It's Only a Lie If It Gets Bought

"Okay, that's it, where is she?"

"Not here, clearly," Cam retorted.

"Would you knock it off and just tell me where she is."

"I don't fucking know, okay?! I don't know what you did to her Wentz, but she won't fucking get out of her mood. She's being an annoying, mentally challenged cuntwad because you said something she really didn't want to hear!"

"Oh, so now you're gonna give me lip, too?"

"YES. YOU FUCKING BET I'M GONNA GIVE YOU LIP YOU SON OF A BITCH! SHE GOES ON AND ON ABOUT HOW SHE'S HAPPY YOU'RE PISSED AT HER BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH YOU NOW! GO ON, GIVE HER WHAT SHE WANTS! IGNORE HER! THAT'S ALL YOU'VE EVER DONE TO HER! SHE'S ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING PEOPLE YOU WILL EVER MEET AND YOU KNOW THAT, BUT YOUR EGO EATS AWAY AT YOU EVERYDAY OF YOUR LIFE, AND YOU MAKE HER SUFFER FOR YOUR INABILITY TO CONTROL YOURSELF! SO YA KNOW WHAT, PETER, FUCK YOU. FUCK YOU TO HELL AND BACK AGAIN."

Joe stood there, in between the two of us. He went up to Cam and asked her if she was okay. She murmured something inaudible and locked herself in the bunk room.

"UGH."

"Pete, you gotta calm down."

"Calm down? My best friend in the whole world hates me, and now, so does my sister."

"Just so you know, nobody blames her."

"Ha. Cam or Parker-Lynn?"

"Parker-Lynn? Since when do you call her Parker-Lynn?"

I said nothing. He had a point. She'd always been Parker to me.

"You'd love nothing better than for her to come crawling back to you wanting to patch everything up. I think this time, that's gonna be your chore. She's done trying to get back into your life."

"That hurts more when it's not veiled with insults and yelling."

"Yeah well, the truth will always cut deepest."

"I can't handle this, Joe. I really can't. She means the world to me, man."

He sat beside me quietly. "You ready to finally tell her that?"

I sighed. "I was. Up until I yelled at her and made her hate me even more than she already did."

"She only hates you because you're not the same. Anyone can see it. You're so stressed out that you really have changed."

"Well I want to un-change myself."

"You can't even form coherent sentences."

"Fuck off."

He smirked and patted my back.

Voices prattled on in the background, getting closer and closer with each passing second.

We looked at each other and shrugged. Joe got up and went outside. I heard more chatter and he came back in. Parker-Lynn followed in tow. She looked at me.

"Parker-Lynn."

She didn't say anything.

"I'll leave you two for a bit. Trust me, Parker," he said to her.

She sighed and said nothing. We watched him leave the bus, leaving us alone in the living room.

"Before you interrupt or say anything or storm out, just listen to me for one minute."

She rolled up her sleeve and looked at her watch, then pointed to me.

I hated it when she took things so literally.

"Parker, I'm sorry. I'm being an ass and I know it. It's just, I'm stressed out. I can't handle all this. A new album, Warped, another tour next year. It's a huge burden, and I take everything out on the people around me and I HATE myself for that, but you know that's not me. The real me. You know I'm better than that. And the truth is you really do mean a lot to me. I'm not trying to upset you, but I want you to know that you'll always have a place in my heart. I really didn't think of it much until today. I guess I just kinda stopped thinking about it all for a while. And then today –"

She stopped me, her hand going up. I stopped talking. She took three slow steps toward me and stared me square in the eyes, her glare dull and menacing.

"Don't pretend you ever forgot about me."