A week had past since the record company decided to dump Kelly. You visited him everyday to check in on him. He tried to act funny and upbeat but you knew that most of it if not all was an act. He was cut very deeply when his band mates the people he considered his brothers had to drop him. You could tell that his happy attitude for the most part was fake and it terrified you... you never mentioned it to him cause you didn't really know a good way to bring it up. So you just went along with his act even though you were incredibly worried whether or not he would ever be his old self again.
You stood outside his hospital door mentally preparing yourself to see someone who you considered at this point to be your best friend putting on a mask and pretending that everything is fine.
You opened his door and stepped in. "Hey Kel." You greeted as you sat in your usual chair beside his bed. His leg was still heavily bandaged and up in a sling, but the good thing was his cuts, scraps, and bruises on his left side looked like they were healing really well.
"Ayy what's up Y/N." He said back in that fake happy voice that you grew to hate since he started to use it.
"Oh I'm good except the stupid people upstairs keep being loud. How are you?" You asked.
"Oh I'm great!" He said with fake optimism.
You inwardly flinched at the blatant lie. "Well that's good to hear."
"I've been thinking..." Kelly said trailing off at the end.
"Yeah." You encouraged him. Usually you would make a joke like "First time in your life." But you weren't really sure how to act around Kelly since the band let him go.
"Maybe I should just get a regular job. I mean if I was meant to be a musician this wouldn't have happened to me and I would still have a band. This is the universes way of telling me to stop fucking around and pretending I can make it. Plus it's not like I'm actually any good." He said all of that in his stupid overly happy voice and faked smile.
This was a complete shock to you. Ever since you knew Kelly he had amazing drive and motivation and was dead set on getting a record deal to be able to play for the world. "Kelly this is just a temporary setback. I bet you'll find another band just as good or better in need of an incredible bass player."
"Well I highly doubt that. Who would want a broken shitty bass player that can't even walk?" He questioned.
You weren't really sure what to say to him so you just took his hand and lightly squeezed it.
**************
You ended up leaving the hospital earlier than you usually do. You felt bad doing it and you hoped that Kelly didn't notice the time, but you just couldn't stick around and watch him continue to pretend to be happy. You really wished that you could talk to someone about it. You could always call Chloe but you didn't want to bother her with your stupid issues. Calling Taime or any of Kelly old bandmates was also out of the question. You knew that if you told them about Kelly they would feel even worse about it than they already did. So you just sat watching MTV in your empty quiet apartment wondering about Kelly and his well-being.
*************
The next day you had an early shift at work which was over by 2:00 so you decided to swing by to visit Kelly. Once again you waited outside his door. You decided that today was the day you would confront him in a nice caring way and tell him that it's ok if he's depressed and that he doesn't have to bottle up his true feelings.
You opened the door and walked inside only to be met by a very different Kelly than you had been seeing the past week. He had a genuine smile on his face and he seemed content and actually happy.
"Hey Y/N." He greeted for once in his actual voice and not that fake happy one.
You immediately broke into a huge smile. "Hey Kel how're you?"
"I'm actually good. The bands new bass player stopped by to see me. He was really nice and we talked about band and bass stuff. He seems like a pretty solid dude."
Now you understood why Kelly was feeling better. He finally got some closure on the band situation. "That seems like it was really nice of him I'm glad you got some closure."
You and Kelly talked and enjoyed each other's company for hours, and for the first time in a week without it feeling forced.
