Right Back Where We Started

Chloe's Point of View

"Sophie, I'm kinda nervous," I whined, adjusting the hem on my dress.

"Why?" Sophie grinned, pulling her makeup box out of the closet. "You look great, and your boyfriend is taking you to an adorable little restaurant, and you get to get away from all of this tour noise for a few hours."

"This dress doesn't feel right." I moved my shoulders around, trying to get the gray and black dress to somehow settle correctly onto my body. "I think it shrank a little bit." I got sad at the thought. "This one's my favorite. Do I have one that fits better?"

"Chloe. Shh. Wear that dress. It looks great, it still fits. I promise. Let me do your makeup."

When I had told Sophie about this date, she instantly recruited herself to do my hair and makeup. She was always great at those jobs, so of course I let her. Besides, she needed a distraction from everything surrounding William. The poor girl, she'd been so emotional the past few days. It was unlike Sophie, definitely. But concussions do that to people. I just hope she gets back to normal soon, for her sake.

I walked into the front room at sat on the couch, taking a slow, deep breath. "Seriously, Sophie. I don't know why I'm so nervous right now. My stomach is turning."

"You're sure you're not just sick?" Sophie questioned, concerned.

"I mean, I feel fine otherwise," I sighed. "I'll just chew some tums or something in a minute, maybe that will settle my stomach."

Sophie grinned. "That's my girl. Now, shut your eyes and let me work my magic."

I did as told, taking a deep breath. I felt her makeup brush touch my eyelid, first. Eyeshadow. With another breath, my senses were overtaken by the smell of the makeup on her palette - it smelled like minerals, and almost like baby powder. I don't know if I never noticed that eyeshadow had a smell before, or if she was just holding the palette directly under my nose, but it was overwhelming. "Soph," I muttered. "I think your eyeshadow is... bad."

"Bad?" Sophie chuckled. "Did it do something wrong?"

"No," I shook my head, opening my eyes. She did have the palette very close to my face, but if she had been leaning towards it, how couldn't she smell it? "It just... smells."

She put the makeup up to her nose. "I guess it does smell, a little," She laughed. "Maybe some perfume leaked on it or something. Does it smell like perfume?" She moved the palette back to my face, and that was enough. Before I totally understood what I was doing, I pushed past her and into the tiny, cramped bathroom. My breakfast quickly left my stomach and I stayed leaning over the toilet, breaths heavy. "What the hell," I groaned.

"Holy shit, Chloe. Holy shit. Are you okay? Holy shit."

"I'm fine," I said, looking towards my friend. "Just keep that shit away from me. Throw it out!" I laughed. Once that was out of my system, I felt totally fine. "I was just already nauseous, and the smell made it worse. I'm okay now. Just, really nervous about this date. Brendon's been making a huge deal about it."

"Are you sure you should go?" Sophie asked as I stood back up.

I took my toothbrush out of the medicine cabinet. "I feel fine now!" I grinned. "Whatever that was just needed to get out, I guess."

Sophie shook her head. "Just be careful, okay? If you start feeling bad again, just stay in. I'll be here all night," she chuckled, but it sounded forced.

"Sophie," I pursed my lips, thinking. How do I approach this situation? "Have you talked to William?"

"Why would I do that?"

"You're obviously upset about something. I can hear it in your voice. You have been since the other night, when you were supposed to hang out with him."

"And before that night, you were totally against me spending time with him. Why the change of heart now, Chloe? You know what he did before."

"I'm having a change of heart because I see how upset you're getting about all of this. You might not think you need him in your life, but you at least need to talk to him, okay? You've been a rollercoaster lately and the highest and lowest points have all been because of him."

Sophie glared in my direction, but she couldn't help but smile. "Stop being so damn right all the time," She laughed. "Now, let me do your hair, we'll just go with a no makeup look for this date of yours."

----

"I'm glad we get a nice, quiet night," I smiled at Brendon. "I feel like I forgot how exhausting tour was."

"It has been pretty stressful," Brendon said. "But, let's forget about that for now, alright? Tonight's just for us."

"You're right," I smiled. "Thank you for this, love. It's perfect."

"Actually, you're perfect," Brendon laughed. He looked straight into my eyes and I couldn't help but blush. Sometimes I still found it hard to believe that I could be here, sitting across from this man. It felt like a lifetime ago that so many things seemed to be going wrong. But that was all in the past now. I found someone who let me heal, and who helped me find myself after years of a nightmare.

"I love you so much," I gushed, grinning widely.

Before Brendon could respond, the waiter returned to our table. He poured the wine Brendon had ordered into our glasses. "Do you know what you'd like to eat?"

I ordered a small chef salad, deciding it would be best to be cautious of my stomach. Brendon ordered his meal and we were left alone again.

"Chloe, I'm sure you know how happy I am that I get to be with you so often. And how much I love how caring, and compassionate, and loving you are," He smiled.

I felt my cheeks turning red. "Of course, Brendon," I smiled. I was getting nervous again. Brendon never got so... sentimental. Something was happening. I lifted my wine glass to my lips to take a drink.

No. Shit. No. The strong smell of the wine was too much, again. I can't believe this. I took a deep breath, fighting off a new wave of nausea.

Brendon was looking down towards his lap, where his hands were resting, although I couldn't see them because of the table. He looked as nervous as I felt. "Chloe-" He looked towards me, and his sentence stopped short when he made eye contact. "Are you okay? You don't look well."

I couldn't respond. Without another word, I got up and ran from the table. I couldn't locate the bathroom very quickly, so I went with the second option available and ran out through the entrance. I barely made it away from the door before the contents of my stomach emptied onto the cement of the walkway. Tears burned my eyes. I couldn't believe this. Still feeling like there was more to come, I moved and sat on a parking block.

Brendon came outside a few moments after I sat down. "Chloe, are you alright?"

"I don't know," I sobbed. I couldn't be sick. We were finally back to playing after Sophie's injury. I couldn't be getting sick.

"Let's just go back," Brendon sighed. He sounded concerned, but almost a little... disappointed.

"I'm sorry, Brendon," I choked out. "I ruined the night. We got one night in Vegas and I ruined it."

"You could never do that," Brendon smiled softly. He reached out for my hand and helped me to my feet. "Let's go. We'll have a relaxing night in."

"You, in your suit, all dressed up, and we get to go watch a movie," I joked.

"Don't worry about it," Brendon laughed. "I promise, you didn't ruin anything."

As we walked back to the car, he had one arm around me and the other hand in the pocket of his jacket.