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She couldn’t understand what had happened. Hadley and Garrett were in a realm of perfection that didn’t exist in other relationships. Devon was surprised Hadley didn’t have a ring on her finger already.
Devon knew it was ridiculous to think that. It was easy to see the perfection on the outside, but she lived with them. She knew what their schedules were like and how little time they actually spent together. She knew that Garrett’s dad didn’t like Hadley, and she knew that Garrett didn’t know about Hadley’s little coke problem.
Devon stopped in her tracks. Had Garrett found out about Hadley’s drug problem? She ran back through the scenario in her mind, recalling what she had seen. No. No, it didn’t make sense. He wouldn’t have kissed her like that. Would he? Maybe he had asked her to choose him over the drugs. Maybe the kiss had been an act of desperation on his part to convince her, to try to keep her. Gah! She didn’t know, and she really, really wanted to know.
She returned to her seat to wait for Bre
Coming to Chicago to escape her life in St. Louis wasn’t working out exactly as she had pla
Hadley was supposed to help ground her. Garrett wasn’t supposed to take her place. Devon didn’t want to be more comfortable with him than Hadley. Bre
“I think he’s next,” Amy squealed.
Devon glanced over at them and noticed what she hadn’t seen before. They liked Bre
Well, if that was what they thought, they were wrong. After Devon had turned down Bre
Ugh! She couldn’t even think about it all. It just made her head hurt.
Devon placed her palm on her forehead and tried to massage out the growing ache in her head.
“You feeling alright, Dev?”
As Devon’s head flew up in surprise, she found Garrett standing over her. “Garrett! You’re here!”
“Yeah, sorry about being so late,” he said.
She looked around, wondering where Hadley was. Was she still in the restroom? Was Devon a bad friend for not following after her? Devon hadn’t felt like it was her place to step in. Garrett and Hadley didn’t know that she had seen their argument, and they probably didn’t want her to know about it. Still, maybe she could go check on Hadley.
“Where’s Hadley?” Devon asked, knowing the answer.
If she wasn’t with him, then he had left her in the restroom.
I guess it is just going to be a guilt-ridden night, Devon thought.
Garrett took the seat Bre
Devon stared at him blankly. He was lying. He was looking her in the face, straight in the face, and lying. And he was damn good at it. She couldn’t even tell. She knew he was lying, and she couldn’t even tell that he was. He actually made her doubt what she had seen with her own two eyes earlier.
“Wha…what’s wrong with her?” Devon asked in disbelief.
“Headaches, body aches, exhaustion. She has been really moody all week, so it could just be PMS,” he said with a shrug.
PMS? He was really going to use that. Hadley had just slapped him across the face, and he was going to blame her behavior on PMS. Yeah right!
It’s more likely the amount of cocaine she is using, Devon thought.
“That sucks,” Devon said finally.
“Yeah, she really wanted to come,” he repeated.
“I’m surprised you came out at all if she wasn’t feeling well,” Devon said accusingly. Why wasn’t he chasing after her? Why was he letting her go? Wasn’t that what was supposed to happen? She felt deluded about Garrett and Hadley’s relationship. She had wanted so badly for it to be as perfect as it looked from the outside.
“She told me to go. After all, I couldn’t do anything for her,” Garrett said. He leaned back into the chair, his ankle crossing over his knee.
“Of course,” Devon said, trying to hold back the sarcasm from her voice. “I sure hope she gets better soon.”
“Comes once a month. I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Garrett said over the applause from the last performer.
Devon rolled her eyes and looked toward the stage. Garrett wasn’t going to give any clues as to what had happened between them. She would have to ask him later, or maybe she would have to ask Hadley. Hadley had been the one who was pissed off, so she might be more likely to spill. For all the confidence that Devon and Garrett had been entrusting each other with, she wasn’t so sure he would tell her, but maybe she would ask him about it again later anyway.
Her eyes focused in on Bre
If she didn’t know him better, she would have thought he was completely comfortable up there. But his hands twitched as he plucked at a chord, and she watched his lips move as he muttered to himself. He had an easy, lazy look to him that helped him appear more relaxed than he was. She wished she could do something to calm his nerves.
After Bre
The crowd chuckled. That was a good sign. Devon found herself rooting for him.
“For those of you who are new to the open mic routine, you picked a damn good night to be in the house. I’m playing a selection of original tunes, and I hope you like them. This first one is titled ‘Headstrong.’”
Devon wasn’t sure what she had been expecting, but whatever it was could never compare to this. She knew music. She had grown up around music, dated musicians, and listened to every genre imaginable. Her heart craved music. And that was exactly what she was getting tonight.
Bre