The One Who Shot Me - Sequel To Bulletproof Love

I could see his eyebrows furrow above his dark sunglasses, which, as I could recall, he sometimes did, even at night. His lips parted, as though he were beginning to say something, but he instead shook his head. He once again parted his lips, and they moves as if he were struggling to form words.

“Tony?” I called his name again, this time with less surprise, in order to get him to say something. His silence was eerie.

Tony swallowed and moistened his lips with his tongue before separating his lips for one last time before speaking. “Dylan…” He let his voice trail off at the end of the sentence; he spoke my name as if its syllables dripped poison onto his tongue. “You smoke cigarettes?”

I decided to shrug off his question and took a deep breath to buy myself some time. I’d previously known that I was not prepared at all to see Tony, yet here I was, and I needed something to say. I was nervous, however; I was sure that he would shrug me off like a bug on his shoulder and walk away, leaving me alone with my thoughts and regrets, once again.

Yet, I spoke through my overthinking. “Uh...um...are you - do you still need this lighter?” I gestured toward the small metal object balancing between my sweating fingers.

Tony looked down toward my hand, and saw that his own hand was still extended in the direction of mine, and he nervously shoved it into the pocket of his hoodie. “Oh, um...no. Thanks, I guess.”

I nodded in response and put my lighter into my purse. By the time I’d looked back up at Tony, the existing layer of tension only seemed to multiply exponentially, and I swallowed hard. We both started to stammer at the same time, letting out different arrangements of “well...um...err...uh…”

Finally, Tony told me that he had to go, and while I did miss him, and I knew it, I was thankful for this, because things had never been this awkward between us, not even when we first met. He turned away and walked back into the club, and I waited a second before taking my cigarette out of my mouth and stomping it into the ground to put it out. Afterwards I followed Tony’s footsteps back inside; I didn’t want any of my companions to know that I had seen him, or even talked to him.

Walking back into the venue, I scanned the bar, trying to see if Jessica was still there. She was, indeed, sitting right where she had been sitting before, and Vic was right there as well, but this time Ashley was snuggled next to him, and suddenly, everything clicked in my mind. Ashley must have known the guys were here, and that’s why she chose this destination, in Sydney. It became clear to me that I was being set up.

I pushed my way through the crowd as quickly as I could, and when I finally reached the bar, I went right up to the couple standing in front of me and greeted Vic for the second time that night before pulling Ashley away by her arm and requesting some time to speak privately. Ashley said a few things of question and protest as I practically dragged her through the club, searching for a bathroom. I spotted the public restroom at the end of the hall before bringing her with me into the room.

“Okay, Dylan, what the hell is going on?” she asked as soon as I let her go, turning to one of the dirty mirrors above the sinks to check her appearance.

“You knew Pierce the Veil was in Sydney before you brought me here!” I saw her face fall in the mirror from confused to sorry in a matter of seconds. “Why didn’t you tell me? Did you think I would never find out?”

“Dylan, listen. You’ve been mopey ever since your breakup and I wanted to take you somewhere. Vic was already here, and he helped me pay for stuff. Plus, I missed him.”

“Did you even think about me possibly running into Tony?” I wasn’t all that upset anymore, but this was seemingly the one part of the story that made no sense.

She sighed and turned around from the mirror. “Of course I did. And, maybe I was wrong, but I thought that maybe, just maybe, seeing each other would do more good than harm, for the both of you.”

At this point we heard a toilet flush, and we turned to look towards the stalls in the restroom. One of the doors opened, and Drew walked out. “Dylan,” she said, in the same manner in which Ashley had just spoken, and made her way to the sink to wash her hands. “Ashley is right. Both of you guys have been...not yourselves. We all miss you guys the way you were.”

I shook my head, as if the physical action would remove the words they had just spoken from my memory. I hadn’t changed, I thought to myself. I was the same person I had always been; I just had a new layer of guilt with which I had to live everyday.

“I still don’t understand why you guys couldn’t tell me…” I replied, looking down at my feet.

Drew chuckled. “We knew you wouldn’t come with us. We just barely got you to agree with this.” I nodded at this; it was the truth.

“And Jessica knows about this?”

“Well,” Ashley said. “Jess gets her own sense of satisfaction from this trip.” She laughed and shared a knowing look with Drew, a look at which I raised a suspicious eyebrow.

“Well. Alright.” I turned and walked out of the bathroom, and the two girls followed me.

As we got back to the bar, we saw Jessica and Vic striking up a conversation and enjoying their drinks. Upon spotting Ashley, Vic singlehandedly pulled her into his side and under his arm before kissing her cheek before even breaking eye contact with Jessica. That guy has game.

I put my hand on Jessica’s shoulder and stood next to her. “Jess, I think I’m ready to go back to the hotel.”

“But you said you’d come say hi to everyone!” Vic whined, responding to my statement in behalf of Jess.
I seriously contemplated denying him, but this was something that was very well inevitable. If it didn’t happen today, I would have to see the guys at some point before we left Sydney. I then knew that part of this trip was for Ashley getting to spend time with Vic while he was on tour, and I realized how selfish and unfair it would be to deny them that experience, so this was something that I couldn’t necessarily run from.

With that in mind, I passively obliged by calling over the bartender. “Can I get a bottle of Heineken please?” The man nodded, and in exchange for the beer, I handed him a five dollar bill and opened the bottle with an opener I had on my keyring.

“You’re a Heineken girl, Dyl?” Ashley asked me.

