"Get your shoes on, we are going out." Marching into Joe and Kevin's apartment, I head right towards a haggard looking Joe on the couch.
"Can we not today, I'm recovering." He whispers in a hoarse voice.
"Nope, here" I pick up and throw his sneakers at his body; they just bounce off the couch. He leans over and slowly ties the laces and stands up his wrinkled navy v-neck riding the edge of his gross stained gray sweat pants. "I don't care how you feel, or how you look. You have a lot to catch me up on."
Joe stands and shuffles over towards an end table picking up his keys and cell phone, reaching the elevator just as the doors open. We stand in silence, as the car shoots downward. "Aren't you supposed to be nursing your hangover husband, not forcing me to go out?" he asks, as he follows me out the open elevator doors into the parking garage to my waiting BMW.
Unlocking the car, I look over the roof to his worn face. "I already took care of him, went out early this morning to get his favorite hangover food, left it on the counter with a note that I was with you. Now get in."
Forty silent minutes later, I parked my car in the parking lot of our favorite crappy diner on the way outskirts of L.A.
"Miley we can't talk about this here." Joe said while climbing out of the car, obviously craving a plate of greasy fries despite what his words said.
Climbing out I locked the car and slowly strode over towards Joe, who was waiting on the curb. "Joe please," I looped my arm through his and pulled him toward the doors. "This place has the worst food, no one ever comes here. And they always leave us completely alone. You are just looking for a way out." Pushing open the reflective and heavy doors fresh air conditioning welcoming us. A women dressed in all black perked up from what appeared to be sleep as we walked in.
"Our usual spot." Joe nodded at her while pointing towards the back. Grabbing two menus we walked back as the woman feel back to sleep.
"I don't know why you even got menus. We always get the same thing." I let out a small chuckle while sliding into the deep red vinyl booth.
"Well I've decided to break it off with Lilly." Joe hung his head low, it was obvious this wasn't an easy decision for him to make.
"Wow, jumping right into the subject are we? Well, I can't believe it in one sense and in the other I can." Reaching across the table I stroked his arm in a comforting manor.
"I realized that if I have to spend so much time trying to stay away from Marcy and Kevin, and all that temptation that something isn't right. And while I try and figure out how to deal with all my old Taylor junk mixed with my brother dating her twin, it isn't fair to Lilly to be strung along. As much as I love her I can't do that to her." His voice cracked at the end, as he reached for my hand squeezing it tight.
"That makes sense Joe. It hurts but it's understandable. No one deserves to be put in the middle of a mess like that. You are taking her out of the equation before she had a chance to get to hurt. It's admirable in a way." I kept my voice at a whisper, wanting nothing more than to see his pain disappear. This was hard for him, his first real solid relationship in almost nine years, and it ends because of the pain and mess he was in before.
"Miley, she is so much like her. And not only do I have to see her in the studio I have to see her when I go out, and in my apartment. She is in my personal and business world and every time I see her I see the pain and the mess I was in for years. I see the attraction, it's like a car crash, I want to look away I want to stop it. But I can't. What the hell am I supposed to do, it's not even really Marcy, its Taylor that I'm seeing. She is who I'm getting sucked into." His eyes screamed desperation.
"Joe you are going to kill me, but I think you should call her. I think that you will be able to move on and figure everything out once you and Taylor make an official end to things. You never did, you just stopped hooking up, and you just stopped. It was the cycle of fighting and hooking up and going out with other people then hooking up, then a fight. It was like that for years and then you just stopped returning her texts. Maybe, just maybe this is the world's way of telling you that you need to talk to Taylor. That there is more there than you know…" My voice trailed off as I saw tears fall down Joes face and a waitress arrive, already holding out meals. Odd, since we never even ordered..
I let the silence fill the air around us as we picked at our food, eyes locking every few minutes. Occasionally one of us would look up, parting our mouths preparing to let words drop them shut that door and continue eating. Finally, between bites, I let free a thought swirling in my head.
"I have to meet with Hollywood tomorrow." The words I knew could mean nothing or everything, it all depended on wear Joe's head was.
Instantly his face changed, he understood. "Damn, what are you going to do?" He lifted his fork, the silver bouncing light in every direction.
"I'm not sure; I mean they have every right to break my contract. I bailed two days before I was meant to hit the studio. I would understand." Pain shot down my legs, as the baby shifted in every direction.
"I know I don't have to say it but, you can always record with us. I don't understand why you don't anyway." He shook his overly grown dark mop, shaking off some thought I didn't catch soon enough.
"I'm aware, but I've always thought to keep our business and personal lives as separate as possible. I know it's hard because the lines are blurred so often. But when I can really avoid it I want to. I mean its one thing to work on a song together, it's a whole other thing to record under you guys, have you guys give me a pay check, have my husband and best friends give me a pay check! And then promote me and so on. Really Joe thinks about it…" My legs were on fire, without thinking I shifted on the vinyl, regretting the decision as soon as my legs and the vinyl separated.
"True, that is very true. I just, I don't know. Fuck Miley are you okay?"
Joe's face turned to stone, as I wiggled back and forth in my seat trying to relieve the pain now covering my entire lower half. Dragging my legs across the sticky red vinyl, I stood up the pain slightly less. Without acknowledging Joe I swiped the check which the waitress knew from our frequency of the diner to just leave with our meal, and swung my worn bag over my shoulder. Bee-lining for the door, I wiped out two crisp twenties to pay for our ten dollar meal, "keep the change" I mouthed, the pain intensifying as I reached my car. Within the seconds it took me to dig for my keys and bring them up for air, Joe was by my side swiping my keys and sliding into the driver's side.
"You, aren't driving." It was nothing less of a command as he waited for me to waddle to the other side. Sliding through the side streets towards the freeway seconds later Joe finally spoke again, "Something's wrong right? I mean I don't know for sure but I have to assume from your actions that something isn't right with the baby?" His voice was shaking; he didn't know how to handle something like this.
"My legs are killing me, so is my lower stomach; I guess it has to do with the baby. I just want to get to the doctor please. I just want to know everything okay." I could hear my voice get higher as I fought the growing pain.