People Who Could Be Useful To Him

"I've had enough for today." Adam had said in a cold and unforgiving voice. He had taken Elle's hand in his and left the room.

'So this is it?' Amelia had thought to herself as she watched Adam leave the room. 'This is what it feels like to hit the bottom?'

She couldn't bare the feeling of Christopher's piercing gaze on her. With every second that passed Amelia felt more and more suffocated.

"What are you waiting for?" She finally snapped at Chris. He had looked surprised but not offended by her harsh words. "The show's over."

Amelia left the room without sparing him a second glance. Her legs carried her to the hotel bar. She didn't know how long she had been sitting there for, nor could she remember how many drinks she had. Amelia simply sat in her own misery, asking the bartender to refill her glass again and again. As she drank she wondered just how many drinks it would take to ease this sullen feeling.

Amelia swirled the glass in her hand absentmindedly, watching the liquid flow along the edge of the glass for a while before bringing it to her lips and taking a long sip. The drink burned with heat on the way down, and yet, no matter how many glasses she drank she couldn't seem to shake the coldness of a broken heart.

It might have been a few minutes or a few hours later, but at some point, a gentleman entered the bar. He glanced around the room before sitting down in the empty seat next to Amelia.

Amelia glanced at him curiously for a moment before returning her attention to her glass.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, bringing the glass to her lips again.

"I thought you might want some company." Christopher replied as he flagged down the bartender to get a drink of his own.

"Hmm." Amelia ignored Christopher but he continued to sit beside her, unfazed. It seemed Chris was perfectly happy to spend the night in silence.

He himself didn't say a word. In fact, he didn't spare so much as glance in her direction. He carried on as if he were really there to drink alone. The longer Chris sat beside her in silence the more irritated Amelia got.

"What is it?" She finally snapped. "Are you here to rub it in my face?"

"Not at all." Christopher replied evenly.

"Then are you here because you pity me?" She asked in a sour voice, as if the very idea of it disgusted her.

The corners of Christopher's lips lifted slightly at that.

"What's so funny?" She demanded.

"I was just thinking about how we're the same, you and I."

Amelia scoffed, "I don't see how."

"You and I both have the same dream."

"No we don't." She said firmly. "Don't try to lump us together. You know nothing about me, nothing about my goals. Just because we're both actors doesn't mean we have the same dream."

"We are the same." Christopher insisted in a voice that was soft but adamant. "We both decided to give up our whole lives to become people who could be useful to him."

Amelia paused. They were talking about Adam now. She didn't know how Christopher knew the unspoken truth she had locked away deep in her heart. A truth she had never said aloud to even herself before.

"I know because I made the same decision as you a long, long, time ago. It's easy to spot a kindred spirit." Christopher continued as if he could read her mind. "But you know, being useful means being convenient. It means being there when he needs and being put away when he doesn't."

Christopher looked at her gravely. "I don't know why you started to get greedy for more."

"Because I love him." Amelia whispered, looking at Chris desperately. "I changed my whole life for him. Am I really not allowed to ask to be a little more than just 'useful' to him? Do I really not get anything in return?"

"That's right, you don't."

Amelia looked back down at her drink. Silent tears were slowly running down her cheeks now.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Amelia asked in a broken voice.

"If you want to continue to be useful to him you need to cast your heart away." Christopher replied honestly. "Adam will never love you. It doesn't matter how perfectly you play your role or how well you love him."

"I loved him first." Amelia complained. "I loved him long before she ever showed up."

Christopher scoffed. "Things like being first don't matter when it comes to love. Even you should know that much."

Amelia didn't say anything back but they both knew the answer to the option Chris had presented. She couldn't stop now. She had fallen in too deep already, Amelia no longer knew her way back out.

"If you can't control your heart you only have one other option. In my opinion it's the better option for you to take."

"What option is that?" Amelia looked at him desperately. Waiting, begging, for someone to give her a direction to follow.

There were a dozen emotions reflected in her bleary eyes. An untrained eye may not have been able to see it, but Christopher could.

She had been hateful and jealous, sure. Everyone had seen that, but in her eyes Christopher saw more. He saw it all. Her innocence, her perseverance, her sincerity. He hadn't come here because he pitied her and yet she was pitiful.

"Give up on this dream. It wasn't meant for you. You have a big heart Em, but it's already begun to rot away. Give up on this dream and live your life for yourself instead."

Somewhere within her it was as if a dam had broken. Her purpose, the foundation she had stood on for the past fifteen years, was suddenly ripped out from underneath her. Her heart couldn't bear the loss of it.

Amelia began to cry. Not soft, silent tears but heavy sobs that tore through her. She buried her face in her hands and cried.

Christopher sat beside her silently sipping on his drink. He didn't offer her any words of sympathy or any motions of comfort. He simply sat and listened until her tears finally ran dry.