About a Girl

“Baby, we can make it if we’re heart to heart.” – The Starting Line
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“My God, Rae!” Suzie interrupts, hands on her hips. “You always do this! You always pick apart things when nothing’s wrong!” I scowl at her, crossing my arms.

“I am not! I just don’t know if this is going too fast. I mean, we haven’t even been dating a year, and he’s already moving in with me. Do you think it’s too soon?” I glance at her again to see she’s still glaring.

“No,” she disagrees, rolling her eyes at me.

We’re cleaning up the spare room in case Michael needs some space to store his things. He’s flying in from Australia this afternoon, and we’re having friends over tomorrow night for a New Year’s Eve/housewarming party, so I’ve been cleaning for that as well.

“You thought it was too soon when I moved in with Luke. And we were together longer than me and Michael when I moved in with him,” I point out. “Even Seb and Jude thought so.”

“That was different,” she states.

“How?”

“Luke was a total douchebag and we all hated him,” she states, her tone flat and her face relaxed in an expression of total seriousness.

“You’re losing credibility in your argument. Now you’re just biased,” I retort.

“You overreact to everything, do you know that?” she rolls her eyes. “Look. You lived together and with William last spring, and no problems, right? And he stays with you anyway when he’s here. So what’s the difference?”

“We weren’t this serious when we lived with Bill and…I don’t know. It doesn’t feel permanent when he stays here, and now he’s going to have his own set of keys and all his things are going to be here, too. I don’t know. I want him to move in here, I just don’t want it to ruin everything.”

Truthfully though, I think it’ll be nice to have somewhere to come back to with Michael. I’ve lived in this apartment since coming off Warped in September, but between touring and promoting with my band I haven’t spent enough time here for me to consider it home yet.

“So what, you not sure about him or something?” she asks, trying and failing not to sound nosy.

“It’s not him I’m unsure about,” I heatedly reply, maybe more aggressively than necessary. She raises her eyebrows and her hands in defense, but lets me finish. “It’s me. I don’t want to fuck everything up.”

She abruptly laughs her annoying Rae-you’re-overreacting-and-freaking-out-over-stupid-things-as-usual laugh that I know fairly well.

“I don’t think Michael’s going anywhere anytime soon,” she assures me.

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Michael

Mike drops me and all my luggage off at Rae’s our apartment.

It’s a bit strange to think I’ll be living in the States more permanently now instead of just sleeping on friend’s couches or ‘just staying’ at Rae’s place.

My heart rate picks up a little as I knock on the door to the apartment, but in a good way. I stretch and shift my weight on my feet while I wait. It’s been a long flight.

I’m greeted by Rae’s smiling face as the door swings open.

I feel my face immediately mimic hers and she’s in my arms before I can say a word.

“Hey, sweetheart,” I murmur into her hair, hugging her back tightly and kissing her head. “I missed you.”

“It feels like it’s been so much longer,” she replies, when she finally pulls away. It’s been weeks, but I know how she feels. Her emerald green eyes are brighter, or maybe I just forgot how bright they get when she smiles. I lean down to capture her lips in mine, pulling her back to me again. “I missed you so much,” she mumbles against my lips.

“How was home?” she asks, later, after we’ve started unpacking my things and have settled down on the couch together to watch a movie.

“Quiet. It was nice to see my family, though. What did you end up doing for Christmas?” I ask, intertwining our fingers.

“Just went to stay with my parents for a few days in Barrington. Hung out with William and the guys. Nothing big. But you just reminded me…” She suddenly disentangles her limbs from mine and gets off the couch. She leaves the living room but returns quickly, a wrapped box in her hands when she rejoins me on the couch. She hands it to me with a hopeful smile.

“I didn’t know what to get you,” she admits, as I tear off the paper and open the box. “But then Mike said you were jealous of his guitar pedal on the last tour, so…” I can’t help but grin as she waits for my reaction hopefully.

“It’s great, Rae. Thanks, you didn’t have to.” She shrugs, smiling, and I can’t help but lean over to kiss her cheek. “But you’ll have to wait for your gift,” I reply, smiling as I set the box aside.

“Well. Now you’re just being a tease,” she jokes, cuddling back into my side. “I love you,” she tempts, pressing a quick kiss to the skin near my ear.

“I love you too,” I reply, grinning, “But you still have to wait.”

“Fine,” she smiles back grudgingly, holding back a laugh. I just pull her closer to me.

It’s nice to be back.