by Sian Ceinwen
Heather sighed. She knew that was a possible risk.
“I just keep remembering what it was like when she left. She never even fucking said goodbye to me. I don’t think I’ll ever forgive her for that.”
They’d finished with the dishes and were putting the leftover food in the fridge now.
“Trust me, I got a goodbye, and you didn’t miss out on much. I told her how upset Gabriel was and she didn’t give a shit, she just walked out after giving me some pathetic apology.”
He spat this out with venom. Heather had never asked him what their final conversation had actually entailed, and she was surprised by this new information.
“I don’t understand why he has forgiven her. How could he? She ruined him.”
“Me either. I’m glad you came tonight, though, Heather. I thought you wouldn’t as soon as you knew Yoko Ono was coming.” He laughed.
“Not even Yo—”
She was cut off by a cold, angry voice at the entrance to the kitchen.
“Are you sure that you want to finish that sentence, Heather?”
Gabriel was furious, his entire body was tensed, and his fists were clenched at his sides.
“Good, you two are together. I’ve got something to say to both of you. Ariana is my girlfriend; do you hear me? We will be together for the rest of our lives if I have anything to say about it, and I will not have you two treating her like shit.”
“But will you have a say in it, Gabriel?” Sebastian asked in a cool tone. “Did you have a say in it the last time she left?”
Gabriel strode toward them, and Heather thought wildly that he was going to punch Sebastian, but he didn’t. He got right in his face before replying, though.
“How fucking dare you, Seb. You don’t have a single goddamn clue what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t I? You don’t think that we”—he indicated to himself and Heather—“have any clue? We were there, Gabriel. Who the fuck do you think covered for you in fucking interviews about the Grammys? Who do you think carried the load at those first few concerts? Heather wouldn’t fucking speak to anyone, either. Who do you think was there comforting Harrison when he was terrified for Heather’s wellbeing because she wasn’t eating anything? Who was it that was watching their friends fall the fuck apart and couldn’t do any goddamn thing about it because she wouldn’t talk to any of us?”
Heather was shocked by this. She remembered being utterly numb at the time but had no idea how much she had worried Harrison. Gabriel looked stunned, then recomposed himself.
“Well, if you hadn’t brought that bitch to the Grammys, none of it would have happened.”
“Oh, fuck off, Gabriel,” Heather interjected. “That’s bullshit, and you know it. If it hadn’t been Sebastian’s bitchy date, it would’ve been something else. Ariana was just looking for a reason to leave, I don’t know what her fucking problem was but she sure as shit had one.”
“I’d like to go home now.” Their conversation was interrupted by a quiet, sad voice behind Gabriel, and they all turned to look at Ariana, with Hayden and Harrison standing behind her. “Thank you for your hospitality, Sebastian.”
“Ari. I’m sorry.” Gabriel rushed to follow her as she walked to the elevator, obviously crying.
“You two couldn’t just be nice to her for one evening?” Harrison’s voice was cold, and he was looking directly at Heather.
“Clearly not, Captain Obvious,” Sebastian replied.
Heather’s mind was whirling. She was full of pent-up rage and sadness, but Ariana’s face was burned into her brain. She’d looked truly hurt by their conversation. Heather hadn’t meant to take it that far, but nothing that she’d said was untrue.
There was no valid reason for Ariana to leave them the way she did; Heather couldn’t imagine anything that Ariana could tell her that would change her mind. Still, as angry as she was at Ariana, Heather had made a promise to Harrison, and he was glaring at her right now.
“I’m sorry, honey. I tried.”
“Aww, Heather, don’t ruin your badass bitch persona by apologizing for it.” Sebastian grinned at her, and she had to hold back a smile.
“Shut your fucking mouth, Seb. This isn’t the time.” Harrison was angrier than Heather had seen him in a long time. “Both of you owe Gabriel and Ariana an apology.”
“Perhaps, you’re right. I’d say she fucking owes us one, too.” Heather met his steely gaze with her own.
