Such a Typical Thing

On a lonely night, you will see that you're everything to me;

“Hey Oaks,” I said awkwardly, putting my plate down across from her at the table.

She swallowed the food she had in her mouth and pursed her lips. “Can I help you?” Her brow was set in a fine, angry line.

“My mom called me this morning,” I said, looking down at my sandwich. Minutes ago, it'd looked so delicious, now though, it made my stomach churn.

I looked up at Oakleigh. Her expression had changed.

“We booked me a flight home for tomorrow,” I said quietly.

“Remy, you can't leave! You're over eighteen, so legally she can't make you go,” she protested, sounding shocked.

“She threatened to cut me off, Oaks. If I don't go back, I don't know what I'd do. I dropped out of college and I've never worked a day in my life.”

“Stay until the end of Warped, then come back to Arizona. You can tour with the guys and they can give you some sort of title and a salary,” she said, sounding rather desperate.

“It was a mistake coming on Warped to begin with. All I've done is make a mess out of things. I hurt you yesterday, I broke up with Garrett, and I think I might have started something with Danny.” I laid my head down on the table, pushing my plate aside.

“By the way, I forgive you,” she said. I could hear the frown in her voice.

“Thanks,” I said, my voice muffled by the table.

“What happened with Danny?”

“I slept in his bunk last night.” I paused, looking up to catch a glimpse of her signature look of disapproval. “We were both fully dressed, neither of us were drunk. Only minor cuddling was involved, so you can take that disapproving look and...I don't even know.” I cut myself off with a sigh.

“Wow,” she said, sounding rather perplexed.

“It doesn't matter because I'm out of here in less than 24 hours.”

“I wish you weren't leaving.” Oakleigh reached across the table and covered mine with hers. I nodded, finally sitting up.

“Trust me, Oaks, I wish I wasn't leaving too,” I said with a frown. “I need to talk to Garrett. Do you know where he is?”

“My best guess would be the merch table,” she said with a shrug.

“Thanks,” I said, standing up quickly and walking away.

I approached The Maine's merch table slowly and hesitantly.

“Hey Remy!” Jared said happily when he saw me.

“Is Garrett around?” I asked, sliding my hands into my pockets.

“Yo,” Garrett said from behind me.

“Hey,” I said, turning around and attempting a smile. “Can we go for a walk?”

“You bet,” he said with a nod and we took off.

As we walked, I told him everything; about shopping with Danny, my fight with Oakleigh, sleeping in Danny's bunk the night before, and finally, about leaving the next day.

“I just feel so guilty, Garrett,” I told him, running a hand through my hair. “I mean, I think I'm falling for Danny and we've been broken up for less than 24 hours.”

“Remy, listen to me. Look at me,” he stopped, turning my chin to face him. “I love you. I probably will for a while. And part of being in love with someone is wanting the best for that person. When you talk about Danny, there is just a light in your eye and there's this different sound to your voice. Since that first party, it's been obvious that you guys have something. Kenny saw you two making out that night and told me what happened --”

“Wait, what?” I asked, cutting him off. “What happened at the first party?”

“Kennedy saw you and Danny making out,” he repeated himself.

“Garrett, I'm sorry, but I've got to go,” I said in slight shock. I pecked him on the cheek before walking away.

Night fall came quickly and I texted Danny and asked him to meet me on the hill.

Why did every place seem to have a hill?

“Hey, what's up?” he asked as he approached.

Before I could think it through, I stood up from my spot on the grass and walked toward him. I stopped in front of him and slipped him. Like, seriously slapped him across the face.

He looked shocked and I'm sure I did too.

“What the fuck was that for?” he demanded after the initial shock wore off.

“Why didn't you tell me?” I shouted at him.

“Tell you what?” He raised his hand to his cheek where I'd slapped him. “Holy shit, that hurt.”

“That we kissed at the first party!”

“How'd you find out?” he asked, sounding extremely calm.

“Garrett had to tell me. The guy I broke up with 24 hours ago, who's still in love with me, is the one who ended up telling me that we kissed. He thought I knew!”

Danny sighed.

I wanted to scream, to rip something to pieces. “Why didn't you tell me?”

“What difference would it have made, Remy? After we kissed, you ran off an by the time I saw you next, you'd already fucked Jack and didn't even remember what had happened. If I had told you, it would have just been a memory. It wouldn't have changed anything!” I was surprised when his voice raised to a yell.

“It wouldn't have changed anything?” I repeated in disbelief. “It would have changed everything, Danny! I wouldn't have spent the last six weeks wondering what happened that night. I wouldn't have felt like such a fuck-up. I probably wouldn't have dated Garrett. And now, after all of the shit, I finally find out what happened and I'm leaving in 14 hours.” By the time I stopped talking, my voice had gone from a yell to a quiet whisper.

Danny's expression changed. “You're leaving?”

I nodded. “My plane leaves at eleven.”

“Stay.”

“You want me to stay? After six weeks, you can't tell me that we kissed, but you'll tell me to stay and get cut off completely by my parents?” I scoffed. “I don't have a reason to stay.” I bit my tongue and looked at the ground.