I shrugged. “My dad drinks it.” Drew nodded next to me, as if to confirm the information about our father.

“Alright, let’s go,” Vic announced, setting down a few bills on the counter to cover his and Ashley’s drinks before leading us away from the bar and over to the VIP section of the club.

The VIP section was upstairs on a balcony-type structure overlooking the main dancefloor. It was separated by a velvet rope and a bouncer. When we approached the area, Vic showed the bouncer a small card he had, then gestured toward the rest of us to signify the fact that we were with him, and we were given the green light to go upstairs.

As we ascended the winding steps leading up to the balcony, I could feel my heart breakdancing in my chest. I hated myself for being so anxious about this, but this would be the first time that I’d seen Tony and Jaime together in one place since before our breakup six months prior to that day, and quite frankly, I wasn’t really looking forward to this. Once we got to the top of the steps, Drew put a reassuring hand on my shoulder, as if she could read my thoughts and she was telling me that everything would be fine. I gave a soft smile and took a deep breath before continuing to follow Vic.

I took the time to look around and admire that part of the club. It was reasonably less crowded than the rest of the venue, and the music was a lot more quiet, so there was no need to yell, but there was still a considerable amount of bass running through the floor, which made it possible to still dance and let loose should anyone want to do so.

With my heels on, I was taller than Vic, so while I walking behind him, I could easily look over his shoulder to see where we were going. I did so, and from where I was, I could see that we were going to a far corner of the space, toward a large circular booth complete with a circular table. I could see Mike, Jaime, Tony, and Adam Elmakias carrying on a conversation. What was interesting to me, however, was that if I hadn’t previously known these four guys, I would not have thought anything was ever wrong, or that there was any animosity between any of them. Everyone was contributing the discussion. But because I did know these guys, I could see that whenever any of the guys laughed or appeared to make a joke, Tony stared blankly; he had moments of staring off blankly into space. And I could also see that Jaime did not seem to be as excited or funny as he usually was, and that alone was nearly enough to break my heart. I felt as though I had broken someone.

“Guys, look who I found!” Vic exclaimed as we reached the booth, shaking me out of my thoughts.
“Oh my God!” Mike’s whole face lit up when he saw us, and truthfully, it lightened my mood quite a bit. Mike was so charismatic, and he really had a way with that smile. “Dylan, Ashley, Drew! How are you guys?” He slid out of the booth and gave each of us hugs and kisses on the cheek while we exchanged greetings and small talk. “And who’s this?” Mike asked with a smirk as his eyes landed upon Jessica. He raised a flirty eyebrow at her and licked his lips while glancing down at hers. “I’m Mike.”

“Whoa there, tiger,” I said, interrupting their little moment. Somehow I was slightly jealous of Mike’s flirtatious gestures, but I simply shrug it off as possessiveness due to the kiss we shared earlier in the night. “This is Jessica,” I glanced at her from over my shoulder. “and I don’t think she’s interested.”

“Aww man,” Mike said disappointedly. “Boyfriend?”

Jessica giggled a bit. “Sure, Mike. It was nice to meet you.” She held out her hand, and he chuckled as she shook it.

I shook my head while chuckling under my breath and turned to the rest of group. The other three guys were now standing, too, and everyone was greeting each other and exchanging hellos. I hugged Elmakias, and we spoke briefly about photography related things, before there was a tap on my shoulder. I turned around. “Jaime.”

“Hi, Dylan.” He smiled at me, and I wondered about how genuine it was. “How are you doing?”

“I’m okay. How’s tour? What’s going on with you?” My words were admittedly empty, but the smile on my face was real. I missed Jaime. I missed Jaime being my best friend; I missed being able to talk to him whenever about whatever.

“Um, it’s fine, and nothing much is going on with me.” I nodded, and I wondered when we were going to stop lying to each other.

I looked beyond Jaime and noticed Tony standing next to Vic and having a conversation with Ashley. He turned his head towards my direction, and he was still wearing his dark sunglasses, but I figured he was meeting my gaze. I gave him a slight side-smirk, but he just looked down and turned away. And that really hurt.

I took out my phone and sent Jessica a text. It was true that she was standing within close proximity of me, but I didn’t want the guys to hear me, due to the fear that they would suspect I was avoiding them. Can we please leave now?

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her check her phone and type on the screen. Sure. She gave Mike one last smile before stepping amongst the three of us girls. “Drew, Dylan, Ashley. I’m really tired, so I think I’m gonna head back to the hotel. You guys coming with? Or are you staying here for a bit?”

“I think I’m gonna stick around for a while,” Drew responded. I heard Ashley agree. “Dylan? Are you staying?”

“I’m actually pretty beat, too, so I’m gonna head back with Jessica. I’ll see you guys tomorrow, though.”
We started to say goodbye to everyone, and Mike tried to make another subtle pass at Jessica, before Jaime spoke to me once more. “Dylan, can we talk?”

I sighed. I wish Tony would be this forward. “Sure, Jaime. Just not today. We’ll get together at some point before we have to go back to the states, I promise.”

He smiled. “You really shouldn’t make promises, Dyl.” I returned his smile, and raised an eyebrow at him before Jessica summoned me to leave with her. Before we descended the stairs, I turned and looked one more time at Jaime and Tony, and I couldn’t help but think about the promises I’d made, and which ones I didn’t keep.

Notes

Tell me what you think!
What do you guys think of Jessica? What about Jaime and Dylan? Any predictions/questions? Please comments!
Thanks for reading!!!!