Dear Stranger

Chapter 14

"I can explain" you said as he stepped into the house. He chuckled, "That's such a cheater phrase". "Darren I-" you tried to explain but he cut you off. "How can you do this to me? You looked at me in the eye and told me we were a fucking thing and then I see this? Are you kidding me?" he almost shouted. "They tricked me!" you explained. "They tricked you into holding his hand and going on a date with him? God knows what kind of other stuff you do with him" he said angrily and clenched his teeth. "I didn't do anything!" you claimed. "So what's that then?" he shouted this time and held out the magazine. You were almost taking off guard at his tone. You saw him angry before, it's not like you two didn't have any fights in the past, but it was different this time. This time, he really cared. "I-" "You know what? Save your breath. I'm outta here" he said. He walked to the door and threw the magazine on the floor. "You can keep that" he declared before slamming the door behind him.

You stared at the door for a few seconds and felt a tear running down your cheek. "Fuck!" you finally shouted. You took the magazine and threw it in the trash roughly. You took a couple of breaths to calm down. Your world was slowly shattering into pieces around you. Just when you thought everything was good, everything would be fine for once, life reminded you that happiness is short, and when it ends, it hurts like a fucking bitch. You took the cup in the counter and threw it into the wall next to the door. How could that end like this? For what, that asshole? That mysogenistic guy who thought he was better than anyone else? You left yourself sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor to finally burst into tears. How were you supposed to explain yourself when he wasn't listening? You called him, again and again, but he never answered.

You threw away your phone and sighed when someone knocked on the door. You dried your tear and tried to say in your clearest voice "Who's there?". "It's Lopez! Let me in!" she shouted behind the door. You were debating if you should indeed let her in or not when you heard her again "Oh wait, it's open. Hope you're decent. I don't wanna see any body parts!" she exclaimed and opened the door. She stepped into the broken cup and looked down. "What the..." she whispered, "What happened?". "Nothing, the cup just shattered itself into the wall" you sniffed. "I'll take care of that later" she mumbled to herself and took off her shoes not to put it everywhere. She joined you in the kitchen and sat beside you. "Are you okay?" she asked calmly after a few seconds. "I'm great. I had a boyfriend this morning and now I'm a cheater to him. I'm not even sure I can still call him my boyfriend" you explained and put your legs up to your chest. "Hey" she turned to you. "You're not a cheater. You're a woman being tracked by social media 24/7 and having to deal with that" she tried to comfort you. "Looks like I'm not doing a great job at this" you chuckled nervously. You brushed your tears away and took a deep breath. "Do you want anything? Food? A drink maybe?" she asked. "No thanks. You should go home, Lo" you looked at her. "I won't. You need me more than my home needs me" she smiled. She took your hand and intertwined her fingers with yours. You smiled and cried again, but this time you were not alone. It felt nice, having someone who cares, someone willing to trust you no matter what.

"He didn't let me explain" you said more calmly. "Well boyfriends are dumb then. It's not your fault, y/n" she reminded you. You nodded. "Come on, I gotta clean up your mess" she said and stood up. "I'll clean it up tomorrow. Just leave it there" you said but she ignored you and took a dustpan and brush from a cupboard. "Seriously? The dog cup? That was my favorite!" she whined and cleaned up the floor. "Sorry, next time I'll call you to get your approval on which cup I'm allowed to break when I'm angry" you joked. "You better!" she smiled. You got off the floor and got into bed, where Lauren joined you a few moments after. She closed her eyes when you decided to tell her.

"Hey Lo" "What?" she said and kept her eyes shut. "I'll tell you something if you promise to keep your mouth shut" you proposed. "Ok, I'll shut up" she agreed. "It's Darren. I mean, the boyfriend" you admitted. She opened her eyes suddenly and sat up on the bed. "Darren?! Like in our Darren? Darren Criss?" she rambled. "No. Darren Cross. Of course our Darren!" you said. "Are you fucking kidding me? I'm gonna tear his head off" she said, ready to leave the bed. "Lauren you promised!" you reminded her. She froze for a second and turned back to you. "You promised" you repeated. "I hate you" she mumbled. "You two are gonna be the death of us all someday" she sighed and put her head back on the pillow.

You just laid there for hours before falling asleep. You knew the morning would hit you again, but this time way harder than the days before. You had a meeting this morning with your manager, some producers from the musical and, of course, Darren. You hoped he would talk to you, or at least listen for what you had to say before running off. Darren arrived late and for a few seconds as he looked away from you to look at the ground, you thought you wouldn't be able to do it. But presentations were made, work were discussed and it went better than you expected. "Excellent work. Your songs are really gonna put this show together" one of the producer said as she stood up from her chair. "We cannot wait to start the rehearsal process" Darren said and smiled at the other producer. "See you there" you said and shook a couple of hands. You all went out of the room to say your goodbyes. "Thank you for everything" one of them said and they all left pretty quickly. "Well that went well!" Ricky exclaimed joyfully. "Ms. y/f/n? Trey Williams is waiting for you" an assistant informed you. "Of course he is" Darren mumbled angrily and walked quickly to the elevator. "Wait, Darren!" you almost shouted. You sighed and started to run before looking at your feet. Heels. Goddamnit. You took them off and handed them to Ricky. "Make him wait. Take these. I'll be back in 5 minutes" you said and ran to the elevator, mentally mentally your fingers that Darren hadn't left yet.

"Darren" you called out to him, relieved to see him still waiting. The elevator opened and he dragged you in. He pushed the first floor button and a few seconds after, pushed the stop one. "Really?" he asked loudly. "He's here for a meeting!" you explained. "Oh yeah? Well let me be worried about the kind of meeting you two have" he replied. "Let me explain for a second, god! Those are paparazzis! You know how they are! They follow you around to get a picture they could sell! They will basically tell anything if they can earn money from it!" you defended yourself. "So you're telling me you didn't go out to coffee with him without telling me? He didn't hold your hand?" he asked loudly. You opened your mouth to protest, but you couldn't. It wasn't some kind of montage or anything. "It was for work. I might have a contract with him. We met up there to talk and he was being very flirty-" he sighed and looked at the ceiling. "-But I pushed him away and I told him I had a boyfriend, Darren! I swear I did. If I need to give you a heads up on all my business meetings, I'll do that all day long, Darren!". "I'm done" he said and pushed the stop button again. "Well I'm not!" you said and pushed it again. You felt your anger growing. Did he even listen? "You sat there too and told me we were a couple, Darren, you did that too. And you know what couples are founded on? Trust. I shouldn't even have to beg to your feet for you to listen to me. I really meant it when I said that we were a couple. And I thought that's what we are and here you are without any fucking trace of trust for me. If you're not even willing to trust me, I don't even know if I want to be with you either" you snapped at him before pushing that red button again. You refused to look at him after that and looked at the grey doors for the rest of the elevator ride. He was silent too. Anger flew around the small area. As soon as the doors opened, he left without turning back. And there you stood again. Alone with your own tears.