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The car had decided to slow to a stop on it’s own right as he had started rolling into town. Through the last hour of his journey, it had been making noises he was pretty afraid of. Unfortunately for Chris, his fears came true when the car’s engine popped and sputtered to the point of quitting which lead him to pulling over on the snowy road.
It was the middle of the night, well past the time of the bars even closing. There were few street lights to illuminate where he was parked and he could already feel the heat that once filled his vehicle running out. With his family’s cabin still three hours away, he knew he didn’t have many options.
There were no cabs out, the Super 8 was at least three miles down the road, and his new phone had erased all of his contacts. Chris had lived in the town for a couple years and established himself decently well. Well enough to find enough people to start a band and leave once minor success hit. Not well enough to knock on every door for help.
With fingers that were beginning to freeze, he scrolled through his contacts at least ten times. All the while a phone number was being repeated over and over in his head. It was last resort, but it had come to that point. No one was answering. The memorized number wasn’t even programmed in his phone. He hadn’t dialed it in years.
There was one ring. Two. Three.
His risky idea that he had appeared to be failing until he heard the ringing stop then a familiar nicotine fueled cough.
“Hello?”
“Still nocturnal, huh?”
“S’only way to get things done. The sun is bad for you, Christopher.”
Already the voice on the other line had him smiling, finding his teeth chattering only seconds later which made him have to cut to the point of why he called.
“Uh, so, I know this is really awkward… but I’m freezing my ass off downtown. If you even still live around here. My car broke down. I’m trying to make it to the cabin for Christmas. I know it’s been… fuck, I don’t know. Would you mind-“
“Shut up, I’m on my way.”
Once his location was designated, he got off the phone. He swore he watched a million cars drive by in the span of fifteen minutes. The cold was getting down to his bones and he was shivering as if he was standing outside even wearing all of his winter outerwear.
After what felt like an eternity, a savior in the form of a different beat up car with a billion faded stickers decorating the bumper pulled up and parked in front of him. Chris jumped out of his car with his duffle bag which was immediately thrown in the back seat of the one that was running.
”Heat! W-Warmth! I was gonna f-fuckin’ die back there, dude!” Chris shoved his face towards the vents that were blasting the hot air for his comfort. He turned his face a few inches so he could look at his driver and give thanks only to be left with no ability to say a thing.
His ex in the passenger’s seat looked nothing like when they had last met. Ricky’s black hair had grown to rest far down her back and was trimmed to frame her face that was much more rounded than before as opposed to appearing malnourished like she used to on occasion. Eye makeup that they once messily applied to look like raccoons together had been replaced with eyeliner that she clearly used an artistic hand with. Above all, Chris’ eyes went to her chest that was no longer entirely flat.
“Keep staring, we’ve got all night.” She encouraged with an eye roll before reaching in her ash tray for her cigarette she had been courteous enough to put out before he got in. That was courtesy being taken away; she needed it now.
“… What?” Suddenly he was warm enough, getting tomato red in the face even while he watched who he had been referring to as his ex boyfriend for years shift the car into drive. “You like, like kind of have boobs.”
“That’ll happen.” Ricky mumbled, blowing smoke out the slightly cracked window that was threatening to suck out all of their warmth inside.
“Wha-? No. That doesn’t just happen.” Chris sat up in the passenger’s seat, plucking his hat off of his head to scrunch up between his fingers. It was true, he couldn’t stop staring. There was a look of disbelief on his face while he took in the appearance who was driving him to safety.
The silence between them seemed louder than the roaring and screeching of her own shitty car’s noises. “I came out a few months after you bailed.” Ricky proceeded to inform him, flicking ash out of the window. “S’not like we talk. I didn’t feel the need to call you. Not like you call me about anything in your life. I have to hear you on the radio or see you on a magazine to get my updates if I wanted them.”
It had not been the cleanest split. They had been living together for a solid year, their art heavily overlapping within that time. Ricky’s artwork ended up making it as their first album cover that helped them gain recognition. At least 75% of the lyrics on that album were ones that she had written but no where did she receive credit. Now most record stores she goes to she can find it on the shelf with her poems listed as popular tracks.
Chris didn’t have much of a response back to that. He did not reach out to her either. It was sky rocketing success; they were immediately booked to do tours and he found himself busier than ever. In the time they’d been apart, he hadn’t found much time for a new partner either. A few casual flings but no one quite like her.
“I’ll be honest… I’ve been a bit of an asshole. Asshole is maybe an under statement, I guess.” Something was missing from that confession. It took his monkey brain a second to churn it out. “I’m sorry.”
