was a joke, but he doesn’t. It is taking every ounce of willpower that I possess to not punch the smug look off of his face. That’s what I really want to do. I want to haul off like a raging lunatic and hit him. I have to get away from him. I turn away and push through the doors leading to the stairs. This is unbelievable. It’s Courtney Billings all over again. Courtney was my last girlfriend. We dated for a year and I was sure she was the one. I thought she felt the same way about me until she came to one of our shows with her husband . God I felt like such an idiot. An entire year and I had no idea she was married! She spent numerous nights with me at my flat. We went on holiday with my mum and dad for god sakes. When I asked her why, she told me it was because her husband worked a lot and she needed someone for when he wasn’t around. She said she was just looking for a boy toy to keep her sheets warm at night and she didn’t think we would fall for each other. Then she has the nerve to ask me if I would consider continuing to see her behind her husband’s back. She said she loved me so much and didn’t want to let me go. I asked her if she loved me so much than why was she still with him. She said it was because she loved him too and she was “taken care of” which meant she didn’t have to work. I told her I didn’t share my girlfriends with anyone and walked away but I was weak and ended up going back to her. One night shortly after that, I was out and I ran into her friend, Nan. Nan told me she couldn’t watch this dramatic mess any longer and that is when I realized the full extent of Courtney’s lies. For starters, her name wasn’t even Courtney. It was Gillian. Courtney was the name of her daughter. That’s right, her daughter! She had two freaking kids! Apparently, she had been dropping them on Nan when she was with me. The only bit of truth that she even told me was that her husband traveled a lot for work. The more I think about it, the more the two situations seem alike to me and I begin to dwell and dwell on it until I can’t see any different between Courtney and Chloe. I’m not going to be anyone else’s replacement. I did that once and it sucked. I have to protect myself this time. By the time I get to Dean’s, my mood has going from being bad to being furiously worse. My cell phone goes off just as I get out of my truck. I pull my phone out and glance at the display. Chloe. Hitting the ignore button, I shove my phone back into my pocket. I yank my guitar bag out of the backseat of my truck and fling it over my shoulder so harshly I am surprised that the strap didn’t break. A string of profanities fly out of my mouth as I angrily stomp my way into Dean’s house and down to his basement. “Whoa!” Dean exclaims as I slam the door shut behind me. I flash him a dirty look. “Hey now, who took a tiny tinkle in your afternoon tea princess?” Tyler asks. I shot him an even dirtier look. My cellphone rings again. Chloe.....again. Ignore. “Are we playing or what?” I ask angrily. “You want to talk about whatever it is that has your knickers in a bunch? Noah asks. “Nope.” “Okay.....let’s just play. If he decides he wants to talk, he’ll talk.” Dean says. We get our instruments set up and Tyler counts us in by tapping his sticks on his drums. We are only playing for about a minute when everybody stops and stares at me. That’s when I realize I’m not even playing the right song. “You know what,” I say. “I’m just not into this today.” I don’t want to give them the chance to say anything so I grab my case and walk out. I don’t bother putting my bass in it until I get to my truck. I probably should have just stayed. At least I would have given myself an opportunity to get my mind off of everything for a little while. It would have only been a matter of time, though, before they started a full on interrogation as to why I was in such an