Alex knocked on my door later that night and I made sure that I had scrubbed all of the makeup off of my face. He looked kind of surprised at something. "Are you sure that you want to go to a movie with me? I mean, we just met."
I shrugged and answered, "I told your agent guy that we were friends, and friends go to movies together right?" He nodded slowly and then smiled.
"You've had a chance to meet Ben then? He's kind of talkative." I decided not to ask him about being an agent. Instead I smiled and he said, "The problem is, he just can't keep a secret."
I began to wonder if he knew what Ben had told me and was waiting for me to say something about it. "Are we going to the movie?" I asked.
Alex looked confused and then smiled again. "Right, the movie." He shifted uncomfortably. "Ember, I know that Ben told you that I was an agent once. After the Molly thing though, I just couldn't stand to be in that office. What movie would you like to go to?"
"What was Molly like?" I asked. His eyes looked so sad that I instantly wished that I hadn't said anything. What was I thinking? Maybe I just wanted to know why he had been so devoted to her. Could I possibly be jealous of his dead girlfriend for being the center of Alex's heart?
Alex sighed wearily like he was tired of explaining everything to people.
"She, well, she was a young up and coming singer. Molly was a lot like you. She even died her hair purple to match her guitar. When she died, I was so angry at the person who killed her, I hired an investigator that Ben had suggested." He sighed again. "The investigator caught Molly's old boyfriend."
His eyes filled with anger. "I was so angry at him for killing Molly that I agreed with the investigator and had him arrested. But after I had calmed down a bit I realized that something didn't seem right. The boyfriend hadn't been seen anywhere around town at the time of Molly's death. Supposedly he had been disguised as someone else, but I still think that there's more to the story than that."
"After that I quit agenting. All of the other girls only brought back memories of Molly." He sighed for a third time, and I was beginning to wonder if he hadn't been sleeping. Then I remembered that we had both been up all night last night except for when Alex had been asleep in the hair salon. "So what movie do you want to see?"
"I'm so sorry for you Alex." I said. "You cared for Molly so much." He nodded silently and continued waiting for me to answer his question about the movie. "Could you come in? I want to talk to you about something."
I could hardly believe what I was doing. Apparently Alex couldn't either because his eyes widened and he didn't move. "Ember, we're just acquaintances. I know you from shows and stuff, but you've only known me for a day."
Something about Alex made me want to pour my heart out to him. Lately I had been feeling worried about my life, but when he was with me I felt different. I felt like I was free from my horrible history. I was tired of the nightmares that had been filling my dreams lately. They were terrifyingly vivid.
It was the same every night. I would be my fifteen year old self again, and I would go into the bathroom and see the blood everywhere. Then I would pull back the curtain and see… my twenty two year old body lying there.
Then I would wake up screaming.
"Please Alex? I really need to get something off of my chest." I stepped back and he walked in, still looking disbelieving. We both sat down at my kitchen table and the aroma of the blue flowers made the room smell sweet.
I stared into his nervous eyes. They were so deep and sparkling. He realized that I was staring into his eyes and he turned away. "So… what did you want to talk about?"
"Well, I um, Alex, I need to tell you…" I stopped. What was I doing? I sighed and tried again. "Alex, my life hasn't been perfect either." And I poured my heart out to him. He was so easy to talk to, that I just told him everything. Even the nightmare. When I was done I was sobbing and Alex was trying to comfort me.
"Ember," he said softly, "why are you telling me this? It's none of my business to know what's happened in your life. All that you've been through has made you who you are, a beautiful lady with amazing talent." He laughed shortly. "I should know, I was an agent. The nightmare seems kind of strange though. Like a warning."
He looked into my scared eyes. "But I'm sure it's not." Alex said reassuringly. Then he put a comforting arm around my shoulders.
"You're going to be famous Ember. Whether I like it or not it's not up to me to decide. It's up to fate, and I shouldn't have said anything about other rock star's experiences. You're not just another rock star. You're something different, someone better, and just because you had a bad childhood, that doesn't mean that your life will be bad. I'll be here for you- as a friend that is."
I looked up at him and saw that he was blushing. I blushed to and said, "Thanks Alex." We stared at each other for a few more seconds before He blinked and looked away and I said, "We should probably go to that movie now."
"Right! The movie." He stood up and then waited for me for a second, and then sat back down when I didn't get up. "What's wrong?"
"You really think I'm beautiful?"
Come on, you didn't think that they would actually go to a movie did you?
