Perfectly Reckless
Chapter 14
Central Park, New York – 2013
After the Grammy last night, we attended an afterparty in LA and to be honest we were wasted as hell. Blame RJ because he still thinks he’s the king of alcohol. That fucker. I remembered the last time I was this wasted. 10 years ago. That didn’t end well, and the anger still fumed within me. As I watched the nature took its beautiful routine around the park, I sipped on my Starbucks coffee and wrapped my arms around myself.
There were joggers passing by and I thanked God they didn’t recognize me. I’ve lived here in New York for almost 5 years, ever since we broke through with our first self-titled album. God I can’t even begin to explain on how much money we’ve got after that. The tour bookings, the million sold copies, merchandises, the sponsored instruments – especially for RJ, he got the Drum Workshop to start customizing his kits, that lucky bitch.
I bought an apartment here, because it’s nearer to everything. Our studio, our record label, RJ’s living in Manhattan too so we’ll still be near to each other. But sometimes I missed home. I missed Philly and its people. My mom and dad, our dogs and cats, The Taylors next door and everything. Can’t wait to have a gig in Philly again.
I sighed and sipped on my coffee some more, thinking about our hectic schedule starting next month. We got this month’s off because of The Grammy and Revolver’s Golden God. Oh did I mention to you that we’ve been nominated in Golden God Awards this year? Yay for that. Well, it was mostly RJ and me who got nominated but hell yeah, we’re so fucking excited for that.
“Mommy!”
I granted a smile at the small figure who was running before me. She was pink in colored from head to toe. I chuckled at the fact that she loved that color too much that even her blonde hair was bleached in pale pink a few strands.
“Joanna!! Oh my baby, come here!”
She ran towards me and I picked her up. A three year old daughter would be fucking nice for me but nope. This isn’t mine. I glanced around, looking for Joanna’s parents.
“Where’s daddy?”
“There!” she pointed and I saw RJ was jogging towards us with his wife, Jessie running beside him. I gave a quick peck on Joanna’s cheek and put her down on the bench beside me.
“Quite far for a morning jog, brother.”
RJ raised his eyebrows and wiped off the sweat from his forehead. I hugged Jessie and she took my Starbucks away to drink. I’ve always been bullied by this couple ever since they got married.
“Well, your beloved niece wanted to see you and the park. Whoo, I’m beat. Let’s call it a day and just..rest here.”
“What? Baby, you’re not even half mile!”
RJ waved away at Jessie and sat down on the bench next to his daughter. I laughed watching these couple bickered before me.
“How’s your head, Jay?”
He looked up to me. His fake colored red hair drooped to the side from the sweat. “I’ve had worst. How’s yours?”
“Thank God for coffee.”
I grabbed my cup of coffee back from Jessie’s hand and realized that she drank it all. “What? Jess!”
“Oops, sorry. I’m a coffeeholic, can’t blame me.”
I narrowed my eyes at her and threw the cup away. As soon as I settled myself on the bench, Joanna climbed onto my lap and rested there.
“So, can I borrow Joanna today?”
“Sure. We’ve to catch up with our own ‘activities’ if you know what I mean.”
“Euw, too much information dude!”
RJ laughed and wrapped his arm around Jessie’s waist as she sat on his lap. Wow, what a nice picture. A child on my lap, and a mother of a child on RJ’s.
“Where are you taking her? Out with Joe?”
I smiled and looked down to the ground. Did I mention that Joe and I are dating now?
~*.*~
New York, 2009
The first thing that I set up in this apartment was my upright Steinway piano. The others were still bounded in boxes, wrapped in bubble wraps and being ignored. I placed the piano specially in the middle of my living room, because the acoustic worked better there.
I touched the keys, and played a little La Campanella from Liszt before I decided to sit on the bench and played a song I wrote for him. Matthew Sanders.
“It was you and me, and one hot summer
Beading up with sweat, all over each other, soaking wet
We didn’t have much time so we didn’t waste much
Finding all the right places you wanted me to touch
And all those memories make it so hard to forget about me.”
I’m still angry. Angry at myself because after all this years, I was still thinking about him and the drunken times we shared with each other. I remembered everything after a couple of days and a few story filler from RJ. He said that after the drinking game, I passed out on Matt’s lap. He kissed me right there, and to my surprise – RJ said I kissed him back.
The guys continued to get drunk while he and I entangled in an unbroken kiss. I remembered it all. My feelings right then. The smooth and wet texture of his skin. His tattoos. His strong arms.
