You Rock Like Escape The Fate

“Daisy, young lady, where have you been!?” I asked as I walked out of the front door and crossed my arms over my chest in an attempt to scold her. She had called two hours ago, saying she’d be at our place in 45 minutes, and Daisy was never late. So, you can imagine my concern. She laughed at my motherly-ness and jabbed a thumb at the passenger’s seat of her car.

“Sorry, I just ran into an old friend of mine, who just so happened to be heading here as well,” she smiled. My heart skipped a beat. She brought someone here? What if it’s an undercover cop or something? A girl probably about our age with soft brown hair braided and reaching just below her shoulders stepped out of the car, carrying a bag on her shoulder and wearing an apron. She smiled, but it seemed a little forced.

“Hey,” she said, walking up to me and shaking my hand politely, then walking straight past me and into the house!? Dude, what the crap!? Daisy came up and hugged me tight, but she saw me staring in shock after the girl that had walked into OUR cabin without so much as a “May I?”

“Didn’t your uncle tell you? She comes here 3 days a week to clean up,” Daisy explained. I made an ‘o’ shape with my mouth and nodded slowly. “She was walking here from her house, which is a really long walk, so I offered to drive her here. Her name’s Bambi, and she’s very, very quiet around people she’s not super close to,”

We walked in and I sat down next to Craig on the sofa, while Daisy headed into the kitchen to drop off the groceries she’d brought us to replace what we may or may not have lost in the fire. Oh yeah, about that, just to bring you up to speed… Leila had decided she wanted to bake some cookies, so she put a box of them on a burner and turned on the flame. That’s as much as I know, up until when I got there. Hayley and Ronnie were getting up off the couch with smiles adorning their faces.

“We’re goin’ for a walk, Jess,” Hayley told me as they headed for the front door.

“Mkay, Willy. Be careful of wolves, though. They hide out in the woods during the day,”

“Will do!” Ronnie called, closing the door behind them. Daisy came out of the kitchen and sat with us. Bryan was teaching Leila how to do a really crazy version of the grape-vine and other dance moves (don’t ask) in the den, which is right wall-to-wall with the living room, and Max was upstairs in the restroom.

“I got ya some info, bestie,” Daisy whispered when Craig turned to watch Leila dance with Bryan.

“Oh yeah? Awesome, what’d ya get?” I whispered back.

“Tambers was a witness at a hit and run three years ago, but the case was closed when they couldn’t find reasonable evidence to back up potential suspects. They know it was intentional, because the victim had beating marks on the face, arms, and stomach. He is really suspicious, though; his alibi never got fully checked. He claimed to have simply been walking by and saw the incident happen, though he didn’t report it until about an hour after the approximate time of death. When asked where his vehicle was, a Jeep, he said that it had been stolen. He actually did report it stolen the week prior, so that was immediately accepted as fact. A week after the murder, his Jeep was found at the bottom of a lake not too far from the crime scene,”

“Wow, that is some seriously good dirt! Good job! Okay so did the victim have any connections with Tambers?”

“Not that I know of… but I’m meeting with a bitter ex tomorrow for lunch to get more information,”

“Wow! Maybe you should be Detective Girl!” I said, laughing.

“Uhh, no! That’s yours completely,”

“Mhm, whatever you say, Chief,”

“What on earth are you two whispering about?” Craig’s voice interrupted our laughter and I turned to his beautiful face.

“Girl stuff. Trust me, you don’t wanna know,” Daisy answered. Yup, she should definitely be Detective Girl, that was an excellent cover. He chuckled and nodded.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” he said. Max came down the stairs and immediately joined Bryan and Leila in their little dance routine, jumping around hyperly, obviously not knowing that his one true love was sitting in the living room… haha.

“You know, Max, it’s rude not to greet your guests,” I said, causing him to look up and see Daisy sitting next to me. His face instantly lit up and he quit doing the grape-vine, and then just stood there staring at her with that huge smile of his. She was blushing insanely and I poked her side, causing her to jump up off the couch and squeal.

“Hey, Max,” she mumbled, looking down at her feet. Her smile was so bright, I’d never seen her like this before. I swear, it was the cutest thing EVER. *girly moment*

“Hey, Daisy,” he replied, walking over and kissing her cheek. Her face got bright red and I held back my laugh at how shy she had suddenly become. Bryan went back to playing with Leila, and Max and Daisy sat on the other couch. I sat, deep in thought, until I suddenly had an epiphany and squealed, “OH MY GOD!”

“WHAT, WHAT!? WHO DIED!?” Craig screamed, jumping three inches off his seat at my sudden outburst. I started laughing hysterically, though I didn’t know if it was more because of Craig’s response or the hilarious thoughts that were going through my mind. They were all looking at me like I was a complete psycho, even the little 3-year-old girl.

“I just had a moment of brilliance!” I cheered. Daisy smacked her forehead in a total fce-palm moment. “I’m totally serious. Think about this… Okay, Max, if you and Bryan got married and had a kid, and you hyphenated the last name, the kid’s last name would be Green-Money!” I explained, still laughing. I clutched my sides in laughter at the horrified looks on both Max’s and Bryan’s faces. Craig and Daisy joined in on the laugh fest for a couple minutes until we all gained our composure.

“This is what happens when she gets bored, you guys,” Daisy informed them.

“Okkaayyy, then…” Max said, eyes still wide as he contemplated what I just said. “So… uhm… Daisy, can I play a song for you?” he asked her nervously. Her grin widened and she nodded, and they got up and disappeared up the stairs. Bryan picked Leila up and held her, and she rested her head on his shoulder. She looked exhausted, as he swayed them from side to side and stroked her hair.He looked kind of sweet, taking care of her like that.

