You Leave Me With a Dangerous Taste

My head was tilted up slightly as the makeup artist swiped a small brush over my lips to finish off the look she had created. Just like my eyes, which consisted of deep warm browns and bright shimmers, my lips had to be a dramatic burgundy red. It was supposed to be captivating and impressive, something a celebrity would wear.

I rarely looked like this, not even when I was up on stage. At home, I often wore no makeup, when out I’d only wear minimal, and on stage it was a little more out there since I’d wear eyeliner and occasionally lipsticks. Photoshoots, however, were a different story. I got given clothes to wear and people did my makeup for me to the point I’d barely look like myself anymore.

Although so not like me, doing this every once in a while was quite fun. It was nice seeing the way other people styled me; seeing other things I could pull off. This particular photoshoot was quite important, though. We were working on an album cover. Personally, I wanted a more muted look, I wasn’t used to the extravagant style. But I was given a complete makeover in a studio. That’s not to say that my input was ignored, the record label and designer wanted to have as many options as possible. This was the opposite of my suggestion, but I could turn out to love it.

The makeup artist gave me the good-to-go sign and I got up from the stool, making my way over to the white backdrop. I held my robe shut tight despite the ribbon already holding it closed for me, and took a look from afar at the bright lights that were going to be pointing at me. Everything was so professional, there was a whole crew: photographers, assistants, caterers, stylists, people from the record label. But that came with rising fame.

I turned around, feeling my overly hairsprayed hair crunch slightly as I bumped into somebody who was just about to tap me on my shoulder. Immediately apologizing, I took a step back to see who I had practically just attacked just to find out it was somebody I didn’t expect to be here.

“Alex?” My eyebrows furrowed before I realized I probably shouldn’t be making all too dramatic faces just yet in case it ruined the makeup. “What are you doing here?”

He bit his lip as he shrugged, standing right in front of me in a fancy dark blue suit and red tie. “I got a promotion to a different department and was invited to the shoot. Couldn’t say no when I found out it was you.”

“Oh…” I nodded, feeling the need to close my robe even further and tighter. “How nice.”

“You look great,” he complimented to keep the conversation going, gesturing towards me.

“I think that partially has to do with the caked on makeup,” I sighed, reminding myself not to touch my hair and run my fingers through it.

He scrunched up his nose and gave me a sympathetic look. “I’m guessing you don’t really like it.”

“I mean, it’s okay,” I told him honestly, “as long as your people don’t expect me to look like this every day.”

“My people?” Alex asked with a chuckle, putting his hands in the pockets of his pants.

“I don’t know, co-workers or whatever. Depends on which position you have now.”

I actually wasn’t all too thrilled that Alex was now working in the department which I was also a part of. We obviously had some history, and I didn’t want that coming in the way of my career just as it was starting to seriously take off. I had gotten this far and I wanted to keep climbing. With the power Alex had, all he had to do was say something and I was out. And we didn’t end things on good terms.

He just smiled at me, about to say something else, when Jack suddenly bounced up to my side, not seeing who I was actually talking too.

“He finally passed out,” Jack sighed, still out of breath a little from running around, our two-year-old son fast asleep with his head on his father’s shoulder, “and I’ve had my workout for the year.”

I giggled and ruffled my baby’s dark black hair as I clarified the situation for Alex, “somebody on set fed him sugar and he just turns into a ball of energy, zooming across the entire place.”

“Oh.” He nodded, taking a good look at Jack.

I knew exactly what was going through his mind, it was what I thought about every single time I saw old pictures of me and Jack. Even though it had been just over two years since I had ended things with Alex, Jack had changed a lot. He could no longer be classified as a ‘twig’. Sure, he was still tall and lanky, but he looked a lot less like a boy now. His shoulders were broader and he had gained a little bit a weight that looked good on him. Even Alex wouldn’t be able to call him a ‘boy’ anymore.

I took a look towards Jack as well, seeing him squint menacingly at Alex with a slight scowl on his face. Jack used to like Alex before he found out I was sleeping with him. Now, Jack couldn’t stand the older man despite never having seen each other since the day I performed in Alex’s backyard.

Before Jack could say anything to express his dislike for Alex, Alex pointed at my boy. “Is that…?”

I nodded softly, once again running my fingers through my son’s soft hair. Although it’s complete bullshit to say a baby looks like one of its parents, I really did think Jack was his father. He was born with black hair… which didn’t really tell us anything. When I was born, I also had really dark hair which lightened to a bright blonde until I was five years old. But our baby boy’s black hair had only gotten thicker and longer in the same black tone.

We had never done a paternity test. Although it would have given concrete results, Jack refused. To him, it didn’t matter whose DNA was passed on as long as he got to raise him. Something told me he was afraid he’d start acting differently if he ever found out he wasn’t the biological father, and that wasn't fair in any way, especially when we had other kids that were definitely his. But we both secretly believed he really was our child, not Alex’s.

“I don’t like you,” Jack stated slowly, shaking his head at Alex. “Not at all. And I don’t know why you’re here, but I trust Paisley not to fall for your stupid ways again.”

