My Escapade

Growing up, I had been involved with some music. I learned piano, and I was in chorus. I really enjoyed music in general; it was something I was passionate about, but it wasn’t the object of my passion. Writing was my real love. Anyways, I loved writing music, and I would sometimes contribute some of my music to Jaxin. Some stuff he liked, others he didn’t, but there was one that had stuck out to him. I had called it, “Shadows.” It had been my favorite, and I could easily see why Jaxin had fallen in love with it. He asked if the band could use it, and I agreed, since I wasn’t going to pursue music anyways. I had told him, with a grin, that when he became famous, that he’d better give me credit.

“Duh,” Jaxin had replied, and that had been the end of it. He was my best friend at the time, and I believed every promise that he made. Jaxin kept the song to himself, and he must’ve revealed it to the band for their second album.

As I listened, I got restless. Everything sounded just as I had written it. When they were done, I was shocked and a bit angry. I didn’t know whether to scream or cry or smile. Hold on, I thought, you don’t know that they’re not giving you credit. “Wow. That was really good. Did you guys write that yourselves?” I smiled.

Mike was the one who answered me, “Well, Jaxin did.”

My smile froze. “Oh, really? With no help?”

Jaxin ducked his head. “Uh, no. Just me and my feelings.”

My head whirled. I was angry, so angry. For him to lie like that, lie to me, the past me and the present me. Lying about being best friends forever, lying about crediting me, lying, lying, lying. That was all Jaxin was. He was just one big grand lie. A show.

That’s all Jaxin ever lived for, was putting on a show.

This was one show I did not want to watch.

“Those must be some pretty strong feelings.” I said coolly. “If you’ll excuse me for a moment; I’m feeling a bit lightheaded. I think I’ll go sit down on that bench I saw outside and breathe in that lovely fresh air.” I turned around and shut the door behind me, feeling like I was going to burst.

I stormed out of building and sat down on the bench. I put on my dark sunglasses that I had bought specifically so people could not see my eyes, be it because I was looking at someone or crying.

At the moment, it was for the latter reason.

They took my song.

No, not they.

He.

He took it and changed the name and just kept it the way it was, the way it had been when I was writing out my raw, teenage feelings. No edit, just raw music and words and feeling.

That was the worst part. They were keeping my soul in that song. I think I would have less upset if they had changed someone, anything, in the song. A note, the key, a sentence, a measure, but no, they kept it all the same.

It was all raw.

All me.

I swiped angrily at my tears, angry for myself at crying, angry at Ethan for getting me into the whole mess, but most of all, angry at Jaxin. For fooling me, for keeping me in his grasp for so long. For being so fake, so horrid, so greedy.

“I hate him!” I yelled to the busy New York street. “I hate him, I hate him.”

I hate him. How could I ever feel bad for doing this article?

All of the sudden, there it was. My solution, right there in front of me. All I had to do was follow through with the article.

“Famous singer breaks girl’s heart and steals her song. She gets her revenge years later in a form of Karma at its best: heartbreak.”

So, he didn’t really break my heart. But he didn’t try to stop me from leaving, or try to contact me afterwards. I could see the headlines in my mind. I could do this; I wanted this.

I pulled myself together. I took off my sunglasses and made sure I looked okay. I put my eye drops in to make my eyes look fresher. I smoothed my hair. I checked my teeth.

I had the same mission as before, but with new vigor and feeling. I was going to make Jaxin Ramirez pay. And the whole world was going to know about it.

I could’ve cackled, I really could have. That’s how good I felt.

My inner monologue was interrupted by Jaxin. “Alison! Hey, are you okay? You looked a little pale in there.”

I quickly pulled myself together and plastered a smile on my face. “Paler than I already am?” I teased.

“Just a little,” Jaxin replied, smiling. He reached out a hand and I accepted it. He pulled me up off of the bench and I grabbed my purse. “You ready?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “So, where are we going?”

“I recently discovered the best coffee shop ever. It’s right down the street.”

“Okay, sounds good.” I smiled an actual smile. Not for Jaxin, mind you. I just really liked coffee.

We walked for a little bit, making small talk, when we arrived at The Black Kettle. I wondered if he knew that I was a regular there, but walked in anyways.

Jaxin put his hand on the small of my back. “Order what you’d like, I need to use the bathroom. Make sure you hold on, I’ll pay.”

I would have made him pay regardless. I rolled my eyes once he had left and stepped in line.

“Rory!” Anthony greeted me with that smile of his I loved so much. “You look especially gorgeous today,” he complimented me.

My cheeks burned a little. “Thanks.” I wondered what life would have been like if I didn’t like Jaxin. Would I have dated Anthony? I studied him as wrote on the cup holder of my cup. He was a very good looking young man. I knew a lot about him. He went to the same college that I did, but we never saw each other around due to different majors and schedules. He was only a few months older than I was. He was planning on being a lawyer, but didn’t want to be stuck in a corporate office for his whole life. He had a relatively rich family, so he knew he wouldn’t have to do too much work in life.

He would’ve made a perfect boyfriend.

Jaxin appeared by my side and ordered. Anthony’s smile faltered a little when he saw Jaxin, and I felt bad. Jaxin was ruining everything in my life, it seemed. As we were waiting for our drinks, I saw Anthony scribble something else on my cup before handing it to me with a smile.

Jaxin also saw it. “What’d he write?”

I glanced down at the cup. Hey Ro. You look really nice today. Text me? His number was scrawled underneath. Then I read, You don’t have to, but I’d like to be your friend anyways. “He just said that he hasn’t seen me in a while and told me to text him.”

Jaxin glared at Anthony’s back as he got Jaxin’s order together. “Don’t text him. He’s probably a creep, picking up all kinds of girls at the coffee shop.”

I glared at Jaxin. “Stop being an ass. He’s a really nice kid.”

“That’s what he wants you to think,” Jaxin snapped.

I stormed off to sit down at the table. I didn’t want to create a scene and get myself kicked out.

Jaxin sat down and was silent for a bit as he mixed his whipped cream into his Frappe. “I’m sorry,” he finally said. “I just… I really like you. I get kinda jealous really easily.”

I snorted. “I can see that.” I smiled at him. “It’s alright.”

He smiled back.

We finished our coffee and I told him that I was tired, so he walked me back to my apartment. “Bye, Alison.” He smiled at me, and leaned into me. I kissed him, and he kissed back harder, pushing my back into the door. There were little sparks, but I felt myself intensely disappointed. The last kiss had been so much better.

Maybe it was just my imagination.

I pulled away. “Bye, Jaxin.” I opened my door, walked in, and shut the door, not bothering to look back.