Learn From Cigarette Burns

“John, your fiancé is getting her nerves all up in a bunch.” My soon to be father-in-law sighed.

“Can you blame her?” I muttered. “In eight months we’re going to have a baby.”

“I know that’s it’s scary in theory but when the baby gets here, instincts will just kick in and you’ll know what to do.” He smiled. “Believe me, I was scared shitless when Dee’s mom told me she was pregnant. But when she was born and I got to hold her in my arms everything just sort of fell into place.”

“Do you think we’re ready for this?” I asked quietly. “Dee will barely be twenty, I’ll still be nineteen.”

“Even if you guys aren’t, you’ll catch on soon enough.” He assured me.

“Dee’s talking about postponing the wedding.” I whispered. “She’s saying that maybe we should wait until after the baby is born to get married.”

“Bullshit,” Ron grumbled, “that’s it, I will not have any talk of postponing this wedding that’s been two years in the making.”

He stood up from the couch and indicated for me to do the same. I did as I was instructed and followed Ron through the house to the den where Dee and her mom were watching television. They eyed each of us in turn as we entered, and Dee gave me a questioning look. Her dad soon got her attention, however, when he pointed a finger in her direction.

“Young lady, pack your bags.” He demanded. “I will not stand to hear anything about moving back the wedding.”

“But … dad?”

“I’m sending you two on a trip.” Ron said. “Just go and pack your bags, okay?”

“Dad, I can’t leave now, it’s three weeks until the wedding.” Dee muttered. “Who said anything about moving the wedding back?” She added in a slight hiss, while giving me an evil glare.

Use to the sudden mood swings of my fiancé, I ignored the look and her tone of voice, and instead looked back to Ron.

“I’m sick of seeing you walking around here, moping around, being one of those … what do they call them? Emu kids?”

“Emo, Ron,” Dee’s mom corrected him, “they call them emo kids.”

“Oh,” Ron said, “emo kids. This past week you’ve been all … wait, what was it? Emo? You’ve been all emo and I’m tired of it. You and John need to get out of town, go and visit some friends or something, or go to an amusement park. Something to get your mind off of things.”

“Sorry, but we don’t have that much money to spare, what with the baby coming along and all.” Dee muttered.

“Dee, I said pack your bags. I’m not going to tell you again.” Ron insisted. “I’ll take care of things.”

Pissy, Dee kicked back the blanket that was covering her and then stood up. “Fine.” She snapped before exiting the den. “Let’s go, John.” She all but yelled from the foyer of the house.

I glanced up at Ron, only to find that he had an apologetic smile on his face. “Sorry for getting her upset and sending her away with you, but trust me, this is what you guys need right now.”

“I hope you’re right, Ron.” I said. “You of all people know how snarky she gets when she ends up to be the right one in situations like this.”

“Trust me, John.” Ron replied. “You guys aren’t the only ones who had ever had to go through an unexpected pregnancy. I’ll stop by your guys’ in a couple of hours or so.”

With that, Ron sent me on my way. I hoped that he was right about this, because I honestly don’t know if I could survive this trip with my fiancé if things turned sour.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“John, what the hell are we doing in Texas?” I grumbled. “I don’t even know anybody here.”

“Ugh, would you just shush already?” My fiancé muttered.

“You’ve been shushing me for the past two days!”

“Dee, please, just trust me on this, okay?” He said patiently.

“Don’t talk to me like that.” I snapped.

“Like what?” John asked quizzically.

“Like I’m a little kid.”

“Well you’re fucking acting like one right now.” He pointed out. “I have some friends here that I want you to meet, but if you’re going to act like a complete bitch the whole time, like you were on the drive over here, I’ll just turn around and take us back to Tempe so you could be miserable in peace. At least back there I can just leave you alone while I go to someone else’s place to avoid your bitchiness!”

His words made me shut my mouth almost instantly. Unable to come up with a witty remark that would contradict his words, I merely stared out the window and watched the buildings go by as we made our way to the heart of Dallas, Texas. After a few minutes of silence, I sighed softly.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered.

“Oh, whatever for?” John asked sarcastically.

“Babe.”