“Nap time for Leila Bear,” Craig said, making as if to get up. Bryan shook his head.

“I got it, man,” he said, walking to the stairs and gently carrying her up.

“Well… it’s just the two of us now,” Craig said, wiggling his eyebrows. I laughed and nodded.

“Yup. So have you been enjoying your stay here, Craigafer?”

“Definitely have. You make it easier,” he said. I blushed and thanked him.

“So what’s a pretty girl like you doing babysitting a bunch of guys on a vacation?”

“Aww, you think I’m pretty!?”

“Darn straight, I do,”

“Wow, thank you… and it’s actually kind of fun. You guys are awesome. Except Bryan of course, but that’s a given,”

“You know, you really shouldn’t be so hard on him,”

“Oh really? And why not?”

“Well, because… he’s protective of himself against girls, all of them; especially the ones he falls for,”

“That doesn’t excuse him from being such a jerk,”

“Well… I don’t know, he’s just gotten hurt really bad before,” he replied. My heart sunk a little at that thought. We stayed quiet for a minute, just kinda looking at each other.

“What was your first impression of me?” Craig asked.

“Uhm… well, I thought you were extremely hot,” I confessed. He smirked and I blushed, noticing how close we were.

“I think I’m supposed to kiss you now,” he whispered. I nodded, and he gently leaned in and pressed his lips softly to mine. We kissed for a moment or two, and then pulled away. I smiled and he returned it, though he looked as troubled as I felt.

“Something wrong?” I asked.

“Meh, not really. It’s just… I don’t know. I mean, did you… did you feel a spark there?”

“Well… no…” I admitted.

“Oh thank god, me neither!” he said, a look of relief washing over his features.

“Yeah, there weren’t like, big fireworks!” I agreed. We laughed and it was kind of funny to think we were both laughing and happy because there was no spark in our kiss. But hey, it worked for me, I mean I would’ve felt bad if he suddenly thought I was his soulmate or something… haha…

“So, friends then?” I offered with a grin.

“Absolutely,” he said, shaking my hand. I hugged him and out of nowhere, Bryan came down the stairs, lightly gripping his forearm. For the last two days since the fire happened, he’d only been wearing long sleeve shirts and had been extra extra careful of his arm.It was really starting to worry me As much as I hate the guy for being such a jerk to me, I didn’t like the idea of him being hurt… In fact, I hated it.

“Dude, gimme a break. Why be friends with the psycho?” thestupid voice of Bryan jarred my worrisome thoughts. I glared at him and he returned it gladly. Craig groaned and got up, storming over to Bryan in frustration.

“Monte, WHAT THE CRAP!? She isn’t all that horrible, you know! Just please be civil, please!!!”

“No,” Bryan retorted immaturely. Craig pushed him hard, and he hit the wall on the arm he was holding before, crying out in pain. He clutched his arm and grimaced, looking like he was in absolute horrible pain. I jumped up from my seat on the couch and went to him.

“Pull up your sleeve, Bryan. NOW,” I demanded.

“What for?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“NOW,” I ordered. He looked at me fearfully for a second, before warily and slowly pulling his sleeve up to reveal a huge burn covering his forearm. I gasped and stared at it in shock. I guessed it was about a second degree burn, and it was totally open to the air and the bacteria that it consisted of. I pointed angrily at the couch.

“SIT,” I ordered. Surprisingly, he obeyed and took refuge on the sofa. “Bryan, are you crazy!? If that got an infection, you know how bad it could get?! YOU COULD HAVE DIED!! Do you get that, Bryan?! Craig, get me a flipping first aid kit, before I have a heart attack,” I said. He nodded and ran to the kitchen to find the first aid kit we kept under the sink. He ran back in and handed it to me, looking very worried. “Why wouldn’t you tell someone about this, huh!? I can bet it hurts like the schiz!”

“It does, okay?! Look, I don’t need your help! Just leave me alone!” Bryan yelled, yanking his arm from my grip.

“Yes you friking do! I’m not gonna leave you alone, you jerk!” I replied, yanking it right back. He went quiet. After a minute of silence, I decided to ask him for the story.

“How did this happen? I didn’t see you near the fire,” I mumbled.

“I saw the box of cookies catch on fire, and Leila screamed, I swear to God I think my heart stopped… I ran in and grabbed her and the flames got higher. All of a sudden, a burst of that fire came out at me, and I put my arm up to keep it from getting to Leila… so there you go,” He explained. I sighed and nodded.

“Look, I’m only doing this cuz you saved me from breaking my neck at the bottom of the stairs the other day. That’s it, you save me, I save you, end of story. And also cuz Leila loves you to death, she would hate to see you hurt,”I would hate to see you hurt, too

Max and Daisy appeared at the bottom of the stairs, probably to find out what all the commotion was about. Craig shooed them up the stairs, leaving me alone withOh Brainless One Bryan. He continued to keep quiet, and I finished wrapping his burn up comfortably.

“Alright, there you go. We’ll have to redress it every morning until it heals completely. Got it?”

“Yeah… thanks,” he muttered, examining his new bandage.

“Whatever,” I replied, getting up and walking away. I’m not sure, but I think I saw the tiniest hint of a smile appear on his lips when I repeated his actions from the day he caught me on the stairs.

But as the day went on, the same sentence kept repeating itself over and over again in my head…

He’s protective of himself against girls, all of them; Especially the ones he falls for…