Ch4
The rest of these days before the show in Miami passed at an unreasonably quick rate. It felt like four more days in bed and suddenly, there they were setting up the The Campers drum kit and dancing to the sounds of getting ready music in the bathroom. Crystal had been watching patiently as Gigi did her makeup in the mirror of her ensuite. She stood in the doorway, remembering how each night with Gigi had been as magical as the last, and her time had been more than proven worthwhile. Everything was good, and all though things couldn't stay way for the girls, they both revelled in the temporary happiness they had found.
"I can see you watching me." Gigi chuckled, finishing her eyeliner and blinking aggressively in the mirror.
"I know." Crystal cooed. "I missed you."
"It's been a busy day." Gigi welcomed the girl into the room and assisted her ascent onto the side of the bath, which sat snugly against the toilet.
"How many shows left?"
"Fourteen?" Gigi cocked her head sideways. "Something like that."
"Then it's Paris or bust."
"Paris or bust." Gigi sighed and smiled back, placing her hands-on Crystal's thighs.
Paris had been a midnight idea not long ago, when Crystal was half asleep on Gigi's shoulder and Gigi was up watching a movie.
"I would always liked to have done Paris." The brunette mumbles. "I think I'm too old now to go for the first time. It wouldn't be right to be a tourist."
"Why don't we go?" Gigi had suggested. "We could backpack. We wouldn't have to be tourists. We could get stuck into the city, if you really wanted to?"
"At the end of the tour?"
"Sure." The taller girl laughed, moving her arm as Crystal sat up. "I have some money in an account back home. We could totally make it work."
"And if we don't get there?"
"And if we don't get there then we don't get there." Gigi smiled. "We come back home and we go bust, you go back to your parents and I go to my apartment and we figure something out."
"Oh my god!" Crystal jumped up excitedly. "I'm going to Paris! We're going to Paris!"
Crystal got so giddy that night that Gigi didn't even have the heart to tell her that she never really believed in the idea. And now here they were, getting ready in a bathroom no bigger than a closet, wishing for more time already.
"I have a little surprise for you tonight." Gigi mumbled through her lipstick application.
"You do?"
"Mhm." Gigi caught a look at herself in the reflective surface. She used to think she was beautiful, and now she thought of herself as residing in familiarity. She wore the same clothes, and the same makeup, playing the same songs, and looking at the same venue. The only thing that changed was the city and the girl she was sleeping with. The taller girl reached for her perfume, spritzing it and filling the room. It had become one of Crystal's new favourite smells, and it reminded her of the sun setting in Vegas or the feel of cotton pillows against her cheek.
"You're beautiful." She smiled, standing up to kiss Gigi's tan shoulder. "I'm going to go call Jan. We can get into the venue when I'm done."
"Okay." Gigi smiled. Watching Crystal do anything was bliss enough, but it was her favourite thing to do to watch her leave. Knowing that she would walk back through those doors even prettier than before was excitement Gigi couldn't contain.
The first half of that night meant the world to Crystal. It started out with a peek around the curtain to see Gigi taking her guitar out as the crowd cheered her on excessively. It was as if the girl she had known only as a stage presence leapt out of her to command the room. It was the girl she had wanted from the start. The beautiful rebel who made Crystal's legs feel like jelly, and her head feel like a nightclub.
"You're beautiful." Familiar words poured into the mic. "We're The Campers, thank you for coming out tonight."
Part of Crystal wished that Jan had been there and wished that the night was the same as the one just two weeks ago. Oh, how she would relive that evening. She did sometimes in her sleep. Knowing Gigi had been so fine, she wished she could live it in every different county, in every different language, and in every different way possible. She knew, no doubt, it would feel the same.
"She's an enigma, right?" Heidi slipped up behind Crystal, grabbing her shoulders and looking beyond her. She was originally against the idea of the brunette coming aboard, but she had come around fairly quickly. It was never said aloud, but they enjoyed each other a lot and Heidi genuinely felt that Crystal's goodness brought about a measure of good in herself also.
"Sure is." Crystal smiled up at her. "Why aren't you on stage?"
"I'm not needed until the second song." Heidi replied. "You know, Crystal, at first I thought Gigi was too much for you. It's no denying she's a handful."
"She certainly is." The brunette chuckled.
"But she's acting well. I think she might really be into you."