Suddenly the soft pressing on the keys became harder and I changed my route to another song I wrote about him.
“Why do you waste my time?
Two steps behind, I don’t rewind
Feeling I can’t define
I give back to you
Give it all away, take it all away, give it all away – ahh fuck this!”
I slammed down the keys and got up from the bench. Why should I feel this way? He’s fucking married! To that bitch! I need to get myself a man so that I could forget all about him. I’m gonna date the first guy I’ve seen after this. I swear to God.
Quickly I grabbed my car keys and purse and headed for the door. I wanna drown myself in a bar full of hot strangers tonight, hopefully.
As I unlocked the chain on my door, someone knocked on it. I opened it and found a guy standing before me.
Joe.
“Hi, going somewhere?”
My heart pounded, remembering my oath before. Was Joe the one?
“Uh, a bar. Any bar. Care to join me?” I said, running my eyes away from him as I locked the door behind me.
“Um, I was thinking to help you with the unpacking but yeah, that’ll do too.”
He smiled and took my hand, like he always did. But tonight I felt different. At least for me. Joe had always been there for me. Looking out after me, keeping me in check and making sure I didn’t stir away from my path.
I wasn’t exactly sure why he didn’t have any interest towards other girls because he’d always been surrounded by them. We didn’t mingle around groupies, they get weird around me. But this guy here, is a fucking lead guitarist of Halestorm. Girls chased him like dogs chasing over moon.
I stopped walking and he was forced to halt too. He looked puzzled as his thick brows furrowed.
“Joe, can I ask you something?”
“Yeah. What’s wrong Lzzy?”
I bit my lip before I began. “Why don’t you have a girlfriend?”
He looked startled by my question.
“I mean, are you waiting for someone? Do I know her?”
He chuckled and clasped my hand tighter. “What’s with these questions all of a sudden?”
I shrugged. “I’m just..curious.”
He chuckled again and brought me closer to his body. I’m so used to his hug now that I don’t feel weird by his actions. But then he kissed my forehead, which he never did before.
“Yes, I was waiting for someone, and you know very well who she is.”
I glanced up to him. “I do? Who is she?”
He smiled down at me. “Her name is Elizabeth Hale.”
After the Grammy last night, we attended an afterparty in LA and to be honest we were wasted as hell. Blame RJ because he still thinks he’s the king of alcohol. That fucker. I remembered the last time I was this wasted. 10 years ago. That didn’t end well, and the anger still fumed within me. As I watched the nature took its beautiful routine around the park, I sipped on my Starbucks coffee and wrapped my arms around myself.
There were joggers passing by and I thanked God they didn’t recognize me. I’ve lived here in New York for almost 5 years, ever since we broke through with our first self-titled album. God I can’t even begin to explain on how much money we’ve got after that. The tour bookings, the million sold copies, merchandises, the sponsored instruments – especially for RJ, he got the Drum Workshop to start customizing his kits, that lucky bitch.
I bought an apartment here, because it’s nearer to everything. Our studio, our record label, RJ’s living in Manhattan too so we’ll still be near to each other. But sometimes I missed home. I missed Philly and its people. My mom and dad, our dogs and cats, The Taylors next door and everything. Can’t wait to have a gig in Philly again.
I sighed and sipped on my coffee some more, thinking about our hectic schedule starting next month. We got this month’s off because of The Grammy and Revolver’s Golden God. Oh did I mention to you that we’ve been nominated in Golden God Awards this year? Yay for that. Well, it was mostly RJ and me who got nominated but hell yeah, we’re so fucking excited for that.
“Mommy!”
I granted a smile at the small figure who was running before me. She was pink in colored from head to toe. I chuckled at the fact that she loved that color too much that even her blonde hair was bleached in pale pink a few strands.
“Joanna!! Oh my baby, come here!”
She ran towards me and I picked her up. A three year old daughter would be fucking nice for me but nope. This isn’t mine. I glanced around, looking for Joanna’s parents.
“Where’s daddy?”
“There!” she pointed and I saw RJ was jogging towards us with his wife, Jessie running beside him. I gave a quick peck on Joanna’s cheek and put her down on the bench beside me.
“Quite far for a morning jog, brother.”
RJ raised his eyebrows and wiped off the sweat from his forehead. I hugged Jessie and she took my Starbucks away to drink. I’ve always been bullied by this couple ever since they got married.
“Well, your beloved niece wanted to see you and the park. Whoo, I’m beat. Let’s call it a day and just..rest here.”
