"Loren, Emmet and Drew have finally arrived. I need you and Myles to come with me, so the press can get some group shots of all of you."
"Duty calls." She groaned.
"Will you excuse us guys." He scooted out of the booth and grabbed Loren's hand guiding her through the crowd.
Eddie cleared his throat as he watched the two leave hand and hand. His heart ached watching this. That should be him holding her hand not that other guy. He finished off the rest of his drink with one gulp. Mel looked at him concern written all over her face. He looked so broken at that moment. It killed her to see him this way. She put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly.
"You okay over there?" Eddie looked up at her gave her a weak smile.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Will you excuse me; I need to get some air before I perform." He muttered softly.
"Yeah man."
Eddie made his way through the mob of people and upstairs to his dad's former apartment which Max now called his office, but it more of a junk room. Piles of miscellaneous things were scattered throughout the room. As the door shut the roar of the crowd became nothing more than muffled noise. Eddie stepped out onto the balcony and took a deep breath as he tried to clear his head. Watching how Loren and Myles were together made his body fill with rage and he needed to calm himself down. Usually he wasn't the jealous type, but things were just different now. He didn't have the reassuring kiss, touch, embrace, or even a simple yet sweet smile from Loren that would always put him at ease and remind him that he was the only one for her. Eddie became lost in his thoughts and didn't even hear his dad come up stairs. When Max got to the sliding glass doors he saw his son leaning against the side of his balcony gazing at the city, lost in his own world. Max's heart ached at the sight in front of him. His son looked, so broken at the moment.
"Hey son, what are you doing out here?" He leaned against the railing next to his son.
"Just needed some fresh air? Get away from all the chaos and nose." He gestured towards downstairs not looking away from the view.
"And Loren?" Eddie just shook his head and sighed at his father's words.
"I didn't say that Pops."
"You didn't have to. It's written all over your face." Eddie chuckled bitterly.
"Am I that transparent?" He turned around to face his father.
"Only to your father." He smirked all knowingly which caused them both to laugh. Eddie's smile quickly faded as his broken demeanor returned. "You want to talk about it?" He put his hand on his sons shoulder and squeezed it slightly in an effort to comfort him. Eddie turned around looking out at the city as he tried to find the words.
"I-I don't know Pops; its harder than I thought it would be—being around her again without being with her." His voice was full of hurt, anger and most of all confusion.
"I know it's difficult right now son, but things have a way of working themselves out." He reassured lamely. Eddie just shook his head at his father's words, but Max knew better.
Max truly believes that Eddie and Loren are meant to be together. He had never seen two people more in love then them. The truth was that Loren had gotten scared for some reason unknown to him. Max knows it won't be easy, but knows that they will find their way back to each other. It is just going to take some time.
"Yeah well right now that's a little hard to believe." Max patted his sons back.
"Have a little faith in her Ed."
Eddie didn't say a word and Max patted his back once more before disappearing back downstairs. Max knew that his son just needs some time to think by himself. As he made his was downstairs he saw Loren and her band members talking near the bar. Max couldn't help, but to notice that Loren seemed somewhat annoyed with conversation.
"So, should we be insulted that we aren't performing with you tonight?" Emmet asked sarcastically. They all laughed a little.
"I know I am." Myles put his hands over his chest acting hurt. Loren rolled her eyes at his antics.
"No way, trust me I would rather be performing with you guys up there. The label insisted that we perform together." She took a sip of her drink as she noticed the conversation was becoming somewhat tense. Drew was shaking his head.
"It makes no sense to me. You spent all tour trying to separate yourself from Eddie Duran; you wanted people to see you as Loren Tate not Leddie. And now that you have that you're going to perform with him?" Loren crossed her arms over her chest. She looked over at Emmet and Myles who were starring a whole through the floor. Obviously they agreed with him.
Loren sighed in frustration. She understood where he was coming from. She did spend most of her tour trying to become more of her own artist instead of be lumped together as Leddie. Not, because Loren didn't want to be Leddie, but because it hurt too much to be reminded of what she had with him. Loren wasn't naive though she knew this performance would bring up Leddie rumors, but that didn't mean she wasn't her own person and artist for that matter.
"I will still be seen as Loren Tate. It's called a duet. A lot of artists do it." Sarcasm dripped from her final words.
"You know your situation is different. Why perform with him again? It seems like a way to create a lot of unneeded drama with the media." Myles tried to explain.
"Not that I have to explain my actions, but this is a great opportunity to start spreading word of the tour. We can use this performance to promote for the world tour that we are co-headlining." Her voice slightly raised as her anger started to build. Loren didn't understand why they were being this way.
"Co-headlining with your ex; sounds like a disaster just waiting to happen if you ask me." Emmet muttered finally chiming into the conversation again.
"Well no one asked you or any of you for that matter."
"Loren look—"
"No you look." She spat cutting Drew off in mid explanation. "Eddie and I agreed to be friends, because of our parents and work. Tonight we are simply two artists that are performing together. There is no Leddie; there is Loren Tate and Eddie Duran. Stop making this more than it is."
"If you say so." Myles put his hands up in the air surrendering. Before anyone else could say anything Kelly walked up to Loren, tablet in hand.
"Loren you're on in ten minutes, you need to get backstage for touch ups."
"Yeah I'm coming Kel." Kelly took off for the backstage assuming Loren was right behind her. Loren turned around facing the guys. "Thanks for your support guys. Glad to know I can count on you." Without another word she turned around and made her way to the stage. Loren tried to shake off their conversation and focus on performing. She took a deep breath as she made it backstage where she was met by a frantic looking Jake.
"Loren did you see Eddie out there?" His voice sounding clearly annoyed at Eddie's absence.
"No, I haven't seen him for a while now." Jake groaned.
"That's just great, I cannot find him and he's not answering his phone."
