Let My Heart Rest In Pieces

Let My Heart Rest In Pieces 087

Love Kills Slowly

I winced for what seemed like the millionth time and had to stop myself from glaring at the man that was pulling roughly at my hair. He had seen the look before and ignored it, so it’s not like it really helped all that much, but it felt almost instinctual. I don’t know why it took so long to create a simple look that would go along with my simple attire, but he seemed to be very into it.

It was the night for the big concert that I everyone had been anticipating for the whole year and I had spent the first few hours in the very empty music hall. At first we had gone over the order of everything with everyone involved. After, Mr. Smith introduced us to the other acts, which was an amazing moment because these guys were professionals. Afterwards, we had been whisked away by make-up artist and hair stylists. Tamara and I had been separated once again, so I couldn’t complain to her about the horrible treatment, but I would see her soon.

Right now, the hair stylist, Rico, was pulling and pinning my hair into a beautifully curled, messy side pony tail. It looked gorgeous, I admit, but it also looked so very simple. Which was why I was confused why it was taking so much time. The make-up woman had taken less time with me than he had.

My eyes had a smoky look to them, all very natural colors that went from almost white to a dark brown. We couldn’t do any other colors because all my clothes had different colors to them, so it was just easier to keep it looking natural.

Rico stepped back from me and gave me the first smile I had seen since he had been paired with me. He looked like my made up hair was his baby.

“It’s perfect. It’ll be easy for me to take out when we need to switch to a different hair style.”

“You know we don’t have that much time to fix it in between songs, right?” I informed. I got a glare from the man and just put my hands up in defense. What a drama queen.

When the man walked away, I slipped out of the chair and padded over to the dress rack that was holding my three pairs of clothes. They were in order, that way I wouldn’t get confused, so I started to take out the first outfit of the night. I wasn’t going to be on for a little while, but I was required to stay in the wings of the stage so I could watch all the other acts. It was going to be a little boring just standing around, but at least I got to hear everyone.

As I started to slip my clothes on, I started to think about the days prior to the concert. The last official days of school for Seniors had gone and passed, seeing as we were all done with finals. Our Junior friends weren’t happy, but we didn’t really care at the moment. All we had left were graduation practices and then the actual graduation. It was so exciting, I was almost shaking with excitement.

However, I was going to miss it all. The school, the teachers, the kids, and most of all my friends. It might not have been so bad if I wasn’t moving half way across the country, but I was too far in to take back my offer, and everyone seemed okay with it. I could only stay in touch with phone calls and letters and hope that no one forgot me.

Just as I finished putting on my heels, there was a knock on my dressing room door. I buckled my heels before walking over and opening the door. There, in a very large group, were all my friends—with my father in the background—and all of them were beaming at you.

“Who the hell let you all back here?” I said sarcastically, opening the door fully so they could pull me into a big hug.

“Who the hell let you wear that?” Roxy scoffed, pulling away to look me up and down.

“Yeah, I thought you said we had to dress up for this!” Bert exclaimed. He was uncharacteristically dressed in a pair of slacks and a nice button up shirt. It was scary how nice he looked when he bothered trying.

“I have one special condition,” I teased, smiling at them all. That’s when I noticed we were missing two members of the group.

“Where are Frank and Jeremy?” I questioned, my brows furrowed.

“Frank went to go wish his girlfriend good luck, and Jeremy said he had to go grab something from the car.”

I huffed and crossed my arms. “I see how it is; go ignore his best friend for his girlfriend.”

One of the stage hands started down the hallway, a little ear piece in that made him look all professional. “Envy, there’s ten minutes before we start. I’m afraid you have to tell your friends to find their seats and make your way to the wings.”

“You heard him guys, to your seats!”

With a bunch of mumbled farewells, all the younger people left, leaving just me and my father. He pushed himself off the wall, his lazy smile nice and big. I gave him the same grin before giving him a hug.

“You look gorgeous honey.”

“Just wait until you see my dresses,” I laughed, pulling away to meet his eyes. He pushed a strand of hair back behind my shoulder and held it firmly.

“I just wanted to tell you that your mother would be so proud of you today. If she could be here, she would be her bawling her eyes out right now.”

I hugged my dad again and rested my head gently on his shoulder, careful of my make-up. “I know she would be. I just wish she could be here to see me.”

Dad kissed the top of my head and pulled away, turning me around to see Jeremy jogging up to us, his blonde hair a little messed up. “Go talk to your boyfriend, he’s got something for you.”

I was pushed forward a little bit by the older man, making me stumble, but Jeremy’s solid body was there to catch me in his arms. I looked up at him with a gentle smile. He kissed my lips softly and moved one hand to my waist.

“What are you doing back here babe?”

“I wanted to give this to you before you went on stage, and I stupidly forgot it in my car.”

He pulled out a black velvet box and opened it for me, not even giving me a chance to open it myself. But it gave me the chance to cover my mouth with both my hands. Sitting in the box was a gorgeous silver necklace that shining in the light of the hallway.

“Before you ask why, I wanted to give it to you as a mixed gift. A concert gift slash graduation slash going away gift. I thought it would be perfect.”

“It is perfect baby,” I whispered and hugged him around the jewelry. He laughed and hugged me back before forcing me to turn around. He slipped the cool metal around my neck and locked it. I turned back around for him so he could see it resting against my flesh.

“Like I said, perfect,” he whispered. I kissed him one more time then sent him off, hoping I wouldn’t get into too much trouble for wasting so much time.

I went the opposite way my friends had, which was the way to the stage, and tried not to fall on my face in the high heels. I was passing by a bunch of people I wasn’t very familiar with, but I soon came across to very familiar people.

Frank had just kissed Tamara goodbye with a smile and left, blending into the crowd before the red head turned to me. She looked so happy and I saw something shining on her wrist.

“What just happened?” I asked her as soon as I reached her, looking over her dress that I had already seen. Her smile only got bigger while we walked to the stage together.

“I was just about to leave for the stage when Frankie came into my room. He wished me good luck then gave me this!” he squealed, holding up her wrist to show me a silver and blue gemmed bracelet. It looked perfect on her pale skin.

“Wow,” was all I could say. I guess boyfriends were just loving these days.

“And do you want to know what else?”

I laughed. “What else could there possibly be Tamara?”

“He said he loved me.”

And there I went, almost tripping over those damn heels again. However, this time I couldn’t blame it on my horrible walking skills. Tamara’s statement had actually caught me by that much surprise.

“He—he said he loved you?” I said softly, so softly I thought she might not have heard me.

“He did,” she sighed, “and it’s about time. We’ve only been going out for forever. It was perfect to do it here though. I feel like I’m on top of the world right now.

“Yeah, I bet,” I mumbled, parting ways from her so that she could focus on opening the show.

So Frank had finally confessed his love to someone, huh? I never thought I would see the day that happened. I don’t think any of us had. Frank had never really been that involved with a girl before, but now he had said he loved Tamara. Not me, but her.

I was honestly blowing this out as dramatically as I could, I tried to tell myself. I had my own boyfriend who I loved, and I was expecting Frank to pick up on hints that I wasn’t even giving out anymore? That was girl logic for you. But that’s just how I felt. It was like a knife had been stabbed into my chest.

However, it made part of me feel numb. That part of me that had burned white and hot for Frankie; the part that had started out so small and fragile in the beginning. I had always felt it, but now I couldn’t.

I looked in one of the many mirrors behind stage and looked down at my shirt, which depicted the truth of life.

“Love kills slowly,” I whispered.