— devil in a dress

“um, no offers yet. sutton said since we had been playing the part of a happy couple while i was signed to him this past year, no one would really bother. you know, the whole ‘she wouldn’t leave her husband’s label’ ordeal.” kiera shrugged it off, acting as if she weren’t worried about anything. “hopefully people like the album and now that we’re socially divorced another label will want me.” his next questioned caused her to nervously smile, nodding slowly. “i think i can arrange that. i’ll be sure to send you an exclusive early access album ... i might even sign it,” she teased though in her head she was a little more anxious about him hearing it than she let on.

“you spent more time crying and depressed in that last year and a half than you did smiling and laughing. it was all thin ice, and at the rate we were heading it would’ve ended a lot worse. i know me.” roscoe kept his tone light, trying to sugarcoat the harshness of his words. he scoffed, shaking his head at her question. “no, just new pictures of me and helena she keeps adding to the walls,” he admitted with a hushed laugh. “i saw a girl or two, but it wasn’t anything serious. it wasn’t fair to them to make them think it would ever work out. none of them were anything compared to you, so it never made it past the talking stage.”

“i hope not too, but if it does we’re both going to be here for her without judging and with full support, riiight ?” ariella dragged out the last word, brow raising as she gave him a small smile. “besides, maybe she’ll finally give us permission to kick his ass this time around,” the brunette joked before kissing his forehead once and sliding down from the countertop.

his words were bittersweet, knowing he still thought of her even if he presumed she was in a happy marriage like the whole world did. “well,” she started, walking around the counter with her glass in hand as she lifted. “cheers to moments like these,” kiera smiled some as her glass clinked against his. “oh, in honor of cheers, in three days time i will be announcing to the world that i have an album release date. you’re officially the first person not involved to know.” a new smile tugged at her lips, genuinely excited to be able to share such grand news. “and after it drops, i get to not continue my involvement with sutton’s label.”

there was that familiar pang of guilt following her words. he laughed quietly, shaking his head at her words. “zara, it wasn’t your job to help me through anything. you did enough, believe me. you saved my life,” roscoe admitted quietly, watching her as sadness overtook his expression. “if it weren’t for you, i probably wouldn’t have even bothered trying to get better. i probably would’ve ended up dead at some point,” he stated casually as if it were obvious.

“i think it could be good for her,” ariella intervened, head tilting to the side some. “hopefully she can either see he hasn’t changed, or that maybe he has and they can move on. i mean, if i just up and left after i was supposed to go to rehab and years later we bumped into each other, do you really think we wouldn’t meet up to finally close that chapter ?” she was playing devil’s advocate again, but all in the name of being a good best friend. “zara’s not a little girl, she knows to be careful.”

kiera wanted to try to comfort him, noticing caspar was probably in his head comparing. something she did often. but what good would it really do ? she couldn’t change the way he felt about it all no matter how much she wanted to. “yeah, it did,” the brunette laughs slightly, taking another sip from her drink. “i think it all started crumbling when i came back from that one trip back home when i --” she cut herself off though, realizing that exact trip she’d planned on going home to call off the wedding to be with caspar and yet, she never came back. “my feelings for you were always going to be a problem, i think. one things leads to another, you know ?”

“i don’t know if it’s of any good knowledge, but staying away from you was the hardest thing i’ve ever had to do. y’know, once i got out of rehab, i almost came home but i was i guess kind of ...” he straightened his back to stretch off some of the tension he was starting to feel, the pressure of actually admitting to his wrongs building up. “i was afraid i couldn’t become the guy you wanted me to be. i’d already fucked you over and hurt you so many times. if i did it again clean, i couldn’t blame the drugs.” now his fork was practically just pushing the food around, hoping to force himself to look away from her -- but failing miserably. 

ari thought for a moment, the secret literally eating at her since her best friend told her. she told naseem mostly everything regarding others, so she held out until it was too late for him to do anything about it. “zara ... invited roscoe over for dinner,” she stated with a knowing look, her hands cupping his cheeks and running her thumb over the slight stubble along his jaw. “just you know, if it goes sour and z ends up here tonight, you’ll know why.”

“that was before she was in my speed dial list,” kiera explained playfully with a wiggle of her finger. she swirled her drink as she listened, her smile faltering as he spoke. “it wouldn’t ever be settling, casp ...” she paused a moment, mentally deciding if she wanted to talk much about details, or rather if he even cared to hear anymore about it. “um, our final fight, like the one where we both knew it was really over, i told him he would never be half the man you are. and i did mean it.” she offered a small smile, pulling herself from the memory in her mind.