I'm Lying Just to Keep You Here

Have you ever had a certain event that caused your stomach to tie into a thousand knots, send your head into a whirl of bad thoughts and you’re one short breath away from a panic attack? Well, I was having that moment right now. I am currently at the airport waiting for John to meet me. I never informed him that Alex was staying as well, so I was little weary to see his reaction. As for Alex, him and me have been getting a little too close. Nothing has gone past flirting and cuddling, but there has been a few times where we almost kissed. Needless to say, Alex is not happy about John’s arrival.

“Belles!”

My head shot up to see John with a huge smile on his face.

“John! Hey!” I stood up and quickly pulled him down into a hug.

“Have you been here for a long time?” John asked walking over to the carousel where his flight’s suitcases and what not would be coming out.

“Nope. Only a few minutes.” I shrugged. A few minutes later John found his bag and we headed off to my car.

“John I have something to tell you.” I mumbled slowly settling into the driver’s seat of my car.

“And what would that be? Can’t be good with the way you just mumbled.” He laughed
slightly, but I could tell he was nervous. I put the car in drive and headed out of the airport and onto the highway.

“Well, uh, it’s not bad I guess.” I tried to convince him, but I wasn’t even convincing myself.

“Just tell me.” John sighed.

“Well, about a week ago, Alex came to my apartment and he stayed with me…” I trailed off trying to figure out words that would make this seem not so bad.

“Okay, and what happened?” John looked over at me with interest.

“Well, um, he is still…” I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw flashing police lights. I pulled into the right lane and just my luck the cop followed me. I was getting pulled over.

“Oh fuck. You’ve got to be kidding me!” I half-shouted.

“What?” John asked confused.

“I’m getting pulled over.” I said angrily as I pulled over to the shoulder.

“How fast were you going?” John looked back to see the officer getting out of his car.

“I don’t know. I didn’t think I was speeding though.” I muttered. The officer knocked on my window and I rolled it down.

“Hello, ma’am, sir. Can I have your license and registration please?” The officer asked. I leaned over John to get into my glove compartment to pull out what the officer needed. I handed both over and waited for him to look everything over.

“Do you know why I pulled you over?” He asked not looking up from the information I had given him.

“No sir.” I sighed.

“You were going 65 in a 55.” He glanced up at me.

“Oh. I honestly didn’t even realize. I was keeping up with traffic.” I looked through my windshield and saw that everyone was going about 65. Just my luck that I’m the one to get pulled over.

“Just sit tight. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” The cop turned to walk back to his vehicle to write me up a ticket. Once he was inside his car I slammed my head down on the steering wheel.

“Ouch, Bella. Don’t do that.” John grabbed my head and softly turned my face so I was facing him.

“I’m just stressed out.” I said sadly. I looked at him and saw that same look he used to give me when we first started hanging out. That same look when we went to the wedding together. That look that showed he still cared about me.

“Don’t worry. This week I’ll make sure you’re less stressed. We’re going to have so much fun.” He smiled. I completely forgot all about Alex and smiled back.

“Um, excuse me, miss. Your ticket.” The officer came back and held out a piece of paper.
“Thanks.” I said sarcastically.

“Drive safely and slow down.” He turned and walked back to his car.

I pulled out from the shoulder and drove the rest of the way to my apartment. Neither one of us talked, instead we just softly sang along with the songs on the radio.

I pulled up to my apartment and popped the trunk so we could get all of John’s stuff out. My calm demeanor was now back to a panicked one because I still haven’t told John about Alex. I viscously bit on my lower lip while in the elevator with John. I wasn’t sure how he was going to react.

“This is it.” I pointed to the door that was now in front of us. It was only a short distance away from the elevator.

“Sweet.” He smiled and went to open it.

“Wait!” I shouted. “Before you go in, I still have to tell you what I was going to tell you in the car.” I said nervously.

“Well, what is it?” John asked.

“Um, well, Alex is st-”

“Hey! Finally! I’m starving!” Alex cut me off by swinging the door open.

“Alex?” John asked incredulously. The look on his face was of pure shock.

“Uh, yeah. Forget about me already? Tour hasn’t been over for that long.” Alex chuckled.

“No, I, uh, I’m just shocked to see you is all” John stuttered out. Both John and Alex looked over at me. I avoided their stares and walked past them into my apartment.

This was going to be a long week.