"Jake you know how he is before a show. He probably went up to Max's office to clear his head." Jake's face beamed from her words.
"Right, right. I knew there was a reason we kept you around." He joked as he took off upstairs. Loren just laughed.
"G thanks!" She yelled sarcastically, but Jake was already at the top of stairs.
Jake made his way through the clutter of Max's office. He looked around and found no Eddie insight.
"Eduardo, are you up here?"
"Yeah man, out here." He yelled from the balcony.
"Come on, you're going on in like five minutes. Loren's already backstage touching up her make up." He walked over to the sliding glass doors and saw Eddie rubbing his face with his hands.
"Alright, alright I'm coming." Jake could tell by Eddie's demeanor something was up.
"Hey man, are you okay?"
"Yeah of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" His eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.
"Well I know it cannot be easy working with your exe—"
"I'm fine Jake. Let's get down there." He snapped harshly as he pushed past Jake and started walking towards the door.
"Alright man whatever you say." He threw his hands up in the air.
As they walked downstairs Eddie scanned the room. He saw Mel and Ian sitting in a booth near the stage. Ian whispered something in her ear which caused Mel to giggle. They shared a sweet kiss as they starred in each other's eyes. Eddie smiled slightly to himself. He was happy his friend finally found someone to share his life with, but Eddie couldn't help but to be a little envious of their relationship. They have what he and Loren once had. Max and Nora were behind the bar joking with Grace. Eddie then noticed Loren's band members standing off to the side of the bar practically glaring at Eddie. He wondered what their problem was. As he made it backstage he stopped dead in his tracks as he saw Loren in the reflection of the mirror as she finished her make-up which was done natural as always. His breath hitched as she turned around and gave him a warm smile. After a few moments of silence he broke his gaze from her and cleared his throat.
"Wow. You look beautiful Lor." He scratched the back of his head.
"Why thank you, you don't look too bad yourself." Her words sweet and sincere as their eyes locked once more.
For a moment it felt as if nothing had actually changed between them. That none of this past year had ever occurred. That was until the sound of Daniel, who was up on stage voice brought them back to reality.
"Thank you so much for coming and celebrating many years of great music being made. I am so honored to announce our final performance of the night."
"You ready for this?" Loren asked as she took a deep breath. There was no going back now. Eddie smirked.
"That's usually my question for you." Loren laughed as she tried to hide the slight sign of blushing. They both turned towards the stage and listened for their cue to walk out.
"They both are amazing artist, but together they are phenomenal. Please welcome to the stage Loren Tate and Eddie Duran."
As they walked out onto the stage Daniel brought them into a hug and they thanked him for his kind words. Along with the cheers of the crowd came whispers and questioning glances from one another. Loren and Eddie had not shared a stage since New Year's Eve almost a year and a half ago. They both shook it off as they greeted the crowd.
"How's everybody doing tonight?" Loren licked her lips as the mob of people cheered, for the most part ending the whispers.
"It is amazing to see so many wonderful artists in one place celebrating what we love the most and that's making great music." Again the crowd roared.
"Yeah and we have the perfect song that we wrote together just for tonight."
"It's called, Live Like Music, and we hope you enjoy."
The music started to play and Loren and Eddie gave each other one more glance. Loren smiled reassuringly and Eddie nodded.
"I forgot what this is all about
Lost, surrounded by a storm of doubt
I, I make it so hard
Hard enough to keep it up
And I can't give into what they want
And I'm not gonna
I wanna live like music
I wanna live like music
Songs about justice
Songs about love
Songs about freedom
And never giving up I wanna live like music
I'm not so sure with who I am
Now, it's gotten way outta hand
I spread too thin
And it's hard enough to zero in
On the heart of it
The soul of it
And now I know that
I wanna live like music
I wanna live like music
Songs about justice
Songs about love Songs about freedom
And never giving up
I wanna live like music
Music
Like music
I'm gonna take it back
To the cafe bars
Show you what I got
With my guitar
And I'm not gonna hold anything back
Gonna strip it right down
Put it on the floor track
Oh yeah, yeah yeah
Hey
I wanna live like music
I wanna live like music
Pouring out the windows
Rolling down the street
Punching every station
Singing dirty and sweet
I wanna live like music
Like music
Like music"
As the music died down the crowd went wild cheering. Eddie and Loren gave each other a side-hug as the waved to the mob of screaming artists and apparently fans.
"Thank you guys, so much." She was grinning from ear to ear.
"Have a great rest of your night everyone." They waved good bye and walked off to the side of the stage.
"That was great." She squealed pulling Eddie into a hug.
"We were great." Eddie corrected as they slightly pulled out of the embrace.
"Yeah, we were."
Eddie's arms were still around her waist holding her close to his body. Their eyes locked and at the moment the roar of the crowd disappeared. All you could hear was the sound of their hearts pounding. Eddie couldn't help himself, but to lean in as he saw Loren lick her lips. Was it Eddie's imagination or was she leaning in as well?
Sorry for being MIA my computer has decided to quit on me as soon as school started up. Still is, I just got some free time on my roommates computer. (Actually got a majority of my homework done for once.) Be patient please, because I don't know when it will be fixed. Sorry to bum you out.
I know this chapter ended weird, but I decided to split this chapter up. Manly because I don't have the time to edit the entire chapter and I didn't want to keep you guys waiting any longer.
So, when I do get my computer back I will be starting a new HH story. This idea came into my head one night and actually went into a totally different direction (yeah that's how my mind works). I have been writing (old school with pen and paper) like crazy the past few days and I have the first few chapters written out. So, I'll give you a heads up when I am about to publish it.
Please let me know what you think. I have a lot of ideas and your thoughts help me narrow them down. So please R&R. I'll update as soon as I can. Love you guys!