Backstage

So that became their ritual. Every Friday night, Billie would come over and hang out with Sami, just so she could laugh again. When Scott was home, Billie would bring Jakob and Joey over to keep him company. Sometimes, Billie brought Adrienne; sometimes he brought Mike and Tre. When that was the case, Sami would invite Nikky and Katie. But the day that Sami remembered the most was the day Billie came over on a Saturday, randomly without even calling. Sami had no worries and was still bored for Max wasn’t home. That was the day Billie confided in her. It was September 15. The day of his dad’s death. Billie never cried, but Sami could still see the hurt and pain as he told her everything. Sami remembered rubbing his back and hugging him when she thought that he might begin to cry again. But not even that day was the most memorable. Oh no, the most memorable day was about one month later.

Sami walked in the house after dropping Scott off at a friends. The house was dark, as always. Sami was lonely, what else was new.

“Ok, that’s it! I’m calling him. God, Max this is ridiculous!” Sami said to herself. She picked up the phone and dialed Max’s cell phone number. Sami never called him, for Max had told her not to. He was always in a meeting or doing some project. The phone rang about three times until someone picked up…

A woman picked up.

“Hello?” she said. Sami looked at the screen on her phone; just to be sure she had dialed the right number. She had.

“Uh, is Max there?” Sami asked, slightly nervous now.

“Yeah, just a second,” the woman said.

“Honey! Your cell phone rang, so I picked it up for you, I hope that’s ok,” the lady said.

'Honey?'

There was a sweet laugh from the background.
“No, it’s fine. Thank you,” Sami heard Max say. There was a smacking sound from the background followed by an ‘I love you.’ Sami felt her stomach drop. What was going on? Another smacking sound. “I love you too,” Sami heard Max say to the woman. Finally he came to the phone.

“Hello?” Max said. Sami didn’t speak.

“Uh, is anyone there?” he said. Sami found her voice.

“M-Max?”

She was on the verge of tears. She didn’t even have to ask. Sami knew what had been going on behind her back.

He cheated.

“Sami?” she heard Max squeak. “Umm….umm….it’s-it’s not w-what you think. I-I swear!” he said talking a mile a minute.

“REALLY! THEN TELL ME WHAT IT IS THEN! IT BETTER NOT BE WHAT I THINK IT IS BECAUSE I’M THINKING OF SOMETHING PRETTY BAD!” Sami screamed into the phone.

“Honey! I-I…” he was cut off by the person in the background.

“Oh my God! Is it your wife?! Oh God! Oh no, she knows about us? Oh no…Oh no,” she said.

“I-I can explain,” Max stuttered. Sami was huddled on the ground crying into her knees. “I’m coming home,” Max said.

“NO YOU’RE NOT! THIS IS NOT YOUR HOME ANYMORE!” Sami screamed into the phone. But it was too late, he had already hung up.

Sami ran to the front door and bolted it. She didn’t bother locking it, for he had a key to the regular lock, not to the bolt. Sami ran around the house locking every single door that led outside, still crying as she ran. She breathed heavily in between sobs. Somehow, she ended up on the couch, clutching the phone. She was huddled in the fetal position, still crying into her knees. She felt herself click the phone on and dial a number. At least her subconscious knew what to do.

Sami took a deep breath to steady her voice as the phone rang. There was a click as someone picked it up.

“Yello?” the voice said cheerily.

“Billie?” Sami sniffed.

“Sami? Are you ok? You sound like you’re crying,” he said. She lost it. She began to sob into the phone. She hated herself for letting Billie hear this. All Sami managed to get out was, “Max,” and then began to sob harder. Billie understood immediately.

“I’m coming over."

About twenty minutes later, Sami heard a soft knock on the door. She hadn’t stopped crying and was afraid to answer it in fear of it being Max. Sami slowly walked to the window next to the front door to see who it was.

It was Billie.

Seeing him made Sami cry harder. She walked to the door, unbolted it and stood facing The 33 year old rocker. He looked into her eyes and she immediately broke down. Sami covered her face with her hands to hide herself from him. She felt his arms around her and heard him close the door. She cried onto his shoulder, just wanting everything to go away. Billie rubbed her back trying to calm her down. He spoke softly to her, trying to coax her to tell him what happened. But Sami couldn’t get the words out. She felt Billie kiss the top of her head. She continued to cry knowing that not even Billie could make this better.