Help Me (sequel to Save Me)

Chapter 144

Trigger warning also go follow my art account on Instagram @tessart747. All the covers to my books that aren't photos are my own art :)

When they arrive at tonight's venue, Emerson and Sebastian watch Remington actively ignore Andy. The singer is still mad at him for not backing him up when he said Holly's brother is the one who tried to rape him. He knows he shouldn't be angry at Andy, and that the man is right. It's only going to hurt more if it turns out it isn't who he thinks it is, but it makes him feel invalid when someone tells him he is wrong.

He helps Austin with the merch stand and they do soundcheck, and still, he won't talk to Andy. He's in a bad mood in VIP and has to keep telling himself not to get angry when someone asks a stupid question. He still gets asked if he's really gay, and if he's actually married to Andy. Today, someone asks who his therapist is, and he can't believe the length some people would go to just to find out more about his personal life. In what world would he tell them the name of his therapist?

"We're here to talk about the band," he says in response, "my personal life isn't for discussion." He's aware of how his voice sounds irritated, and he tries his best not to lose his temper. "If you need a therapist, research for one yourself."

After VIP, he storms into the dressing room and throws his hoodie violently onto a chair, mood dropping the longer he stays mad at Andy. "Remington, we need to talk about this," Andy tries calmly.

The boy sits down angrily, clattering around with the chair. "No we don't," he responds, "we don't need to talk about anything."

"Right, well clearly we do."

"What is there to talk about? You don't care that I was nearly raped!"

Andy sighs. "Of course I care," he argues, and Remington shakes his head.

"You're lying!"

"I'd never lie to you."

"That's a fucking lie, too!" He opens an eyeshadow palette.

Watching the singer dip his finger in a red colour, Andy frowns. "I'm not lying, honey, I promise."

Remington messily smudges the colour over his eyes. "Don't honey me. That won't make any of this better! Your promises mean nothing right now."

"Oh Remington, come on. This is ridiculous."

"So now I'm ridiculous, too, am I? How charming!"

The others are trying not to listen, but with how loud Remington is being, it's hard to ignore them. Andy pushes a hand through his hair. "I never said you were ridiculous. I said this is ridiculous."

"Same thing!"

"It's really not."

"I'm wrong? Of course I'm wrong! Because I'm always wrong!" He packs more red onto his eyes.

Andy can see the anger bubbling in the singer. "I didn't say you were wrong."

"Yes you did!"

"Calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down! This is your fault!" He gives up on his eyeshadow and smears in down his face.

The man looks across the room at Remington's brothers, and then back at Remington. "For God's sake, Remington, this isn't something we need to be arguing about."

Remington hits the table. "Oh I apologise for having feelings, Andy! Sorry not everyone is an emotionless fucking robot!"

"What does that even mean?"

"I don't know! Because apparently I don't know anything! And everything I do is always fucking wrong!" He pushes his finger into a black in the palette and the powder cracks. Remington watches it crumble onto the table and throws the plastic palette in Andy's direction.

The palette lands on the floor by Andy's feet and he picks it up. All the colours are cracked. "Remington-"

"What? Are you gonna tell me to calm down again? Go on! Tell me to calm down! Everyone always wants me to calm down! Well, Andy, what if I don't want to calm down? What if I've had enough of calming down? What are you gonna do then? Divorce me? Get rid of me? Because everyone keeps trying to get rid of me! Holly tried to kill me! Emerson left me at the side of a fucking motorway! Sebastian went to jail because of me! Dr Beckley died! You obviously want to divorce me, so why not just do it?"

Andy closes the palette. "I'm not gonna divorce you." He's staying calm, keeping his voice level. He knows better than to shout back.

Remington looks at his brothers, who are listening to the argument. "Stop staring at me!" He shouts, stands up, and storms out of the room, slamming the door on his way out and kicking it.

"Well that went well," Andy says sarcastically, and sighs.

Sebastian shakes his head. "How you don't shout back at him, I will never know."

"I should probably...yeah." He stands up, puts the eyeshadow down, and leaves the room to find Remington. He looks down all the corridors and finds the singer sitting on the floor by a fire exit, head in his hands.

The boy hears Andy approaching and lifts his head. "Piss off," he demands, holding up his middle finger. "Just piss off."

Andy leans on the wall opposite. "Okay, I'm going." He turns to walk away. "Call me if you need to," he says, not wanting Remington to think he can't ask for help just because of recent events.

"Well I don't need you, so I won't," Remington responds, though finds it comforting that Andy says that.

"Don't be late for the show." Andy leaves him and goes back into the dressing room.

"Is he okay?" Emerson asks as soon as Andy comes back in.

The man nods. "Yeah, I think so. He needs time to calm down."

"There's no way he was really that upset about you not believing it was Holly's brother who attacked him."

"No, there's always something else going on when he gets like this. I'll talk to him later." He cleans the eyeshadow from the table with a makeup wipe and sits back down, and tries to work out what is really going on to make Remington so angry.