The Best You Ever Had

It Sucks

Once Brendon had left for the evening, I snuck a look at my missed call. Billy. He could have called about any number of things, but fortunately he’d left a voicemail. I shivered with excitement as I called him back.

“Sweetheart, I think this could be the one.”

“They sent a script?” We’d been seeking out parts for me here and there, with no real success. To hear that somebody had sent one to me without us going to them first was exciting to say the least.

“A small part, but from what I read, it looks okay.”

“Okay? Just okay? But you said it could be the one.” I was a little baffled by his words. I leaned back on my couch and clutched a pillow to my chest.

“Does it actually matter what I think?” he asked, laughing a little. “I’m bringing it over tomorrow and you can decide for yourself, okay? And no sharing it! Not even with Jenny or the boys, or whoever you’re seeing. Which we need to talk about, eventually.”

I swallowed. “Seeing? I just got dumped, Billy, what makes you think I’m seeing anybody?”

“Took you three hours to call me back. When you were single, it was an hour tops. When you were with Brian, you hardly missed my calls in the first place. I know I’m not your best friend, but you can tell me this stuff, yeah?”

“Yeah.” I didn’t know what else to say.

“You should tell me this stuff. It affects your career, and I have a vested interest in that, at the very least. But I do care about you, even if we don’t get together for the holidays, okay, kid?”

“You’re right. But not now. We’ll have that discussion as soon as I have that discussion with him.”

“Alright,” he relented. “Alright. I’ll be by tomorrow, bright and early, so get some sleep. And have the coffee on when I get there. You know how I need coffee.”

We said our goodbyes, and I contemplated calling Brendon. Looking at the clock, I knew for sure he’d still be up. He hadn’t actually left my house all that long ago. And I was humming, practically vibrating with the excitement of possibility. I needed to talk to him.

“Didn’t you kick me out so you could get some actual sleep?” he teased when he answered.

“I won’t sleep tonight,” I told him. “Too excited.”

This piqued his interest. “Oh?” I could hear him shifting and hushing one of the dogs, who decided this was the time to bark for whatever reason. “What about?”

I couldn’t help the smile on my face as I told him about the script. “Billy will be here with it ‘bright and early’, which for him is seriously like eight. But that’s a good thing. I don’t want to wait all day to see the thing.”

“Baby, that’s amazing!” I could hear the grin he wore. “God, I hope it’s something great. Something worthy of you.”

I felt my cheeks flush. “Worthy of me, huh?” How I’d ever been mean to this man…how I’d ever thought we could really hate one another…

“Well, whatever it is, you’d kill it.”

“I can have Billy out of here by ten. Will you come over and read it with me?” I knew I wasn’t supposed to show anyone. I didn’t care. I could trust Brendon.

“Is that allowed?” he laughed.

“Absolutely not. But I need you here while I go over it. I need your opinion. Your support.”

“You’ve got it, Piper. Whatever you need.”

“I need it to not suck,” I said.

“Fingers crossed, then,” he told me. “It won’t suck.”

****

I put my head on the counter heavily. “Oh god, it sucks.”

Brendon coaxed my head up and wrapped his arms around my shoulders from behind me while I sat on a stool in the kitchen.

I leaned my head on his tattooed arm and squeezed my eyes shut. “Is this what they think of me? Is this what Billy thinks of me? He said he thought this was the one.”

“From what you’ve told me, Billy spends his evenings watching old B-movies so maybe his opinions about motion pictures aren’t exactly spot-on.”

I laughed humorlessly. “At the risk of sounding really, really up my own ass- I’m Piper James! What is this shit?”

He kissed the top of my head and held me close. “Well…I admit, given your level of fame, this is a little insulting. But neither of us is that conceited, so that’s the last time we’ll mention that.”

He was right. It was conceited to think that way. But I couldn’t help that I felt insulted.

“I can’t help how I feel. This is almost comical.”

He let go of me with one arm so he could flip through a couple of pages. “Well, you’re not wrong.”

I groaned and he shoved the script across the counter and away from us.

“I was so excited,” I said sadly.

His arms were both around me again and I leaned back into him, feeling the beat of his heart, and the vibration of his voice as he spoke.

“The right thing is going to come along. And soon. I know it.”

“Maybe I should put somebody other than Billy on the job, huh?” I nuzzled into the crook of Brendon’s arm, kissing his tattoos.

“You have Billy on everything. Do you trust anyone as much as you trust him?”

“Not yet, but if I found the right person…” I trailed off, suddenly remembering the previous night’s conversation with my agent. “Speaking of Billy.”

Brendon let go of me as I spun around to face him.

“He’s onto us,” I informed him.

He smirked. “Is he really?” The thought seemed to amuse him.

“Well, not us. Not exactly. He just knows I’m seeing somebody. Wants to talk about it. Says it affects my career. And he’s not wrong.”

The smirk didn’t disappear. “I’ll go public anytime you want.” He looked me over, and the smirk became a smile. “I’ll go outside right now and tell the neighbors, and march to the end of the driveway and shout it to anyone who drives by. I’ll use my Twitter for something other than Twitch announcements and cause a frenzy. Say the word.”

I rolled my eyes and laughed, reaching for him. “The neighbors know. We probably keep them up, and they’ve seen you here often enough. They’re not stupid. Well…the one across the street might be. But they all know. And no frenzy please. Not yet. But we should tell the management.”

“You know they’ll use the info to get us Spotify listens and YouTube views, right?”

I sighed, resting my head on his chest. “If we let them.”

“Should we let them?” he asked, breathing deep.

The idea of using our relationship for publicity didn’t sit well with me.

“I don’t think we should let them,” he said, apparently finishing his thought.

I looked up at him and gave him a slow sort of smile. “No, we shouldn’t. We’re more than a stunt.”

“So we tell them, because Billy practically knows, he just doesn’t know  what he knows, and then we wait. Until after the song and the video release. We’ll know when the time is right,” he said, looking back down at me.

“We’ll know. But for today, we keep our secret that only like twelve or thirteen people know, and you help me learn to laugh over this script.”

“Shall I act out the part for you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow mischievously.

“Only if you improvise a costume too,” I told him.