Avery’s POV

Ever since I left Brian this morning I couldn’t get him out of my head. I just kept picturing his smile, his laugh, the way brow furred when he was frustrated, and the way it felt when he touched me. Even after all this time apart it still felt like every nerve ending was exploding with little sparks, sending me into a frenzy. What did that mean? Was that some kind of scientific signal that we were meant to be together? I didn’t know. Half of me wanted to race back to the hotel and jump into his arms while the rest of me wanted to forget that he existed. I was hurt and as much as I wanted to forgive him, I couldn’t. What was going to stop him from doing this again?

I flicked the ash from my cigarette as I sat on my front porch, trying to sort through everything that just happened. Okay, so Brian apologized but could I accept it? He explained everything, but could I believe it? Those were the two major questions right there that I didn’t have the answer to. I mean, sure last night was amazing and he made me feel alive again, but it didn’t fix anything. At the end of the day, he still cheated and that really hurt.

But I still couldn’t deny the fact that I felt incredibly guilty about leaving Brian without saying goodbye. Even though I was still pissed at him, I didn’t want to hurt him and unfortunately I knew my actions this morning did just that. The thought of him sitting there with his head in his hands after he couldn’t find me tore me up inside. I tried to tell myself that it didn’t matter, but somehow he still did. Brian’s feeling and thoughts still mattered to me, even after all that he had done. How freaking sick and twisted was I? Any normal person would have kicked him to the curb, but I couldn’t. It was like he was a part of me.

“What am I going to do?” I muttered to myself, kicking the butt of my cigarette into the yard and looking down at my phone. Should I call him and apologize? I knew he didn’t have my new number, but that mean I didn’t still have his. I guess I could never bring myself to delete because I always had a small hope that everything was going to turn around. Was last night a sign that things were turning around?

“Ave?” Someone called, pulling me from my thoughts. My eyes snapped up from my phone to see James sprinting towards me and heart stopped in my chest. Oh shit, I forgot about James last night! My eyes grew wide as he approached and I suddenly felt like I was going to be sick. I had no idea what I was going to say to him but I knew I couldn’t tell him about Brian. That would literally crush him and I couldn’t do that, not when he had been so good to me.

“Damn it, babe. You were gone… I was worried,” James said as he pulled me to my feet and into his arms. If my guilt about leaving Brian wasn’t bad enough, now I felt ashamed of what I’d done behind James’ back. He didn’t deserve this. God I was a terrible person….I didn’t deserve someone like him in my life. I was just as bad as Brian!

“I-I… yes… you don’t have to be. I’m alright” I stammered in response, not able to look him in the eye. The truth was I wasn’t okay and mainly because I knew I had screwed up on so many levels.

A frown fell over James’ face and I bit down on my bottom lip. What was I going to tell him about last night? There was no way he wasn’t going to ask when I basically stood him up. I could literally crawl into a hole right now and never come out. “Did you forget your key?” He asked, but I just shook my head. What was I going to do? I was so ashamed of myself…

The next thing I knew, James and I were inside and I was lying through my teeth. I told him that I came home last night after I fought with Brian, which I guess was partially true, if you took out the six hours in the middle… I didn’t know what else to do because I couldn’t tell James the truth. He would never forgive me I couldn’t lose him too. I was selfish and I didn’t want to lose the one person who had gone through hell and back for me. I knew if I lost Brian and James that there was no turning back from the darkness that once already threated to take over me.

I mean just last night I was going to make things official with James but then Brian came back into the picture and… Hell I didn’t know what I wanted! But it was James’ next question that shocked me and sent my mind spinning again.

“What did he want?” What? No, he wasn’t asking me that question. I felt the panic rising inside me again. No, I didn’t want to go there.

My eyes instantly snapped up to James’ and what I saw made me feel even worse. In his light brown eyes I could see concern mixed with something else that I couldn’t put my finger on.

“What? Who?” I asked, hoping that I hadn’t heard him right. We both knew what Brian wanted and I didn’t want to talk about it, let alone think about it right now.