“Sometimes, you have to take the high road, Heather,” Hayden joined in.
“This isn’t about you, Hayden. This is about the fact that Ariana Chamberlain stopped talking to me for two years and now wants me to act like I’m her best friend again. Well, I’m not.”
“Like fuck, it’s not about me. Do you and Sebastian have any idea what you’ve done? If Gabriel refuses to be around you, that’s one thing. If he refuses to be around Sebastian, what the hell do you think will happen to Cruise Control, Heather?”
With shock, Heather realized that he was right. It was all well and good to take the moral high ground, but Gabriel and Sebastian needed, at the very least, to work together or everything would go to shit. Heather looked at Sebastian but saw no such fear on his face.
“Hell will freeze over before I ever forgive Ariana for what she did,” he said with a casual shrug of his shoulders as he stalked out of the room.
“We should probably leave,” Harrison said, and both Heather and Hayden followed him to the elevator as he pulled out his phone to call them an Uber.
They said goodbye to Hayden, made their way outside, and got into their Uber when it arrived. Sebastian had disappeared somewhere in the apartment and didn’t come out to say goodbye to them when they left. It was an ominous end to the evening.
They didn’t talk at all in the Uber on the ride home, and by the time they got into their apartment, Heather was waiting for the inevitable argument.
“I didn’t think that I was asking much of you when I asked you to not argue with Gabriel and Ariana tonight.” Harrison glared at her.
“Hey, Gabriel is the one who came in and started an argument.” Heather shrugged.
“Yes, because you and Seb were off bitching about his girlfriend, together.”
“It feels as though you care more about Gabriel’s happiness than you do about mine,” Heather frowned.
Harrison raised his eyebrows at her. “Does it, angel? Well, it feels as though you don’t care about my happiness, or the band, at all. You could talk sense into Sebastian, instead of turning this into some kind of turf war.”
“Did Ariana give a fuck about the band when she left, Harrison? Did she give a fuck about me? Because if we’re talking about feelings, I still feel like she didn’t.” She glared at Harrison. “I was tired before we went out, and I’m utterly exhausted now. I’m going to bed.”
She spun on her heel and walked to their bedroom. The evening had taken a lot out of her. Sebastian’s last words were ringing in Heather’s ears. Surely, he didn’t mean it. Yet, somehow, she knew that he did.
Chapter 4
HAVE YOU EVER TRIED TO ORGANIZE A WEDDING?
Heather and Harrison were seated at the table in his parents’ house. Across from them were both her mom and Harrison’s mom, Sarah. There were lists of names in front of them; they were trying to cull the guestlist for their engagement party. The goal was to get it down to under two hundred of their nearest and dearest friends and family. This was the maximum capacity for the venue they’d chosen, and it was more difficult than they’d expected to narrow their list down.
“It’s crazy that we have this many people on the list,” Harrison said.
“There were twice that many people at your birthday party, honey,” she told him.
“I know, but who organized that? Does Cooper’s entire management team really have to come to our engagement party?”
“Probably not. Helen can come, though,” Heather said, st
riking four names off the list under their names.
“What about Sierra Capitol Music executives?” Harrison’s mom asked him, looking at about ten names under that heading on their list.
“Unless there’s any record label execs that you’re particularly attached to, Harrison, they can come to the wedding but not the engagement party?” She looked at him.
“New plan. Let’s just elope.” He smiled at her.
“Solid idea. Mom? Sarah? Thoughts?”
Both women looked up from the lists in front of them and laughed.
“I never thought I’d say this,” Sarah said, “but yes, you should absolutely elope.”
“We’ll just cancel everything. I’m sure all the services we’ve booked will be fine with that!” her mom added with a grin.
“Oh, sure, none of them seemed at all excited to be involved in the wedding of a member of Cruise Control when we booked them.” Heather laughed.
“They probably think if they do a good job, they can do more Cruise Control weddings in the future,” her mom added.