At that given moment, I wanted nothing more than to stab him or shoot him. But that would have landed Danny in the hospital and me in prison. So I did the next best thing.

Without thinking, I slapped him again, so hard that my hand stung.

“Oww!” he yelled. “What the fuck was that for?!”

“It was either that or stab you in the face,” I shouted at him, my hands curling into fists.

“Well, you need to stop with the slapping,” he said, rather calmly. His hand was covering his cheek.

“You should have just told me. Then I wouldn't have dated Garrett and I wouldn't have spent all summer wondering what had happened. If you had told me, maybe we'd be dating and maybe I wouldn't be leaving tomorrow. Maybe I'd have a reason to stay,” I said, rambling a bit. My eyes burned a bit with tears and I blinked them away.

“I'll be your reason,” he said quietly, to the point that I could barely hear it.

“What?”

“I want to be your reason to stay,” he blurted out quickly.

Our eyes seemed to lock in that moment and my brow, tense with frustration, relaxed. Danny let out a deep breath. The corners of is mouth upturned in a small smile.

Suddenly and perfectly, our lips connected.

After only a few seconds, we pulled apart and Danny looked at me as if to make sure it was okay to kiss me again. I nodded and our lips connected again, with more intensity than I'd ever felt.

Danny's hands settled on my hips, his thumbs latching through the belt loops of my jeans. My arms went around his neck, closing the gab between us as our bodies pressed together.

My entire body felt like an electric current was flowing through it.

I smiled into the kiss and Danny pulled away a bit and rested his forehead against mine. My heart thundered as, smiling, he moved his hand from my hip to my waist, sliding it up my tank top, raising goosebumps along my skin.

“Danny,” I said quietly as he kissed my lips, then cheek, jaw, and neck.

“I don't think there's anyone on the bust right now. Do you want to go back there?” he asked, his lips against my shoulder.

“Is that what you want to do?” I raised my eyebrows a bit in surprise. He nodded, kissing me again.

We made our way back to the bus quickly. The entire way, his fingers laced through mine, my stomach was doing flips.

Minutes later, we found ourselves in his bunk, our bodies pressed together. My tank top had been gone in an instant, as had Danny's shirt.

“Remy, hang on,” he said, pulling away as I fumbled with the button of his jeans.

“What?” I asked, sounding breathless.

“We need to stop,” he said quietly, taking my hands,

“You can't be serious,” I said with a sigh.

“Remy, we can't do this.”

“Well, why the hell not?”

“You only want to do this because you're upset and because you're leaving tomorrow.”

“No, I want to do this because I want to be with you,” I assured him, pressing my lips to his. He only let our lips touch for a second before pulling away.

"I don't want to do this with you leaving in 13 hours."

"Danny, you're the one who asked if I wanted to come back here."

"I know, I know," he said, sighing. He rolled enough to slide out of the bunk, grabbing his shirt as he did. He turned and looked at me, his brow creasing. He leaned forward, kissing my lightly. "I'm sorry. I just don't want to be some guy in your spank bank."

"Did you seriously just say that?" I asked, trying to control my laughter.

"You bet I did," he said with a wink and a laugh. And with that, everything seemed like it'd be okay.

Twelve and a half hours later, I was hugging my brother goodbye at the airport.

He sighed as he released me, frowning as he looked down at me. Neither of us could think of something to say, a common feeling for the two of us.

"I love you, Rems," he said finally, hugging me again.

"I love you too, Matty," I said with a bit of a laugh.

"Don't let the beat your ass too hard," he told me, offering me a bit of advice.

"You got it," I whispered as he stepped away.

"I'm leaving in fifteen," he told Danny as he walked away.

Danny nodded and approached me with a sad smile. I returned his smile and he wrapped his arms around me tightly. I let out a sigh, my head against his chest.

"Where does this leave us?" I asked boldly, pressing my lips together.

He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Honestly, I'm not sure," he said after a moment. I nodded slowly.

"I don't have anyone to hold my hand during take off," I joked poorly. Danny smiled, nodding.

"I'm gonna miss you," he said before kissing me lightly.

"I'm gonna miss you," I parroted, pushing my hair out of my face.

"First call for passengers of flight 564 to Baltimore," someone said over the speaker system.

I sighed, my eyes starting to burn with tears.

"I told myself I wasn't going to cry," I said quietly with a laugh, trying to blink them away. I bit my lip as one made it's way down my cheek.

Danny smiled again, wiping it away with his thumb. He kissed me again before saying, "You should probably go get in line."

"You sound like you're trying to get rid of me," I told him with a laughed.

"Never," he said quietly, hugging me again tightly.

We kissed a last time and I hoisted my carry-on bag onto my shoulder. I walked toward the line, unable to look back.

I found my seat on the plane and sighed, staring out the window to my left, at the airport.

"First time flying, dear?" the sixty-something woman beside me asked as the plane started to move, and I bit down on my lip, hard, locking my fingers around the arm rest.

"First time flying alone," I told her with smile and a nod.