Between You and I

Beau turned around, laughing lightly to himself. He was probably figuring that I’ve had enough embarrassment and that he knew what he wanted to about us. We never really got into detail about what happened at Travis’ house, but he pretty much got the idea of what must’ve went down.
“Are we really that cute together?” I asked Eric a little while later.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because we’re both short.”
I smiled. “Or all the cuteness comes from you.”
He looked down at me. “I highly doubt that.”
“I don’t.” I said, giving him puppy eyes. “Everyone knows red heads are cuter, natural or fake.”
“Oh my god, seriously?” Jared said, yet again interrupting a perfectly good moment. He didn’t sound happy at all.
“Jared. Inside. Fuckin. Voices.” Beau said, 3/4 asleep.
“No, no, dude, this fuckin sucks. Guess who just texted me.”
“I don’t know, who.” The rest of us said an uninterested, monotonous unison.
“Craig. He just said that he’s gonna be at the show tonight.”
I sat up from Eric’s chest. “Are you shitting me right now?”
“I’m serious, look.” Jared handed his phone to me. It read:
hey, gonna b @ the show 2nite. We should hang.
I handed his phone to him. “Fuck my life.”
“Just tell him no, that we have other plans.” Eric said, pulling me back to him, resting my head on his chest while Eric rubbed my shoulders.
“You know he’s not gonna go for it. He makes himself part of the other plans.” Jared said.
“I just don’t wanna be around him.” I said softly.
“What’s so awful about him?” Beau asked.
“Well first of all he’s a fucking asshole and treats everyone like shit. Second of all he hates my guts. He went to high school with me, he was a grade above me. The day after Travis’ party, and for two weeks after that, he would always write a bunch of shit on my car and harass me to no end. He tried playing it off in the beginning that he didn’t know me, but Eric told me he was bluffing. It’s basically a hate-hate relationship between us, and I’m pretty sure a fight will break out if I see him tonight. And nobody better hold me back.” I explained, getting slightly acidic toward the end.
My tone resulted in Eric rubbing my shoulders harder and him telling me that everything was going to be fine, that I didn’t need to start a fight. I almost argued with him, but I wasn’t in any mood to argue. I was still extremely tired from last night’s show. Once Eric saw that I was calmed down, he stopped rubbing my shoulders and got closer to me, if that was possible. We were both practically laying down on our seat. I was laying on Eric’s chest while our feet just barely touched the other side of the seat. It was extremely comfortable, and Eric’s breathing always calmed me.
“Hey.” Eric almost whispered in my ear as I was about to fall asleep. I had to open my eyes to distinguish it from possibly being a dream.
“Hmm?”
“Are you gonna be okay?” He asked, concerned.
I yawned. “I’m sure I’ll be okay. That little outburst has been waiting to come out for a while.”
He smiled a little bit, but it didn’t look like he was completely satisfied with my answer. “Promise me something.”
“Yeah, anything.” I said, looking up at him.
“Don’t fight with Craig. Please. It would cause more problems than necessary.”
I sighed. I wanted to promise him that, but I don’t want to break a promise to him; that would hurt more than not making the promise at all.
“Answer me this, before I promise anything.” I paused.
Eric looked at me, expecting a question.
“Would you rather me break that promise or not make it at all?” I asked quietly.
His face dropped. He looked down at me with passionate eyes. “I would really like you to agree, but if you really think that you won’t be able to, then I guess you don’t have to, but,” He paused. I scooted up and put my arms around his torso.
“Do you really hate Craig that much? I mean, it happened in high school; you two should just leave it all behind you, start over. Grudges shouldn’t last forever, you of all people should know that.” Eric said.
“It’s not a grudge, though, it’s still happening. He’s still basically harassing me, or was, before we kicked him out. I don’t think there will ever be peace between the two of us.”
“Have you tried creating peace?” Eric asked, petting my hair.
“Yeah, plenty of times, but nothing seemed to work. He shot everything I said down like it was nothing.” I said, feeling slightly emotional, my voice being muffled by tears.
“Aww, hon, it’s okay. I’m not gonna make you do anything.” Eric rubbed my arm, hugging me tightly.
I smiled, sniffling. “Thank you.”
“Did you think I’d force you into it?” He asked softly, sweetly.