“Maybe Gabriel and Ariana,” Sarah suggested.
Heather cringed, their moms knew a little bit about Gabriel and Ariana’s history, but they weren’t fully versed on what had happened in the past. Being on tour was a strange thing; you were oddly cut off from your family and friends. Nobody but the closest inner circle of Cruise Control had seen the devastation when Ariana left.
“Yeah, maybe,” Heather said with a tight smile, and Harrison frowned at her.
“Do you not like her, Heather?” Sarah asked with open curiosity.
“It’s complicated. Let’s just say that I’m not her biggest fan.”
“What about you, Harrison?” her mom asked him.
“I’m neutral. I think Gabriel is happy, and I’d like it to stay that way.”
“Yeah, well, he was happy before, wasn’t he?” Heather sighed. “He was happy until he wasn’t.”
“We’ve talked about this, Heather. They’re together, and being angry about that isn’t going to change it.” He shrugged at her, but there was a hard note to his voice.
They had talked about it, frequently, over the last week since they’d played pool at Sebastian’s. In the end, they’d come to a cold truce where they basically no longer discussed it. Their mothers looked uncomfortable with the tone of their conversation, and Heather knew this wasn’t the time or the place to have this conversation.
“Fine.” She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I’m sorry, everyone. It’s been…an adjustment with her suddenly being back.”
Harrison leaned over and put his arm around her. He pulled her tightly to him, and she put her arms around him before burying her face in his chest. She smelled the scent of him, masculine and warm. Her senses were filled with him, and for a second, she forgot where they were, she forgot about everyone else and their party and the guest list, and it was just her and Harrison in the world. She lifted her face to his and kissed him softly on the lips.
“I love you, honey.”
He smiled at her, and the tension in the room dissipated. Heather looked back at the list in front of her.
“So, record executives, Harrison? Where did we land?” She smiled at him.
They spent the rest of the afternoon whittling down the guest list to two hundred and five people and taking a chance that at least five people wouldn’t be able to make it. They ran through the decorations that had been organized already and looked through invitation designs before settling on one that fit their black-and-white theme perfectly.
“Well, I’ll get those sent to the printer tomorrow, and they should send them off this week. Do you need any help with dinner, Sarah?” Heather asked her future mother-in-law as they were cleaning up the table from all the engagement party paperwork.
“Sure, thanks, Heather. Robert should be home soon, and we can eat.”
Heather loved Harrison’s parents; she’d spent so much time here in their home back when she was in high school. They’d spent hours studying together in Harrison’s room, and even though nothing had happened at the time, both sets of parents had been glad when they’d finally gotten together later on.
Everyone was ecstatic to have a wedding to plan now, and it was exciting, but with even just organizing the engagement party, Heather was amazed by how much work it was. She was still working day and night on Serenity’s collection for Fashion Week, and all of her limited spare time had been taken up with organizing this party. She’d be glad when it and the wedding were over, and she could just go back to living her life with Harrison.
She followed Sarah into their kitchen. Even after Harrison had gotten a lot of money from being in Cruise Control and could afford to buy them a new house, his parents had wanted to stay in their family home. He had convinced them to allow him to pay for an upgrade to their kitchen, however, and it was pretty spectacular.
They’d had dark cupboards, exposed brick, and a linoleum floor, before. It had been very seventies, but the new wood flooring, white cabinets with gray accents throughout the room, marble benchtops, built-in sink, and all new appliances had brought it into the two thousands.
Heather opened the fridge and pulled out the things she needed to make a salad while Sarah pulled a dish of apricot chicken out of the oven and set it on the stovetop before covering it with tin foil. It was her specialty and one of Heather’s favorite meals.
“Is everything okay with you and Harry?” Sarah asked her as she removed her oven mitts and turned to Heather.
“Yeah, we’re fine. Why do you ask?” Heather focused intently on chopping some cherry tomatoes for the salad but thought she could guess where this conversation was going.
