The Young and Lost Club
027
If I had to choose a word to describe the past 6 months, I would have to go with…frustrating, I guess. The Comeback Kids had been nonstop since I had returned from Nevada, glowing and giddy in love. When we were weren’t rehearsing, we were writing, if we weren’t writing, we were revising, if we weren’t revising, we were talking about recording, and if were weren’t talking about recording, then we were planning for when we were.
The only relief I got was going to work, which was not only extremely busy, but stressful, and I started skipping lunch so I could try and write more guitar parts for Max’s new songs. Max and I had decided that I should keep my job as long as I could bare it to save up money, just in case things fell through.
On top of this, we were also planning to move to Maryland. Dad, two months ago, had a brief relapse, ending up with him staying in the hospital for a week before being released. After a long talk with the guys, we decided that recording in Baltimore wasn’t the worst of ideas: Taylor and Brian still had family they didn’t get to see as much as they liked, and Brian wanted to be close to Dad just in case of another emergency.
Not everything was bleak though. There were several happy and amazing moments, like my birthday, that Taylor arranged, inviting all of my friends: Panic, All Time Low guys, Pete and Ashlee, even Steven Riley showed up. As a birthday gift, more to all of us, Cate and Pete announced that they had reached agreements to have Panic and us tour together for the summer, making Brain faint, and me to scream, and Brendon to actually kiss Pete on the lips for letting him tour with “his super awesome lady friend”.
Brendon and I though…it wasn’t bad, per se, it was just awkward. He was so busy recording, and I was so stressed about everything going on in my life, that we kept missing each other’s calls and texts. We were fighting more, from stress more than anything, but he was stubborn, not understanding my need to keep my job, and I was annoyed that he couldn’t find time to call me at a decent hour. The fights never lasted long, at the most two days and then we’d call and make up and everything was more than fine again. I wasn’t too worried about our relationship though. I was so confident in our love for each other it seemed silly to worry he was going to break up with me. And besides that, the low points with Brendon were better than any of the high points with any of my ex boyfriends, like Oliver.
Brendon was in town for only a Wednesday evening, before headed to Boston for some finalizing on their record, and he wanted me to meet up with him at some bar after I got off work, which I obviously agreed to, as I hadn’t seen him for 6 weeks or so. By that evening though, when I finally left though, the last thing I wanted was to be social and talk to people. I was beyond exhausted, having been cutting sleep to fit everything in, and recovering from the flu that I had gotten over the holidays. I was hoping I’d go in, find Brendon and convince him to go back to my apartment for alone time with just him.
The club was dark and crowded and I felt like I was going in circles. Pete had put me on the list, just in case I decided to come, and in the end, despite the 12 hour day I had just suffered through at work, I knew I couldn’t pass up an opportunity, no matter how brief to see Brendon and the rest of the guys. I quite accidently bumped into Gabe Saporta, whom I had met only once or twice before, who was hanging with a pretty girl with purple and blonde hair, but thankfully he remembered me and pointed me in the direction of Panic and their crew.
I finally spotted Brendon, talking to some blonde haired girl with pink tips and managed to push my way to his side, tapping him lightly on the shoulder. He turned and his face brightened as he saw me, “Clark!” he exclaimed, giving me a bone crushing hug and a kiss on the lips. “I was wondering when you’d show up.”
That slightly irritated me, the fact that he was hardly thankful I was here, but I decided to ignore it, knowing that he’d been drinking, and I was just tired. “Good to see you, Bren,” I said giving him another kiss and he smiled, kissing my nose and wrapping an arm around my waist. “This is Katie.” He said indicating the girl with pink and blonde hair. “Katie McDonald, she’s one of our production managers.”
I froze, the name sounding so familiar, and yet, it couldn’t be her, Brendon said he wouldn’t have anything to do with her. And yet, she looked just like how Brendon described her.
Katie grinned at me, and stuck out her hand. “Hi it’s nice to meet you.”
Still shell-shocked, I turned to Brendon, “Katie…as in your ex-girlfriend Katie?” I hissed quietly, so she couldn’t hear.
“Yeah,” Brendon said, almost defensively.
“You never mentioned she was on your production team.” I said, noticing my voice becoming distinctly colder and angrier.
We were suddenly interrupted by Ryan and Jon, both of whom gave me a giant hug. Jon was oblivious to the situation, but Ryan was glancing between Brendon, Katie and I with his large brown eyes looking wary. “It’s good to see you,” I told them truthfully. “Brendon, can I speak to you? Alone?” And without waiting for him to respond, I grabbed his arm and yanked him away until we were in a more private area, slightly blocked from the growing crowd.
“What’s wrong?” He said, keeping his face clear of emotion. It made me angry. Brendon was as readable as a book, and he knew it. So keeping his face blank meant he knew exactly what I was upset about, he was just playing dumb.
I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow. “Seriously, Bren? What do you think I’m pissed about?”
He sighed, rolling his eyes. “If it’s about Katie, you don’t have to worry…”
“Worry?” I said sharply. “No, I’m not worried, I’m pissed that you never even thought to tell me.”
He scoffed. “Oh right, because you’ve never kept anything from me.”