“Well, no, but I thought you’d be mad at me if I didn’t agree.” I said sheepishly, looking away from Eric, embarrassed to have admitted that.
Eric tilted my head up to his and kissed my lips softly. He pulled away but kept his face close to mine. “I could never be mad at you, at least not over something that’s so...minute, I guess you could say. But even so, I probably wouldn’t be truly mad at you, I wouldn’t be able to handle it.”
“I don’t think I’d be able to handle it either.” I said quietly, snuggling up to his chest, closing my eyes. I wanted to fall asleep, but this whole Craig thing got me wired.
I heard Eric sigh. It was one of his sighs that said that he wanted to tell me something, but thought it might make a turn for the worst.
“Eric, just tell me whatever you’re holding back.” I said, eyes still closed. He jumped a little bit, probably thinking I was sleeping.
“No, this is better left unsaid.” Eric said, playing with the hem on my sweatshirt.
“Please tell me. I really don’t like secrets.” I said in his ear.
Eric cleared his throat and sighed again. “Alright, but promise you won’t get mad at me.”
“I promise.” I said, leaning up to kiss his chin.
“Well, the reason why I feel so strongly against you fighting Craig is–” He started, before I cut him off.
“So there was someone before me.” I said quietly, my mood descending rapidly. “He’s against gay people, how does that work?” I asked, confused.
“He was just doing all that shit to mask his true intension.”
“How long.” I asked.
“About two weeks. We ended it two days before you came. I’m glad we did.” He said.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked. “You specifically said that there was no one else besides me. Why would you lie to me like that?”
“Matt, sweetie, I didn’t want to tell you because I knew this would happen. I didn’t want to be with Craig, he came onto me, mostly whenever we were drunk. It was nothing but a drunken romance that means nothing to me. You’re the only thing that matters to me right now, that really, truly means anything.”
I know is shouldn’t have been that big of a deal, and I should’ve just forgiven him, but I was hurt.
“Matt, you said you wouldn’t be mad.” Eric said softly, sounding defenseless.
I sighed. “I’m not mad, I’m...disappointed. Disappointed that you thought you had to lie to me about Craig. Did you think I wouldn’t be with you if you were with someone else before me?” I asked.
When he didn’t answer, I scooted off of hi, and directed his gaze right at me. He looked at me with regretful eyes.
“Eric, it was your choice not to get with anyone else, I didn’t tell you to wait for me. I wouldn’t have cared less if you told me that you were with other people before me, I was actually expecting it. I just wish...” I sighed, seeing tears in Eric’s eyes. “I wish you would’ve told me right away instead of lying to me.” I hugged him.
“So where are we?” Eric asked.
“What are you–?” I asked, confused.
“Where do we stand right now, as a couple.”
I was still confused. “We’re still together...oh.” I laughed a little. “Eric, something this stupid won’t split us up. I still love you.” I leaned away from him and kissed him tenderly. “You’re not going anywhere.” I whispered in his ear.
Eric looked overjoyed and hugged me. He eventually ended up laying on top of me this time. I closed my eyes and dozed off.
“Matt, we’re here.” I heard Eric say.
I opened my eyes and Eric was about an inch from my face.
I jumped a little, not expecting that.
He laughed and kissed me. “Come on, lets go. We don’t have all day.”
“Comin’, comin’ chill.” I said in a groggy voice, sitting up and stretching, slowly climbing out of the van. The sun was painful, but my eyes adjusted. I saw Beau in the trailer, getting some of my stuff down.
“Here, lemme get these.” I said, yawning.
“It’s about time you got out here.”
“You guys should’ve woke me up.” I wheeled part of my drum kit down the ramp.
“Eric insisted we let you sleep.” Beau said.
I rolled my eyes and smiled. “He would.” I started feeling a little uneasy. “Have you seen Craig?”
Beau shook his head. “We probably won’t see him til later tonight. Just ‘cause he was in the band doesn’t mean he can come backstage and whatever.”
“Thank god.” I scowled.
“Just try not to start anything.” Beau said, slight caution in his voice.
“I’m not promising anything.” I said.
Beau and I took our pieces of equipment silently to stage. I don’t want to start anything, but at the same time, I want to rip his throat out. We’ll just have to see where things take us tonight.