Photograph: The Summer We Lived For

The air was clean and crisp. The rain was easing off and the sun started to shine. Nattie was still asleep. I had just got up and had a massive hangover, and I knew Nattie would when she got up. We had been pretty wild last night. Between the drinking and the dancing, I'm shocked that we ended up in the right room. Nattie and I were having the greatest time last night. I wished we had more nights like that. The only issue I had was, last night Tyson brought up all the old memories. I guess I should have seen it coming. Tyson and Nattie had been together years. He had been there for her before I had been. They were inseparable but, last Summer (the Summer Nattie and I got close) things changed. Nattie and I had never been friends, but one hot June morning it changed...

"Hi this is Melina. I'm calling to let you know I missed my flight and I'll be driving very fast to get to the show. Sorry for the inconvenience." I was driving my rental down some abandoned road when I noticed a tiny, blue car parked on the side of the road. Natalya was standing in front of the smoking engine yelling to her cell phone. I decided to pull over and give her a ride.

"Hop in." I opened the passenger-side door and popped the trunk. She almost didn't take the offer. Tyson was on the phone and she seemed very mad.

"Need to vent to someone?" I turned the radio down and waited for a reply.

"Kind of. No offense but I don't know you well enough."

"That's okay. I don't tell secrets."

"Well, Tyson cheated on me."

"Oh." I never knew Tyson to be the type to do that and so it came across as a surprise I guess. Over the Summer Nattie and I grew very very close. We were practically sisters. I was the only one who knew about Tyson's infidelity. It remains that way. Nattie and I were together more than she was with Tyson. We were just that way. I have never felt so loved by someone ever.

"Melina?" Nattie was wide awake and looked like hell.

"Yes Nattie?"

"I think I got hit by a freight train." I just laughed she rolled off the bed and forced her body into the bathroom for a shower. My phone started buzzing.

"Who in the world would be texting me at seven in the morning?" I reached for the phone and the text was blank. The number unknown. Then the number called.

"Hello?"

"Melina. Where is Nattie?"

"She's in the showe-"

"I'm coming to get her. You tell her to get out of the shower and get dressed now."

Click

I knew it was Tyson's voice but I was really confused and a little mad.

"Nattie!"

"Yeah?"

"Tyson is coming."

"When."

"Now."

Tyson was bagging on the door and Nattie leaped out of the shower and opened the door.

"Hey baby what are yo-"

"Grab your things. We're leaving now." Nattie looked really upset. Tyson came over and grabbed her bags and took her by the arm and left. I stood in the middle of our hotel room, with the shower running wondering what had just happened. There was a number of possibilities as to what he was doing. None made sense.

"Tyson. I don't understand."

"You should. I know what you did last night."

"I went out with the girls, you knew that. There's nothing wrong with that."

"You saw him didn't you?"

"No."

"Don't lie."

"I'm not lying!" There I sat in a mint green towel with wet everything being accused of cheating, "You're the one that cheats not me!" I shouldn't have said it but I did and Tyson slammed the on the breaks.

"How dare you." He slapped me across the face. The sting of the slap hurt more than any sick bump I've ever taken. Tears welled up in my eyes.

"We are done Tyson Kidd!" I rushed to grab my phone and got out of the car and just walked as far away as I could. I called Melina.

"Mel Mel!"

"What's wrong Nattie?"

"Come get me." When she finally got to me, my hair was dry. I crawled into the backseat of the car and laid there.

"Let me see your face."

I liked up at Melina long enough for her to get a good look, "I'll kill him. He's a dead son of a bitch." Melina drove fast and my body moved with the curves. I had just ended things with a guys I had been with for seven years. I loved him and he had just left the nastiest bruise across my face. How can you fix an abusive relationship? How could I love anyone like that so much? The pain spreading across my face was the last thing on my mind. I have to work on the same brand as this guy. This guy is friends with everyone backstage. What am I going to do?