I glared at him, almost wanting to hit him. “How long are you going to keep that over me, Brendon? Huh? I feel horrible enough about not telling you about my family-“
“I’m not talking about that Clark,” Brendon snapped. “I’m talking about other things you’ve kept from me and neglected to tell me.” He sighed angrily, not looking at me. “I wasn’t going to bring this up but if you’re going to point fingers…”
I don’t know what you’re talking about!” I cried. “This is ridiculous, are you mad at me for something?”
“You don’t tell me anything!” He shot at me.
“I tell you everything!” I yelled back, almost on the verge of tears. “What are you talking about?!”
“You kissed Jon!” He spat furiously. “The last night you were at the cabin. Jon accidently let it slip today.”
I felt like I’d been slapped in the face. “What?” I said. And then I suddenly remembered that during our drunken game of Truth or Dare the last night I was there, Ryan had dared Jon to kiss someone and we pecked briefly on the lips. It was so insignificant that I had all but forgotten about it, let alone discussed it with Brendon. “Oh my god,” I said, angrily. “You’re seriously mad about that?”
“So you admit it?”
“Jesus Christ Brendon, it was a peck, it meant nothing…he’s like my brother! You can’t seriously be mad about it!”
“If it wasn’t a big deal then why didn’t you tell me about it?” Brendon said angrily.
I let out a frustrated groan. “You’re being impossible!” I shouted to him. “And this isn’t even the point, what is Katie doing here? And why are you all buddy buddy with her? She hurt you!”
“No, this is exactly the point! You keep shit from me, and the one time I forget to mention something to you, you act like this!”
“How can you forget to mention that your ex-girlfriend, the girl that you hate is working with you?!”
“How can you forget to mention you kissed one of my best friends?!”
“Because it was insignificant!” I shouted.
That was when Pete Wentz interrupted us, not aware of what he had interrupted. I tried to act normal, but I was fuming and upset, and he finally seemed to realize that Brendon and I were being awkward and quickly made up an excuse to leave, leaving Brendon and I to glare at one another.
Brendon broke first. “I don’t want to argue with you,” he said sighing. “It’s my one night here with you and I don’t want to spend it with us upset at each other.”
I was ready to let it go so easily. “I’m going to go.” I said stiffly.
He tilted his head at me. “Let me grab my stuff, I’ll come with you-“
“No.” I said. “You stay and have a good time. I’m just going to go home.”
He groaned. “Don’t be like this-“
“Be like what?” I demanded. “I’m not going to pretend I’m not upset about Katie being here and you thinking I would ever, ever do something with Jon. I love you, Brendon, I don’t know how you could ever think that.”
“You’re right.” He said. “Okay? I’m sorry. I should have told you about Katie.”
I shook my head. “Whatever, Brendon. I’ll see you later.”
He grabbed my arm. “Don’t leave like this, come on.”
I wrenched myself away. “I’m tired, okay? It’s been a really long day and I just want to go to bed and you should stay here and hang out with your friends. It’s fine.”
“I want to be with you,” he said stubbornly.
“You have to leave at 5 am, Brendon, it doesn’t make sense.”
“Great,” he said bitterly. “So you’re mad at me.”
“Why shouldn’t I be, Brendon? Just…” I sighed, running a hand through my messy hair. “I’m sorry about Jon, I’m sorry that you feel like I keep things from you, trust me, it’s not intentional, but the fact that you keep bringing it up makes me feel like it’s really bothering you and I just can’t deal with it tonight. And Katie…! I’m sorry, Bren, but that’s a big fucking deal!”
“We’re friends…”
“Since when?” I cried. “Last I heard, you hated her and never wanted to see her again!”
“It’s called forgiving someone,” he snapped. “Something you’re obviously incapable of.”
I was so frustrated with him, I actually pushed him. “Fuck you! Seriously, go fuck yourself, Brendon!”
He growled furiously, slapping a hand on the wall in anger. “What is your deal tonight, Clark? Seriously, why are you being such a mega bitch?”
I closed my eyes briefly, not wanting to argue with him anymore, just wanting to be out of here, and in bed. I took a deep breath. “I’m tired, Brendon, okay? I’m really, really tired. And I’m going home now, and I’ll call you tomorrow when we both cool off.”
He sighed. “Fine. Fine! Whatever, Clark.”
I hesitantly hugged him, because I couldn’t not touch him when I was around him, but also willing myself to stay strong and stick to my guns because in my gut, I felt wronged. “Have a good time, tonight. I love you.”
He was still angry. “I love you too,” he said stiffly. But I knew he meant it. I could feel that in my gut too.
♠ ♠ ♠
UGH YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HARD IT IS FOR ME TO MAKE THEM ARGUE.I am so aware that this is short and crappy, but seriously, I am beyond sick of this update because the next updates ARE SO DRAMA LAMA and I just want to give them to you.
Next update should be in a couple minutes so hang tight.... (think of it as a belated christmas gift)
Much Love,
Sophie
:D
PS The purple hair girl with Gabe is actually going to be a minor character in the sequel but I seriously love her so much. I was considering writing a Gabe fic about him and her, but I decided that the two of them seriously have no drama or anything, and it would actually be a very boring story. So she's just going to pop up from time to time. Okay, see how crazy I am?