It Started that Night

Part 19

The other guys were already gone so Dex walked back to the bus alone. As he approached the coach park the bus doors were open and he could see Lucie was aboard the bus. In his head he started going over excuses about where he had been. Lucie saw him coming and stepped down from the bus, closing the door behind her. Her face lit up.

"Hey baby!" she said, throwing her arms around his neck. "I've missed you!" she added.

Dex stared blankly ahead at the side of the bus, waiting for her to let go. He felt absolutely nothing in seeing her and even cringed a little at her touch. At that moment he had no doubt whatsoever it was over. Finally releasing him from her embrace she stepped back and looked at him, his face was expressionless.

"What's wrong, Dex?" she asked, confused by his behaviour and despondence. Dex looked at the floor. "Dex?" she asked again.

He sighed heavily as he looked up at her. "Luc, it's over, I'm sorry." His heart sank. He hated confrontation, he hated hurting people. His emotions were all over the place, going from total euphoria with Millie ten minutes ago to utter anguish.

Lucie's face dropped, her bottom lip quivered a little as she tried to speak. "What? Why!?" she asked, her voice shaky.

"I'm sorry, I'm just not feeling it anymore and it wouldn't be fair to you to carry on." Knowing he was doing the right thing made Dex more confident in his words.

Lucie stepped towards him, tears began to roll down her cheeks as she tried to put her arms around him again. He stepped back, taking her wrists in his hands to stop her, gently he pushed her arms down.

"Luc. No. Don't make this any harder," he said. Lucie was completely taken aback; she thought for sure she could change his mind. She was a beautiful, world-famous pop star, of course he would want her. But as she looked into his eyes, she knew that was it. He had never looked at her like that. There was nothing in his eyes, not anymore.

Lucie burst into tears. She put her head in her hands, expecting Dex to at least comfort her, but instead he walked straight past her and opened the door to the tour bus. He knew engaging in any kind of sympathy would only complicate things, he wanted a clean break. He was too old for the drama. He leaned in the bus door. "Mac, can you walk Lucie back to her security team please, I don't want her walking back alone in the dark, but I can't do it," he said.

"Uh, sure," replied Mac, looking confused at Dex's odd request.

A weight had been lifted from Dex's shoulders. She was gone.

On the plane home Dex felt emotional. He'd had one of the best but hardest nights of his life, it felt bittersweet sat on a plane going in the opposite direction to Millie. He knew any future with her would be tough. They lived on different continents, he travelled almost constantly and she had a busy life in England. He didn't know how he was going to make it work but all he knew in that moment was that he wanted to try.

He wondered if he should text her, not wanting to come on too strongly and scare her off. He knew his lifestyle wasn't going to be easy for her to deal with, he needed to give her time to decide if it was something she wanted to be involved in. His past girlfriends had received death threats and all sorts from fans, so he wanted Millie to be 100% sure!

Less than an hour into the flight his phone beeped,

One new message

He smiled hoping it was from Millie, it wasn't. Instead he was greeted with an angry text from Lucie, calling him every name under the sun, threatening to ruin any future relationship he had and telling him what a shit boyfriend he had been. It all just reiterated that he had made the right decision; Lucie was not only young in age but incredibly immature too. He was too old for the drama; it wasn't something he wanted in his life at 31!