That Was Then, This Is Now

Part 3

Tim POV
We were leaving for 'Spontaneous Combustion' in a couple of days. I had broken up with Christine almost straight after the press conference a week and a half ago. I was sad of course, I loved her and we had been together for so long. But now I was in a place where I feel like a weight has been lifted of my shoulders. Me and Faith were meeting for coffee that day. We had been hanging out almost everyday the previous week. Talking about the tour, blocking out the concerts, we had even spoken about maybe doing a duet at some point. Personally I think the fans were going to love it but Jack and Gary were going to kill us. I was sitting at the blue bird waiting for her, I had ordered our coffees already since I knew what she drinks. I saw her walk in, she had on cutoffs that sit just right on her long beautiful legs, and a simple cotton T-shirt. She took my breath away constantly back then, hell she still does. We were just friends though, she was engaged and Jack had basically forbidden me from becoming involved with her. And besides we used to be really good friends, I didn't want to jeopardise that.
"Hey." She said when she sat down, smiling at me. She looked excited.
"Hey, I ordered already. What's go you so buzzed?" I asked her.
"I just had my last wardrobe fitting and now I'm all packed ready to leave for tour. I'm so excited!" She squealed.
I laughed a little and looked at her in the eyes. "Me too." I smiled. We spent the rest of the time drinking coffee and talking about the parts of the tour that we were most excited about. Faiths phone started ringing and I could see that it's her fiancé Scott.
"Sorry, I should answer. Hey. What's up?" She said. "No sorry I'm not home....... I'm out........ Getting coffee..." She sounded very defensive like she was being confronted on the other end. "With a friend...... No it's not....... Yeah okay....... Whatever....... Bye." She said very upset and then she hung up. She put her head between her hands and let out a soft groan.
"You okay?" I asked her gently, not wanting to pry.
"Yeah, that was Scott. He can just be a real ass sometimes." She said.
"Really? I thought he seemed really nice."
She laughed at me "really? He hates you!" She said still giggling. "When he came to get me from the CRS convention and saw us talking he said that he didn't want me to talk to you again." She told me. I couldn't believe it. To me Scott had always seemed so nice and I also remember thinking that it was funny he said that to Faith.
"Christine said the same to me, she really didn't like you." I told her.
"What happened with you two anyway?" She had asked me. She knew we had broken up but we never really went deep into it.
"Um I guess we were just in completely different phases of life and wanted different things." I explained to her. I specifically remember leaving out the part about how I also had feelings for her back then.
"Oh that's fair enough. Sometimes I feel the same about me and Scott." She told me. "I don't think we're meant to be."
"How can you marry someone if you feel like that?" I asked her. I wasn't trying to sway her or anything but I just wanted to hear why she was going to marry him, except now looking back I guess a small part of me wanted to sway her.
"I don't know." She confessed. "I'm hoping that the tour will show us how we're best apart." God I hoped so.

Faith POV
I was leaving for the tour the following day and had all my bags packed. I got so angry that night I repressed all the memories so deep I haven't gone back to that night before. I had my bags at the door and I was watching TV hoping Scott would come home before I fell asleep. I don't think that I actually wanted to see, more just wanted an excuse to maybe call off that hollow excuse of an engagement. I decided that it was late enough and that I wanted to go to bed so I got up and made my way up the stairs. I remember the loud sound of a door slamming open. Well at least he actually came home that night.
"Faith!" He yelled from the living room. I was apprehensive to go to him because he sounded aggressive and likely drunk. Looking back I should've just gone into my room locked the door and left my ring in the kitchen bench in the morning. Is that what I did? No. Am I stupid? Yes. I went down and saw him slouching on the couch.
"You're home." I told him keeping my distance.
"Sorry to disappoint. I see your ready to leave." He said pointing to my bags. He was definitely drunk.
"Yeah, I am." I snapped at him.
"Well I think that when your tour is over, you and your lover should just stay together. I don't want you back. I've got better options than some untalented washed up whore who sleeps her way to the top." In my brain he was screaming at me and the insult was fuelled with passion or anger but if I dig deep I remember how calm he was when he said it. How sincere his voice was and how he looked right at me and meant every word. I think I was really upset. But now I'm just relieved.
"That sounds like a brilliant plan." I told him and I ripped my ring off my finger and threw it at him. He yelled some more things at me about Tim and how he wished me hell. I locked the door and went to sleep almost happy that after tomorrow I was never going to see him again. I remember waking up at like 2am to soft knocking at the door and something that sounded like crying. I against all my better judgment went and opened the door. And there sat Scott, tearful and still slightly drunk.
"Baby, I'm sorry." I was such an idiot to believe him. A part of me wanted to think he had only said those nasty words because he was drunk and didn't want me to leave but now the part of me with a brain can see that I was naive and clueless. "I didn't mean it. I love you Faith. I don't know what I would do without you." He choked out. The thought of his words send a shiver down my spine. "I want you to go on the tour an do really well. And maybe we should just halt on the wedding planning for now." He was always a coherent drunk.
"Scott, I don't know if we're going to work." I told him, crouching to be at his level.
"Faith, we will. I love you." I remember the way he said those three words that night it was a plea for me to say them too. But I couldn't.
"Scott, I need to sleep on this and go on tour. I will call you at some point okay." I said to him. That version of me really wanted to make it work. I had just gone through a divorce and to now have to experience an engagement breakdown was my worst nightmare at the time. God I had it easy back then.
"Faith I don't want to lose you." He said to me as I shut the door again. I didn't know it then but he already had.