Happy to Be the Side Piece Chapter 2

The moment I hung up, Jim started screaming from the corner of the room.

"Marguerite! Marguerite, look at Twitter! Right now!"

I covered my ears and glared at him. "Jim, I am standing right here. Stop screaming like you're trying to wake the dead. Keep yelling and you're sleeping in the hotel hallway."

We were supposed to fly back to New York today, but a massive storm grounded all flights out of Miami. By the time we tried to book a hotel, everything nearby was totally sold out. We barely managed to snag the last available room in a rundown motel, and it only had two twin beds. We had to make do.

Jim defended himself wildly. "No, seriously, this is a massive deal! You're trending. You and my favorite almost brother-in-law."

"I can't believe that weird call was actually him. Are you guys getting back together? Crap, did I mess things up? Do I need to call him back and explain?"

So, he wasn't just drunk dialing me from his living room?

I opened Twitter and checked the trending page.

Good lord. He completely hijacked the top ten spots.

#MuteTheWorldRowanIsHeartbroken

#WhoCriesLikeABustedFireHydrantOnLiveTV

#PopStarRowanBegsToBeTheSidePiece

The two most liked videos at the top of the feed were screen recordings from a live broadcast.

Rowan was currently starring in a hit travel reality show. This week's location happened to be Miami. Caught in the same storm that grounded my flight, the celebrity cast had gathered on a covered patio to wait out the rain and chat.

During the downtime, the bed and breakfast owner offered them some homemade local moonshine.

Rowan took a few shots and completely lost his grip on reality.

They started playing a drinking game. Rowan lost, and his penalty was a dare to call his first love.

That led to the first phone call.

The video showed the phone ringing on speaker for a long time. Finally, the whole cast heard a young guy's voice filter through.

"Hello? You looking for my sister? She's in the shower right now."

On screen, Rowan's face instantly went pale. His jaw locked, and he frantically mashed the end call button.

The other celebrities tried to laugh it off, jumping in to save the mood.

But a heavily intoxicated Rowan clearly had zero emotional regulation. He grabbed the nearest male celebrity, buried his face in the guy's shoulder, and started wailing.

Through loud, ugly sobs, he cried, "How could she? How could she just replace me with some new puppy?"

The sound he made was identical to a boiling kettle screaming for help.

In the second video, the moment he heard me say his name, his expression crumpled into pure misery.

After delivering his unhinged, morally questionable speech about being willing to be my side piece, I ruthlessly hung up on him. The dial tone echoed on the live feed. Rowan cried even louder.

The celebrity he had been using as a tissue couldn't take it anymore. The guy hauled Rowan up by the arms and dragged him upstairs, completely out of the camera's view.

But even as the video ended, you could still hear Rowan crying hysterically off-camera.

The comments section was an absolute goldmine.

[Sister, I am begging you, please show this man some mercy. He is literally shattering into pieces.]

[I am crying from laughing so hard. Who cries like that on national television?]

[Drunk Rowan is a completely different species. The cool-guy persona is dead and buried.]

[I don't care, I love this version of him. Look at the sad little puppy!]

[Rowan: Can I join your relationship? Marguerite: Hard pass.]

I liked the comment about his persona being dead and buried.

Back when we were together, I learned very quickly that Rowan had the alcohol tolerance of a toddler. Every time we drank, he morphed from a broody, intense musician into a clingy, crying mess.

After I teased him about it one too many times, he refused to drink with me ever again. He insisted he needed to protect his edgy rockstar image.

I used to joke with him back then. "You better treat me right, Rowan. If you ever get famous, I'm selling this dirt to the tabloids."

It was a shame we never got to see what that future looked like.