“What did Brian want?” No, I knew where this conversation was heading and I didn’t want to go there. I didn’t want to have to choose between James and Brian right now. I didn’t know what I wanted so how the hell was I supposed to give them an answer? Damn, I felt like I was going to be sick.

I quickly stood up and started toward the kitchen, needing some space to think. “Do you want some coffee? Or tea? I could make some?” I dodged but James pulled me back into him. No…please don’t make me talk about this…

“Ave?” All I could think about was betraying him and I couldn’t live with myself. I couldn’t hurt him too. Fuck, how did I get into this mess?

I quickly pulled away from him again, shaking my head that I so desperately wanted to clear. But I couldn’t do that with James standing next to me, distracting me with the scent of his cologne and the kind words that I didn’t deserve right now.
“I need a shower, why don’t you make us some coffee? We could talk afterwards, okay?” I said, watching James’ face fall. No, don’t do that… “But there really isn’t much to talk about.” I quickly added, trying to pull away from him.

But before I could move away, James pulled me into a kiss and I stood shocked for a moment. What was I supposed to do? But the instant his arms pulled me in a little bit closer I relaxed, taking the distraction. James always tasted good and his kisses made my head spin, but they weren’t world altering like Brian’s. Damn it, why did everything always come back to him?

“You don’t have to be ashamed that you left, Ave. I understand…” James said as he hugged me close. “I would have gone with you, now go take your shower and give me a smile when you come out, alright?”

I gave James a sad smile as I headed toward my room, feeling extremely small. He was so kind and didn’t know that I really did have a reason to be ashamed. I blew him off and ended up having the greatest sex of my life with Brian. I had every reason to be ashamed, and mainly because I owed myself to James for putting me back together. He was the one that picked up the pieces that Brian left and slowly started to fix me. And what I did to him yesterday wasn’t fair.

As I stripped down in the bathroom, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. I didn’t recognize the extremely thin blonde in front of me. What happed to the Avery Jacobson with a heart of gold? The one who didn’t do stupid things that hurt people? Not only had I hurt Brian by leaving this morning but I also hurt James by lying to him. Who was this person and what did I really want? I was so torn and confused right now it wasn’t even funny!

I stared at my reflection in the mirror, letting my hands move down over my tanned skin. My body ached from last night and I had bruises and little red blemishes to prove it. Brian had been anything but gentle but it had felt extremely good at the time. But now all I felt was guilt, shame, confusion, and broken when I looked in the mirror.

The buzz of my phone on the counter jilted me back to my senses. I shook my head and picked it up only to feel my stomach drop to my feet.

I woke up to an empty spot next to me, not funny. Where are you, love? Brian

I took in a shaky breath as I read the text over and over again. So he did expect things to go back to normal after last night. Did I want that? It all came back to me not knowing what I wanted or what to believe. I mean I loved him, I always had, but what about James? I owed him and I knew he would never hurt me. He had proven that time after time.

I set my phone back down on the counter and climbed into the shower, deciding to not answer Brian right now. I had hoped the warm water from the shower would help me relax but the only thing I felt right now was numb. All the doubt, confusion, and guilt had built up a wall inside of me and I couldn’t bring it down right now. I couldn’t process and sort out what I wanted yet. I wished I could just turn everything off and start fresh, not having to worry about my choices.

“There’s my beautiful girl,” James said, standing up off the couch when I came back into the living room. I bit down on my bottom lip at his words, not really knowing how to respond. I mean, last night that’s exactly what I wanted…but now that Brian was back I had no idea.

His eyes glanced up and down my body, taking in my whole appearance. I was wearing a long sleeved, black, v-neck shirt, a pair of cut-off denim shorts, and my black converse. I took extra time today to apply my make up and style my hair to make sure that all my bruises and hickies were covered. The last thing I needed was for someone to ask questions.

“Come take a seat, I’ve got all your favorites.” He gestured to the coffee table and couldn’t help but smile. He made me my favorite French toast with the bacon and I could smell the hazelnut coffee that I loved so much. Why was he so wonderful and perfect?

