A Summer to Remember(41)
She stood and began to pace back and forth. “I was a coward and a fool…I have to live with what I did and you don’t think it burns Seth alive I killed our child? It absolutely drives me crazy because I am in love with him. But love doesn’t mean shit when you have an overbearing mother and a wealthy step-father who are willing to cut you off at the drop of a hat for making a selfish and silly mistake.”
“Then make me understand,” I pleaded out loud. “Okay, you slept with Seth and…what happened? Did you two use any protection? Was it planned or an accident? What the hell is it with this guy that is so special you can’t let go of him.”
“What’s so special about Paul?” Talia turned toward me and stopped pacing. “Seth is everything to me. He’s my first love and the only man who has ever truly understood me. We know one another because we were each other’s first loves. He broke my virginity that night when I slept with him after the concert and even now, I know I was waiting…for him.
“It never seemed fair how we were just ripped apart from one another and although he is part of this huge band now and can have any woman he wants, he always comes back to me. Do you know what that feels like? How I can’t find happiness or contentment unless I am in his arms? He’s the air I breathe and the first person I want to see when I wake up in the morning and I ruined our chance to be happy over bullshit!”
I stood and walked over to my best friend. “If you feel that strongly about him then why don’t you do something about it? Make him stop sleeping with groupies and force him to make a commitment to you? I want you to be happy and I can’t stand the way you mope about because everything in your life has managed to fall apart.
“You can’t be a singer because they would rather you write songs for other well-known artists and you can’t be with the man you want because there seems to be this impasse between the two of you. Do you both get off on hurting one another or is this some kind of game you like to play? Would you be happier living in L.A. again?”
She touched my face softly with her right hand before she let it drop to her side. “I’m not going back to L.A. but I won’t be staying here either. He’s got a low key pre-concert gig in Miami next month. He’s invited all of my closest friends to the show and after party which is being held at The Setai Hotel. These are just teaser shows before they officially kick off their tour in September with the first show being in Las Vegas. They are headlining with Scarlet Fever and they’re extremely excited about the developments. He wants me to accompany them on tour so we can work on their new album. As soon as the tour ends, they are going back into the studio and they want the album written by then. We’ve even come up with a title: Gorgeous Deceptions. I already penned the lyrics for the title track and the band is really stoked. They want to use it as part of the show even if it will be on the new album.”
I allowed the bombshell to sink in though I wasn’t the least bit surprised. Talia was tired of following her parents’ rules and now she was going to live the life she wanted to live whether they approved or not.
“I suppose that is good news, right?”
“It depends who you ask. My mother is having a shit fit and my step-dad isn’t handling it much better but I can’t live my life for them. I need to do what makes me happy and this might lead to studio time. He wants us to do a duet together and I think it is a great idea.”
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “You mean he isn’t intimidated by your Mariah Carey-Christina Aguilera pipes?”
“Not really because he knows I can tone it down for the song and it truly is beautiful…when we sang Acapella and also with him only playing the acoustic guitar, it was mind-blowing.”
“If this is what you want to do then you know I will support you. You’re my best friend and I only want you to be happy—”
“Listen, I am not trying to become another Sharon den Adel or Amy Lee. I have absolutely no desire to be a rock chick. Unfortunately, I am being pushed in that direction. I’d rather be a Rihanna and be able to decide what fits a certain song and go with it. I want my albums to be a roller coaster ride of emotion and an exploration of music. So, if I have a few rock-influenced tracks, that would be cool but I also want to do some neo-soul and dance songs as well,” Talia explained.
I embraced my best friend before we separated. “I think you are capable of doing anything you want to do. Your ability to play piano doesn’t hurt either—”