Page 86 of Refrain
Luthor: No one’s suggesting you should.
Luthor: If you’re meant to be. You’ll be.
Hark at him and his optimism. Too bad she didn’t share it.
Luthor: I’m not your rival.
Allegra: And Xane?
Luthor: Xane’s desperately trying to hold him together and running dangerously close to unravelling himself.
Luthor: Please, don’t create any more drama.
She wanted to rail against that remark. None of this was directly her doing. It wasn’t fair to pin it on her. But to do so would only validate that perception. Yet again, she was going to have to bite her tongue and sit on her hands.
Luthor: I know it’s unfair, and I’m sorry about that.
Allegra: Xane’s fucking him. You’re fucking him, but I’m the one who’s been told not to create any drama.
Allegra: I don’t know what the hell to think or do.
Allegra: It hurts you know.
Luthor: I know. I truly am sorry for that.
It took forever to get Ronnie to answer his phone, even accounting for the fact he rarely answered calls. But he did usually respond if you sent a text first. She’d sent several. Hoping to make it obvious she urgently needed a friend.
“Hey babes, I’m sorry,” he said, when he finally picked up. “About to go into an interview so I can’t talk for more than a minute.”
After the fiasco of the first interview he’d given toBang! Magazine, all his subsequent press events were carefully vetted, and his answers prepared and rehearsed in advance. “Shall I call you when I’m done? Maybe we can meet. Hang on. No. Wait. I’ve got to get on a plane tonight, apparently. Video shoot. But when I’m back. I’ll be right there. Promise. Squishy hugs.”
Yeah. Yeah. Like she hadn’t heard that one before.
She spent an hour working up the nerve, then called Rock Giant. “What’s up?” he asked.
“Are you getting on a plane too?”
“Nope.”
“You’re not in Ronnie’s video?”
“Also, nope. Do you need something?”
“Yeah,” she sighed. “A big hug.” Why hide it?
“A metaphorical one, or the in-person kind?”
Was it too much to ask for the latter? He’d been good to her, but they weren’t close friends. Mostly, she still knew him via his association with Ronnie, and one hot as hell, but now slightly embarrassing night they’d spent together due to Spook’s refusal to do anything in a straightforward manner when it came to sex.
“Want me to come over?”
Evidently, her silence had provided the answer. “Would you?”
“Already on the way.”
Rock Giant arrived within the hour. He could almost pass for normal out of his stage gear. Leastways, as normal as any immensely tall individual with multi-coloured hair and a heck of a lot of ink could manage. “I brought all the essentials,” he said, following her through to the lounge, where he promptly unpacked the contents of his backpack onto the coffee table. “Vino. Snacks. Hot Chocolate. Chocolate dippy spoon things to melt in the hot chocolate. Smutty book. Kill all the Fuckers DVD, and… temporary tattoo pens.”
“Huh?” she huffed, picking up the latter.