James grabbed my hand and pulled me down to the couch, lightly kissing my lips before handing me my favorite orange coffee mug. “I thought maybe I would make up a little bit for last night and make sure you got to enjoy all of your favorite things,” he said, holding out a fork to me.

“James you really didn’t have to do this,” I muttered. In all honesty I wasn’t really hungry. I didn’t deserve this.

“Sure I did, and no douchebag ex is going to ruin your day today, I can tell you that much.” But he had no idea what had already happened today, and early this morning…and all of last night. “It’s going to be just me and you today, got it?” he teased, forcing me to eat a few bites. I had to admit it was delicious. “We’ll make up for last night…”

I bit down on my bottom lip again, avoiding his eyes. “Listen about last night…I-I’m sorry,” I whispered, looking at my hands twisting together in my lap. “I-I should have come back to find you…I was so rude…and after you gave me that amazing party—“

“Shh…don’t even think twice about it, babe,” James said as he brushed my hair behind my ears, smiling down at me. “I would have left with you but I don’t blame you for wanting to get out of there and away from him. He put you through hell and he had no right to be there.” Yeah, and now I was doing the same thing to James. Putting him through hell with my lies. How long was I going to go through with this charade?

“Right,” I sighed, meeting James’ eye for just a second. He looked like he was trying to read my thought and I was thankful that he couldn’t. He would like what he saw there.

A silence fell between us as we ate breakfast or rather I drank my coffee. I didn’t know what to say to him right now. I knew he had questions that he wanted me to answer but I was terrified to hear them. I didn’t know if I could.

“So,” James said after a while, pulling me into his side. “Just tell me this and then I wont bring up the topic again.” Oh no, what did he want to know?

“Hmm?” I asked, nervously chewing the inside of my cheek.

“What did Brian want to talk to you about?” James asked again and I sighed. “Did he make a move on you?” I bit down on my lip and looked away, thinking about last night. Oh, he had made a move…lots of them, making me scream his name all night long.

“He-he just wanted to know what I was doing here,” I sighed. I was avoiding eye contact with James at any cost. I didn’t want him to see the truth hiding in my eyes.

“And?” I could feel his eyes burning a hole in the side of my head.

“And I told him I just finished university, and-and that I didn’t have anything else to say to him,” I lied, twisting my hands together in my lap. Please let him believe me! I knew that I was the worst liar on the face of the earth but I couldn’t tell James the truth.

“So that was it?” Oh, god he doesn’t believe me!

“Well…” I grimaced, feeling smaller and smaller by the second.

“Did he make a move on you?” I could hear the frustration in his voice now and I sighed.

Just as I opened my mouth to reply, my phone started screaming from my pocket. I quickly pulled out to see Zacky’s picture flashing across the scene. Thank god! Zacky was always my savior!

“I need to take this,” I said to James as I stood up and headed to my bedroom. “Hello?”

“Ave?” Zacky said, his voice slightly hushed, like he was trying not to let the other guys hear him.

“Hey, Zee, what’s up?” I asked, trying to hide the little quiver in my voice. It had been a while since I had talked to him and I had to admit that was a little sad that I didn’t get to see him last night.

“I was just about to ask you the same thing,” he chuckled. “So what’s this I hear about you sneaking out without saying goodbye or having breakfast with me?” He tone was joking but I could tell he was semi-serious. And if Zacky knew about me leaving this morning that must mean Brian was pretty upset.

I leaned back against the wall looking up at the ceiling, feeling my heart race in my chest with a wave of guilt. “I’m sorry, Zee…” was all I could manage, feeling the tears forming in my eyes.

“Well now you owe me, gnome girl,” he teased. “If you keep running away like that I’m going to start thinking it’s personal.”

“It’s not, Zee…I swear, it’s just….” I sighed again, not wanting to talk about Brian right now. “How long are you in town for?”

“We’re here for four more days. We’ve got a show tomorrow night and then again on Tuesday. Then we head toward Italy for the last three weeks before we head home,” He explained and I nodded my head. Home? That word sounded so foreign to me but I missed it. I missed the beach, the waves, the sun, and hell even Johnny’s. That was where I grew up and where Maya and I planned to open our business. Would things be different now? “But hey, what are you doing right now?”