“What? Baby, you’re not even half mile!”
RJ waved away at Jessie and sat down on the bench next to his daughter. I laughed watching these couple bickered before me.
“How’s your head, Jay?”
He looked up to me. His fake colored red hair drooped to the side from the sweat. “I’ve had worst. How’s yours?”
“Thank God for coffee.”
I grabbed my cup of coffee back from Jessie’s hand and realized that she drank it all. “What? Jess!”
“Oops, sorry. I’m a coffeeholic, can’t blame me.”
I narrowed my eyes at her and threw the cup away. As soon as I settled myself on the bench, Joanna climbed onto my lap and rested there.
“So, can I borrow Joanna today?”
“Sure. We’ve to catch up with our own ‘activities’ if you know what I mean.”
“Euw, too much information dude!”
RJ laughed and wrapped his arm around Jessie’s waist as she sat on his lap. Wow, what a nice picture. A child on my lap, and a mother of a child on RJ’s.
“Where are you taking her? Out with Joe?”
I smiled and looked down to the ground. Did I mention that Joe and I are dating now?
~*.*~
New York, 2009
The first thing that I set up in this apartment was my upright Steinway piano. The others were still bounded in boxes, wrapped in bubble wraps and being ignored. I placed the piano specially in the middle of my living room, because the acoustic worked better there.
I touched the keys, and played a little La Campanella from Liszt before I decided to sit on the bench and played a song I wrote for him. Matthew Sanders.
“It was you and me, and one hot summer
Beading up with sweat, all over each other, soaking wet
We didn’t have much time so we didn’t waste much
Finding all the right places you wanted me to touch
And all those memories make it so hard to forget about me.”
I’m still angry. Angry at myself because after all this years, I was still thinking about him and the drunken times we shared with each other. I remembered everything after a couple of days and a few story filler from RJ. He said that after the drinking game, I passed out on Matt’s lap. He kissed me right there, and to my surprise – RJ said I kissed him back.
The guys continued to get drunk while he and I entangled in an unbroken kiss. I remembered it all. My feelings right then. The smooth and wet texture of his skin. His tattoos. His strong arms.
Suddenly the soft pressing on the keys became harder and I changed my route to another song I wrote about him.
“Why do you waste my time?
Two steps behind, I don’t rewind
Feeling I can’t define
I give back to you
Give it all away, take it all away, give it all away – ahh fuck this!”
I slammed down the keys and got up from the bench. Why should I feel this way? He’s fucking married! To that bitch! I need to get myself a man so that I could forget all about him. I’m gonna date the first guy I’ve seen after this. I swear to God.
Quickly I grabbed my car keys and purse and headed for the door. I wanna drown myself in a bar full of hot strangers tonight, hopefully.
As I unlocked the chain on my door, someone knocked on it. I opened it and found a guy standing before me.
Joe.
“Hi, going somewhere?”
My heart pounded, remembering my oath before. Was Joe the one?
“Uh, a bar. Any bar. Care to join me?” I said, running my eyes away from him as I locked the door behind me.
“Um, I was thinking to help you with the unpacking but yeah, that’ll do too.”
He smiled and took my hand, like he always did. But tonight I felt different. At least for me. Joe had always been there for me. Looking out after me, keeping me in check and making sure I didn’t stir away from my path.
I wasn’t exactly sure why he didn’t have any interest towards other girls because he’d always been surrounded by them. We didn’t mingle around groupies, they get weird around me. But this guy here, is a fucking lead guitarist of Halestorm. Girls chased him like dogs chasing over moon.
I stopped walking and he was forced to halt too. He looked puzzled as his thick brows furrowed.
“Joe, can I ask you something?”
“Yeah. What’s wrong Lzzy?”
I bit my lip before I began. “Why don’t you have a girlfriend?”
He looked startled by my question.
“I mean, are you waiting for someone? Do I know her?”
He chuckled and clasped my hand tighter. “What’s with these questions all of a sudden?”
I shrugged. “I’m just..curious.”
He chuckled again and brought me closer to his body. I’m so used to his hug now that I don’t feel weird by his actions. But then he kissed my forehead, which he never did before.
“Yes, I was waiting for someone, and you know very well who she is.”
I glanced up to him. “I do? Who is she?”
He smiled down at me. “Her name is Elizabeth Hale.”
Notes
A/N: ops, i paired her with Joe..for now..what do you think? XD
@RyeBellamy
You're very welcome
7/29/18