Fireworks

“‘Nika, we have to go,” Audrey says, staring down at the watch on her wrist. They have a meeting to go to for the label to help negotiate new contracts for a band that starts in a little over twenty minutes.

Anika comes hopping down the hall with one heel on and the other in her hand. Her hair is a wild mess, poofed out all over the place. Audrey almost says something, but stops herself. She doesn’t need Anika taking any more time; they were already running ten minutes behind schedule.

“We now have twenty minutes, in rush hour LA traffic, to get down to the label. I hate you,” Audrey says as the two run out the door. Anika nearly trips down the steps as she tries to put her other shoe on. It’s a disaster. Audrey can’t help but to think this is a precursor of what hell is going to come.

Traffic is horrible. It always is in LA. Too many people trying to get too many places.

They inch along in the god awful traffic, complaining to each other the entire time how they have got to get a new apartment closer to work. They always do this. It’s always complain, complain, complain, but no action. It’s how they work.

Audrey thinks they like working under the stress. They like the challenge and the rush that being nearly late to every meeting brings them.

Audrey hates herself for this.

Audrey’s phone pings and Anika snatches it up before she can. “It’s Ashwin. He wants to know where we’re at.”

“Tell him we’ll be there in, like, five minutes,” Audrey says. She keeps her eyes focused in front of her. It’s so going to take longer than five minutes. But if she told Ashwin that, he’d have a fit.

“You sure?”

“Nope.”

And it doesn’t take five minutes. More like twenty sitting and inching in traffic. And five more minutes to find a parking space. Audrey is completely done with today, and it hasn’t even really started yet.

They rush into the building, flashing their passes as they go by. The security guard, Jake, knows the drill by now. He just laughs and lets them go.

“Audrey, hurry up!” Anika cries, her Indian accent slipping in. When under a lot of stress, which is all the time pretty much, Anika’s Indian accent slips in. Audrey knows shit is real when the accent comes out.

“I’m coming. Shut up!” Audrey rushes over to the elevator.

Anika lets out a relieved sigh as Audrey steps in and quickly presses the door close button.

Audrey takes out her phone to text Ashwin that they’re on their way up.

But, as the doors are almost closed, a hand pokes in. They slowly slide open and Anika lets out the loudest groan. Audrey looks back at her, and she’s softly slamming her head against the wall of the elevator. Audrey can’t help but to laugh.

“Don’t mind her,” Audrey says, attention going back to her phone in her hand. She texts Ashwin that hey ok we’re finally coming.

She slips her phone back into her purse and finally gets a look at the guy who stepped onto the elevator. And, she swears, her heart stops beating.

Pete Wentz is standing not even three feet from her, staring at her. He notices her looking, but doesn’t look away. He tilts his head to the right a bit, looking a lot like a confused puppy.

He knows he knows her from somewhere. Audrey doesn’t want him to remember. Audrey wants to get off the elevator as soon as she can.

“Audrey.” And there it is. He remembers. His voice is soft. His face is stoic. He’s remembering everything about their past. She knows she is.

The last time they saw each other was on a street corner in Chicago. It was after one of Pete’s bands shows. They had gotten into an argument over Pete throwing away his life. He just dropped out of school to focus on that band. Audrey didn’t like that.

Audrey wanted him to grow up and live in the real world. To forget about a silly little band that wouldn’t go anywhere (boy, was she wrong about that one). Pete wanted her to stop caring about what he did.

"Why the fuck do you care?" he had spat. "It's not like we'll be together forever. You said so yourself."

“I fucking hate you, Pete Wentz,” she spat right back before walking away from him. She left him, and her heart, on that street corner in Chicago in the pouring rain.

“Pete.”

Anika brushes her hand against Audrey’s, and it startles her out of her staring contest with Pete. She glances at Anika, who gives her a confused look and mouths, “What’s happening?”

Audrey shakes her head softly. She’ll tell Anika later, whether she really wants to or not.

Audrey looks back at Pete. And he looks like he’s on the verge of a breakdown. His jaw is clenched, his fists are shoved into his jacket pockets, and his eyes are glassy. He’s still staring at her, and she wishes he would stop. It’s killing her.

“Pete,” she says softly as she tucks a bit of hair behind her ear and stares at the ground. She really can’t bare to look at him anymore. “I’m - ”

“Save it,” he says. Just then, the elevator dings and the doors slide open. He walks out, and Audrey and Anika awkwardly follow behind.

Then it hits Audrey. Fall Out Boy is the band they’re representing.

“Fuck.”

Anika grabs Audrey’s arm and pulls her to the side. “What the fuck is going on?”

Audrey sighs and stares at the ground. “Pete’s my ex,” she mumbles.

“Speak up,” Anika says as she tilts Audrey’s face up to look at her.

“Pete’s my ex,” she repeats, louder this time.

Anika’s eyes go wide. “You dated Pete Wentz? When? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It was back before Fall Out Boy was famous. They were still playing shows in basements,” Audrey says.

Audrey remembers how many shows she went to where it was just her and a handful of other people. It was sad how small the shows were. She couldn’t see the band going anywhere. And that’s why they fought. Audrey didn’t want him to throw away everything he worked for in school just for a band. A band was a pipe dream. Back then, there was no way in hell to know it was gonna be a huge success. She was just looking out for him.

“It ended badly,” Audrey adds.

“I can tell,” Anika says. She looks behind her into the conference room where Ashwin, label executives, and Fall Out Boy are. She sighs and turns back to Audrey. “Just. Put it behind you, okay. Please? You’re both adults. Don’t fuck this up.”

Audrey takes a deep breath and nods. “Okay. It never happened.”

“Good girl.” Anika smiles and heads into the conference room.

Audrey stays behind, staring into the conference room. She watches as Pete whispers something to Joe, who then looks up and catches Audrey’s eye. His smile falls.

She can’t do it. Half of the people in that room hate her. She knows if she goes in there, nothing will get done. Pete will be silent the entire time, thinking of ways he can rip Audrey apart lyrically.

But, if she doesn’t do it, Ashwin will more than likely fire her for backing out on such a huge client. And she can’t lose this job. She can’t. It’s her dream job. She worked her ass off to get where she's at. And she will not throw it away because of Pete Wentz.

So, she sucks it up. She swallows hard and slaps on a big, fake smile.

“It never happened,” she says before entering the conference room.

Anika smiles at Audrey as she takes a seat next to her, and pats her knee under the table. “It’s fine,” she whispers.

With the way Pete’s looking at her, it’s anything but fine.