“It just seemed tense for a bit there. I’ve never seen you and Harry like that before.”
Sarah began getting out plates and cutlery for their dinner, and Heather sighed.
“Everything’s fine with Harrison and me, Sarah. You don’t need to worry.”
“What about with Gabriel?” Sarah asked her.
Gabriel, Hayden, and Sebastian were like second sons to Sarah and Robert. They often shared Christmas and Thanksgiving with all the families; she knew their moms even had their own group chat on WhatsApp. Heather wondered what would happen this year, given how strained it was between everyone at the moment.
“Well, yeah, it’s been a bit tense there.” Heather stopped chopping vegetables and turned to Sarah. “I don’t know how much Harrison has told you.”
“Not much. A little bit, just that they were together once before, and now they’re back together again.”
“And what has Josie told you?” Heather asked with a smile, knowing that Gabriel’s mom had to have told them something.
“To be honest? I really don’t think she knows much more than I do. Heather, what happened? She said she’d met Ariana, and she’s lovely, but you seem to dislike her, and Bianca said Sebastian had some very unkind words to say about Ariana, but he didn’t give her much information, either.”
Heather threw some pine nuts and chopped feta into the salad bowl, covered it, and put it into the fridge before sitting down on a stool at the kitchen bench, and Sarah sat down next to her.
“Okay, well, Gabriel met Ariana just before the Cards Have Been Dealt tour started and invited her to come on tour with them. I thought she was really nice; we became really good friends. Then the day after the Grammys, Ariana left without talking to anyone, and we never heard from her again.”
“So, she was the ‘Ariel’ girl that none of you would talk to us about?” Sarah looked like she was having a lot of questions answered, and Heather was certain she would be rushing to tell the other moms the first chance she got.
“That’s the one.”
“Why did she leave? Just the drama from that girl?”
“Nobody really knows. Well, maybe Gabriel does, I guess. She didn’t tell any of us, Sarah, she literally just left with no co
ntact, not even a text.” Heather’s face fell as she remembered it.
“Oh dear, that must have been awful for you. I know you haven’t had many friends.” Sarah was sympathetic and gave her a hug.
“Yeah, it was. So, then she just shows up again on the last night of the Heart Wide Open tour, and now she and Gabriel are back together, and everyone thinks I’m being a massive bitch because I don’t want to be friends with her. I’m happy for Gabriel, I really am, but how do we know she won’t just leave us again?”
“Leave Gabriel? Or leave you?”
That was the crux of the matter. Heather didn’t feel that she could trust Ariana anymore. Maybe everyone was right, and she had changed; Ariana was undoubtedly doing things she would never have done before, but she’d broken Heather’s faith in her, and Heather didn’t know if their friendship could ever be repaired.
“Both,” Heather replied. “I’m still really hurt by the way she left. I tried calling her and texting her, and she didn’t reply at all. I’m just scared that it’ll happen again.”
“I guess time will tell,” Sarah said. “How are you looking for Fashion Week?”
“I think it’s going well. I’m flying to New York next week for model castings. It’s completely insane; invitations have started going out, and it’s all getting too real. April’s already agreed to come, so at least there will be one celebrity there.”
Heather was glad that April had agreed to come. She knew that celebrity attendance at a fashion show was crucial. Harrison would be there, too, of course, and probably Sebastian and Hayden, as well. She wasn’t sure about Gabriel, now. She still worried that people would think that she wasn’t really good enough to show at Fashion Week and that she’d only gotten the opportunity through being Harrison’s girlfriend, though.
“Oh, she’s so lovely! I’m sure plenty of people will want to come to your show, though.” Sarah smiled at her.
Heather had no idea when she’d been invited to show at Fashion Week, exactly what it would entail. It was so incredibly competitive. First, she’d just been hoping to get a good show time. Now her publicist had started trying to woo celebrities to come to her show. Next, they would be casting models, but even if they liked someone, there was no guarantee that one of the major fashion houses wouldn’t want them as well.
