Running From the Past

I told them how to book the tour, but I was still annoyed that opening night was in Boston. The guestlist for Twilight Reverie was immense, with the press boxes being filled by friends of the label and media outlets that were a little too biased in our favor. I got a copy of the guest list with backstage access from the tour manager, to find two names that were particularly onerous: Tony Black and Richie Pangioni.

I had enough tests of courage to get to supporting this tour, but facing Richie again was a hurdle that I would have preferred to avoid.

Before I could get caught too much in my panic, Tony came around the corner with his big, dumb whole body laugh.

“Man, back in October, I had no idea that event would have you playing a show and back on the road again,” he kept laughing. “There’s a rumor floating around that you’re working on new music.”

“Man,” I muttered. “You’d think the CEO of the record label would keep that a little quieter.”

“How do you know that I heard it from Borgen?” He asked, trying to play coy.

“Because only two people know, and the other one doesn’t talk to you,” I sneered.

“Jeez, you’re definitely getting back to writing because that’s the prickly Cy I remember from the glory days,” he patted me on the head.

“Speaking of the glory days–” Tony cut me off.

“Yeah, I saw Richie like five minutes ago. I’m not really sure why he asked Borgen to come to this show. He never liked OH back in the day.”

“Do you think I should talk to him before I have to get ready?” I asked.

“What do you mean? Get ready?” the words came before his brain processed the situation. “Hold up, are you playing with OH regularly on this tour?”

I looked down for a second, ashamed for some reason. “Yeah, Kiia asked me a little while back, and she made quite the case, let me tell you.”

“Richie’s going to hate that.”

“What am I going to hate?” The familiar voice echoed as he turned the corner.

“Oh, that guy is going to be playing some songs tonight,” Tony said without missing a beat. “You thought this was a gotcha moment, but secrets don’t keep friends.”

“I wouldn’t say I hate it. It’s not like I have an issue with him using his name to put over upcoming artists,” Richie said, surprisingly. “Just because he effectively ended my career in the industry doesn’t mean I hate everything he does.”

Richie’s words were as cold and harsh as I expected.

My body froze as I searched inside for the confidence to start putting this feud to rest.

While I was deep in thought, Nate and Kiia turned the corner outside the green room where we were converging.

“Woah, it’s a Beyond the Realms reunion right outside our dressing room,” Nate said, not thinking.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” Tony chuckled. “We are missing Kevin, but he’s a lawyer now, so good luck with that.”

“Congrats on signing with the label guys, even if it’s come with some salacious rumors,” Richie said with his eyes fixed on Kiia.

“I’m not too worried about them anymore,” she tried to stay composed. “We’ve been doing our best to live up to everyone’s expectations and Cy has been a tremendous wealth of knowledge for us.”

“Yeah, Cy’s one of the best until he gets a better offer somewhere else,” Richie said, not pulling his punches. “He has told you why BTR came to such an abrupt ending, right?”

“No, I haven’t,” I reacted. “Look, Richie, I’m sorry that things ended the way they did. I’m sorry that the offer Borgen gave us was impossible to refuse at the time. You must know how my solo tour ended by now, Tony or someone must have told you.”

“No, actually,” he replied. “I know what everyone else does, that you had a logistics issue.”

“Stop, Cy,” Tony cut in between us. “This isn’t the time to hash all of this out. Tonight is about OH. Richie, we’ll finish this at a different time.”

“Fine,” Richie said, acknowledging Tony’s words. “Good luck tonight. I’m excited for your next release Kiia, and I mean that.”

He disappeared back down the hallway as quickly as he appeared.

“Cy, are you okay?” Kiia asked, neither of us realizing I was in her arms at this point.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” I said.

Before we could get our defenses up, Nate and Tony were gawking.

“Are you guys, um, like that?” Tony asked, as innocently as possible.

“Like what?” I asked, finally processing that she was draped over me.

“No, it’s not really like that,” Kiia objected. “We’ve just become really close friends.”

Nate didn’t buy that for a second.

“Kiia, you won’t even let my leg touch you sitting in the back of the van. You don’t like physical touch from anyone.”

She looked down, not knowing what to say next.

“Well, I don’t think she’s lying about our relationship,” I rebuked. “We are close friends, but there really isn’t anything else going on.”

Nate continued his skepticism.

“No, Nate, I’m going to trust them on this one,” Tony cut it. “I’ve known Cy for a long time, and you have to remember that he is an enemy to all women with how easy he is. I’m not that surprised that Kiia is this comfortable around him.”

I was grateful to Tony until he went for this killshot.

“This is how he was with that opener back in Europe back in 2015, I mean it’s crazy, someone thought they were dating and it almost ruined his whole career,” he continued to bury me alive. “This is the crux of Cy, he’s too kind to women and they make the mistake of thinking this scoundrel is in love with them. Ha, imagine that.”

The silence in the hallway was deafening.

At some point in it, Tony’s eyes met mine, and he realized what had been done.

Kiia rapidly vanished into the green room with Nate, I could hear her crying as they rushed away from me.

I didn’t go after her. I couldn’t. The shame pinned me to the floor before her footsteps faded.

For a moment; a stupid, primal moment, I wanted to put Tony through the wall. Not because he meant harm, but because he destroyed the only illusion I still allowed myself.