I had to fight rolling my eyes. It was nice to know that Jack trusted me, though. I hadn’t even been tempted to cheat on him ever since I told him about Alex. It was a one-time thing. Our families didn’t even know what happened. To them, Jack and I had always been faithful to each other; the only thing that had gotten in the way of our wedding was me being pregnant. When Felix, our baby, was three months old, though, we did get married, and that was that. We were happy together the entire time and even moved to a larger house.

Alex shifted uncomfortably, surprised by Jack’s announcement. He was finally seeing that Jack really wasn’t anything like the guy he thought he was back when we were having an affair. Of course, everything about Jack was a lot more innocent back then, but it was safe to say he always had this in him, especially if it meant protecting his family.

Before the tension could get any worse, I saw a girl my age or younger enter through the side door with a six-year-old boy. Although I had no idea who this skinny blonde girl was, I could still recognize William despite him being older now. He ran up to his dad and immediately clutched onto his leg. The girl joined a little later. Alex wrapped an arm around her and placed a short kiss on her lips.

Jack and I shared a look, causing him to snort. The couple in front of us snapped their eyes in his direction, causing Jack to rub his nose as if he was just about to sneeze.

“Sorry, Felix’s hair is tickling my nose,” he excused, making me have to hold back my own laughter.

This was too cliché. Alex most definitely had a type: younger blonde girls who were too naive to understand what this older guy was either willingly or subconsciously doing.

Eventually, William looked up to see who his father was talking to and saw me. Although it had been a few years and I didn’t look anything like I usually did, he totally did recognize me. His eyes first widened before he lit up completely.

“Paisley!” He shouted out in glee, leaving his dad’s leg to hug me instead as I went down to my knees. “Dad, look, it’s Paisley!”

“I know, buddy.” Alex nodded, still using the same nickname as three years ago.

I pouted at Will, hugging him back. “I’m sorry for leaving without saying goodbye.”

“That’s okay,” he shrugged, his innocence radiating off him, “dad told me you had to take care of your own family. But I liked you more than my new babysitter.”

“Will, that’s rude!” Alex scolded in a warning tone.

“No, it’s okay, I understand,” the girl brushed off, making this even more cliché than it already was.

Alex’s type was only becoming more and more specific. He really did like to take advantage of his babysitters.

I stood back up as I shook my head at him. “I’m sorry, I can’t take you seriously. You might have a high position in this company and might be wearing a suit, but I really can’t take you seriously at all.”

Alex frowned while I saw Jack trying to hide his grin behind Felix acting like he was just kissing the top of his head. Jack and I occasionally did wonder what had happened with Alex, it was just funny to see him follow exactly what we had imagined as an extreme. His conquest of me might have failed, but he’d just move onto the next one. He had managed to snatch himself a nanny that did want to stay with him. I just hoped she wasn’t making the same mistakes as me.

Oblivious to the situation, Alex’s girlfriend gestured towards my baby. “Is he yours?”

Feeling like the question was more directed towards me--it was quite obvious that Jack would be holding his own sleeping son--I decided to answer, “yep, his name’s Felix since we’re fortunate to have such a happy little boy.”

“Hey, if you ever need a babysitter, you can totally call me.” She reached out to touch the sleeping boy, making my heart race.

I did not want her touching my baby. Even though she didn’t do anything wrong, I didn’t want the hands that touched Alex to also touch my family. I was anything but jealous of her, but it did not sit right with me. And apparently, Jack had the same idea. He took a subtle step back so she couldn’t touch him and hiked him up a little to create some more movement, causing Felix to whine softly.

“No, that’s fine really,” Jack forced a smile. And gave Alex a hard glare for his next sentence. “We don’t do babysitters and nannies. And I’m a stay at home dad, so it isn’t necessary.”

“Are you sure? Not even if you guys ever want to go out for an evening?” The girl whose name I was never going to find out double checked, not understanding how sensitive of a subject this was.

“No, I’m sure we’re just fine,” Jack said sharply, getting more agitated by the second. “I’m going to go find someplace quiet for Felix to take a nap.”

He started walking away towards the stroller we still used whenever we were out for long days with Felix or didn’t want him running away from us on a constant basis. However, Jack’s rage must have gotten the best of him because he stopped and came back just to say something to Alex.

“You know, dude,” he chuckled deeply, still keeping his voice level so he wouldn’t wake Felix, “I must actually thank you. You’ve taught Paisley quite a few interesting things.”

Only then did he actually walk away to find a place for our baby to finish his nap. He most definitely did leave Alex’s girlfriend confused. Luckily William was watching the photographer quietly a couple of feet away, or things could have gotten a lot uglier.

“He’s right,” I shrugged and started taking my robe off to reveal the bodysuit I was wearing, seeing that the producer and photographer wanted to have me start the shoot, “our sex life would have been a lot more boring if you hadn’t come in. It just keeps getting better and better now.”

I couldn’t help but give that last blow before I walked off myself. Just like my new look and new music, I was more confident than I had ever been.

I might have been the one that broke Alex’s heart, but he had nearly ruined the perfect life I had with my best friend. You can move on from a broken heart but you can’t ever move on from somebody using their selfish reasons to try and ruin your life. There was no way for me to ever fully forgive him.