Eric leaves in nine days. NINE DAYS. I didn’t even know what I was going to do while he is gone. Daisy signed up for guitar lessons to occupy her time, and I had nothing. I was currently sitting at her kitchen counter going through the book she picked her class out of while she made us breakfast. “I think I’ll take a jewelry class.” I mumbled to myself as I stared at the small paragraph on the class.

“That would be awesome. You could make me free shit.”

“I would charge you.”

“Bitch.” She mumbled sliding a plate of pancakes in front of me. “I’d teach you guitar in return.”

“I already know guitar.”

“What the hell! Why didn’t you tell me?” I shrugged as I dug into my pancakes.

“You know, I’ve been craving pancakes since yesterday? This is so fucking good.” I stuffed some more in my mouth. “

“Holy cow. You’re going to choke!”

“No I’m not.” I said with a mouthful of pancakes.” I was about to stuff more in my mouth, when I paused, “Hey… do you have any brownies?” she stared at me like I was insane.

“No… but I have brownie mix…”

“I’m going to make it.” I pushed away from the counter and went to her pantry.

“I thought you were craving pancakes?” “

“I want brownies now.” I said in a ‘duh tone.’ I was about to open the box when John walked in.

“Eric is waiting for you; he wants to hang out allloonne.” He sang. I pouted at the box.

“I’m taking this.” I ran out of the room with Daisy shouting that I better save her some behind me. I skipped the few feet to my apartment. Eric was leaning against the opposite wall texting. “Hey Babe.” I said as I went to unlock the door.

“Hey.” He mumbled sticking the phone in his pocket and walking in without looking at me. I pouted after him.

“Are you alright?”

“Fine.” I watched as he flopped on the couch and turned the TV on. I glared at him for a moment then stomped to the kitchen. I made sure I was as loud as I could be while I got everything I needed. When I looked up he was glaring back at me. I kicked the oven door shut after I pulled the pots out. I left the water running and hummed obnoxiously loud. I honestly think I was the first person to make an egg crack so loud. “Are you serious Alyssa? Why are you being so loud?”

“If you don’t like it, leave.” I snapped. He turned away from me and turned the TV up. I turned the mixer on full blast. Once I was done mixing I poured the batter into the pan I was using then threw in bowl in the sink. Then tossed the pan in the oven and slammed the door again. With a huff I stormed to my room and slammed the door behind me. What the fuck was that all about? I watched the clock next to my bed change. Is he going to come talk to me? I barely heard the alarm I had set for the brownies going off. I took a deep breath and walked out of my room… but he was gone. The TV was off and his shoes he kicked off weren’t by the table anymore. I felt a tear leave my eye but I ignored it and went to the oven. Maybe he just went to grab something? He wouldn’t leave without talking about this right? I waited a few more minutes and decided he left; which made me cry harder than the few tears that were falling while I waited. I pushed myself off the couch, I wanted to talk to Daisy about what just happened but when I opened the door I saw Eric standing there awkwardly. “I thought you left?” I mumbled looking at my feet.

“No… I’ve been standing here the whole time.” We stood there awkwardly staring at each other.

“I’m sorry.” We both said at the same time. I smiled at him and pulled him into a hug.

“Do… Do I smell brownies?” he asked pushing me aside and walking in. That’s why I love him…. Wait…. What?

-*-

“Why aren’t you talking to me?” I asked as I poked Daisy. We were sitting on the coach in Eric’s garage as the guys practiced.

“You ate all my brownies!”

“THAT WAS FOUR DAYS AGO!” I shouted and the guys laughed.

“Still…. and then you didn’t share when you bought your own!”

“…’Cause I really wanted them.” I pouted at her. She glared at me for a moment then smiled.

“Fine, I can’t stay mad forever.” We sat silently as they played a few songs. I turned to my side and snuck the brownie I had saved. “Alyssa… is that a brownie?!?”

“No.”I said mouthful turning back to her.

“I hope that goes straight to your ass.” I stopped chewing and stared at her.

“Why…why would you even tell someone that?”

“Why would you sneak a fucking brownie when I wanted one?”

“Well I wanted it more!”

“You’ve eaten like 5 boxes this week!”

“SHUT UP!” Nick shouted into his mic. We turned away from each other.

“Bitch.” I whispered.

“Fat ass.” She whispered back.

“I said shut up!”

“YOU SHUT UP!” Daisy shouted. “We have to leave anyways.”

