The Confession

I was stunned by his reaction. Ok, seeing me may have been a surprise, but instead of being happy to see me, he seemed angry that I was there. I couldn’t ask about it because it was time for him and the rest of the band to go back on stage. I sat at the bar and ordered a drink. Throughout their set I couldn’t really enjoy myself because I was wondering what kind of mess I had walked in on this night. Did he invite someone else out? Would this be a throwback to our early days where epic public scenes made us infamous in some circles?

I sipped on my drink while texting and checking Facebook in between listening to the bar tender chat up the couple next to me. The band finished with their set relatively early. It wasn’t even 11pm; I was used to gigs where we might not leave until 1 or 4am. He asked if I would wait. I said ok. Out the corner of my eye, I saw an older woman come from the other side of the club and stop in front of the stage. She was apparently waiting for him to walk her to her car, which he did. I sipped on another drink trying to keep my anger from rising. I couldn’t believe he had me wait for him so he could walk some other woman out the door after the “welcome” he had given me. But, she could have been a potential opportunity for future business, so I needed to stay cool and not jump to any conclusions.

When he came back in, he asked if I would follow him to his rehearsal. Again, I said ok. I was waiting for my opportunity to confront him and since rehearsal had supposedly already started, it wouldn’t take that long. I followed him in my car to the spot. We literally went from the club to the church. I sat in the front pew of the cold church exchanging text messages with him, trying to stay awake while they reran particular parts of songs over and over again. Finally, around 1am he asked if he could leave and so we did. I had planned to just go home from there, forget confronting him, I was ready to go to sleep, but once we were at our cars he asked if I would follow him to his house. I protested at first, but soon gave in. I did however, put him on notice that he would not be getting any on this night.

We were standing in his room. There was very little light. I was standing at the head of his bed. He was standing at the foot of the bed. I started to take off my boots when he said, “I went to the health department today”.
“OK, why are you going to the health department? Where’s your regular doctor?” I asked.
“Why do people go to the health department?” He asked.
I shrugged and continued taking off my boots.
“I had a blood test.” He replied.
I stopped what I was doing and looked up at him. “What do you need a blood test for?” My brain was still clueless, but by the way my heart was beating, my body knew what he was telling me without telling me. And then he dropped it on me.
“I tested positive for HIV.”

II