The Pieces Left

Chapter 3

Beckett waited for my outside the subway stop. He looked completely lost. He was wearing a navy sweater vest with black slacks. He was adorable. I sighed and then felt bad for hating him. "Hey!" I said as I walked up to hug him. He hugged me back with feeling. "Hey, I missed you" he said. I pulled back and said, "how? I've only been away from you for like 4 hours". He shrugged. "It's just boring in meetings. I wish we could spend more time together while we're here" he said. "Well, that's exactly what we're doing" I said and then took his hand. I led him into a cute burger joint we had agreed on. "So, how have the meetings been?" I asked after we sat down. "A total blast....." Beckett joked. I giggled and said "I bet, I'm totally jealous". "How was breakfast with your mom?" He asked. "Good....it was nice to catch up" I said. "Good, she invited us to dinner tomorrow night" he said. I rolled my eyes and said, "what? When did she do that?" He shrugged his shoulders and said, "like 10 minutes ago....she texted me." I sat back in my seat and sighed. "I was just with her like 30 minutes ago. She should've asked me" I said.

After lunch with Beckett, I wondered aimlessly around the city. I contemplated on going back to 30 Rock. I decided to not and just go to Central Park. When I got there, I found a bench to sit on and listened to a busker playing violin. I closed my eyes and listened. I still can't fathom the reality that he forgot about me. Maybe he was just pretending to not know me. Maybe he didn't want to acknowledge me because there were people around. Maybe I look different. How could he forget me? I then pulled out my phone and went through my twitter feed. I stopped on a post that mentioned the name "Jimmy Fallon." The post said that he would be making an appearance at a listening party tonight at a lounge in Manhattan. He was going to be introducing some artists. I twisted my face and then looked up the address. I knew exactly where this place was. Beckett was invited to a company dinner tonight and of course I was going. I rolled my eyes and turned off my phone. What was I thinking? Going to the venue and trying to make my life better, that's what I was thinking.

I made my way back to the hotel after walking around Central Park for a a while trying to decide what to do. When I got back, I started to get ready for the dinner party tonight. I took a shower and then blow dried my hair. It was around 4:30 when Beckett came through the door. "Hey!" He said when he walked in. He took off his bag and let it fall to the floor. He kissed the top of my head as walked by me. I was curling my hair. "What time do we have to be there?" I asked Beckett as I caught a curl in my hand. "Uhhhh it starts at 6:30 I think" he replied. "Are you ready?" I asked. He shrugged and said, "yeah, I'm just gonna wear what I'm already wearing." "Okay" I said.

When I was finally done getting ready, I walked out of the bathroom and posed for Beckett. "How do I look?" I asked. He raised his eyebrows and whistled. "You look hot" he said. "Thank you" I said as I walked over to him. "Are we ready?" I asked. Beckett put his arm around my waist and pulled me close. "I think we can be a little late" he said as he kissed my neck. I pushed his away and said, "no, we need to be there on time." "No we don't" Beckett said before unbuttoning my dress. I smiled and just went with it. I'm in love with what Beckett is, not with who he is.

We finally arrived at the restaurant about 15 minutes late. "There was horrible traffic" Beckett said as we walked in. I smiled at him. The dinner went on and on. Beckett discussing today's issues, his coworkers agreeing. I tried to smile and act as if I knew what they were talking about. Around dessert time, I got a notification from my phone. I pulled it and saw that I had a text from an unknown number. Confused, I unlocked my phone and read the text.

"I know I saw you today. Come to this address right now. Let's talk"

I froze. I looked at Beckett to see if he had read the text since he was sitting right next to me. He was talking to a guy across the table. I looked around to see if anyone had seen it. Everybody was into their own conversations. I then, without thinking, I got up and walked out. "Stevie!" I heard Beckett yell. I just kept walking. I couldn't stop, it was like something was pulling me. "Stevie" Beckett said and then grabbed my arm. I snapped back into reality. "Where are you going?" He asked concerned. I stared at him, breathing heavily. "Um...." I trailed off. "Are you okay?" He asked. I looked around and then looked back at him. His soft brown eyes were full of worry. "I just.....I'm not feeling very well" I said. "Do you need to go back to the hotel? I can grab my jacket" he said as he turned back. "No! No, I don't wanna take you away from your friends...I can go back to the hotel" I said, pulling myself together. "No, babe, if you need to go lay down I'm not gonna let you walk by yourself" Beckett said. I couldn't think of anything to say. "Okay...okay"  I said before I let Beckett guide me back to the dinner so he could grab his jacket. As we walked out of the restaurant, a single tear fell down my cheek. And when we got back to the hotel, I deleted the text. Beckett fixed me a bowl of soup and tucked me into bed. He kissed my nose. "No, I don't want you to get sick" I said. "I love you" he said before turning off the lamp. I listened to him toss and turn before finally settling into a deep sleep. I stared at the ceiling. I could hear the city outside our window. I thought about Jimmy. He's waiting for me. He's waiting for the girl that'll never show up. He's waiting for the girl I still am but don't want to be.

When I woke up, Beckett was gone. I made some coffee and sat down in bed. I went through my phone. I then saw that Jimmy had posted something. It was a picture from last night. He was in a crowd of people all smiling. He looked happy as ever. I then noticed something. He had his arm around the waist of a girl. Everyone else in the picture was throwing up peace signs except him and this girl. His grip looked pretty tight. I zoomed in on the girl. She had brown hair and was wearing a small red dress. I then got a text. It was from the unknown number.

"Where were you?" It read.

I hesitated before typing:

" Why are you texting me?"

Then my phone told me that I had an incoming call. I answered it.