Don't Tell Me Twice: Chapter Two

“Sorry about Olive, Buck,” Jemma said, cradling her cup of coffee in her hand.

Buck just shook her head. The plan had been to travel to the next city on the tour, but after Olive had left them hanging high and dry, Buck had to call the band’s agent, Ralph. Ralph tried to call Olive to convince her to finish the tour, but she refused. Therefore, he had to talk to the promoter who had to talk to the venue owner, and their show was postponed. Olive’s actions had not only broken Buck’s heart, but they impacted the entire band’s schedule.

Buck sat back in her chair, rocking it lightly with her feet. She was devastated, and she had spent most of the night trying to talk to Olive about repairing their relationship. Olive wanted nothing to do with it, though. The soft expression that she usually wore on her face when she talked to Buck was replaced with a hard, callous look and mock compassion. It was like Buck didn’t even know her anymore. Buck tried to figure out where the relationship had gone wrong, but she couldn’t figure it out. It seemed like everything had happened so fast, and it left her there alone to deal with the damage.

Olive ended up leaving earlier that morning, and as she did, Buck felt her heart break into a million pieces.

“Hey, Buck, did you see this?” Spike asked, coming into the common area in her flannel pajamas and slippers, holding a magazine in her hand.

Buck grabbed the magazine and saw Olive on the front cover, standing next to Viola Young. She flipped through the magazine, trying to find the story, and when she did, her mouth dropped to the floor. A two-page spread showed a timeline of photos showcasing Olive and Viola’s encounters over the last year. “I can’t believe she cheated on me,” Buck said, staring at the magazine in disbelief.

“I can’t believe that she chose Viola over you,” Spike said, taking a cup of coffee from Jemma.

Jemma smiled and gave Spike a kiss. “You know, she is right,” Jemma told Buck. “It’s odd that she left you for Viola. I just don’t see the attraction.”

“Whatever,” Buck said, closing the magazine. “This puts the entire relationship that we had into perspective. If she could keep a lie for that long, then what else was she hiding from me?”

“Maybe it was all just for show,” Spike suggested. “Maybe she liked the publicity that you two got.”

Buck knew what she was talking about. There had been a story about Olive and her relationship in every magazine she knew. Television shows had invited the two to guest star and talk about their relationship, and they had even been mentioned on the radio as the dynamic duo. Olive was popular at this point. If she had been with Buck just for show, she was known well enough at this point to catch attention whether they were together. The thought of Olive using her made Buck very sad. She had a hard time trusting people and knowing Olive could manipulate her and lie to her hurt Buck beyond words.

“Maybe I should have kept our relationship a secret like you two do,” Buck replied, hanging her head.

“You know that Ralph wouldn’t have agreed to that,” Jemma said. “Some people listened to our music just because they followed you and Olive’s relationship. It gave our band more appeal.”

“It’s all a show,” Spike added. “If I could, I would make Jemma and my relationship public.”

“Yeah right,” Jemma said, giving Spike a look. “You like the attention.”

Spike furrowed her eyebrow and looked at Jemma. “It’s not about the attention, Jemma. It’s about taking time out of my day for the fans. You should try it sometime.”

“You’re full of crap,” Jemma said, walking away.

“Am not,” Spike said, following Jemma out of the common area.

Buck watched the two leave and shrugged. She would rather be alone, anyway. It would give her time to sort things out and work on her lyrics. Buck walked back to her bunk, taking a notebook with her. She laid down and tried to write. She knew that she should have some inspiration with all the emotions that were flowing through her, but her mind was as blank as the paper in front of her. The only thing on her mind was Olive. After seeing the magazine article that Spike had, she wondered if she had ever really known the other woman.