"I hope so." Crystal sighed. Gigi smiled at her from the centre of the stage, hunched over her guitar. "I love her."
"You do?"
"I think so." The shorted girl spun around to face her much taller counterpart. "Do you think it's too soon?"
"I think you guys did everything too soon, too intensely." Heidi chuckled, and looked over Crystal's shoulder. "But, saying that, I've never met a person who didn't love Gigi. She's one of those Manic Pixie Dream girls things, or something along those lines."
Whilst Crystal disagreed, she daren't speak about against Heidi. She had known Gigi much longer. Crystal could only hope that things were just different this time.
As for Gigi, the music she had behind her seemed to flow perfectly that night, as if made from silk. She was strangely satisfied with everything that had been played, and the crowd erupted into persistent roars of reassurance. She was completely and utterly happy as she never was on stage. Perhaps it was because every time she looked into the right-hand side of the crowd, she saw Crystal. Crystal as she was two weeks ago, miserable and smiling through her desire to go home. The brunette had told her undeniably that home used to be her favourite place on earth but had now only managed to scrape second place. Gigi's arms were the first, as comforting and safe as they were. She used to love nothing about being away from all her creature comforts but had challenged this with a strong will power that was belt buckled by passion alone. Gigi felt as if she had played a more than vital role in the revival of Crystal, and this gave her some boastful confidence in the matter. She, however, was pertinently aware that this somewhat made Crystal dependant, and that it was no secret how Crystal had needed her more. The dark-haired girl more than ignored this fact on several occasions. It played on her mind only occasionally, one of these moments being the appearance of a tall ginger woman who brought Gigi water after she finished her fourth song. They shared a simple touch, perhaps even a gentle touch of the fingers. This was all it took to have Gigi thinking about Crystal. How she needed her, how bad they wanted each other. It was strange, she thought, how a simple action could define a whole evening, and she didn't even know it would. Even Crystal thought nothing of it at the time. Her only thoughts were how well Gigi was playing and how attractive she was, even when she wasn't trying to be.
At the penultimate moment of their evening, as the moong hung Crisght and big over the venue, Gigi narrowed in on the mic and caught Crystal's eye for the last time. The air was cool and made the sweat on the nape of her neck send chills across the length of her spine. This was her favourite view by far. The whole crowd, tuckered out and waiting for one last sing along. It was something of dreams.
"There is someone special in this crowd tonight." she panted, feeling the beads of sweat trickle down her face. "Someone I wouldn't have met if it weren't for this tour, and if it weren't for people like you coming to see us perform."
Crystal pushed gently to the front of the crowd to grasp the barrier, eager to see Gigi up close as she rambled on about her.
"This song taught us both that our differences are happily put aside, and I just adore her." Gigi chuckled. "She's incredible, and this is for her."
Before Crystal had time to react, the sounds of beautiful French orchestrations filled the sweet and damp air around her. It was as if lightning had hit the room the way her face lit up and stole the show. Gigi was lit only by a sliver of light that lay across the middle of the stage as she sang the words softly, making every syllable a love song of its own. Crystal could have cried from the opulence. It was the one moment of her existence thus far that she never really wanted to end.
Gigi stepped off the stage that night on a buzz and sweating through her t-shirt. Her mind was more than full of the way that Crystal smiled when they played her song. She was beautiful, and nothing else from that night had even came close to mattering.
"You did well tonight." Jackie dabbed her forehead and walked past the taller girl. "I think you made Crystal's entire life."
"No, thank you guys for helping me." Gigi chuckled. "Speaking of, did you see where Crystal went? She dipped before I finished playing."
"I think she went out back to call someone. She walked that way." Jackie smiled, waving Crystal off. "We're going out for after show drinks, if you're thinking of coming."
Gigi looked off into the lights on the stage. She would go back to the bus, hand in hand with Crystal and they would have the most romantic night of their lives whilst everyone else was out. The whole place would be theirs, and she would have more than enough time to show Crystal how much she enjoyed her.
"No, I'm okay. I'll stay back with Cris. Thanks for the offer, though."
"You'll be missed." Jackie shouted, walking away slowly towards the other members who had congregated not two steps away. "See you in the morning."
"Stay safe." Gigi yelled back. "Don't make too much noise when you come back in drunk."