“Oh man, I never get to hear any other songs.” I pouted then stuffed the rest of my brownie into my mouth. Daisy smacked my arm and marched out of the room.

“Well today is you’re lucky day.” Justin said as he reached into his guitar case. “I brought these for you.” He turned and was holding two CDs in his hand “Our CDs.”

“I LOVE YOU JUSTIN!” I grabbed the CDs out of his hand and hugged him.

“Stop trying to steal my girlfriend Justin.” Eric said from behind us.

“She’s all yours dude.” I rolled my eyes and hugged the guys’ good bye.

“Hey Alyssa,” Andrew shouted as I walked out of the room, I popped my head around the corner. “You should listen to number ten on On Your Side, Halvo wrote it.” Eric smacked him in the chest. I looked between the two and rolled my eyes. I began to walk away again but I ran back into the room and over to Eric and kissed him. He didn’t kiss me back, he just stood there. I pulled away and stared at him; he turned away and picked his bass back up. I stood there awkwardly for a moment before I ran out to Daisy’s car.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, worried as I slammed the car door shut.

“Nothing. Let’s go before we’re late…again.” At work, I just went through the motions. I stacked new CDs on the self, and I put older ones in the right order. I tried to avoid Daisy, because I didn’t want to cause a problem. I was really hoping he was just awkward because the guys were there.

-*-*

Three days. He hasn’t talked to me for three days. He leaves in two. I was spending the day watching movies with Daisy today, but before I walked across the hall I tried calling him again. “Hey, its Eric leave a message.” I sighed and tossed my phone on the couch and walked to Daisy’s, two brownies in hand and the lunch I made for myself. I took a deep breath and walked in with a smile.

“HEY! I have The Proposal in right now.” Daisy said happily in the middle of her living room surrounded by pillows and blankets. “Do I get a brown—”

“No.”

“I hate you.”

“You would think you’d get your own by now.”

“Yeah, yeah.” she grunted and pressed play. After the movie Daisy and I sat at her table and ate lunch. I ate my brownies first, even though she glared at me, then I opened my container. “Oh. My. God. Alyssa. Are you serious?” I looked up at her with a questioning look. “Mac and Cheese…. And tuna?” My stopped my fork centimeters from my mouth.

“Yeah… it’s really good.”

“More like really gross. What’s wrong with you? Do you want to weigh a ton by the end of the month? Yesterday you ate a large supreme pizza, by yourself!” I shrugged. “Don’t shrug at me, when you get fat…”

“STOP CALLING ME FAT!” I shouted and slammed my fork down.

“I’m sorr—”

“I don’t care if you are sorry. I have enough on my plate already.” I fiercely wiped my tears with the back of my head. We stared at each other for a moment.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No…Yes. My parents haven’t called me. I can’t stop eating. You keep calling me fat. No one from back home is taking to me. Eric isn’t talking to me and when we do talk all we do is fight. The guys are leaving in two days. I hate it all.” We sat in silence for a moment. “I want a Big Mac.”

_*_*

“You guys party way too much.” I said from Daisy’s bed as the other girls got ready.

“There is nothing else to do in Arizona,” Tessa defended, “Plus, the guys leave tomorrow.”

“I thought California knows how to party?” Daisy said with a giggle.

“That wasn’t funny.” I said and she flipped me off.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go?” Rachael asked pouting.

“Yeah, there’s no reason for me to be there.” I helped them get ready and walked them to Daisy’s car.

“I’m going to have John check on you before he heads over to Max’s.” I glared at her for a moment and then waved bye to the other girls.

“You’re lucky I like John.” I stuck my tongue out and went back inside. I laid on my bed and faced the window and watched as the sunset. I heard the door open and close and keys hit in the counter. “I’m in my room.” I said loud enough for John to hear.

“What the hell did I say about locking your door?” He said jumping next to me in bed.

“Sorry, Dad.” I said sarcastically.

“Daisy told me to make you come with me.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“I got…” he lifted a bag out from behind his back, “Brownies.”

“I’m not a dog.” I mumbled as he looked at me with an arched eyebrow and a stupid smile. “Give me those.” I snatched the bag out of his hand. “I hate you.”

“I’m your best friend. Now go get ready.” He shooed me with his hand.

“You’re in my room.” His hand stopped waving and he grunted and he out off my bed. “You win this round.” I changed out of my pajamas into grey pants and a black V-neck then slipped on red flats. I left my hair curly and went to the living room, where John was sprawled across my couch.

“Your couch is not long enough for people over six feet tall.” he said glaring at me.

