Star-Crossed Lovers Ch. 08

Sam did listen to her and didn't try calling anymore. That didn't stop him from sending her text messages, though. He at least had the sense to wait a few days, cool off, before he started in again.

"I'm sorry about the other day," he started innocently enough.

"I told you not to contact me anymore." He was more surprised she answered right away.

"No. You told me not to call you anymore."

"Don't split hairs. It's not cute."

"I'm not trying to be cute."

"What do you want, Sam" Text or not, he could hear her sighing.

"You. I'm not giving up, Candace. You're the love of my life. You know I would respect your wishes under any other circumstances, but I can't just let you go. And to be honest, I don't think this is what you really want either."

A few minutes passed before her reply came.

"Of course it's not what I want. I can't have what I want. If you think of a better solution, let me know."

It was his turn to take a few minutes to respond, collecting his thoughts, trying not to let his emotions get the better of him.

"I will. I promise you I will. Until then, wouldn't it be better to be together when we can?" he wished he could hear her voice so he could judge what kind of state she was in. Was she angry? Was she sad? Or was she just getting tired of his shit?

It didn't matter anyway. She never answered him.

Sam wallowed in self-pity for the next few weeks. The more days that passed without hearing from her, the more he drank. While he left her alone initially, it became an increasingly bad habit of his to send her song lyrics or links to entire songs in hopes she would understand what she was doing to him and take pity on him. Not his best moments, he would later realize. He had no idea if she was even reading his texts or not. But he was almost always drunk when he sent them. It helped him believe the lie to himself that she probably was.

Candace had to have at least looked at one of them because it set her off enough to respond. It was a Queens of the Stone Age song he had become obsessed with. He felt like the song was written for him.

"Don't you think I would run back to you in a heartbeat if I knew we could be together permanently? Please stop. You're just making this harder on both of us."

Sam's agent called the next morning. He had been avoiding his calls and offers. Work was the last thing he wanted to do at the time, though he knew it would probably help take his mind off Candace. Still. He couldn't bring himself to do it.

After giving him the synopsis of an upcoming movie he thought Sam might be interested in pursuing and Sam shutting him down, his agent insinuated he needed to get his shit together in so many words. Sam noted the date when the call ended. January 15th. It was exactly 2 weeks until Candace's due date. How had that much time gone by already? It had been the longest month and a half of his life, yet it had flown by as if time were irrelevant. Most importantly, though, he really did need to get his shit together. He was no closer to fixing their relationship and time was running out. Depression was no longer an option. Action and decisions were needed and fast.