Chapter 17

Her fingers silently moved along the card's edges; numerous voices rang throughout her mind telling her in every direction she tried to hide to throw it away whilst another told her to give him a call. At this point Erica felt like she was caught in a tug of war. It was hard to focus on anything.

"You know you could just tell me you're not in the mood to record anything, E. I won't be hurt," Maxwell joked lightly studying her carefully. It had been more than an hour since they began, and he could tell that she was distracted.

Looking up she gave him an apologetic look knowing that she was wasting precious time by fixating on this card. But she couldn't help it, more often than she'd like to admit her mind began wondering the possible people she could meet at the wedding and how just a few moments of their time could possibly change her life.

"Damn him!" she inwardly snapped; it was all Jack's fault that she was dealing with this turmoil boiling inside her. He had no right to throw her into his mess and in a moment of anger she silently put away his card.

"Sorry, just have a lot on my mind. But I'm here," she insisted.

He pursed his lips unconvinced until eventually he shrugged nonchalantly and moved his attention to the sound board. "So, I was thinking of adding something with a bit more jazz to it."

"Jazz?" she inquired perplexed by the suggestion. Erica knew most of Maxwell's work was inspired by hip hop and a lot of pop music.

"I know, I know but I want to try something different. I don't know Moni thought it was silly and maybe she's righ-"

"Whoa," she interjected, "I never said the idea was silly. I was just caught off guard. In all the years I've known you, you never struck me as the type."

"So, does this mean you'd be open to hearing what I've come up with? I tried to play a few songs for her, and she just didn't seem convinced," he muttered lowly seeming unsure of himself as he looked away for a moment before regaining his composure when he realized Erica had been watching him.

"What's going on with you guys lately?"

"Well, I feel like even if I say it's nothing you'll keep insisting so," he sighed running a hand down his face as all the problems from the past weeks flooded back into his mind, "I-I keep trying to pinpoint the exact moment things started falling apart. It's like anything that I do is just not good enough and she's kind of starting to see this whole music thing as just a kid's dream. And I get it you know it's not going to be guaranteed that we'll make it but I'll be damned if I don't at least try, right?"

"Yeah, I get it. Truth is not everyone is going to understand your vision and that's alright so I'd like to think that you will get past this," she assured. "Hell, if you guys fail then I'll lose all hope in love sooo no pressure," she joked lightly, however, Maxwells face remained neutral not giving any of his thoughts away.

"Well considering the guy I saw you with I don't think you'll need me to keep your hope in love alive," he scoffed. Something about the comment made her uneasy such that unsure of what to do she cleared her throat placing her attention back to her open journal that had lyrics sprawled all over it.

"Was that really necessary?" she retorted not bothering to look his way. "And I thought we wouldn't talk about that."

"I guess I'm a bad friend for caring," he replied contemptuously.

"It's really not your business what I do. You don't hear me judging whatever you and Monica do?"

"You can't put what Moni and I have in the same category as you and your fuck bu-"

"Would someone take their so called 'fuck buddy' to a wedding to meet their parents?" Sabrina interjected sauntering casually into the room wearing a bored expression. She had tried her best to remain mute on the other side of the door when she arrived to come see them but failed miserably in keeping her opinion to herself when it came to Maxwell's attitude.

She briefly made eye contact with Erica who looked at her suspiciously as to how she knew about the wedding but broke away to face Maxwell who had yet to find the strength to remove the frown on his face. It was evident he wasn't amused by Sabrina's interruption, unfortunately she could careless as she plopped onto the couch without a care in the world.

"Is it true?" he questioned turning his attention back to Erica who was still throwing daggers at her cousin for eavesdropping on her private conversations.

"Uh-uh-uh..." she stuttered looking at Sabrina for some form of help only to have her blow a kiss in her direction whilst she panicked and quickly blurted out, "Y-Yeah. It's true," she inwardly cringed at having to lie. Avoiding his intense gaze Erica proceeded to flip through the pages of her journal pretending to be looking for something.

"Why do you care so much, Max?" Sabrina challenged.

He glared at her, Erica knew they both had their spats here and there but there was something particularly tense about how they were treating each other lately. "Just care a lot about my friend," he replied.

"If I were you, I'd focus on working on my crappy excuse of a relationship," she retorted staring at her nails whilst the other occupant seethed in his seat.

"Stay out ou –"

"Look we've already wasted precious time. The last thing we want is to get into useless fights now behave," Erica snapped glaring at them both.

Sabrina rose her hands in mock surrender leaning back in her seat, "I'll behave, mom," she joked.

"Max?" she demanded eyeing him until he eventually mumbled a low 'fine' under his breath.

***

The rest of the session went on without a hitch and despite the hostility brewing between Sabrina and Max, he still insisted on walking them both home since it was now late.

It was silent between all three of them for the most part. Whenever Erica tried to start a conversation, she was met with one-word answers from both individuals and tired from the low reception gave up trying.

She had already decided she'd question Sabrina on what was going on between them when they were alone.

Staring at her feet that often shuffled along the pavement she was lost in her own thoughts until she felt Sabrina prod her side gently. Glancing in her direction she followed her cousin's line of vision to see an older gentleman moving towards them from the vehicle he was standing by holding a package.

Looking at him wearily, she could see from her peripheral vision Maxwell move in front of them once the older gentleman stood in front of them looking at Erica with a gentle smile, "Good evening, this is for you," he said holding up the package to Erica who looked at it in surprise.

"I-I think you've made a mistake."

"So, I think its best you move it along," Maxwell replied staring down at the man who wasn't affected by his much larger size as he kept his eyes trained on Erica.

"On the contrary despite being long in the tooth I think you'll come to find I hardly make mistakes. And Mr Dawson made it very clear that this is meant for you, Miss Jones," his grin widened at the look of shock on her face at the mention of Jack's name.

Reaching for the package the minute she peeked inside her cheeks burned at the lotus flower; the sight of it triggering a particular memory of Jack tracing her skin with his tongue when he discovered a tattoo of the aquatic plant on her left buttock. Closing the lid despite how tempted she was to take out the card next to it she quickly thanked him doing her best to avoid looking at Sabrina and mostly Maxwell whom she could admit she still cared very deeply for.

Walking briskly up the steps Edgar watched her amused at how flustered she looked whilst taking note of the clear annoyance lining her male companion's face. But Edgar knew better than to question too much on that and chose to return to the car knowing he had fulfilled Jack's request.

As he revved the engine to life, he peered at the building trying to shake off the nagging feeling he suddenly felt at how this girl's life was about to be changed. But whether it would be for the good or bad was something that fate would have to decide for them both...