I Love Him, I Love Him Not.

I was able to push any thought about that one night out of my mind. Emily never brought it up again, either. Jason thought it was hilarious that I actually took the time to listen to Brendon’s band.

“Are they any good?” he asked one day at Wayne’s.

“Yeah. They are, actually. You’d like them. Their music is… different. It’s cool.”

He laughed. “Seriously? You’re gushing over your ex-boyfriend’s band?” He laughed some more. “Can you even do that?” I punched him on the arm.

“You said almost the exact same thing Emily did.” I rolled my eyes. “And, yes, you can.”

Jason shrugged. “Whatever, Dawning.”

I punched him again. “Do not call me by that name,” I semi-yelled.

“But it is your name! At least I’m not calling you Dawn Marie,” Jason pouted. “Besides, I happen to like it. But, you know, whatever. My opinion never matters.”

“Will you shut up? No, your opinion doesn’t matter,” I said just as a ring was heard. I looked to see who it was and widened my eyes. I quickly ducked behind the counter.

Jason looked at me. “Da-” I put a finger to my lips, telling him to be quiet. He smirked. “I’m going to go… eat a cake in my car,” he said rather loudly. “I’ll be right back.” He grinned and walked out of the store, laughing.

I mentally groaned and stood up, looking at who I was seeing. The lead guitarist of Panic. I knew it wasn’t a coincidence, him being here. Why is the world out to get me?

“Do you need help finding anything?” I asked, my voice monotone.

“No,” he said, “just wanting to see the amazing Beatles wall I’ve been told about.” I exhaled, relieved that Brendon probably didn’t say anything about me. Or if he did, and Ryan’s just going to be nice- “And of course see the devil girl who broke Brendon’s heart.” Fuck me.

I awkwardly cleared my throat. “You’re good at being subtle,” I mumbled under my breath.

“Aren’t I?” I could hear the smirk in his voice. He turned around and his smirk got bigger, almost forming a small smile. “Ryan,” he introduced.

I was about to say ‘I know’, but decided against that. I decided to go with a, “Hmm…” I noticed him bite his lip to keep from grinning. This guy is fixing to get it. “Dawn.”

“I know.” He smirked. “You don’t seem to be evil. The way Brendon described you, I thought you were the devil.”

“Is everyone else going to come here just to harass me?” I asked, annoyed.

“By everyone else, do you mean Jon and Spencer?” I nodded. “No, just me. I don’t necessarily call it ‘harassing’, I just wanted to see the girl Brendon has told us about.”

“Well, I’m her. In the flesh. You can leave now.” I smiled sarcastically.

“Wow. And how, exactly, do you guys get customers? I mean-”

I sighed. “You’re right. Where are my manners? You may leave now.”

Ryan grinned. “You have an attitude problem, you know?”

“And you’re really skinny. Now that we have obvious facts down, will you please leave?”

Ryan’s grin grew bigger, if possible. “When Brendon first joined the band, I heard you were nice. Someone got bitter over the years.”

I laughed, surprising Ryan. “That wasn’t a compliment,” he said, eyeing me carefully.

I smirked. “Didn’t have to be.”

He slowly walked up to the counter. “Are you always so sarcastic?”

I smiled. “No, not always. Usually I’m nice, but, if we’re going to be fair, you came in and decided to be sarcastic first.”

Ryan chuckled. “Touché. Well, how about this: Let’s start over and maybe I’ll get past the fact that you broke Bden’s heart.” My smiled faltered a little. Now I felt guilty for breaking Brendon’s heart. I might even kill Ryan if he keeps talking about it.

“Yeah,” I agreed, “let’s start over.” I smiled. “Dawn.” I pointed to myself.

Ryan smirked. “Ryan. I should go, though. I wouldn’t want Brendon to know about this.”

“About what? Coming in a local CD store?” I asked, although I knew what he meant about this.

He chuckled. “Actually, I was supposed to be getting Chinese. It usually doesn’t take me this long to get Chinese.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, I suppose I wouldn’t want to keep you from feeding everybody.” Ryan smiled.

“Nope.” He started to walk to the door. “Nice meeting you, Dawn.” He raised his eyebrows. “I expect to see you again.”

“Go get Chinese, Ryan.”

He laughed. “Nice meeting you, too, Ryan,” I called after him.