Dreams Of Fame
1.24 - Admitting the Truth
Two years passed without conflict after Liberty and Travis’s wedding. In those two years, Liberty had two kids, the first born being named Jacob, and the second Clara. Zoe spent less and less time as her actual self, and generally remained in the dream state Melody had locked her old personality within. Summer and José kept going strong, and started officially dating around a year after Liberty and Travis’s wedding.
“You know what, Liberty?” Zoe smiled, staring up at the ceiling as Liberty played with Jacob. “I think I want to found a school.”
“A school?” Liberty asked, too distracted to actually make eye contact with her.
“Yes!” Zoe cheered. “As a successful author, I should give some of my money back to the community who helped me become this beautiful person today!”
“You should do it, Zoe,” Liberty said. “I’d love to send Clara and Jacob there when they get old enough.”
“I will,” Zoe promised. She then got up from the kitchen table, and skipped off to find Giovanna and tell her about her great idea.
Travis passed her on the way upstairs, carrying Clara. “It’s good to see Zoe happy.”
“It’s always good to see Zoe happy,” Liberty agreed.
Clara had wound up with blonde hair, the same color of Liberty’s mom’s hair. Jacob had black, which matched Travis’s dad. Both of them found it ironic that neither of their two children had inherited their natural brown hair, and Travis almost felt like Clara had inherited the color of his hair dye.
Travis put Clara down and she wandered over to babble to Jacob. Liberty stood up, and kissed Travis.
“I’m so happy,” Liberty grinned. “Everything’s so perfect right now…”
Meanwhile, in downtown Willow Creek, Summer sat at a high class bar with José.
“Here’s to one year, baby,” Summer said, toasting him.
“Hopefully to many more,” José smiled.
“I’m so glad you slipped me your stupid business card at that club all those years ago,” Summer laughed. “I don’t even know where I’d be right now without you.”
“Something inside of me just told me that it was the right thing to do. Sometimes, all that anyone needs is someone to listen, and I’m just glad I could be that person for you.”
“José…” Summer sighed happily.
The bartender gave the pair a look. “Do you two need a room? ‘Cause I know bedroom eyes when I see them, and you two both definitely have them.”
“Alright, if you say so, m’am,” José smiled, putting the money for the drinks on the bar.
“And a tip from me,” Summer said, placing more on top of that.
Summer and José walked out of the bar, arm in arm, both completely happy in the moment.
“Okay, Granny, here’s my vision,” Zoe said dramatically, sitting across from her in the basement.
“Ooooo! Tell me! Tell me!” Giovanna squealed.
“Alright, picture this: a small private school, located in the upper hills of Willow Creek, over by the church and where the families who have been here for generations live. Flower boxes, in front of every window, and a tuition cost that isn’t too high, and is just enough to pay for the top level teachers we hire.”
“Exciting!” Giovanna cheered.
“We can have days where you come in and help direct a painting lesson, I could help in English classrooms, and if Summer would let me, I’d love if she helped the kids learn how to cook in practical lessons that will help them later!”
Giovanna smiled.
“I’m so excited for this, Granny,” Zoe went on. “Even now, when my memory of a lot of my past is kind of foggy, I just know I’ve done some downright awful things to people. And you know? Maybe this can be way back to being a decent person.”
“Ah, the basement,” Giovanna shuddered.
Zoe furrowed her brows, trying to remember if she’d done that. “Was that me? Huh. Oh well! Hey, Granny, you want some coffee before I start writing your next chapter?”
Giovanna immediately started smiling again, and followed Zoe upstairs.
José closed the front door of his house behind himself, then turned to face Summer.
“Ah, I haven’t been here in so long,” Summer sighed. She walked into José’s living room, and plopped down on his couch. José sat down next to her.
“Remember when we first started talking on the phone, and when I came over, and then you turned on music you grew up on, and we danced the night away? That was the first time I felt happy in a long time,” Summer said, stumbling over her words a bit.
“You snuck out of the house and told no one, right? No one but us even knows we did that! It’s like our special thing, Summer, our dancing.”
“Can we do it again?” Summer asked.
“Of course,” José smiled. “Allow me to grab my guitar, I’ll play a bit to get you started before I turn on the music and join you.”
Summer grinned, and they both got off the couch.
José went into her bedroom, and emerged with the guitar a few moments later. He slowly started to strum, and hum a little tune. José was in no way a singer. He’d aways focused on his guitar, and that was what he loved. But when it came to someone like Summer, he allowed himself to truly let himself go, and let his voice soar, no matter how pitchy it sounded to him.
Summer started to dance, slowly. As she sped up, José gently kicked his old jukebox with his shoe to get it started. José’s playing slowly faded into the music, and before Summer knew it, he’d put his guitar down and joined her in dancing. The two rapidly twirled, doing the same dance José had taught her step by step back when she was stuck at the very bottom of her wine glass.
“You know what, José?” Summer said, her words slurring slightly. “You’re really cute.”
José chuckled. “And I could say the same about you.”
“I… I just wanted to thank you. At first, I only started texting you because I needed a rebound from Travis, but then as soon as we started dating, it became so much more, and-“
José backed away from Summer, and the two stopped dancing. “Hang on. You’re saying… you’re saying I was a rebound? That’s why you asked me out?”
“Yes, I thought you knew that José, but you’re so much more-“
“I… I thought that you asked me out because you liked me… more than Travis…”
“I do! I do!” Summer exclaimed.
“I-I…. I’m sorry Summer. Just… just give me a moment okay? Could you go? I’ll text you tomorrow. I need a moment to process this.”
Summer looked at him, tears in her eyes, then she ran from the house, slamming the door behind her.
With her gone, José sank sadly into one of his kitchen chairs. He couldn’t believe he’d thought that Summer had started their relationship because she’d moved on from Travis. Sure, she definitely had now, but he didn’t want the reasons behind their relationship to be anything but pure.
José pulled a tiny little box out of his jacket pocket and stared at it sadly as the song he’d started calling his and Summer’s song continued to play, almost as if it was mocking him. He had some serious thinking to do.