of support system growing up. You sound like you have great parents. My family is pretty good , too. Tristan’s family doesn’t sound so put together. That is, if what you read in the gossip columns are true.” Molly shrugged her shoulders. She had some good points. “Yeah, it is sad.” I suddenly felt like a terrible person. I had judged him based on some paraphernalia I saw on the floor of his apartment. I should have stopped and talked to him. I should have given him a chance to talk to me. I had run away from a guy who, more than likely, really needed a friend. Molly had made some really good points. Maybe if he had some support, he wouldn’t be so messed up . Maybe I was too worried about myself and what I’d gone through to be a good friend—or any kind of friend at all. I needed to rethink walking away from him. I suddenly wondered how I would feel if I read about his overdose in the paper someday and I hadn’t even offered him a friendly ear to talk to.
CHAPTER TWO TRISTAN It was the night of round five. I was filled with nervous energy and having a hard time sitting still. The traffic in the waiting room was getting thinner and I was glad there were fewer talentless idiots to deal with. I felt like I was ready for it. I ’d written my own song and the band had done a great job of playing the music I’d written and helping me tweak a few parts so it all pulled together more smoothly. I wished that it was all I had on my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about Elly and what had happened the last time I saw her. She had looked at me when I walked in. I think she expected me to say something to her about the other night. I had plenty to say that night if she’d come back, but it was a moot point by then. I could admit that I got a little freaked out when she just left like that. I even went back out into the hallway one more time, hoping she came back. I saw the elevator sliding closed and I thought it was her so I yelled out her name a few times. That attracted the attention of my nosy ass neighbors. Mrs. Stromboli had already gotten a sweet show and the rest of them wanted some of it now. I was still butt ass naked, but I didn’t give a fuck. The people that lived in that building were nothing but trash anyways. I turned to walk back into my apartment and I saw the man who lived in the apartment next door to me glaring at me through a crack in his door. I kicked the door before I went back inside and told him to “Mind his own fucking business.” I didn’t give a fuck if they liked me or not; at least three times a week I had to listen to him and his old lady fighting or the chick across the hall having multiple, loud orgasms…while her husband was at work. Fuck ‘em all. I ’d stormed back into my apartment and closed the door, wondering why it bothered me so badly that Elly had walked out. It was true that she was the best piece of ass I ’d ever had, but I needed to remind myself that she was most definitely not the only one. Hot chicks who liked to fuck were pretty much a dime a dozen, and sitting in the waiting room backstage, I thought I’d just found another one. This girl was twenty-two; she had blonde hair that hung down to her waist, a nice round ass, and massive tits. I remember seeing her the first day of try-outs and thinking I wouldn’t mind tapping that ass while I had my hands wrapped up in that silky mane of hers. I hadn’t done anything about it yet because I’d been focused on the contest and busy fucking Elly every chance I got. That’s where I had gone wrong. I knew that when you started fucking one girl all the time she started thinking that she was your girlfriend and making subtle changes in your life. It all starts messing with your head. There’s only one head I wanted in my ‘relationships’ and that’s the one in my pants. “Hey there, beautiful,” I said, taking the seat next to the blonde. If I remembered correctly, her name was Brooke or