"I can't remember exactly what was said, but .
Shit, Eva.
I was twenty-one years old.
The band was just starting to get popular.
The chicks were everywhere."
"I know," I said dryly.
"I was one of them."
"I'd been with you a few times by then.
Bringing you along to the pool hall made a statement to the guys that things were picking up between us."
He rubbed at his brow in a very familiar gesture.
"I didn't have the balls to own up to how I was feeling about you.
I made it about the sex, but that wasn't true."
I lifted my glass and drank, forcing down the lump in my throat.
His hand dropped onto the armrest.
"So I screwed it up with my big mouth.
That's why you bailed that night.
That's why you never went anywhere with me again."
"I was desperate, Brett," I admitted, "but I didn't want to show it."
The waiter brought our food.
I wondered why I'd ordered anything - I was too unsettled to eat.
Brett started cutting into his steak, attacking it really.
Suddenly, he set his knife and fork down.
"I blew it back then, but now everyone knows what was going on in my head at the time.
'Golden' is our biggest single.
It's what got us signed with Vidal."
The idea of closure made me smile.
"It's a beautiful song, and your voice sounds amazing when you sing it.
I'm really glad you came up and saw me again before you head out.
It means a lot to me that we talked through this."
"What if I don't want to just head out and move on?" He took a deep breath and released it in a rush.