“Well I’m the one who lives here and it’s the perfect size for a person shorter than six feet tall.”

“You are very rude to me young lady.”

“I’m older then you.”

“BY A WEEK! Besides I’m tall—”

“Why are you… I’m going to kick you.”

“Alright, alright let’s go… I’m hungry so you better be too.”

“Can we go to Chipotle?” I asked as we walked to his car.

“No.” I pouted, “I’m kidding I heard how touchy you’ve been about food lately, I’m not going to fuck with you.”

“Who said I’m touchy? I’m not touchy.”

“Daisy, she told me everything.” He held out the ‘v’ in everything

“…Oh. I’m starting to hate your girlfriend more and more each day.” We were in the car now and he was backing up.

“She’s not my girlfriend.” he said dejectedly.

“Oh…sorry…”

“Naw, its cool. We both have crazy relationships, maybe that’s why we get along so well?” We both laughed, yesterday we hung out for like five hours after Daisy fell asleep and we were laughing the whole night. It was the first time all week I was happy.

“Yeah, thanks for last night, I really needed it.” He smiled.

“I’m good at making people feel better.” After dinner we headed to Max’s house. “Don’t worry.” John said putting his hand on my shoulder as he raced down the freeway. “Also I normally don’t drive this fast, but we are four hours late and I need a beer.”

“Alcoholic.” He rolled his eyes and excited the freeway.

-*-

“Do not make me pull you out of this car, Alyssa.” John shouted at me as he stood outside of the car. With a sigh I got out of the car and followed him inside. The moment we stepped inside John was gone. It was like all their other parties, beer pong in the corner, shots in the kitchen, Eric staring at me completely wasted. I turned away from him and went to the backyard. No one was out there, so I laid on the ground and looked at the stars. A few minutes later the back door swung open and I heard heavy footsteps coming my way. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

“Leave me alone, Eric.” I whispered when I knew he was next to me. Instead of walking away like I wanted him too he laid down next to me.

“I’m sorry.” He slurred with a smile on his face as he leaned over me. “I missed you, but I was too nervous to talk to you.” I could hardly make out what he was saying.

“Too nervous to talk to me? I’m your girlfriend, Eric.” I sat up and turned to face him. He sat up too and moved next to me. “You ignored me for four days.”

“Yeah, I know. I was stupid, I just didn’t know how to talk to you.” He sighed. “You like Justin and John more than me.” I stared at him in disbelief.

“You’re kidding me right?” He shook his head no. “They’re just my friends, Eric.”

“You kissed Justin on the cheek, and you hang out with John all the time…”

“I kissed him on the cheek cause he gave me something I really wanted. And you hang out with John all the time too…”

“I’m not a girl.”

“You’re acting like one.” We glared at each other for a moment. “I had the worst week ever, I really needed you, and you weren’t there.” I could see in his eyes that he was sobering up now.

“Yeah… Daisy told me… I just… I’m stupid and I knew you were mad at me and I didn’t want to make anything worse. I don’t deserve you.” His lower lip stuck out and he faced away from me. “I know you hate me—”

“I don’t hate you Eric.” We were both whispering now. “What was it that you didn’t know how to talk to me about? Is it the tour…?”

“No, the tour isn’t as bad as you think it is. I promise… It’s something else…”

“What is it?” He took a deep breath and turned to me. His mouth hung open and his eyes were wide.

“I don’t deserve you,” he started and held his hand up before I protested, “I know I don’t. Everyone knows I don’t, they tell me all the time and they make fun of me. You should seriously be with someone else.” He took a deep breath.

“Eric…”

“No let me finish. When I first saw you I thought for sure I didn’t have a chance. I would freak out and get happy just by you being in the room. Even though you didn’t look at me or talk to me. I thought you hated me. But after Halloween you started getting nicer to me, and we started getting pretty serious… really serious. It happened really fast, and I thought I was just getting lucky and you would get over me soon, but I know you’re not faking this. And it’s hard for me to get closer with girls now, I don’t know who is talking to me because they like me or because they know I’m in a band. Hell, half of the girls I know from school only talked to me because of John.” He took a deep breath. “Then there is you. For some reason or another you like me for me. And… and… I love you.” He was staring at his lap by the end of his speech, so he did see that I was smiling like a fool. I threw my arms around him and whispered in his ear.

“You’re an idiot, Eric. I love you too.”

“You drain the life from me and it feels oh so good”

Count ‘em 1,2,3- The Maine

Chapter by: Krystal