In Another Life

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We found a booth to set our things, then followed Neece to a space directly in front of the stage. We talked for a short while, mainly me trying to get her to tell me who was performing. Finally someone came out and grabbed the mike. "What's up, what's up LA??" The guy yelled into the microphone. Everyone yelled back, me included. Had to get into the spirit of things. "Y'all ready for this?" I looked at Denise and shrugged since I had no idea what was going on. The guy yelled a few more things, with the crowd returning the sentiment. Then I heard him say the name. Pretty HeartBreak. My eyes grew wide, and I looked at Denise again. She grinned and nodded, as everyone around us burst our cheering. I looked up to the stage and saw Elias walk out with a mike in his hand. Pretty HeartBreak aka Elias was also one of Colby's friends. Besides that, he was an amazing singer/songwriter that I listened to every single day of my life. I had loved his music since the first day I found him, years ago, through Colby. His music, his lyrics, everything just seemed to resonate with me, like it was directly from my own head. I started screaming and yelling with the crowd, as soon as I got over my shock. I had been to only a couple of his concerts before but honestly, I tried to avoid them. I knew that Colby usually came to support his friends, and I didn't want to take the chance that I might run into him. I looked around the group of people, squinting my eyes, trying to see through the hazy room. I didn't see anyone that could have been him or his friends. There was a group of people off in the corner, in a small open room, but I couldn't see their faces. I didn't think it was him tho. I turned by attention back to Elias, who was pouring his heart into his performance and let myself go. I danced to my favorite musical artist, with my boyfriend, and my best friends by my side. It was one of the best nights of my life that was ending way to fast. Elias performed a good bit of songs and I was loving every bit of it. He finished his last song from his set, thanked the crowd, then walked off stage. I tried to see where he went, but it was too dark inside the club. "So, how great am I?" Denise asked, grinning at me. A DJ was setting up on stage to continue the music, so for now, the club was just people talking and grabbing more drinks. Sarah had disappeared during the show, and I had no idea where she was. "You're amazing," I replied, hugging her. "Seriously, the bestest best friend a girl could have." We laughed together. "Hey, I'm gonna go grab a drink. Anybody want anything?" Kenzie asked. Denise gave her some money to get whatever it was she wanted, then Kenzie looked at Justin and I. "You guys want anything?...a water or something?" She knew that I wasn't drinking. Unfortunately, being an addict, I couldn't drink. While I was clean and sober, and had been for a while, I was and would always be an addict. Just a recovering addict. Drinking was included in substance abuse and I didn't want to trigger anything. I never wanted to revisit that place again. I had drank one or two White Claws at home with Justin, but never more than that. "Yeah, I'll take a water," I replied. "Me too," Justin said, gripping my hand in his. The DJ finally started some music, and I let my body sway with the beat. "You wanna sit down for a bit?" Justin asked. I shook my head. "No way, you know I love to dance." He nodded, as Denise grabbed my hand and swung me around. We were still laughing when Kenzie walked back over to us. Her face looked like she had seen a ghost. "You okay?" I sort of yelled over the music. She nodded, and looked at Denise. "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" Denise looked confused but nodded. "Yeah, of course." She looked at me. "We'll be right back." I nodded, and went back to swaying with Justin. He was actually a really good dancer. "What was that about?" he asked, nodding towards my friends. They were talking animatedly, staring off into the dark corner of the room. I shrugged. "If they wanted me to know, they would've told me. Besides, whatever it is, Neece will tell me later." I trusted her completely, with everything in me. They finally walked back over to us. Denise was chewing her bottom lip nervously. "You guys ready to go? I was thinking we could check out another club or something," she said. I furrowed my brow. "Why?" I asked. "It's great here and it might suck somewhere else. What's going on?" She shook her head. "Nothing. I was just thinking that we could check out a few different places tonight instead of always coming here." I knew she was lying. Something was up. I could see it her face and Kenzie looked so guilty, it was actually pathetic. I wasn't going to push it though. Maybe they had a surprise for me somewhere and was trying to keep it a secret. "Okay, fine." I replied. "Let's find Sarah first though." I pulled out my phone to text her. Soon as I did, someone bumped into me and I dropped my phone. "Oh, I'm so sorry," a female voice replied. I leaned over to pick up my phone. My hand reached it at the same time a familiar ring clad one did. I froze. It couldn't be. I hadn't run into him in the entire two years that I had been here. There was no way that tonight, of all nights, that we were at the same club, at the same time. The hand grabbed my phone, and I lifted myself up, raising my head slowly to meet the gaze that I remembered so well.