Dirty Little Secret

It had been three months since I last saw my brother and Rebecca, so today I was picking them up at the airport since they lived in New York. Capri was at my mom’s house, so I was alone. As usual, the airport was full of scrambling people. I weaved through the crowd carelessly until I reached Starbucks.

It wasn’t packed, but there were still a few people in line. After taking my order, I sat down at a free table. A magazine sat on the table, so I picked it up. I looked closely and found out that it was the latest issue of Alternative Press. I started to flip through it, paying no particular attention to the contents.

My phone said it was 11:48pm, and Tom’s flight was supposed to land around 12:15, so I had some time to spare. As I was about to turn a page, a voice behind me caught my attention.

“What do you mean you can’t go?”

“I just can’t. I can’t leave this way.”

The owner of the voice scoffed. “Why not? Our album comes out in two weeks. We should being doing promos right now.”

“Do you know why I haven’t been getting enough sleep?” The other asked. “It’s not because of the recordings and events. I’ve been beating myself up because of her. Because of what I haven’t been able to do for her for the last two years. Because I was a fucking coward who couldn’t face the truth.”

“I know it’s important to you, but so is the album. You can’t just abandon all the fans, Jack.”

“I know, I know. That’s why I’ll handle everything before the album comes out. I promise I’ll be in L.A. in time for the album release.”

“Are you sure, man?” Another spoke. “I see why you want to do this, but don’t you think it’s the wrong time to be staying here?”

There was a short pause. “If I don’t do this now, I might lose her forever.”

I tuned out at that and connected my thoughts. The guys were right behind me, so what the hell was I still doing here?

I got up to leave, but immediately sat back down remembering the reason why I had come here in the first place. How long does it take to make a fucking cappuccino?

Finally, the barista called my name and I quickly got up to get it. As I was about to leave, Jack walked passed and luckily, didn’t notice me.

“Holly?”

Damn. I guess he noticed me.

I turned around to face him. “Jack.”

“What are you doing here?” he asked. “You didn’t come to stop me from leaving, by any chance?”

I scoffed. “No, Jack. I didn’t come to stop you. My brother and his fiancée from California are visiting for a week.”

“Oh.” He looked down to his feet. “Listen, about the other day…I didn’t intend to make it look like I showed up out of nowhere, demanding to see my kid. It just turned out that way, because Rian said you were still in the area.”

I walked back over to the table and took a seat. “Look, Jack. I’m not gonna sit here and act like everything’s okay between us because it’s not. But I’m not gonna treat you like shit either. Not until everything’s sorted out.”

“I’m so sorry, Holly. You have no idea how sorry I am.”

I set my hand on the table a little too hard. “Damn it, Jack. Don’t you get it? Apologizing a hundred times is not gonna make things get any better!”

I took a deep breath, realizing that I let my anger take over rational thinking.

He sat still, not saying a word.

I spoke up. “Can we talk about this some other time? I need to pick up my brother, who I haven’t seen in 3 months.”

“Holly-“

“I'll call you."