall in the hallway which was quite a distance from them. I stared at David until he noticed me, and then I slowly turned away.

“How did he know I was here?” I asked Hailey once she closed the front door.

“He called this morning, expecting that you’d be here. He wanted to bring you your stuff.”

“Oh.”

And with that, a wave of emotions swept me off my feet and I found myself running out the front door.

“David, wait!”

Just as he was about to drive away, he quickly got out of the car.

“What is it?”

I ran up and wrapped my arms around him. I felt safe, happy, and exhilarated to be in his arms. We were essential to each other.

I pulled away from the hug and stared into his eyes. I felt so fluttery around him, the way I felt when we met in 1968.

In that moment, everything really did feel that perfect again.

“I want to go home.” I smiled.

He returned the smile and kissed me before he brought my things back into the car.

Of course, that wasn’t the end of our arguments. We would disagree and yell at each other all the time. But no matter what happened, no matter what life threw at us, we would always have each other. All of the fighting was worth it at the end of the day when we would fall asleep in each other’s arms-

It has always been worth it.