Page 6 of All That Remains
“Piss off.”
“Uh,fiveactually,” Jen corrected him, and I glowered her way.
“Wow, five. Sure, that isn’t worrying at all—"
"Back off, mate."
"You're in a mood," he snarked. "What crawled up your ass?"
"I told you: he sawRoman!" she shouted.
"I saw him too! Big freaking deal.Small world.”
"Way to trivialize probably the biggest celeb reunion of the past decade—"
"Trivialize? Please. He probably doesn’t even care. Ralph, you don’t give a shit, do you? You speak to him any?”
"No."
"No?"
"No," I ground out. "He just sort of...waved....and then I…waved…and then that was it. It was over."
"Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
“Brutal…”
“Well now, hang on—that's good, right?" she reasoned, ever the optimist. “It’s progress, compared to years of zero contact. Work with me on this…”
"Not really," I tossed her a glance. "It's been what? Overtwoyears, now? Not a single word? Not a single text? After everything? It felt ludicrous, y'know? After seeing him, I just wanted to leave. I couldn’t face it."
"Maybe he wanted to come over, but couldn't—"
"I went to everyone. He could’ve easily done the same."
"But you didn't make a move towards him either, right?"
“Spare me the devil’s advocate bullshit.” I ruffled my hair, an unrelenting habit.
"So, it’s agreed.” John declared. “No one gives a fuck about that dude. His debut single was a masterclass in mediocrity. Without half a dozen songwriters and all the corporate guardrails, his music is dogshit at best—”
"Don’t listen to him. Rafe, you’re the extroverted one,theoretically," she continued. "So just imagine how daunting it must've been for him if y—"
“Y’know, this is why I never talk about this shit, alright? The band stuff. Just take his side, why don’t you?"
"It's not about sides, Rafe—"
"Isn't it?"
"No!" she laughed, then sobered. "What did you expect, exactly?"
"I just..." I nearly growled. "I dunno really. Something more, I guess? At the end of the day, it is what it is. That's just it, mate. Now we can leave it.” I dragged a hand down my mouth. “We'll go another few years without running into one another. Maybe five, maybe ten? How's that?"
"Then make a move," she shrugged.
"I did."
