I'd Trade Just About Anything

(Dani's POV) (Tour day 27, show 26)
“Hey, Craig,” I smiled at my love as I entered the living area.
His face held an expression I wasn't happy to see. Did he find out about the Mike incident? Oh Lord, I sure do hope not.
“Um, where are we playing tonight?” I inquired, hoping he'd speak to me.
He sighed, “Tour's canceled...at least, we're dropping out.”
“But...baby...why?”
He motioned for me to sit with him. I did so and he bluntly said, “I know.”
“Kn-know what?” my lip started quivering.
He let his voice rise, “Don't play dumb! You fucking know what I'm talking about!”
I sat in silence.
“Danielle,” he said my full name...not once has he ever done that. “I know about Joe. I know what you did, at the concert, in our...in our own home, I...I saw the video and...” he paused and took a deep breath. “When...when Courtney told me...”
I cut him off, “Wait...Court?!?” I felt betrayed. Why would she ever betray me like that? Holy shit...did she...did she see?
He sighed, “Yeah.”
“Craig...you need to listen to me...”
He looked deep into my eyes, his eyes glimmering a bit with tears, “Dani...why?”
I looked down, not even daring to look deep into his eyes. “Craig...I-I don't know...me and Joe...we...we never got far with each other...I swear...please believe me...”
He remained silent. This silence was slowly eating at my insides.
“How do you expect me to believe you?” he inquired, gripping my hand.
“Just...please do...”
He remained quiet, trying to come up with something to say. After 10 long, dreadful minutes, he spoke.
“If we're having troubles like this...m-maybe we should...see..see other people.”
“What? You mean like...a divorce?”
“Yes. I think...I think we should split.”
This is surreal. Craig and I are supposed to be together. Like in the fairytales...forever. He's my prince. I'm his princess. He saved me from the wicked and cared for me...he said...he said forever.
“But...Craig, can't we work this out?” I was close to begging.
He sighed, letting tears run down his face. “Dani, I don't know if I can trust...believe...know what you're telling me is the truth.”
“Yes, you can. What makes you believe you can trust Courtney?”
“She doesn't fucking cheat on Mike, does she?!”
My heart stopped beating when he said that. He was right. Dammit. I'm such an unfaithful whore...what the fuck is wrong with me? I'm so stupid! Stupid stupid stupid me.
Craig started yelling, scaring me to death. “I mean, why would you do it? After all that we've been through, you end it like this? I thought what we had was real. I thought you meant it when you replied that you loved me! But apparently, this was all a lie and you've just strung me along in this web for this fucking long! Before this tour, I seriously thought what we had was falling apart. I guess I was right.”
He left me speechless. It grew dead silent and all I could hear was my heart thumping in my chest.
“You know what? Fuck you, Craig. You'd rather believe her than your fucking wife? Go ahead.”
“Fine.”
“Fine!”
(Fwd: the day Craig leaves; May 17, 2008)
Craig hugged Leila in his arms, ready for me to say my final good-byes. As much as it pained me, he was still taking Leila. All of the guys were here, all of their pleads for us to stay together already taken care of. They were all leaving back to Arizona in the morning. How did we come to this?
“Momma, why you not coming with us?” Leila asked.
Craig looked down, letting his shame for making Leila deal with this show.
“Momma has to stay here, sweetie.” I informed.
She sighed, “Fine...”
I sighed, pain eating at my heart. “Well...Craig?”
“Yeah?” No emotion was in his voice whatsoever.
“Um...I guess this is...good-bye?”
He bit his lip, “I...I guess. You're now Danielle Lockhart again. Have fun with Joe.”
My mouth went agape. What the fuck? The guys' eyes grew wide. My eyes tried to unleash tears, but I stopped them. What could I possibly say to that? That dickwad.
“Well...hope you go find Lisa and you two live it up with the daughter she abandoned on your doorstep, 'cause you truly love her more than me.” A bitchy smile ended that sentence.
He shook his head, growing pissed. “Bye, Dani. I'm out of here. Hope our paths never cross again.”
(Craig's POV)
Even that hurt me to say. I still care about her, but...after what she did, I can't deal with her anymore. We really rushed into things...we only really knew each other for a few months, and for those years she was gone us holding on was probably just a teenager thing like, “Oh, I'm gonna love him forever!” and all that shit. Guess it wasn't meant to be? It's something we'll have to deal with.
I turned and started walking out the door of our, now her, home. “I'm outta here. Let's go guys.”
(Dani's POV)
Watching Craig walk out of that door felt like a dagger being stabbed through my chest. Matt, Eric and Jared all gave me hugs and left me with a kind message. They all walked out, then Mike was the only one with me in the living room.
“Well, I'm sorry. Even though, you're a very good kisser,” he told me flirtatiously, leaning in, hoping for another kiss.
I pushed him away from me and sent him on his way with three final words.
“Fuck off, Mike.”