Frustration -SERIES- [Part 2] Headphones & Reveries [boyxboy]

Chapter Eighteen

The shower helped. Not a lot, but feeling like I was washing the grime and the grease and the smell and the feeling of his hands on me all off was kind of cathartic and even though I didn't feel human afterwards, I felt closer to it.

'You look better,' Josh commented when I emerged. He had put some of my clothes on the dresser and I got dressed quickly, feeling like the clothes were giving me an extra armour.

'What do you feel like watching?' Rachel asked. She was sitting up on the bed with the TV remote in her hands, flicking through the channels noncommittally.

'Something mindless,' I said, crawling up to sit beside her. 'Reality TV or something.'

We settled in for a couple of hours of TLC until around quarter past nine, when my phone started ringing. Feeling my stomach drop rapidly, I looked at the screen, worrying that it would somehow be Jerry or Ronnie, or, possibly worse, Conor.

It was Chloe.

'Hello?'

'Hey. I'm outside.'

'Outside the hotel?'

'Yeah. Come on. We're going to be late.'

'Late for what?'

'Your meeting with Piaf,' she said firmly.

'Oh,' I mumbled, hoping Josh and Rachel couldn't hear her end of the conversation. 'Um. I'm not sure, Chlo. I don't think-'

'No,' she said firmly. 'I'm sorry, I know it feels like I'm being a bully and I agree that the timing sucks but I'm not letting you throw away your whole career over this. I said I was going to do everything I could to help you, and I am. I'm getting you to this meeting, you're going to sign those papers, it will take fifteen minutes. And then I'm taking you for frozen yogurt and then I'll bring you back here, if that's what you want.'

It was starting to seem like it would take more energy to argue with her than it would to just do what she said, so I relented and told her I'd be down in a minute.

'What's going on?' Josh asked.

'My meeting with Piaf is today,' I muttered, heaving myself off the bed and slipping on the shoes Josh had brought for me from my room.

'Oh, shit, of course. I can't believe I forgot. What time will you be finished? We'll come and meet you and go do something to celebrate.'

'No, that's okay,' I said. 'I'm just going to come straight back here after. I'm not feeling well,' I said, which wasn't a lie. 'I think it's gonna be a couple of days before I can really do anything.' At least I was buying myself some time, I figured, as Josh looked displeased but nodded.

'Okay,' he said. 'Well, we can celebrate here tonight in that case. We'll order tonnes of room service and watch shitty TV all day.'

I managed another smile. 'Sounds good.'

I made my way through the suite with my hands stuffed deep in my pockets, keeping my head down and trying to just get out of there without attracting any attention, but everybody was more or less up and awake now and a bunch of them were sitting around the island in the kitchen, eating breakfast, and there was no way I could avoid passing them.

I tried to move quickly but of course they spotted me and Conor jumped up, coming towards me even as I continued moving away from him.

'Tyler,' he said, looking guilty. 'Hey, look, I'm sorry, I was being an asshole, it's not-'

'I have to go,' I muttered, skipping out and making sure the door closed behind me. Again, he didn't follow me.

————————————