Gigi laughed to herself as her friends stumbled off in the other direction. Undeniably, it felt like everything was coming together for them. Her hair was wet through, and her shirt sticking to her, but she couldn't have felt any better if she tried.
"Gigi." A small voice arose from the stage door that now swung closed.
"Oh, there you are- "
Gigi spun around to see the voice, only to catch sight of a small red-head in the door way, and not Crystal at all.
"oh, sorry." she complied. "I thought you were someone else."
"It's my fault." She chuckled. "I snuck up on you. I'm Rose, I work for the venue."
"Oh, interesting." Gigi humoured the girl. "What do you do?"
"Internship. Nothing much."
"Which is why you were made to Crisng me water?"
"No, that was all me." The girl chuckled, looking down at the floor.
Gigi thought about Crystal all over again. How they looked at the floor with the same sweet shyness, and how they both twirled a strand of hair around their index finger.
"You were really good tonight." She came again.
"Thank you very much." Gigi chuckled. 'it's all down to the crowd, really."
"Have you guys been playing long?"
"This is our first big scale tour, actually." Gigi dabbed her forehead with a towel, giving no attention to the notion that this is how the majority of her previous endeavours started.
She was wildly attractive, yes, but Crystal was here first. This, Gigi was dead-set on.
"I never would've known." The girl fastened her hands behind her back, batting her eyelids at Gigi.
"No?"
"No. You guys are amazing." Rose smiled. Her smile was one of those smiles that was the centre of attention wherever she went. It lit up the room of its own accord, and Gigi stood in its gleam for seconds at a time. "I was wondering, if you wanted to get a drink tonight? I know a nice little bar just off the beach about fifteen minutes away."
"Awh, I'm sorry. I was planning to just go back to the tour bus and watch TV tonight." Gigi smiled, politely. This would have worked, had it not been for the immediate drop in the girl's face. Her eyes went bleak and her smile sad as she let out a sad and ugly 'oh.'
"But, you could come back with me?" She panicked, grabbing the girl's arm. "We could have a drink and wait for Crystal. She's gone to call her parents, but she'll be back pretty soon."
The immediate truth is that Crystal did not come back until much later that night. By the time she had, Gigi had committed her crime. It began precisely at midnight, when Gigi was sat on the couch, legs spread, watching Rose turn off the TV by the dial. She hadn't noticed until then, but Rose donned a slim white dress that perfectly held her thighs and made her look like a movie star. All the girl could do was stare at her, thoughts of Crystal trickling away like water down the drain.
"Stop looking at me like that." The red-head laughed.
"Like what?" Gigi coughed.
"Like you've seen a ghost."
"Oh."
Suddenly, as if a switch had been flicked somewhere in the cosmos, everything was different. Soft piano music was playing from an old radio on the top of the television set and the woman in white was stepping to Gigi in the night, like some kind of predator. Before she could register the hunger in her, Rose was in her lap, thin hands around her neck and looking at her with a smirk unlike anything Gigi had ever seen.
"Do you like what I'm wearing?"
Gigi nodded, having suddenly lost any concept of words. She wasn't thinking of the brunette girl who stood no more than fifteen minutes away, not yet privy to her own devastation.
"Do you want me to take it off?" She breathed, sending shivers down Gigi's spine. "Or, do you want to take it off for me?"
Gigi immediately pounced at her lips, leaping to her feet and holding the girl around her waist. There no romance as there was with Crystal. There was no light French music, or murmurs in the night. There were no drives out to the viewing point, or butterflies in her stomach. Just raw, animalistic passion. A passion that had Rose, legs spread and dress by her ankles, on the bed that Crystal slept in. Gigi had no times for words. She leant in to kiss Rose's stomach, feeling how wet she already was against her shirt and feeling the vanilla perfume in her throat. It was driving her mad. Just touching her through her underwear was blissful insanity. She couldn't even see straight, all she saw was the girl underneath her squirming and moaning.
"You're making me feel so fucking good." She came, causing Gigi to lurch forward and kiss her sternum. It hit her the, as one hand entered her hair. Rose looked a little like Crystal when someone was touching her. Thoughts of Crystal came flooding back, and the guilt with it. Gigi, in horror at the mess she had made, backed up, but it was already too late. There she stood, 5'2'' in the doorway of the bedroom, phone still clutched in hand and Gigi's hoodie hanging off her tiny frame.
