Peter shut the pad door behind him. He began walking a familiar route. Although there was nothing familiar about where he was going. He began wringing his hands together and fished the piece of paper out of his pocket that he must have read over 30 times just making sure that he was seeing everything accurately.
It had been three months since that conversation with Davy had taken place. After they both said everything that needed to be said, they had to figure out what they were going to do. Staying in the same room now was out of the question. There were just too many hurt feelings and uncomfortableness.
Mike didn't necessarily help the situation either. The pair decided that the right thing to do was to let the band decide as a unit what was the best course of action. All Mike could do was lecture and bombard them with 'I told you so's.' That wasn't what an emotionally drained Peter and Davy had needed at that moment, but they understood where he was coming from. Micky was nothing but supportive, although he was Team Peter so he was giving Davy the cold shoulder.
Together they determined the best course of action was to temporarily make some changes and revisit things eventually to see if they could move forward. Of course things would never be back to the way they were before and there could be a new normal that would make the band functional again. Davy agreed since he was the party at fault that he would be the one to take a hiatus from The Monkees. It made the most sense since the band could work around a lack of maracas and tambourine more easily than they could a bass. There were also enough songs that Davy didn't sing to make it through any gigs that potentially would come their way.
Peter knew that Davy had nowhere to go living wise since he was from across the pond. He was the bigger person and suggested that Davy remained living at the pad under certain conditions. Firstly, they wouldn't be sharing a room anymore. Davy's punishment was that he had to share a room with Micky, which Micky was not too thrilled about initially but got over pretty quickly. Second, Davy was to make himself scarce around the pad. This seemed a little harsh, but Peter couldn't bear to be around him too much. Lastly, Davy was not to engage Peter in conversation unless it was completely necessary. Peter felt like these rules made him seem like cruel and like he couldn't handle things, but he hadn't actually came up with the rules. Davy did. He said it was the least he could do since he had greatly messed things up. And he hoped that over time everything could be different.
Peter passed April's Laundromat and thought of the simpler times. He would give anything for things not to be as complicated. He stopped in front of a vacant shop window next to the laundromat and checked out his clothing and hair. Why was he so jittery right now? He looked fine but he was scrutinizing every minute detail. That's what happened when he was nervous though he overthought everything.
The living arrangement had been going fair. There were some bumps in the road in the beginning of awkward run ins and Davy having to abruptly leave the pad when Peter decided he was staying in for the night. Peter couldn't help but feel bad about the way things had turned out, but then again the only thing he was at fault for was trusting that the relationship was going to work out.
They had had a few gigs as a trio which went smoothly. All three of them could agree though that it felt like something was missing. Mike or Micky would dare not ask Peter if he was ready to reconsider things yet. They were letting Peter work through things in his own time and he appreciated that. He wanted to give himself the proper amount of time to heal his broken heart. Even though he felt an obligation to make everything better, he also knew that it was important to be selfish right then and work on himself.
Yep everything was going as well as could be unexpected under the circumstances. That was until yesterday, when Peter's world got turned a bit upside down. When he awoke in the morning there was an envelope shoved under the front door, much like the false invitation to play at that mansion all those months ago. This time though the letter was for Peter only.
Peter now took that letter out of his pocket to read for the 31st time:
Dear Peter,
I hope you are doing well. I am writing because I am hoping that you could agree to meet with me to talk. It has been quite some time and I feel like there are some things that I've been needing to get off my chest. I understand if you are not up for it. Whether you decide to or not I will be waiting at Antonio's on Wednesday at 4. I hope to see you there.
Peter looked at his watch. 3:55. He was almost there. This was crazy. He wasn't even quite sure what was going to be talked about or even what he himself was looking to get out of this encounter. All he knew was that the fact that this letter existed meant something to him. He took a deep breath and walked through the restaurant's double doors. There standing up next to a table in the back of the room was Davy.
To be continued…