Smoke was inhaled into her lungs once again only to be sighed out. With a glance over to him, it was a struggle not to forgive that face. Big brown puppy eyes were being offered directly to her and a pierced pout that still got her after not being around him for ages. “Thanks, I guess.” Still, the one that was scorned didn’t want to let him off the hook that easily. Her cigarette was put out in her overflowing ashtray while they pulled into her apartment’s lot.
The car was put into park and after a few moments of them being stopped, a smile tugged at the corners of Ricky’s lips. “You’re a famous rockstar and you still have a old ass piece of shit car.” She pointed out the obvious to make herself feel better about her own situation, bursting out into a fit of laughter afterward.
“Shut up, Olson.” Chris ended up grinning, her giggling contagious. She was shoved in the shoulder which only made her laugh harder. “It’s nicer than this one! It looks like a cat clawed the shit out of this one! You bought it like that. I tried to tell you to get that other one but you insisted on this one because it’s purple.”
Ricky reached up to touch the tattered ceiling that was hanging down in pieces. “Touché.” Finally able to catch her breath, the smile remained on her face. “Grab your shit and come inside. We’re gonna get snowed in.”
It was still the apartment that they had shared together before Chris left town. Their promotional poster for The Lost Boys that they went in to buy together off eBay was still hung up in a frame over a couch that had only worn down even more. Dark colored candles remained scattered all over the place to create light that the sun eliminating curtains blocked out. Any space that his items had taken up before was now storage for her artwork and supplies.
A light switch was flipped which illuminated both the room and the smaller girl Chris had been following. His bag was set down on the couch blindly, his gaze not moving from the one that was in front of him. Even though it was obvious she was a little tired and he had caught her working in the night, his feelings came rushing back ten fold.
Instead of torturing her hair with a flat iron, she allowed her long dark locks to hold its natural waves and hang down as they pleased past the middle of her back. She had a few specks of lavender on her soft cheeks that were pink from the cold; the color matching the paint she had set out in the middle of a few pages of newspaper with a canvas. The flecks of light purple paint traveled down her arms to her hands that caused him to realize her touch was a great deprivation.
“Ricky, I’m sorry. I’m so happy to see you again, I know I fucked up, I—“ Chris couldn’t go on rambling due to those hands being on his face. There was a very short staring match between the two of them that they both lost. The hands the musician was focused on had to guide him to match her height, her much warmer lips pressing up against his. His fingers sunk into her hair, tangling into the silky strands to pull her near during the kiss.
His heart was beating nearly as fast as it did the first time he kissed her. After they went to see an AFI show in their senior year of high school. Instead Chris had borrowed his parent’s nice car to take them their since it was out of town; less chance of breaking down. She had to make the first move then, too.
Ricky was the first to pull away and her icy blue eyes were glassy. They stared up at Chris and at the back of her throat was a plea for him not to leave again. That wasn’t what came out. Thankfully. “I’ve missed you, Christopher.”
“I’ve missed you too.” Before she could interrupt him again with another kiss, he continued. “I’m glad that my car broke down tonight. I have the like, most cool and beautiful ex girlfriend in the world. It sucks that she’s my ex girlfriend.”
”It does kind of suck.” Ricky agreed, thumb rubbing against the vocalist’s cheekbone. “Maybe if you slow down the whole stuck up rockstar schtick, I might consider going out with you again.”
“Yeah?” With a raised, smudgy eyebrow, Chris was beaming. “Want to come to the cabin with me this weekend? I’m sure everyone would be so excited to see you. Unless you have plans. Oh, duh. You probably are doing shit with your own family.” He hit himself in the face with his palm. “Sorry, it’s late, I was driving forever. I can’t think.”
“Actually, I don’t.” The hand that had been on Chris’ face slid down his arm only for the two of them to link fingers. “My parents specifically haven’t been really cool with, uh, me. I haven’t been going around there anymore. It’s not worth it. Just awkward.”
Chris knew he probably would have been more stunned if he had a completely clear mind and wasn’t overtired, fueled solely by energy drinks. He was holding hands with the one he had true love with and she still made his heart skip a beat just the same. This was a change that made him happy, his ex had a new light behind her eyes even when speaking of something that was upsetting.
“They’ve always been shitty. Always.” Chris kept his short temper under control and focused on that he was back in her presence that was a calming one, one he’d missed dearly. “Remember when they gave us both coal for Christmas? Said we were on the naughty list. We even got them that stupid expensive gift card to Home Depot.”
“I do.” With a shake of her head and a long yawn, she asked another question. “Can we head to bed now so we can get up and go to the store?” Ricky was already tugging his hand towards her bedroom, giving the hint that he wasn’t sleeping on the broken couch that night. “I don’t want to give your family coal. They’re on the nice list. I think maybe you get coal, though.” She winked though there was a lot of work to be done to still regain her trust back. Chris was willing to do that, no matter how long it took. “Maybe you.”