“Nothing much,” I said, peaking my head out the door to see James flipping through the channels on the TV. “Why?”

“How would you feel about getting coffee with a certain left-handed guitarist?” he said and I could just picture him wiggling his eyebrows.

“I don’t know, Zee…” I said, feeling guilty again even though I missed him terribly.

“Come on, Ave. This could be the only time that I have to see you before I leave again. Just come have coffee with me,” and I hated when he begged. “I wont tell anyone. It’ll be just you and me like old times, okay?” I smiled lightly, remembering when I would get up early on tour to have coffee dates with Zacky before anyone else got up. I missed that and I missed him. Damn it, I had to see him. Maybe he could help me sort through this mess…

“Fine, meet me at the bakery on Park St. in twenty minutes,” I sighed jokingly, hearing him laugh on the other end. It had been so long since I’d heard that sound. “And please come alone.”

“I’ll try my best, love. You know how Jimmy gets when anything is out of order,” and wasn’t that the truth? Damn I wish I could have seen him and Jess last night too. “See you soon.” Zack said just before I heard Jimmy screaming in the background and the line went dead.

I slowly made my way out to the living room and I grabbed my purse. “Hey, were are you going?” James asked, sitting up on the couch with a frown. Oh, shit I forgot he was here.

“I-I forgot I had a coffee date with someone from school,” I lied again, pushing my hair behind my ears. And why was I lying again? Why couldn’t I just tell him the truth? It was just Zacky and he knew that Maya and I toured with them for months and that we were friends. She shouldn’t be upset about that, right? “She was just calling to tell me that she was running late.”

“A coffee date?” James stood up and made his way across the room.

“Yeah, she is going back home tomorrow and wanted to see me before she left. You know as a goodbye thing…” Well, I guess that was true because Zacky was leaving in a few days. “But I’ve got to go or else I’m really going to be late.”

“Let me drive you,” James insisted, grabbing his car keys off the table.

I shook my head, not wanting to ruin his day. “No, really its not any problem for me to walk. Besides, you can stay here and watch TV if you want and I’ll be back in about an hour or so. Then we can do whatever you’d like,” I promised but he just shook his head.

“It’s really not a big deal, Ave. I’ll drop you off, go home and shower, and then pick you up and we’ll do something fun, just the two of us. How does that sound?” Why did he always have to be so wonderful? “Now let’s go before you’re really late,” he teased, leading me out the door by my hips.

A few minutes later James pulled up out front of the bakery, his eyes scanning the area. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” He asked and I just shook my head. Was he afraid I was going to run into Brian again?

“No, I’ll be fine, but I’ll see you in a little while, okay?” I said as opened the door. Only before I could climb out, James grabbed my wrist and pulled me back in, kissing me in a gentle but deep manner.

“I’ll see you soon,” he said, pulling away and leaving my head fuzzy.

“See you soon…” I breathed. As if I wasn’t confused enough all ready, that kiss and James’ kindness was making it much harder. What the hell was I going to do? I hoped talking to Zacky about all this would help me figure it out.

Ben’s POV

I woke up the to sun burning through my eyelids, creating what looked like fire in my eyelids. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the throbbing headache that erupted when I opened my eyes was enough to kill me. “Fuck…” I hissed, grabbing the pillow and putting it over my head. This fucking sucked. What time was it anyway?

I knew I drank a substantial amount of alcohol last night, but that did even blur the memory of fucking Shadows trying to steel my girl. Just that thought alone made my heart start to race and my anger rise. Where did that guy get off thinking that he still had rights to her? She fucking broke up with him and what free to do what she please, which of course was me, but that’s beside the point.

I couldn’t let Shadows weasel his way back into her life because deep down I was afraid that she cared more for that bastard. No, I wouldn’t let her leave me and I would show her exactly who the right man for her was – me. I would prove it to her…but how?

