Love Me Like You Did Before

Saying good-bye is always hard. But say good-bye a second time, and to someone you already had to say it to a first time, well, that's just torture. Living proof to this sad fact of nature, is me and Tina.

She hugged me, the scent of her familiar coconut cologne filled my nostrils, "I'm going to miss you, Deee."

I frowned to myself, "I'm going to miss you, too."

"Maybe I should have tried harder to convince you to stay with us the first time. That way we wouldn't have to say goodbye twice," She let go then pouted.

I shrugged, "Well, at least we got to see each other again, right?"

She nodded then let out a small smile, "I'll send them your unspoken love."

I chuckled, "Please and thank you."

She took a hold of her khaki purse, swung it over her shoulder, and stepped out of the car. With a slam of the car door, her back turned to us, and she walked towards the vanilla-colored building.

She flashed one last friendly smile of leaving sympathy then disappeared behind a wall.

Seraphina sighed then turned to me, "To the Canal Club?"

I took one last look at the hotel then nodded with a minuscule smile, "To the Canal Club."

As we walked in the door to the club, the oh so familiar smell of cigarettes drenched our clothes in a huff.

Jake walked us to me and Seraphina with open arms, "Kyra! You're here! Almost late, my darling." He said with a charming smile.

Lucky for me, I was not charmed very easily, "Noon and three minutes. Dear, God, what will we do with the wasted time that was so valuable?"

He chuckled, took a light hold on my hand, and spun me around, "My, my, my, don't you look gorgeous this afternoon."

I rolled my eyes then looked to my torso. I supposed that I looked innocently casual in my gray ankle boots, black and white camisole, black boyfriend cardigan, and gray skinny jeans. I also supposed that I looked nothing but innocent in Jake's and basically everyone else's eyes in the club. I wish I had a better sense of presumption.

I placed my white Ray Ban Wayferers on my messy bun styled hair and chuckled, "If you're insinuating anything, I'm not interested."

He shrugged then smiled, "Well, I'm taken. But I'm pretty sure that the lead singer of the headlining band is."

"Let me get this straight:you want me to do what now?"

He chuckled, "Just make them happy. I want them to come back instead of the NorVa."

I laughed once, "Always about the business."

"Yes, yes, it is." He turned to leave then spun around again, "You're going to walk up those stairs to meet the band, ask what they want, and flirt for the next five to eight hours, and I don't think you want to do that in boots."

Seraphina giggled behind me. Until now, I had completely forgotten that she was there in the first place.

I scrambled through my purse and took out my black and brown Converses, "Happy?"

He smirked, "Very much. Now, go. Work."

"Can my friend wait at the bar? She has a date with the lead from Colin Healy and the Jet Skis."

"Figured as much. She can wait there. Just don't make a fuss," he instructed.

"I won't," she squeaked.

I took off my boots and slipped on my sneakers. I nodded to Seraphina then ran upstairs. My expectations for what I was about to see on the second floor were nothing much, most likely a bunch of rugged entertainers with nothing better to do but play at some small venue for some extra cash. Oh, joy. Prima Donnas.

When I opened the door, I put on a fake smile and stepped forward.

"Hey, I'm Kyra. Jake, the venue manager sent me to... help... you-- Oh, please say I've been knocked out for the past hour and that I'm hallucinating," I panicked.

Jake walked in behind me, "Oh, good. Kyra, I see you've finally met the band's tour manager, Peter."

Peter stared at me, wide-eyed. He looked behind him and let out an uneasy breath, "Hi."

"Hi, Peter."

Jake chuckled, "Do you two know each other?"

"You could say that." I said quietly.

"Well, Kyra, make sure they are comfortable or you might as well say goodbye to the venue." He turned his heal and walked back downstairs.

I turned to Peter again and scratched my head, "I want to say goodbye to it right now."