Amber knocked lightly on the door and poked her head inside to see how things were going. She could hear sniffling coming from the bed, indicating to her that things haven’t approved much with me. I was taking the break up with Jonathan pretty hard, which was to be expected. We had been together for two years, almost three. Our three year anniversary was coming up in September.
Liz came to the door and gave Amber a kind smile. Amber gave her a concerned look. “How is she doing?”
“Better.”
“That’s good. Our Dad is downstairs in the studio. He wants to speak to Adrienne.”
Liz glanced over her shoulder at me. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“Does he know what happened?”
“No, he’s clueless. He just hasn’t seen Adrienne today and he wants to see her.”
“Oh, well, this isn’t a good time.”
Amber nodded. “I understand. I’ll tell him what happen. He’ll understand.”
“Are you sure it’s wise to tell your Dad?”
“Oh yeah, we make sure we tell our Dad everything. We learned that lesson the hard way when we were younger.” Amber walked away, heading to her Dad’s studio. “Nope, we’ll never make that mistake again.”
“So what do you think?” Hector asked JC as they sat in the studio listening to Amber’s and Alex’s latest mix.
JC bobbed his head up and down to the beat. “I like it.” He smiled. “I think we’ve found their first single.”
Hector smiled, leaning back into his seat. “Me too.”
A knock came at the door and it opened. Amber poked her head in and smiled at her Dad. “It’s just me.” She stepped into the studio and closed the door behind her.
“Where’s Adrienne?” asked Hector.
Amber glanced at JC. “Um, well…she’s not feeling to good.”
Hector immediately became worried. “What’s wrong? Is she sick?”
“Uh, well, no, not exactly.”
“Then what is it?”
“Well…she and Jonathan broke up. Adrienne is taking it pretty hard.”
“Oh man, okay…um…where is she?”
“She’s in Liz’s room. Liz is with her.”
He nodded, standing up. “I should go talk to her.”
“No Dad, she’s fine, really. Liz is with her.”
He nodded again and sat back down. “When did they break up?”
“Yesterday.”
“And no one told me about it?”
Amber shrugged. “I’m telling you now.”
“Do you know what happened? Did they have a fight?”
“Uh…” She glanced at JC. “Yeah, something like that.”
Hector wasn’t blind. He noticed the glances his daughter was giving JC. He also noticed the way JC would look away every time Amber would look at him. It felt like déjà vu for Hector. The only difference was it was Amber standing in front of him and not Adrienne.
Shaking his head to himself, he said, “Just go, Amber. I’ll call you and your sister if I need you.”
She nodded and left the studio.
Hector turned to JC and looked at him seriously. “I can’t do anything anymore. She’s twenty-one. I can’t stop her, I can’t stop you. But all I ask of you is not to hurt her.”
JC shook his head slightly. “I would never hurt her, Hector. But she will never come back to me. Not after everything that has happened.”
"Oh, I don't believe that. She just needs some space right now to sort out her feelings. She'll come around."