the river | e. roundtree

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AURORA
—

Aurora was the name of their newest album. It was so close to being finished. Kathryn spend so many hours in that studio playing her heart out, staying up until the crack of dawn to get songs finished. They had to be perfect.

Then she'd come home get fucked up with Karen, Graham, Warren and Eddie. Every single time she'd end up in Eddie's bed, it was becoming a pattern and when Kathryn was sober she was kicking herself for doing it again.

They had a few songs left to record and one night, once they had gotten home from the studio, before the partying began, after a long and torturous day of watching Warren and Kathryn be all over each other. Eddie finally snapped.

Eddie cornered Kathryn in her bedroom, right before she could start smoking a joint and finally confronted her.

"What's going on between you and Warren?" Eddie asked, his eyes narrowing. Kathryn looked at him like he was crazy. "Are you two seeing each other? I mean what is up with all the touchy feely bullshit?" Eddie asked.

Kathryn laughed. "I am not dating Warren," Kathryn said.

"So why do you only want me when you're drunk or fucked up on drugs, huh?" Eddie's eyebrows knitted together. "Do you want both of us is that what this is? You want Warren in public and me in private?"

Kathryn stood up from her bed, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Eddie, calm down," Kathryn said. "Warren and I are just friends. That's it, that's all there is too it."

Eddie started to feel like a fool for ever thinking they were more than that, he's embarrassed himself for no good reason. "So then what are we?" Eddie asked.

"We're friends too," Kathryn smiled, taking a few steps back from him.

"Friends don't have sex," Eddie rolled his eyes.

"Well, we can be the first friends that do," Kathryn replied.

"What if I don't want to be friends?" Eddie asked. Kathryn felt her smile drop. "What if I like you, huh? What if I don't just want you when it's dark out and no one can see us?" Eddie asked, taking a step closer to her. "What if I want to be with you when we're sober as well?"

Kathryn swallowed the lump in her throat, avoiding his eyes. She couldn't ignore her feelings any longer, they all came bubbling to the surface. Kathryn so clearly liked Eddie not even her sober mind could ignore it. Kathryn was falling in love with him, she could tell.

"Can we talk about this later?" Kathryn asked. "I'm tired is all."

"Fucking hell," Eddie shook his head, leaving her room and closing the door on his way out.

Kathryn changed out of her clothes and into her pyjamas, she laid in her bed and silently sobbed. Not because she was upset, but because she was terrified. She let herself feel things for Eddie and now she was in the firing line to get hurt again. Kathryn couldn't stand it, feeling so powerless, so out of control.

Kathryn didn't drink that night, she didn't do any drugs. She cried for a while and then went to sleep.

—
Kathryn Summers: I stayed sober for weeks on end. If I was sober I had more control. I wouldn't end up in Eddie's bed.
So I stopped drinking, I stopped doing drugs.
I stopped it all just to keep myself away from him.
Eventually I started avoiding him all together, even when I was sober.
—
Eddie Roundtree: I thought I had crossed the line. I thought that maybe I had hurt her.
I couldn't understand how one day we were friends and the next she wanted nothing to do with me.
It pained me to think that I had hurt her but I just let her be.
I figured if she wanted to talk, she'd come to me.
—