“Mmm…you awake, love?” I murmured, reaching my hand out only to feel the cold empty sheets next to me. “Maya?” I jolted up, looking around the room bewildered, which was a mistake because my head instantly exploded. But I didn’t have to worry about that right now.

Where the hell did Maya? She didn’t leave did she and if so where would she go? No, no fucking way would she go back to Sanders. Over my dead fucking body. “Maya?!” I yelled as I climbed out of bed, searching the bathroom and the closet to find them both empty. “Fuck!”

Maybe she was downstairs? Yeah, that had to be it. I quickly raced down the stairs and let out a loud sigh of relief when I saw her picking up the shit that was thrown all around my living room. Normally I would have been pissed at the mess but right now I was just happy to know Maya was still with me. “I woke up to an empty bed, not funny, love,” I said leaning on the banister as she moved around.

Maya looked up at me with a small smile but something was missing. She looked so sad and confused and I hated to see her like that. No, I had to distract her from thinking about last night. About the fight, the party, Matt…fuck I hated that guy.

“Sorry, I couldn’t sleep,” she said softly as I moved to pull her into my arms, but she dodged me. What the hell was that about? “So I made myself useful.”

“You’re always useful,” I assured her, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her into me. Maya reluctantly hugged me back but didn’t melt into me like she normally did. She was distant. Fuck, this was exactly what I wanted to avoid. I had to do something. “So, I was thinking…” I mused pushing her hair over her shoulder and putting a small trail of kisses on her neck. Slowly she closed her eyes and leaned into me a little bit more.

“That’s never a good sign,” Maya teased and I knew she had been hanging out with my asshole friends for too long. “I’m kidding,” she chuckled half heartedly when I looked at her, meeting her distant eyes. This wasn’t at all the girl that was taking my heart and I didn’t like that. “What where you thinking?”

“I was thinking,” I smiled leaning down and quickly pecking her lips. “That I’m going to make today all about you. We are going to get dressed, after I call a maid to pick up this mess, and we are going to have fun,” I assured her, but she just frowned and shook her head.

“You don’t have to do that, Ben.” Maya slowly pulled away and watched her continue to pick things up, a little dumbfounded.

“The hire a maid or take you out part?” I wasn’t going to let her get away from. I moved up behind her and pulled her ass into my need showing her exactly what she was doing to me by only wearing one of my t-shirts. “Or I could keep you in…”

I felt Maya shiver beneath my touch before she relaxed into me. That’s a girl, let me take control and do the thinking for a while. It would make both of use happier, I could guarantee it. I slowly moved my lips up and down her neck as my hands moved to play with her harden nipples though the cotton t-shirt. Damn this woman was sexy and had some kind of power over me. I just couldn’t get enough of her….

“So how about I make you scream my name….” I breathed, biting her tender flesh of her shoulder and making her moan. “And then we get in the shower….and I’ll clean you all up…and then I’ll take you out for dinner and cap the evening with some more fun?” And before she could answer or pull away, I spun her around and crashed my lips into hers, not caring that my lip still hurt. Showing her exactly what she meant to me in one kiss.

Maya moaned, giving me access and I took the opportunity to deepen the kiss. My hands instantly tangled in her hair, pulling her into me. Our tongues danced in a battle for dominance until she suddenly pushed me away. “Ben…wait…”

But I didn’t want to hear it or have her stop so I pulled her back into me, taking her lips captive again. This time she didn’t stop me and I had my talented fingers to thank for the help in that one. I got her all wet and I was going to make sure I was the only one on her mind for a while.

“Okay, you wait here and I will go park the car,” I said to Maya later that evening. I was taking her to the nicest restaurant in town and I didn’t want her have to walk in her heels from the parking garage to the restaurant. Mainly because I didn’t think we’d make it if I didn’t calm down a little. She had me all worked up with that little black dress on that was barely covering her. Damn she looked hot. “Don’t move, I’ll be right back.”

