Book Half Unread

Somehow, I managed to get lucky over the next few days. I had no crazy run-ins with my past, not even a close encounter. Though I hated to admit it, a part of me did want to see them; the other part of me did not care. I was having such a great time hanging out with the Forever the Sickest Kids boys, playing soccer and running around; just being weird. London was doing amazingly; I had seen some of his photography, but let me just say, they had never been as good as the ones he has been taking for tour. I suppose it is because he is being paid instead of just hosting a small public galley viewing at my job. Colin and I had been getting closer and closer. A year of dating and living together either pushes you closer or makes you drift apart and we are definitely getting closer. If the feeling I get whenever I saw him was love, I was falling into it and deeply.

I spent most of my time gazing out windows and being a total tourist. We were on our way to Atlanta and I was excited. It is Little New York after all, or was it New York of the South? Either way I was excited. It was eight or 9 a.m. on July 27 when we finally pulled up to the Lakewood Amphitheater. We parked behind The Maine’s bus in the dirty gravel parking area designated for bands to locate. The bands did not play until tomorrow so everyone had a day off; how exciting! Colin had managed to score us tickets to the Jason Mraz concert tonight as well; it was going to be our first date we have had in a while.

Stretching as I got out of the Big Moose, I grabbed some clothes out of my suitcase and a few other things before locking the boys out. I changed and, while makeup less, went to go find Jac so I could go be sanitary before I put makeup on. She was out but one of her friends let me in to clean myself up, for which I was thankful. Quickly I went off and found Colin who piggybacked me around.

“Aimee, Colin is that you?” Colin stopped and turned around to see Mark and Kent waving at us like stupid crazy.

“What’s up?” I called out, careful not to fall.

“Hey we’re going to go to Lenox Mall. Coming with us?” Kent asked, panting from the run.

“I’m always up for a mall trip. Colin?”

He looked up at me and grinned. “Yeah; it’s where you want to go.”

“Sweet! Come on we’re leaving soon.” Mark waved us to follow him.

We crawled into the van and went around the city. We went to Lenox Mall and I did some shopping at Urban Outfitters, Wet Seal, and the French Connection. As I looked around, I noted that it seemed to be an upscale mall. The Atlantians that were here in the mall looked as though they ran this place. After a while, Kyle became hungry so we grabbed some lunch at a Chic-fil-a where I had an amazing chicken sandwich.

As we walked around the mall for a little longer Colin suddenly put his hands over my eyes. “Trust me, Aimee?” he asked gently, laughing as my lashes fluttered against the palms of his hands.

“You’re crazy, Colin,” I simply stated, trying to move his limbs away from me.

“No, I’m being serious. Do you trust me?” he asked, kissing my cheek.

Smiling, I nodded. “Yes.”

“Good, now keep your eyes shut and save your questions for later. I’m taking you some where.” Without another word, he took my hand and led me around. I knew that we had gone straight for a while then took an escalator up and then took a left. “Okay wait right here,” he said quickly before rushing off. I stood there lamely with my eyes shut, waiting for him to just return already. I felt one of my hands being held. “Open your eyes.”

My eyes fluttered open and I saw Colin kneeling there in front of me. “You are such a loser, what is this place?” I finally looked around and noticed extremely nice jewelry around the deep and narrow department store. My eyes caught sight of a fancily quilled sign that read Lundstrom Jewelers. It was clean here.

“Aimee, baby; I know we’ve talked about how you’ve always wanted a big fancy speech if it ever happened in your life, but I can’t do that. My words won’t be poetic and beautiful, and I might not have a ring for you now, but I know I can be everything you need. I will give you everything, no matter what it takes. Will you marry me Miss McIntyre?” he asked, his blue eyes searching in mine for an answer. His thumb comfortingly rubbed over the top of my hand as he kneeled patiently.

I never thought of being engaged at twenty, especially to Colin. I always believed that if a guy didn’t propose to you within a year, he wouldn’t be the one. I always believed that if you knew, then you knew, and that it would not have to take two years. I had given up on thinking Colin was the one to marry a long time ago because of that. Maybe I was wrong though. Maybe people moved at their own personal pace.

I stopped thinking about it and said the first thing that came to my mind. “Yes, I’ll marry you.” I was pulled into a hug and there was an “aw” here and there from the two female browsers and the manager in the store.

“You darlings come here and find a ring! A proposal with out a ring is just not right,” the manager said, walking over to us. He ushered us over to a case filled with clean cut rings with small jewels on them. “Pick any one out and I’ll give you a deal.” He smiled at the two of us and waited patiently.

“I’m supposed to spend three months salary on a ring, right?” Colin asked, looking from the case of rings to the manager and me.