It was my fiancés turn to sigh. A couple of seconds later, I felt his hand slide over the top of my own. He squeezed it tightly before flipping his blinker on to merge into the right hand lane.

“I know you’ve been anxious, confused, and so many other things lately, but you need to lighten up, okay? All this stuff we’ve been going through … you don’t know how to deal with it all so you’ve lashed out in anger to those who try to help you. It’s not fair. It’s not fair to them and it’s not fair to me, Dee.”

“I know.” I muttered. “It’s just … I’ve had so much going through my mind lately.”

“You’re not the only one, babe.”

With that, John released my hand and picked up his cell phone from the center console. Careful to still pay a majority of his attention to the road, he looked up a contact and then called out to their number.

Unable to stay focused on my fiancé, I turned my attention back to the window and blocked out the conversation he had with who I assumed to be his friend here in town. A couple of minutes later we turned off of the freeway and found ourselves in a residential area.

“You know where you’re going?” I asked.

“Of course I know.”

“Just making sure,” I smirked softly, “we all know you’re not the greatest person when it comes to following directions.”

“What are you talking about? I’m excellent with directions.”
 
“This coming from the boy who got lost down a street that only contained four houses.” I teased.

“Hey,” he said defensively, though with a hint of laughter in his voice, “that was when I first got my driver’s license, and that street had massive trees on it … it looked like it had a lot more than just four houses.”

I smiled at him in response, but chose not to say anything else. Sometime later, after weaving our way through a labyrinth of streets, we slowed to a stop in front of a cute, two story house that contained a well kept yard.

“Whose house is this?”

“My friends Kyle and Marc from another band. Actually, this is their parents’ house, but everyone is over here for a barbeque and they insisted we go and join them.”

“Kyle and Marc?” I repeated. “I don’t know them.”

“Of course you don’t, silly, I haven’t introduced you yet.”

Exiting the car, John and I slowly made our way to the front door. Once there, I let him stand ahead of me and ring the doorbell. We stood outside in silence for about half a minute before the sound of footsteps approached. Before long, a tall boy with blue eyes and messy blond hair peered down at us. Almost instantly, a smile pulled easily across his lips.

“Hey, what’s up Johno?”

John uttered an appropriate response and I watched as they did one of those ridiculous man hugs. When they parted, the boy who answered the door turned his gaze in my direction, giving me a big smile.

“You must be Dee.” He said. “Johno talked about you ten times a day while we were on Warped this summer.”

“Oh?” I questioned, “nothing bad, I hope.”

The blond haired boy shook his head, his carefree smile still in place. “Of course not.” He said before holding his hand out to mine. “I’m Kyle.”

I slipped my hand into his and was caught off guard when he used this connection to pull me closer to him. I basically stumbled into his arms but he caught me before I fell to the ground.

“Oops, sorry about that.” He laughed as he hugged me tightly. “But it felt too formal too shake your hand since it feels like you’re already part of the extended family.”

If it were anybody else I had just met that was hugging me as tightly as Kyle was at the moment, I would have felt awkward and uncomfortable. However, there was something about him that made me feel at ease in his embrace. As we parted, I squeezed his hand tightly and then smiled up at him.

“Oh, I know I’ve got good looks and all, but are you really trying to put the moves on me in front of your fiancé?” Kyle teased.

“I like you,” I told him as I released his hand, “sometimes I question the type of people John meets out on tour.”

Kyle laughed softly and then shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t get your hopes up. I can get pretty questionable myself.”

“The people I’m referring to are the sort of ‘I wonder if this person should actually be locked up somewhere’ sort of questionable.” I grinned. “You’re not one of those people, are you?”

“Oh,” he laughed, “no, no. I’m more of the ‘Did he really just say, slash,” at this point he made a slash motion with his hand, “do that’ kind of person.”

“Well then,” I smiled, “no wonder why John has taken a liking to you.”

Kyle gave me a cute smile and then shrugged his shoulders once again. “Come on, we’ll introduce you to the rest of the guys.”

John slid his hand into mine and squeezed it gently. I glanced over at him and gave him a smile that let him know that he was right in bringing me here. He returned the smile and pulled me into the house, following after Kyle.