Chosen (Damiano David & Victoria DeAngelis)

Chapter 46

They entered the Lobby of the hotel, still holding onto each other's hands. Almost instantly, they were greeted by their manager. "You two...follow me.", his voice was cold as ice, sending shivers down her spine. Damiano must have had the same feeling because his grip on her hand got stronger as if he was holding on both for supporting her but also in hopes of finding some support himself. They followed him quietly, entering a lounge. The others were already there but the atmosphere was tense and cold. The manager turned to them, his grey eyes seeming even colder than usual, practically piercing right through you: "I only have one thing to say, so you better listen real good now. You ever pull something like yesterday again, you're out of the band. Both of you. That was inacceptable. I'm gonna let it slide this one time because it has never happened before but next time it won't end as good." She honestly didn't know how to respond, she just lowered her head as a sign that she had understood. After that, he left the four of them alone, probably so they could have a talk as well. To her surprise, Ethan got up and came towards them, pulling both of them into a strong hug: "Don't you ever disappear like that again. I was worried sick." He pulled away a little, looking at Damiano: "Hey...are you alright?", his voice was gentle and had a touch of worry to it. He nodded, though not facing him. He was clearly embarrassed and maybe even anxious. "Guys...I think we should sit down and talk...", Victoria suggested. She was scared but it was something that had to be done.

They were all sitting in the lounge of their bus. The atmosphere was even worse than before. She looked out the window, watching all the cars passing them on the highway. She was thinking. How was she supposed to start that conversation? Damiano was sitting next to her, anxiety basically radiating from his body. He was fiddling with the sleeves of his dark blue hoodie, not willing to look at anyone at all. Ethan and Thomas were sitting across of them on the other sofa and while Ethan seemed to be extremely worried, Thomas just seemed to be pissed. Those weren't great conditions to start an important conversation like this. Nevertheless, she had to...and she knew that. "Okay, guys...uhm...I honestly have no idea how to start this but...none of us can deny that what happened yesterday is something we can't ignore. And it needs to be talked about." Ethan nodded, looking understanding as always but Thomas was raging already: "Oh, you think so?! Didn't you fucking think about the fact that things like that can completely ruin our career? I don't give a shit what's going on in his fucked up mind or what your fucked up relationship to each other is but if it's gonna fuck up this band, you better try to get your shit together!", he wasn't yelling but his voice was pretty harsh. Damiano got smaller and smaller in his position, flinching with every word Thomas spat out. Instinctively, Victoria reached out for his hand, caressing his now cold skin with her thumb. He was drenched in cold sweat. She glared at Thomas, shooting nothing but anger into his direction: "Watch your fucking mouth, Thomas. You have no fucking idea what you're talking about." "Then fucking tell me, Vic. Tell me why he's such a fucking sissy. Tell me why the fuck you are risking our career as a band just because he's crying." "Thomas, stop it...you-", Ethan started but shut up quickly when he realized that nobody was listening. Victoria squeezed Damiano's hand, gently caressing it in order to help him keep calm: "He's going through a break up...Carla left him and that's pretty hard to handle sometimes, you know..." Thomas scoffed: "Oh please. Man the fuck up, Damiano and stop crying like a fucking sissy. I already said it once and I'm gonna say it again: You are a fucking attention whore. Guys don't cry because of stupid fucking reasons like that. If you want attention, go kill yourself or something." She could tell that he didn't mean the last part...even if he didn't show it, he cared about Damiano. He just had a hard time showing and expressing his feelings but Damiano was vulnerable and she knew him well enough to realize that his words hit him hard. She felt the anger boiling up inside of her. She knew he had anger issues but that had definitely crossed boundaries. Once the words had really sunken in, Damiano got up, tears in his eyes: "You know what? I might...", and with that, he stormed off. A clicking noise told her that he had locked the bathroom door which made her worry immediately. She stepped towards Thomas, who looked perplex, not having expected that reaction. "You stupid fucking asshole...", she growled and pushed him backwards into the sofa. "You have no fucking idea what you did with that. No fucking idea. You don't even know half of the story. If he kills himself because of you, be prepared for a trial because friends or not, I will sue you and get you to jail if I don't kill you first.", she practically spat in his face and then turned away, running to the bathroom door. Ethan followed her.

"Angel...Angel, open the door please.", she begged as she heard his heavy sobs inside. "Please...Damiano. I know he hurt you...but you need to let me in, okay?" Some people would probably say he was overreacting but to her it made perfect sense. He was in a very vulnerable place and words like that could do so much harm, others probably didn't even realize that. He didn't answer, seemingly crying harder with every passing second. "Ethan...Ethan we need to do something. We need to break the door...we need to pick the lock...anything.", she was panicking, tears welling up in her eyes. He gently grabbed her by the shoulders: "Vic. Keep calm. You know him better than we do...you gotta handle this. You are the only one who knows how to talk to him." She pulled away, shaking her head: "I'm gonna pick the lock...he's gonna hurt himself...badly. I know that...I can feel it." She was trembling a bit, so it took her a while to take out one of her hair pins. She was rushing so much, she almost lost the pin but eventually managed to successfully pick the lock. And then she entered, seeing the one thing she had been extremely afraid of.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hey ;)

I'm sorry, this one is a little rushed but my relatives came because it's my birthday tomorrow, so I won't have that much time the next few days. I will try to write some chapters in advance so I can still update everyday though.

So...did you think Thomas would react like that? Do you think Damiano overreacted? Did he just hurt himself or did he actually try to commit suicide? Let me know in the comments :)

Thanks for reading.

- Thalia