I woke up at 7 o’clock and crawled out of bed, being careful not to wake Rayne. I had so many things on my mind to plan out and consider. Yea, it was only January and her birthday was in March, but if I wanted everything to be perfect, I had to start now.
I threw on some boxers and shorts then headed across the hall to my study. I opened my shades to the morning rays and sat down in front of my desk and laptop. I pulled out some paper and began to write down all I had in mind and how I planned to carry it out. I pulled up the calendar on my phone and flipped down to March. It hadn’t occurred to me until now that I leave for my tour on March 16th; Rayne’s birthday was on March 15th.
I called up my tour manager to see when and where the tour actually started.
“Your first show is on Friday, March 23rd in Dubai. You’re booked for rehearsal the whole week before so that’s why you’re leaving on the 16th. Is that all you wanna know?”
“Oh, one last thing. When will I come back from the tour?”
“Umm, we haven’t confirmed the last few dates just yet but it looks like you’ll be back sometime in May,” he said.
I gritted my teeth. “Okay. Thanks man.” I clicked off my phone and just sat back to think. Finally an idea popped into my head.
I hated to call her but I knew she would be the only one who could help me out on this one…
I looked around at the few people around me and for the first time, I didn’t feel alone in this. I don’t know why I hated it so much last time…But I guess it was because last time I didn’t really want help.
“Everyone choose a partner!” one of the instructors said.
The whole room moved around and tried to find someone while I just stood against the wall awkwardly. I was never a fan of working with a partner unless it was with Rayne. That’s probably the reason why I wasn’t in sports or any other group activities. Sure, I loved hanging with people but working together with them was a different thing for me. I always wanted things to go my way. Rayne let me control whatever and I respected her for that. Other people couldn’t handle that. But I try to be fair since I know there’s no “I” in team…
And that’s exactly why I work alone.
“Shouldn’t you be finding a partner?” a voice said from beside me. I looked up expecting to see one of the instructors eyes beam down at me but instead another pair of eyes glanced over me.
“Shouldn’t you be finding one?” I said while rolling my eyes at him.
His name was Tate and he was also an alcoholic. He was probably the only thing I hated about rehab. He always stared at me and tried to talk to me; I always blew him off. I wanted nothing to do with him but I didn’t have a real reason why.
“Ouch! Why are you always so mean to me Ms. Olivia?”
“First of all, don’t call me ‘Ms. Olivia’. Second, why are you always talking to me Tate?”
“Because you never answer any of my questions. I’m just trying to be nice and get to know---” I cut him off.
“Thanks for trying to be nice but you don’t need to know me and I prefer not to know you.” I stalked off into the crowd without waiting for his response.
“Has everyone found a partner?” Lissa, the head counselor asked.
“Olivia why don’t you partner with…” she looked around the room for another free person.
Please don’t say Tate. Please don’t call his name…
“Well it seems like everyone has a partner but Tate. You two can partner up.” I scowled at her but she just gave me a smile and pulled two chairs to the side for us. I took a seat and stared at the floor while Tate slid in his chair and grinned at me.
“Today you and your partner will try to figure out what actually caused your addiction. I pray that you and your partner make some progress today because you will share each other’s causes on next week! Now begin!” I sunk down lower in my chair and crossed my arms.
“Come on partner. We have some things to discuss,” he said. I just glared evilly at him and sat up.
“So what caused you to start drinking? Was it because no one liked you and your annoying personality? Or because you got too many rejections?” I asked sarcastically.
“Don’t call me that. You don’t know me,” I gritted out.
“Well if you give me a damn chance, I could get to know you!” he half-yelled.
Half of the room turned to look at us and I just turned the other way. Lissa rushed over to us with a panicked face.
“What’s going on over here?” she asked with concern.
“Can I just switch partners? This isn’t gonna work out for me,” I said simply.
“No, I’m sorry I can’t do that. You and Tate have more in common than you think. Just give him a chance and talk to him. At least he’s trying to be open with you. You can’t always hold everything in.” She patted my shoulder and walked away. I silently prayed for a miracle.
“Olivia! You have a phone call!” Rebecca, the receptionist, called across the room.
I quickly got up and rushed toward her as Tate’s eyes followed me the whole way.
“Thanks for everything Livi! I really hope everything works out great!” Chris said happily over the phone. We had been talking for a while and trying to think of things to do for Rayne.
“I do too. And thank you too. You have no idea how grateful I am that you called,” I said.
“Why? You got out of a group session?”
“A partner session actually. I hate working with partners! Unless their name is Rayne Tolbert,” I said honestly.
“I’m guessing you hate your partner.”
“More than you can imagine…” I muttered.
“Look, just give them a chance. They could really be a cool person despite whatever makes you hate them,” he said.
“Whatever. You don’t know this guy though! He’s aggravating! He tries to talk to me, get to know me and he even stares at me!” I screamed in a whisper.
“Oh, he sounds horrible,” Chris said sarcastically.
“I’m being serious Chris!”
“I know, but this guy doesn’t sound bad at all. At least try to get to know him. You never know; he may end up being a good friend or you may even like him.”
“I doubt that…” I muttered. “I’m still stuck on someone else…”
“Oh right…” he said with understanding. “Rayne…”
“Rayne must have told you,” I said a little embarrassed now. “I’m so sorry! I know Rayne has no mutual feelings for me and what I did was stupid.”
“Naw, you aight. What you did was pretty brave and I like that…Just don’t do it again, you hear?” We both laughed.
“I’ll try not to…It’s just that Rayne is so…lovable,” I said while blushing.
“Tell me about it,” he said. “Look, I better go before she wakes up. Her and nobody else know about this yet so keep it on the low for me please?”
“And also give your partner a chance Livi,” he said sternly.
“I’ll try my hardest,” I said sweetly into the phone.
He held the phone for a minute before sighing. “Bye Livi.”
I hung up the phone and walked back to the session room. All the chairs were back in rows and columns and Lissa lectured on the topic of addiction for the hundredth time. Tate sat in the back of the room, his hoodie now hiding his face. I sighed in relief.
Glad the partner session is over…