Before the manager could speak, I butted in. “Colin, it doesn’t matter if I have a ring or not. A ring is just a flashy way of throwing it in people’s faces. If people should know, we’ll tell them,” I said. A faint blush on my face appeared from the slightly irritated stare of the manager; I did just make him lose a sale after all. Taking Colin’s hand, I led him out of the store and we met up with FTSK in front of Teavanna where Colin bought me some Apple Lemon Pomegranate tea.

Colin, of course, was excited and asked if he could tell the guys. I gave him permission and we were the talk of the group as we made our way from Buckhead into Midtown Atlanta. All of us split up when we got out of the van and went our separate ways. Colin went off with Kent, K-Dirty, Austin and Mark to the Hard Rock Café, while Kyle, Caleb and Jonathan took me right across the street to eat at the Hooters off Peachtree Street.

“Guys, I can’t believe our little Aimee’s been proposed to. You’re lucky we like the guy,” Jonathan said with a nod. We sat up on the second level at a big round table. Busty, curvy women walked around, being loud and obnoxious. They were getting on my nerves.

“These girls are giving me a headache,” I whined, leaning my head on Caleb’s shoulder. I felt him place his hand on my back and gently rub.

“Aw, poor Aimee; don’t worry the food will be good,” Jonathan replied, patting my shoulder gently. Well, it doesn’t matter who she’s proposed to. We all know I have her heart,” Caleb said cockily. His hand motions slowly made my headache disappear.

“Liar! Aimee loves me,” Kyle said, starting an issue. Laughing, I sat up straight and smiled at them. They were all crazy.

“Why does everything have to be a competition? I love you all.” I giggled and sipped my water. “Isn’t that enough?” They shrugged and changed the topic to which girl’s boobs were biggest and whose was smallest. Kyle decided that it didn’t matter which girl had the smallest chest because they were still bigger than mine.

“You’re so mean. I can’t believe you just said that,” I said, pouting. I crossed my arms to cover my chest. Sure, it was too loud for other tables to hear what he said, but it was still embarrassing. My face felt heated and I knew I was blushing.

Kyle merely laughed and threw his arm around my shoulder. “At least you’ll be perky for life,” he laughed. I shrugged his arm off from me and scooted my stool closer to Caleb’s side of the round table. We paid our bill when we were done and wandered up and down the street until the other half of the group came out and we headed back to Lakewood. I found out that London had already known about the proposal weeks ago. After talking with London for a while, he asked if Colin could help him out for a bit. Colin gave me a kiss before leaving off with him. Meanwhile, I walked around looking for the catering tent. I was starving and they were supposed to be making food for everyone.

“No fucking way. You!” a voice yelled from my left. I ignored it and kept walking on. “Hey stop! Aimee!” I froze mid-step and turned slowly to see two familiar boys standing mere yards away. Though their hair was different, they were the same. “Hey, Aimee!” the taller of the two yelled waving. The other stood there with a blank look on their face.

I did the first thing that came to mind: I ran, fast. My legs pumped and I felt my heart and lungs burning. It had been years since high school track and cross-country. I pushed myself further, feeling my muscles cramp up and tire quickly. I did not want to see them. I could not take it. I kept going until I tripped and fell face first, dirtying my white shorts and white tank top. I pushed myself up and sat on my butt. My hands and knees were sore and scratched up, bleeding slowly. Out of nowhere, I cried. I was scared and pathetic; I could not answer why.

“Holy, oh shit are you okay?” I looked up, through teary and blurred eyes, and saw someone with curly blonde hair kneeling before me. I simply shook my head no and I felt myself be pulled up. His arm wrapped around me as he led me through the maze of buses. We stopped in front of a maroon 15-passenger van like the one the boys and I drove. He opened the door and patted one of the seats for me to sit on while he crawled into the back. “Here,” he said, handing me a tissue. I wiped my eyes and cried into the tissue. “I’m going to clean your scratches up, with some peroxide. It’s going to sting.” My tears soon resided and I silently watched as he dabbed at my knees. Every so often, I would flinch. He placed a band-aid on top of each of them. He then worked on my elbows and palms.

“Thank you,” I said gently, watching as he cleaned my hand carefully. He looked up and smiled at me.

“No problem. I’m Wes,” he said. I really did not like them, however his southern accent, in particular, was quite adorable. He placed an extra large band-aid on one hand and then started cleaning up the other.

“Nice to meet you; I’m Aimee. You’re one of the local bands?” It came out as a question.

He nodded with a big grin on his face. “Yep, I’m a drummer. I play for Seven Story Fall. We just came up today to check in that we’re still on for tomorrow and everything. There you go,” he said, placing the last band-aid on my hand. “So what about you; are you merch girl or dating someone in one of the bands?”

“Me? Oh, no I’m just a plain Jane. My friend’s taking photographs for Warped and I just ended up coming along.”

“Oh that’s cool. So, do you mind if I asked why you’re all scratched up and dirty?”

