Once a Fragile Design

Once I was back inside the venue, I headed straight for The Maine's merch table, seeing that it was overcrowded by fans, being that Becca was trying to manage both her and Roxie's tables. I took my place beside her and waved her off. "I'll cover for Rox, Becca."

She gave me a sketchy look. "Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. Now go!" I told her. Without another word, she ran back to Versa's table, and I began helping the long line of teenage girls.

As time went by, I could hear the boys wrapping up their set, and I figured they would be heading this way shortly, whilst Boys Like Girls closed the show. I still hadn't figured out exactly what I was going to say to John, but I knew I had to say something. I was chicken-shit when it came to expressing my feelings about a boy, but I owed it to John. Just as I went to stand up from my chair, a relatively short girl walked up to the table.

"Um, hi?" she asked, rather than stated.

I gave her a smile. "Hi, can I help you?"

"Um ... Wasn't there another girl working the table before? I don't mean to be rude or anything, I just-"

"OH! You must mean Roxie," I told her.

She nodded her head. “Yeah, I think that was her name.”

“She … had some other business to take care of. I can help you out, though, if you needed something?”

The girl gave me a shy smile and clutched the tee shirt that was in her hand to her stomach. “She offered to have me meet Rocket, Versa, and The Maine. Um … so they could sign this,” she said, holding up a poster.

I stared at her for a moment, before giving her a smile. “Of course! You can chill here with me, while we wait for them to get back here,” I told her.

“Really?” I nodded my head. “Thank you so much!”

“It’s no problem, really!” I leaned against the wall, as she came behind the table. “So, what’s your name?”

“Layla,” she said in a small voice.

I widened my eyes. “Seriously? That’s a fucking amazing name, dude!”

She laughed. “Thanks. What’s your name?”

“I’m Acey,” I told her, holding out my hand.

“You have a pretty cool name, too,” she told me, shaking my hand.

“Thanks.” A moment later, the Rocket boys, along with VersaEmerge, showed up, talking loudly and laughing.

“Acey!” Eric yelled, pulling me into a hug.

I laughed, pushing him off. “Yeah, it’s me.”

He wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Who’s this?” he asked, pointing towards Layla.

“Layla. Roxie promised her that you guys would take some pictures with her and sign her poster,” I told him.

“Oh, sweet!” Eric said, walking up to her. “I like your name by the way!”

She blushed. “Thank you.”

Justin was next to walk up to her. “Seriously, it’s one of Eric Clapton’s best songs!”

I watched as the rest of the boys walked up and began taking pictures and signing for her. Sierra stood beside me, giving me a look. “What?” I finally asked.

She smirked. “I see you and John are having your first fight.”

I sighed. “It’s not even really a fight,” I told her.

“Then what is it?”

“It’s more … I may have gotten a little jealous with the way he was acting towards a fan, and I said some stupid shit that have us both being bitches, right now.”

She laughed. “What did he do?”

“This girl came up to us outside and asked if John would be her boyfriend. He said maybe they could work something out.”

“Acey, you really believe he would do that?” Becca asked, suddenly appearing behind me.

I shrugged. “Not really, but at the time, it just ticked me off.”

Sierra shook her head. “Well, all I can say is, he’s managed to pick a fight with everyone else in The Maine.”

“Really?” I asked, widening my eyes.

She nodded. “Hell, he even tried snapping at me, but he apologized.”

“Well … at least he apologized.”

Becca nudged her elbow on my arm. “They’re coming now,” she whispered.

I looked up and noticed The Maine were making their way towards us. I sighed and looked at Sierra and Becca. “Will you fill them in on what’s going on with Layla, while I talk to John?”

Sierra nodded her head. “Will do. Now, go fix that poor boy’s heart,” she stated.

“I’m going to try,” I mumbled, walking towards the group of boys. I stopped in front of John, blocking him from moving. “Can we talk?”

His sad eyes met mine and he nodded his head. “Come on.” He grabbed my hand, and began pulling us towards the hallway he had just come from. We came to a door with ‘The Maine’ printed on a sheet of paper, and stepped inside. Once the door was shut, he turned around and looked at me. “Acey, before you say anything, I ju-“

I shook my head. “You don’t need to say or apologize for anything. I’m the one who needs to apologize, so … just let me, okay? Apologies aren’t my specialty and I need to get it out while I can.” He nodded his head. “I’m sorry for snapping at you and for being a bitch. I know I’m not the easiest girl to put up with, but it means a lot to me that you’re trying.” He gave me a smile. “I do like you JohnO … a lot, and this is all just new to me. But I’m trying, and that means something, right?”

He pulled me into his chest, wrapping his arms around me. “It means everything.”

I smiled. “So … do you forgive me?”

“Of course I forgive you, babe.” He laid a kiss on my forehead. “And just for the record, I like you a lot, too.”

I laughed. “I think I knew that already.”

He smiled. “We should get back out to merch.”

“We should,” I said, peeling myself away from him. “But, I want a kiss first.”

“A kiss?” he asked, surprised.

I nodded my head. “Yes, O’Callaghan; a kiss.”

“I think I can do that,” he said with a smirk on his face. He bent his head down and I stood on my tiptoes, our lips meeting and pressing together. After a moment, he pulled away. “Can we continue this later? On the bus?”

I grinned. “Maybe. Come on, though, you have fans waiting for you.” I grabbed his hand and we made our way out to the merch tables, with smiles plastered on both of our faces.