Matt’s POV

“What the fuck am I going to do?” I raged, storming around my hotel room, throwing anything in path. My room looked like a war zone and I was about ready to kill someone. I was all worked up about last night, especially since I couldn’t sleep. All I could think about was Maya with that guy and it was tearing me apart. How could she choose him over me? There was no way that they had what Maya and I did. It wasn’t fucking possible and I had to make her see it…if I knew where the hell she was.

“Shads!” Someone called, banging on my door for the fourth fucking time today. Didn’t they know that I wanted to be left alone? I had been held up in here for a reason, and mainly because I didn’t want to rip one of my friend’s heads off with my sour mood. “Open up! It’s time to go to sound check and rehearsal!”

“Shit…” I raged, slamming my fist down on the vanity in the bathroom. “I’ll be down in a minute.” I called back.

“We leave in ten so make it snappy.” Make it snappy? Really MB? You know what never fucking mind.

I took in a deep breath as I let my eyes meet my reflection, knowing I had to calm down. Being pissed off wasn’t going to help anyone, and the nice shiner on my face was a good reminder. Maya wasn’t going to come back to me because I beat the shit out of Ben, no I had to reminder her of what we had together. And if she hadn’t pulled away from our kiss, she would have seen that, if she hadn’t already. There was no denying the sparks that were flying between us, the electric current making both of us feel alive. No, there wasn’t any fucking way she didn’t feel that. That kiss proved that she still fucking loved me. Now all I had to do was talk to her.

“Dude where the hell have you been?!” Jimmy asked, pulling me into a hug as soon as he saw me when I entered the lobby. Everyone was standing around waiting except for Baker. Where had he run off to? “I’ve been looking fucking everywhere for you.” Except in my room obviously.

“I’ve been in my room,” I sighed, running my hands over my face. And then it hit me, Jimmy was close with Maya. He had to have her number! “Jimmy do you—“

“Hold still, I need a picture!” Jimmy yelled, interrupting me. And before could stop him the flash from his cellphone blinded me.

“What the fuck are you doing? What do you need a picture for?” I raged, trying to regain my vision. I swear if he was making online dating profiles for us again I was going to kill him.

“I just needed some evidence,” Jimmy looked around, his eyes wide as he scanned the area. Almost like he was trying to make sure that no one was watching us.

“Evidence for what?” I took a step closer to him as he typed out something in his phone. What the actual fuck was he doing? He just shook his head and put his phone in his back pocket. Okay, I was calling bullshit on that one.

“Nothing,” he said, putting his arm around me and moving toward the door. As soon as we started toward the door, I dove towards Jimmy’s back pocket, grabbing his phone. “Ass rape!” he screamed, jumping on top of me as I opened the phone, spinning around in circles to get him off of me. “No! Give it back! That’s not meant for mortal eyes!” he yelled and that’s when I saw the message from Maya.

With one swift motion I dumped Jimmy on the floor, and held the phone out of his reach, reading it over and over. So she did fucking care! She wanted to know if I was all right! I couldn’t help as a smile spread over my face, that is until I saw the picture of my shiner that Jimmy had sent her. “What has she been saying?” I insisted, pulling Jimbo to his feet.

“What?” Oh, this was so not the time to play clueless!

“What has Maya been saying to you? Is she coming to the concert tomorrow?” I asked and Jimmy only shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets.

“What you see is what I have, Shads…” he said sadly. He was missing her too and it was stupid of me not to think of that. “But…I think she misses you. She wouldn’t have even considered coming to our concert if she didn’t.”

“So you think she still loves me?” It had been ages since I talked about this when anyone besides Brian. So I was surprised when Jimmy nodded.

“You just have to remind her…get her alone and tell her what happened, you know?” He said. “And don’t push too hard. You know how she is, she’ll need time to process all of this before she’ll come around. But she will, I could see it in her eyes.” And with that, Jimmy climbed into the van and pulled Jess into his lap. He was right, I ha to get her to see and then let her come to her own decision.

To my surprise, sound check and rehearsal flew by without so much as a hitch. In my opinion we were well prepared for this free concert with songs that we hadn’t played recently. Now all we had to do was wait, which was the part that I hated.

