Page 109 of Off Script
Harper's anger ignites my own. “So much better than me?” My voice is incredulous. “She didn’t even have the decency to dump me herself, so how the hell do you get off acting like she’s blameless when she’s the one who broke my heart? Fuck this and fuck her.”
Pushing past Harper, I storm down the darkened hallway towards the bar, making my escape. I’m not in the mood to stay here any longer. I nod tersely to my friends and utter a lame excuse about something coming up and needing to leave. Trevor’s eyes dart toward the bathroom hallway where Harper stands watching me as I rush out of the bar.
My boots make crunching noises as I stride across the gravel parking lot. I hear Harper call out for me to wait. Without turning around, I increase my pace and fish my car keys out of the front pocket of my jeans to remote start my car. I have no desire to speak with her again, but she grabs ahold of my elbow as I open my door.
Shaking her off, I mutter, my jaws clenched, “What, Harper? What more do you want from me?”
“What did you mean?” The earlier accusatory tone of her voice is replaced with a conciliatory one, which throws me for a loop. I stand still. “What did you mean when you said that Carlisle dumped you and broke your heart?”
I turn slowly to meet her eyes. Slumping against the side of my Range Rover, the fight inside me fades, and I release a heavy sigh. I don’t want to rehash the hurt, but Harper isn’t going to let this go until I do.
“Just what I said. Carlisle told me that she needed space. I tried not to think the worst when she didn’t answer my calls, but then I had to hear from my publicist that according to Carlisle, we broke up. My fucking publicist!” Frustrated, I run my fingers through my hair and exhale loudly. “Carlisle didn’t even try to talk to me or tell me that shewanted to call it quits. When I contacted her, she wouldn’t hear me out. She has no idea what really went down in Japan.”
“Ben, that’s not what happened!” Harper’s facial expressions become more animated, and the words are flying out of her mouth at an alarming rate. “Becky, that’s your publicist, right?” As I nod, she continues, “Right after the Tokyo incident, Becky told Carlisle that she needed to back off, that your relationship with Carlisle was detrimental to your career, and thatyouwanted to break it off with her, not the other way around. Becky told Carlisle that you’d give her a call when you got back in townifyou wanted to see her.” She shrugs. “But you never contacted her.”
“Are you serious?” My mind is racing as I try to make it make sense.
“Deadly. Carlisle didn’t break up with you. She’s been a heartbroken, mopey mess ever since.”
“But I did contact her, Harper! I called. And I texted. Repeatedly. If she didn’t want to end our relationship, then why didn’t she ever respond? Why didn’t she pick up the damn phone?”
Harper squints her eyes, confusion clouding them. “She…” Shaking her head, Harper continues slowly, “She never got any calls or texts from you, Ben. Believe me, she spent a month waiting for your call.”
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I open my text messages. Scrolling down my list of texts until I find Carlisle’s name, I open our text history and show Harper all of the texts I’ve sent Carlisle since that night in Tokyo. “See? I texted her, but she never replied.”
Harper reads through them quickly before handing me back my phone. “I don’t understand, Ben. Carlisle would never ignore you like that. She was really hurting, but she wanted to talk to you, even if it was just to get closure and say goodbye.”
I pace back and forth as I wrap my head around what Harper is telling me. “Let me get this straight. So, Becky broke up with Carlisle,supposedly for me, and then Becky did the same thing to me? Why would Becky do that?” Reconciling the truth with my experiences over the past two months is a tough pill to swallow. “All of this could have been avoided had Carlisle just talked to me. Which again leads me to ask, if she was so heartbroken, then why she didn’t answer any of my texts or calls?”
“Don’t blame Carlisle for this,” Harper snaps. “I already told you that Carlisle never received any of those texts. Now hush and let me think.” After a minute, Harper yelps excitedly, holding out her hand palm up. “Hold on. Let me see your phone again.”
When I slide it into her hand, Harper taps on Carlisle’s name to pull up the contact info that I have saved for her. “Oh my god, Ben! That’s not Carlisle’s phone number. That’s not even a Mississippi area code. You’ve been calling and texting someone else. At some point, someone changed Carlisle’s number in your phone.”
“What the fuck?” Stunned, I meet Harper’s eyes. “Who would do that? And why?”
“I don’t know," Harper’s eyes grow wide, "but let’s deal with the who and why later.” She clasps her hands to her chest and shrieks, “Because… oh my god, you and Carlisle! You still have a chance to work things out! You still want to be with her, right?”
“Of course, I do. I fucking love her, Harper. But what do I even say to her? What do I do to make this up to her?”
I won’t admit it to Harper, but I’m filled with trepidation. I don’t know if I possess the courage to hope for a second chance with Carlisle. I’ve started to heal. What once were open wounds, have scabbed over, leaving scars. Do I dare risk reinjuring myself if Carlisle decides it’s not worth it? If she decides thatI’mnot worth it.
I pull on my lip. “I don’t know if we can come back from this, Harper. I mean, at this point, we’ve been apart longer than we were together.”
“Ben, I have never thought of you as a coward.”
I choke out a laugh. “Really? Because you literally called me a coward, like, five minutes ago.”
“But that was when I thought you had your minion break up with your girlfriend for you.” Exasperated, she throws up her hands in the air. “Come on! You’ve got to try.” She puts her hands on her hips and cocks one eyebrow. “If this was a movie script, you wouldn’t let the main character just walk away because he was too chickenshit scared to go after the woman he loves.”
Raising my head to the sky, I close my eyes and muster my fortitude. I take a deep breath and slowly count to ten. Opening my eyes, I level my gaze at Harper and nod once. “Okay, let’s do this. Hop in.”
Harper shakes her head. “Nice try, Hollywood. I saw how many rounds of shots y’all were taking. I’ll drive.”
Relenting, I hustle to the passenger side door.
Now that I’ve made up my mind to try my best to win Carlisle back, I can’t wait to do it. I can’t wait to see her, to talk to her, to hold her, to kiss her, to dream of a future with her.
Please God, let this work.
