Falling Asleep On A Stranger

Chapter 3

Jenna:

          My instinct was right. I found Tony near his tour bus. “I’m not going to do this anymore!” I heard him yell into his phone. I stood nearby just watching him as he hung up his phone and sat down on the bus steps. He had his head in his hands and I could feel he was having a rough time.

          After a couple of minutes to let him catch his breath, I gathered the courage to walk up to him. I don’t think he knew I was there so I cleared my throat and that’s when he looked up at me. His chocolate brown eyes were rimmed red and I could see the tears threatening to spill from them. The sight of his miserable expression broke my heart into a million pieces. Such an expression does not belong upon such a beautiful face. He wore a black Key Street shirt along with a burgundy and black Key Street snapback, a gray and black denim jacket/hoodie and skinny jeans. I couldn’t help but think about how cute he looked that night. He was definitely cuter in person than in pictures. I was lost in my own thoughts that it took me a while to realize he was still looking at me, apparently lost in thought as well.

          “Umm, hi, Tony. Sorry to bother you.” I couldn’t believe I was standing before the most gorgeous man in the planet. My words seemed to shake him out of his surprised state.

          He looked away from me and wiped away the tears in his eyes. “Sorry, I’m not doing autographs right now.” He spoke softly. “What?” I asked surprised. Then I realized that I looked like just another fan to him. “Oh no, umm.” I chuckled, “I’m not here for autographs. Sorry. I’m Jenna.” I said as I offered my hand for a handshake. “Umm, Hi Jenna.” He said taking my hand. “I was making line for the meet and greet when I noticed you leave and seemed a bit bummed out, so I followed you.” I realized that I just sounded like a stalker and I blushed. “Are you okay?” I added quickly.

          Tony seemed a bit uncomfortable for a moment, like he couldn’t decide on what to say. Finally he answered, “Umm no not really. Bad phone call.” He raised his phone & futilely tried to smile. “Yeah, I kind of noticed. Mind if I sit with you?” He shook his head and scooted to his right to give me some space. “Let me guess. Girl trouble?” I asked. He looked down at his hands and nodded. “How’d you know?” “I kind of overheard that last part before you hung up. Sorry, I know it wasn’t for me to hear.” I felt a bit ashamed so I looked at my hands. “Oh. Don’t worry. But yeah, my girlfriend and I just broke up.” He said sadly. “I’m sorry to hear that. Do you want to talk about it?” He looked up at me then and said, “You know, I don’t know you but I really do need someone to talk to.” “I’m all ears. You’d be surprised. I tend to be a pretty good listener.” I smiled goofily and he laughed softly.

          “Well, umm, lately my now ex-girlfriend and I have been having a rough time in our relationship. It started about a month ago, when I left for another tour. We hadn’t really spent much time together because of my busy schedule, but I always thought she was okay with it. That she was happy for me. I was obviously wrong. She didn’t want me to leave again but instead of telling me about it, she kept it in and simply started acting more coldly. She would barely answer my phone calls or texts. I guess she thought the less she talked to me, the easier it would be to handle me being away.” It took him a while to share his story, as if still indecisive about telling a stranger all this, but I waited patiently. When he finished, he looked up at me for the first time since he had started his story.

          “I see. Did you ever confront her about the way she was acting?” I asked. “I tried to a couple of times but she always avoided the subject.” He sighed. “Sometimes I just didn’t want to keep trying. It seemed like a waste of time but I didn’t give up on her. I thought I was doing everything right, that I would have found a way to fix things with her. I don’t normally argue with anyone. I hate fighting, but somehow with her it was impossible to stop. I remember I used to be so happy when she would call and I saw her name on my phone’s screen. Lately though, I just frown and expect the worse when she calls me. I want to feel in love again because it’s the best feeling in the world but it’s just won’t happen. Not with her.” As he spoke, it seemed like a huge burden was being lifted of his shoulders.

          “You know sometimes, no matter what you want, you can’t make the wrong person for you be right. If it wasn’t working out, then no matter how much you wanted it to, it probably never would. We all have to let go of something or someone we love because holding on is only going to destroy us in the end. Does that make sense?” I looked over at him and found him staring at me. He nodded, “Yeah. It kind of does.” “Then you know that the end of this relationship is for the best.” I spoke softly. “Yeah … yeah, I guess it is.” Tony looked up at me.

“How old are you?” he asked with a smile. “I’m turning seventeen in a couple of days.” I smiled because the thought of my birthday coming up excited me. “You’re pretty wise for someone so young.” I chuckled, and then I realized Tony was being serious. “Well, my parents’ relationship has taught me a lot, along with my experience in the dating world.” I looked down at my hands again. Tony thought for a moment then looked up at the starry night sky. “It must be nice having parents to show you what love should be like. I don’t remember much about my dad, but he passed away long before I started looking for what love was.” I looked up at him and could see a single tear falling down his cheek at the thought of his father. “Actually, the only reason I learned so much from my parents is because they taught me everything that a couple shouldn’t do in a relationship. My dad cheated on my mom long ago. They got divorced when I was about 10 years old. But they spent every breathing moment arguing for years before that. So by the time I was trying to find what love meant, I only had my parents’ wreck of a relationship and my hopes of what I wanted one to be to go on. My love life has mostly been based on trial and error. And unfortunately, sometimes that means more error than trial.” I laughed softly. Tony was looking at me, “I’m sorry to hear that. I had no idea.” “Hey, it’s cool. I’m actually pretty glad of it. With every fight they have I learn more and more of what a relationship should be. If it weren’t for them, I never would have learned to give my heart a chance.” I smiled at Tony, who seemed to have difficulty believing that I could be so young and sound like I’ve lived for 40 years already.