“Oh, I was running and I just fell so I cried. I’m a big baby when it comes to pain,” I said, giving him a white lie. Honestly, I did not know what to say to him. He seemed to believe it anyway. We talked for a little longer and he walked me back to my van before leaving, saying he had to get back to his home to help his mom out and for band practice.

I went to the van and found a short strapless dress with a yellow rose pattern with black and white, and a black sweater with a low V-neck shape that went down to the navel. I changed my shoes to white KEDs and went to go find the bathroom. I found one near one of the stages, I did not know which, and washed my arms and the dirt off my knees and face. I was a mess. I did not mess up my makeup, thankfully, so I left, feeling slightly more confident in my walk now that I was out of dirty clothes, despite the decorative Power Rangers band-aids all over me. I left the buses and walked near some of the tents that were set up for tomorrow.

A smile appeared on my face as I saw a familiar slouching figure standing four or so tents away from me. “London,” I called out, half-heartedly running over to him. He looked up and smiled at me, giving a small wave. “Hey how’ve you been today?” I gave him a little hug.

He patted my back and shrugged me off a little. “Good. Heard you went to the mall. I haven’t been in one of those in a while,” he said, giving me the hint.

“Oh sorry Lon. Marc just came up and asked out of the blue,” I explained, giving him a small frown. “We didn’t mean to leave you out.”

He laughed a little and shrugged. “So you look cute today; who dressed you?” he asked, lifting his camera up and pointing it at me.

I gasped and placed my hand over the lens quickly as he took the photograph. “Asshole. I dressed myself, thank you very much!”

Grinning, he took another photo when I let my hand down. “Can I use some new lenses on you? I got them earlier today when you were shopping and getting engaged.”

I felt my face heat up. “Colin told you already?” I looked at the ground, feeling shy as I tugged at the long sleeves of my sweater. A click sounded and I looked up quickly to see London take another photo of me. “London! I wasn’t even paying attention!”

“I know and I just took two really good photos. Look,” he said, going to the first photo he took. It was from a tilted angle; I looked extremely childlike and shy in it. He then hit a button and the next came up. My eyes were wide with surprise and my lips were gently puckered in an ‘O’ shape. “I think I’m going to do some editing and give them a color splash.”

“Oh, like your strawberry photo?” I asked, recalling the picture. It was called Lust. Everything was black and white except for the three strawberries and the red liquid puddle they sat in which were red.

He simply nodded his head. “Yeah; I think I’ll leave the yellow in.” I smiled at this. He suddenly pulled out his cell phone. “Hey, Colin was talking to one of the bands and they asked if I’d do a shoot for them. Colin’s talking to them right now. Want to come with?” he asked putting it in his back pocket. He rarely ever invited me to go along with him when he had work; it was usually Colin, or he was alone.

“Sure; we can hang out. We haven’t done that in a while,” I said, walking with him past tents.

“Aims, we live together and we’ve been stuck in a van together for the past few weeks. I believe we’ve been hanging out quite a bit,” he stated blandly.

Laughing, I nudged him, receiving a nudge back in return. “Living together is living together. Hanging out is something totally and completely different,” I stated. He shrugged and started another conversational topic: his love life. He simply told me that it was none of my business; however, he did say that I would not have to deal with Valerie using my bathroom ever again and I could count on it.

“They’re in this tent,” he said, as we rounded a tent and walked in. I felt my eyes bulge and my stomach flop, shriveling and deflating. My boyfriend, fiancé, was talking to two of my ex-boyfriends and their band mates. Slowly, I moved around and stood behind London, attempting to hide behind his skinny, but broad shoulders.

“Hey, man. Guys, this is London,” I heard Colin say, introducing him. I had to find a way to escape, but when we turned into the tent, we had walked in too far. It I tried to leave Colin would spot me and call me out, but if I stayed, I would definitely. “She came!” Oh, fuck me. There were footsteps and a hand grabbed my wrist gently. “Baby, stop hiding. This is my fiancé, Aimee,” Colin said proudly, tugging me out from behind London. I looked up and a mixture of emotions hit me at once. “Baby, what’s with all the band-aids; are you okay- hurt?”

“We’ve met before,” Rian said. There was a faint smile on his face.

“Aims, aren’t you going to give us a hug?” Zack asked, giving me a grin. I weakly returned it.

Colin gently tugged on my arm and I looked up to him. “You know each other?” he asked, a confused expression on his face. I looked back to the boys before me. I was silent for the longest time, simply staring at either Zack or Rian. I avoided looking at the other two for as long as I could. I caught Jack’s expression. It was clearly of hurt; as though he was betrayed. I instantly felt a sense of guilt. My eyes then drifted over to the last person I wanted to see. All I saw in Alex’s face was pure anger. After seeing his expression, I could only whisper my reply.

“Yes.”