Chapter IV

Scarlett's POV

A sudden, loud crash of something against a tile floor accompanied by heavy footsteps 

of people running startled me. Slowly sitting up, I opened my eyes and squinted; reacting to the brightness of the room I was in. As images of last night filtered through my head I breathed a sigh of relief as I realized that I awoke on the floor of a hotel suite bedroom. By the looks of things, I succeeded in making it back to the hotel my band was staying at.

I swung my legs over the edge, stretching as I stood up, deciding to investigate the noise that woke me up. My body was aching, and not just from sleeping on the floor. Pausing in front of the dressing table mirror, I gasped in horror at my neck which was covered in blue-purple hickies.

"That bastard," I muttered, rubbing my fingers against the sensitive areas with the hopes that they would magically come off. Pulling out my hair, I was careful to place or around my neck as best as I could. I nearly kicked the drawer in frustration because it didn’t help much but at least they surely weren’t as noticeable as they were before. Curse that Franco boy and his stupid but very gorgeous smile that gets him everything he wants. I can guarantee that he probably just smiles his way into Ivy League schools because that smile can make anyone weak in the knees.

Male laughter travelled down the hallway, and I remembered that the entire reason I got out of bed was to investigate the noise I heard, not to loathingly admire James inside my head. As I rounded the corner, my jaw almost hit the floor at the bombsite in front of me. Food scraps were scattered across the floor and plastered along the once spotless, glossy white of the kitchen splashbacks. In amongst all the mess, unsurprisingly, were the two mischief makers in the band - Zach and Dana.

"That was priceless," Zach exclaims as he grasps his stomach and tries desperately to stop laughing. Dana was lying on the ground surrounded by pieces of fruit and covered in what I hoped was tomato sauce. Immediately, I started to laugh at them both. Dana groans and reaches for an apple, throwing it at Zach, who expertly dodged out of its way.

"Hey Scar! Did we wake you up?" She asks as begins to pick up what was left of the still edible food.

“Yeah, no big deal though,” I smiled back. “What the hell happened in here?”

"Mel’s tipsy apparently," Zach quips, causing Dana to throw a face at him. "I have a terrible hangover, Matt is still blacked out and you were still sleeping so we tried to make breakfast for you guys."

"I can see that," I laughed.

Looking up from the floor, Dana just had to point out the obvious. “Hey weren’t you supposed to be staying after the party to spend time with Seth?”

"I was, but I changed my mind," I replied, making my way to the fridge to find anything to eat but mostly ignoring the suspicious looks they were both giving me.

"What happened to your neck Scar?" Zach asks innocently, the knowing look plastered across his face contradicting the tone of voice.

"Oh, I got some weird rash…" I shrugged.

"Of course," Dana smiled, "I heard James Franco is hard to avoid these days. He’s highly allergenic."

My eyes immediately snapped up to meet hers before I could delay my reaction time, and I knew I had been caught out. Before I could think of an excuse, their body language indicated to me that they both had the answer they were searching for. Dana looked absolutely ecstatic, much resembling a child on Christmas Day after they un-wrapped their gift to find the toy they’d been asking for all year and Zach looked absolutely mortified. Both of their expressions accurately reflected their personal opinion on James. I shifted awkwardly on the spot, feeling my cheeks heat up from the embarrassment.  

"You two totally slept together,” She shouted happily, “I knew this would happen!”

“I’m going to be sick,” Zach smiled sarcastically.

-

After I had one long shower and got dressed, I decided to go out for breakfast in order to avoid being bombarded with questions, or criticism. The last thing I wanted was people jumping down my throat. Regardless of the precaution I took, Zach still managed to get in the car with me and I didn’t particularly feel like arguing with him.

Glancing at him out of the corner of my eye, I watched him fiddle with the radio dial trying to find a station to listen to. I couldn’t tell how long it went on for, but I was damn ready to throw him out of the car once I’d heard enough of those typical radio voices, that weird classical music station only 5% of the population listen to, some really crappy new pop song and copious amounts of static feedback in between. Sighing heavily, he sat back and drummed on his knees.

“I can’t believe you slept with him,” Zach mutters, finally breaking the ice. I shifted uncomfortably and gripped the steering wheel of the rental car even harder, to the point where my knuckles had turned white. Finally pulling up in the parking lot of McDonalds, I turned to face Zach, “It was a mistake, okay?”

Nodding, he got out of the car and turned around to speak through the window, “Just because it was a mistake doesn’t mean it wasn’t deliberate.”

 I winced at his words, running my hand through my hair as if it would help me come up with a valid reason for my actions.

It didn’t.

Once Zach had returned with some food, I still didn’t feel

much better about myself so I made him take the wheel. Things got even worse when he resumed our conversation.

"James?”

Pursing my lips, I turned to face Zach, “You know he isn’t that bad.”

With a scoff, Zach shook his head, “Are we talking about the same James Franco here?”

"Yes.”

"I’m just wondering. The pretentious one who makes shit movies, shit art an—"

"Zach!" I groaned, raising my voice, “You two used to get along so well.”

Zach laughed dryly, “Well, we did until he caused Hailey and I to break off our engagement.”

“Wait, what?”

“Don’t worry.”

“No, tell me.”

Sighing, Zach pulled over at the side of the road, “Right, so you and James were probably together for about three months and I was at a bar downtown LA with Hailey when James confronted me, accusing me for sleeping with you. Before I could ask him where he got that information, he punched me in the face. We ended up getting kicked out of that club.”

I shook my head, “James wouldn’t do that…”

“When I finally got him to calm down a bit, I asked him where the hell he heard that false information from our old pal Chris told him he saw us kissing backstage after a show. Chris didn’t just quit, Matt, Dana and I decided to fire him,” Zach explained, “That’s why I had that black eye. I told you that I got into a pub fight so you wouldn’t question it.”

His words left me speechless for quite some time. James was right about Chris. How could I be so stupid? I owe James the biggest apology.

“Why did you guys lie to me?”

Zach ran his hand through his hair and gave me an apologetic look. “Because,” He sighed, “You and Chris were really good friends, plus he was a damn good roadie and we knew there would be no way that you’d let us fire him. But we just didn’t trust him being around so we got rid of him. You were so in love with James, I didn’t want to complicate things any further.”

“That bastard,” I grunted, “He told me James cheated on me.”

“I knew he was trouble from the start,” Zach says, “If I see him around, I’m going to hit him so hard.”

I leaned back into the seat and turned up the volume dial on the radio. My mood immediately lifted as I recognized The Strokes on the radio. After we both belted out the words to Reptilia, Zach finally spoke to me again.

"You know Scar, you two did make a really good co—"

"Do you like playing drums and getting paid to do it?” I snapped, resulting in a smug sounding chuckle from Zach.

"Just saying," He shrugs.

"Just shut up and drive, will you."