"Crystal." was all the woman could muster. There was no explanation needed or warranted. The whole thing was exactly what it looked like.
"Oh god." Crystal spoke, as if she was about to be sick and cry all at once. "Oh god, I can't be here. I need to go."
The small girl didn't look back as she left the bus, expecting Gigi to continue with her pleasures, not knowing she was right behind her.
"Crystal!" She shouted, leaping down the steps into the night. "Crystal, wait! Talk to me."
"Talk to you?!" The girl cried, spinning around the reveal the tears that stained her small red face. She was an ugly crier, Gigi noted, but nothing was uglier than what she had done. "I have nothing to say to you, Gigi, never in one million years did I see you doing this to me."
"Crystal, I'm sorry, please just listen to what I have to say." Gigi grabbed at her as she stormed off. To this day, Gigi has no idea how Crystal managed to stop and listen. It was a wonder, and she deserved saint hood for being so patient.
"Who is she?" The girl wiped hot tears as they came.
"She's just a girl from the venue. No one special."
"You cheated on me with no one special?" Crystal's voice broke, and Gigi's heart fell through. There was a girl in that bus who wasn't half the person Crystal was, and yet Gigi had given them the same treatment, the same pleasure, the same bed. It was disgusting,
"That's not what I meant."
"All your friends kept saying you couldn't hold someone down." The small brunette sniffled. "I should've listening to them. I can't believe you let me think I could trust you. I can't trust you at all."
"Crystal, don't."
"I just walked in on you with another girl!" The shorter girl shouted. "And after everything I gave you. You make me sick, you promised me you'd stick around for me."
"Crys-"
"Would you have fucked her in that bed if I hadn't walked in on you?" Crystal provoked. Gigi knew the truth, and yet couldn't bring herself to say it to Crystal's tear stained face. The tragedy was too big, and the drama was all too real.
"Crystal, please."
"Answer my question!" She screamed, throwing her arms in the air. "Would have you have fucked her in the same bed you fucked me in?"
"….Yes, Crystal, but it means nothing. She means nothing!'
"I told you that I loved you." Crystal's voice gave in again. She was breathing softly, and crying quietly, not being able to remove the image of Gigi and that girl from her mind. The girl was skinny, tall, and prettier than most. Crystal wouldn't have chosen her either.
"I love you too, you know I do." Gigi grappled at straws.
"No! You don't get to tell me that now!" The brunette shouted. And she was right, Gigi had no claim over those words. They meant nothing, not after what Crystal had just witnessed. She was crying, and Gigi didn't know how to help her. All she knew was that if she could go back and do everything absolutely differently, she would.
"Crystal, I'm so sorry." Gigi tried to step closer to the woman, who backed away in response. "I would never ever want to hurt you."
"But, you did." Crystal snapped. "I hope I never see you again. You have hurt me beyond anything I ever expected from you."
"I get you're angry-"
"I am angry!" She shouted. "I'm so angry at you! You have ruined this for me, for us. I mean, what were you thinking?"
"I wasn't thinking, Crystal, if I had then I wouldn't have done something so stupid." Gigi pleaded. For a second, she considered if getting down on her knees and begging would help. If it would, then she would've done it. No questions asked.
"You're right, you wouldn't." The smaller girl sniffled once more, readily realising this argument was below her. "Because if you'd have stopped to think for one second about what you were doing you would've realised that I deserved better than to be treated like that, especially when all I did was lie in that bed and think about how much I want you."
"Crystal, pl-"
"You know why I came on this tour with you, Gigi?" She asked. "I thought I could trust you. I thought you wanted me. But, now I know how wrong I was."
"I do want you!" Gigi felt a tear trail blaze her skin. "I want you more than anyone."
"Don't you dare tell me that with her lipstick smudged all over you face." Crystal spoke through gritted teeth. She was done after those words were spat. There was nothing more to say to the girl who had broken her heart and ruined her summer.
"I'm going home, Gigi." She closed the argument. "I'll leave tomorrow and stay in Jackie's room tonight. Have her out of that fucking bus by the time I get back."
Crystal, all teary eyed and full of anger, paced off into the distance to feel the cold air against the lines of tears on her face. It was true how everything can go well and then suddenly one bad thing happens and it's surprising how quick everything can turn to shit. Crystal's world was shaken that night, leaving a scar from which she would never truly recover, and all Gigi could be was sorry.