Walls

The first band absolutely sucked. As in, I was surprised my ears weren't bleeding. The second band was a definite improvement. The vocalist signaled for the crowd to start a circle pit, and they happily obliged. For me, this was the worst part of shows. I'm not a fan of being smashed between sweaty scene boys.

So of course, I got pushed right in. Some fat jerk punched me. I should have known to stay in the back at a metal show. The same idiot accidentally stood on my foot also. As I struggled to push him off of me, I fell over and practically got trampled. The last thing I remember seeing is some guy tripping and falling on me.

When I came to, I was right outside the venue. Sitting next to me was the last person I wanted to see. He looked almost the same, but this time the headband was white, and his shirt was on.

"Get away from me!" I yelled as I tried to push Isaac away. I immediately cringed from the pain that coursed through my body when I moved.

"You could at least say thank you..." Something about the sympathy in Isaac's eyes made it hard for me to stay pissed off.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Thank you."

He looked satisfied. "Now that's more like it."

"Where's Maddie?" I asked, wanting to go home immediately.

"She left. I told her to go ahead, since I can drive you home."

"I don't want you to drive me home." I didn't even want to be anywhere near Isaac. Because strangely, for some odd reason, I found myself beginning to like him. And I hated it. "I'll walk."

Isaac giggled. "We both know that you aren't capable of walking anywhere."

"Whatever." I stood up and started hobbling away. After just a few steps, it hurt too much, and I realized that I had no clue how to get home from here. I gave up. "Where's your car?"

Without saying a word, Isaac picked me up and carried me bridal style.

"Excuse me?!" I asked, shocked.

He snickered, and just continued carrying me until he set me down in his dinged up PT Cruiser. "Where do you live?"

"Skyview Apartments. You know where that is?" I asked.

"Of course I do." Isaac replied confidently.

We arrived safely, despite how fast Isaac drove. As he stopped the car, I considered inviting him in for a bite to eat. It was an absolutely crazy idea for me. After a few seconds of wrestling with my mind, I figured it was the nice thing to do. And of course, Isaac was more than willing to come in.

"Sorry for the smell... And the mess and stuff." I apologized as Isaac carried me up the stairs.
Isaac coughed as he opened the door and set me on my couch. "Are you a chain smoker or something?"

I laughed. "Absolutely. How else do you think I keep up my slim figure?"

I wasn't sure if Isaac had gotten the joke. "Just kidding. I'm guessing the previous owner was a chain smoker, though."

"I figured. There's no way you could have such a pretty face if you smoked that much." His compliment caught me off guard. I could feel my emotional walls slowly cracking. As scary as it was, the idea of being set free was refreshing and almost exciting. But my fear kept the walls from crashing down altogether.

"What's with the dead flowers? You get them from a boyfriend or something?" Isaac asked teasingly.

"No... Those are from Maddie."

"You sure there's no boyfriend?"

"There's no boyfriend." I couldn't hold back my tears as memories came rushing in. I didn't want to have a breakdown in front of Isaac. I didn't want him to ask any questions. I dried my eyes. “I think you should go now."

"But what happened to eating?" Isaac's smile faded when he saw the new river of tears running down my face. He joined me on the couch and put an arm around me. "What's going on?"

"Just go away!" I screamed. "Leave me alone." My crying choked out any other words I tried to say.

"I can't leave you like this." And he didn't. As much as I wanted Isaac to leave, I was too tired to get him to go away. Plus, it was nice to not be totally alone for once.

When I woke up in the morning, I felt better. Until I realized that Isaac was still at my apartment.

"Are you ever going to leave?" I asked in frustration.

"I'll think about it." He replied as he buttered a piece of toast.

"I see you made yourself at home." I sighed. "I'm going to go take a shower. When I get out, I expect you to be gone. Deal?"

"Mmmfdfm." Isaac mumbled with his mouth full.

When I emerged from my bathroom after a long shower, Isaac was in my living room. I realized that it would be impossible to get him out, so I decided to make the best of the situation.

"Want to watch a movie or something?" I suggested.

I showed Isaac my movie collection and he selected The Strangers. Every time somebody in a mask appeared, I couldn't help but cuddle up to Isaac in fear. By the smile on his face, I could tell he enjoyed it. And I was also beginning to enjoy being around Isaac. I appreciated all that he'd done for me the previous night. Against my better judgment, I found myself falling for him fast.

"You know," I started to say. "You're not a bad guy."

Before I could say another word, Isaac's lips met mine. As I started feeling butterflies for the first time in almost a year, I knew that my walls had come crashing down.