“So I just sent the order to the restaurant and it should be ready in twenty minutes,” Matt Berry said as we picked up our equipment that we couldn’t leave out over night. “I’ve got to finish the pick up and shit, so would anyone else go pick up your food.”

“I’ll do it,” I shrugged, DJ volunteering at the same time.

“Then hurry the fuck up because we’re all starving!” Johnny said and I held up my middle finger at him.

“You’ll get what you get, short shit,” I yelled back as I headed for the taxi that just pulled up. Twenty minutes later, DJ and I were walking down the street towards the restaurant.

“You all right, Matt?” DJ asked, breaking the silence between us.

“Yeah, I just tired,” I lied, looking around the street. “It’s been a long day and I’m still hung over.” Okay, so that was a lie I really didn’t want to talk to her about Maya.

“Well, do you want to get a drink while we wait? That always helps my hangover,” DJ said just as my eyes caught sight of the one person who had been on my mind all day – Maya. No fucking way! I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.

“Yeah, sure,” I said, not really hearing anything that DJ said. “You go grab the food and I’ll be there in a minute. I just remembered that I need to call Larry about something,” I said, and pulled out my phone. And thankful DJ bought it and went inside the restaurant. As soon as she was gone I sprinted back down the block to Maya, startling her.

“Matt? What are you doing here?” Matt gapped up at me, her eyes going directly to my black eye. Without thinking twice about it, she took a step toward me, reaching up to touch it. “Oh shit, are you okay?” The instant her skin touched mine, I felt a small spark between us, and she must have too because she quickly pulled away.

“I’m fine and I’m just picking up takeout for the guys,” I explained, taking her hand in mine before she could put it down. “And look, I’m sorry about last night…I was a dick…” I sighed, meeting her eyes for the first time in months but I couldn’t read her expression. “I ruined your party and I’m sorry about that…I was being stupid, but I couldn’t fucking stand seeing you with someone else.”

“Matt—“ Maya started, carefully pulling her hand away from me but I wasn’t going to let her interrupt me. I wasn’t done and I didn’t know how much time I had with her. I wouldn’t be surprised if douchebag was lurking around somewhere and she was waiting for him. I had to tell her what was on my mind.

“No, I’m not giving up on you because I don’t believe that you don’t love me anymore, Maya. That fucking kiss last night proved it and you and I both know it. You know I’m right!” I said quickly, taking a step toward her. She looked nervous as she bit down on her bottom lip, which told me that I was right with my assumptions. “And I know we still have a lot of things to talk about but you have to let me explain. There is still something here between us and if you’d just let me explain everything you’ll see that it’s not what you think!”

“Matt I-I cant do this…I-I—“ Maya stammered, shaking her head and looking utterly confused.

“I just want to talk, Maya,” I pleaded, my eyes and tone begging. “Just me and you…no one else around.”

Maya bit down on her lip and nervously looked around the corner. So she was waiting for someone wasn’t she? “I don’t know, Matt…”

“You fucking owe me at least a talk, Maya. Specially after you broke up with me out of the blue and never fucking answered any of my message to explain. And don’t you dare tell me it’s because you don’t love me because that’s a bold-faced lie and you fucking know it!” I shot out, my eyes baring down into hers. And she wasn’t looking away. I soften a little at that and carefully took her face into her hands, so she could completely understand what I was telling her.

“I love you Maya and you have always been the only girl for me, now and forever. So please…just a talk…you and me,” I gave her a small smile. “Just let me explain…”

Maya let out a long sigh and ran her hands over her face. “Fine…but just talking,” she spat out reluctantly. This time I couldn’t stop the huge smile from spreading over my face. My heart began to race in my chest and I was the happiest man alive. I had a chance!

Notes

So Avery is super guilty and torn between James and Brian, though she knows where her heart lies. And she is lying to James...to meet Zacky? What's going to happen there?

Ben is feeling the effect that one meeting with Matt is having on Maya. Will he do something about it?

And Matt knows that Maya worried about him...hmm what will his next move be?

Comments please!