The Greatest Love Of All.

The days before the big event passed too fast. It looked like time wanted to speed up fast to see my reaction in front of John. I tried everything to not think about it but everything reminded me of the show and of him. It was really hard to keep the thought of him away from my mind. I didn’t eat much because I felt my stomach becoming little and little day by day. I wondered why I felt that way.
I mean, John was just a guy who I didn’t really get along once, and that time was the first and last time I met him. We didn’t talk since that moment and both us of lived our lives in perfect harmony without the presence or the constant thought of the other person. Until that day.

“Are you ready? It’s been like twenty minutes you’re in there”

“I’m almost done”

It took more than an hour to decide what to wear and then another hour to have a shower and prepare myself. It was nothing special but it was a hard decision anyway. I decided to keep my hair straight as they usually were and I tried to put some make up on my face but I had to get the help of Elliott because my hands were shaking and I couldn’t properly draw a perfect line of eyeliner. I felt like a total idiot. I was nervous like I was going on a date with the guy I liked.

“You’re really cute. You should go out like this everyday”

That was the first compliment I’ve ever received from someone who wasn’t my mom or Madison.
We got out of our room and reached the place where the session should have been placed. It was basically the auditorium of the Communications department: it was pretty big and a lot of people were already there. We took a seat almost in first row, but we were at the sides of the stage.
We had to wait like an hour before it started, and Elliott did the best to talk about everything just to keep me distracted. At about 5pm John, Kennedy and Jared got up on stage, and sat down on three chairs.
Jared and Kennedy had two acoustic guitars and John was between them. Everyone made a giant applause before they started. I looked around to see also Pat and Garrett in the backstage.

“Hey everyone! I’m John, and these are Jared and Kennedy, and we’re in a band called The Maine. We’re from Phoenix, Arizona, and we are going to play a couple of acoustic songs from our album called Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, in stores now! I hope you like them! So, let’s get started, this first one is This Is The End”

They started playing and everyone looked interested and happy to hear their music. They were really good. Besides I really liked the acoustic version of a song, even more than the proper album version of it.
John was really into the singing and he often had his eyes closed. When the song ended everyone was enthusiastic. I was right: they were a really talented band. No matter how John was a dickhead, their music was so good. I had to admit I knew their songs by heart, also.
Suddenly, Kennedy spotted me from his position and smiled. I couldn’t stare without doing the same. In that moment, also John looked to our side. He saw me too and didn’t do anything, while I looked away.

“So…this next song is about all the girls and all the boys out there…here it goes”

And then was when Girls Do What They Want started. I couldn’t disagree more.
After that, they played Into Your Arms, The Way We Talk, Everything We Ask For and We’ll All Be.
They received a lot of applauses from all the presents, including me. They were amazing, really.

“So, we’re going to hang out for the rest of the afternoon here, there’s the merch table if you want to buy our t-shirt, and well…just come and say hi! We want to know you all!”

I stood up and walked fast to the main door, because I wanted to avoid the hang out part of the show, but Elliott run after me and grabbed my arm so tight that almost hurt me.

“What the hell do you think you’re going?!”

“Well, we saw the show, now we can go back to the dorm”

“How about no!? I want to stay here and talk to them”

“You said you don’t give a fuck about them and now you want to meet them?”

“Opinions change! I like them, they were great up there! C’mon let’s go back”

“Why don’t you just go and I’ll wait you in our room?”

“No. You need to work things out with the hottie. What’s his name again?”

“John. John O’Callaghan”

We got back into the crowd. All the girls were surrounding them, but when Kennedy saw me approaching, he waved at me and made his way to us. I didn’t expect that but he hugged me a lot. He was happy to see me and well, as he was the only one in the band that helped me at Warped, I was happy to see him too.
I introduced him to Elliott and when also Jared, Pat and Garrett approached, we started talking like we were friends who didn’t see each other since ever. The only one who was still talking to the fans was John. He probably didn’t want to see me as much as I did with him.
Some girls wanted to make pictures with the guys so Elliott and I moved to the merchandise table.
There still was the merch guy, Vito, that remembered me too.

“Hey I’m going to the toilet. Stay here, I’ll be back in a minute”

“Let me come with you”

“I don’t need a babysitter”

She left me alone, and the only thing I could do was wait for her to come back.
I was looking again to all the merchandise, just to have something to do, when I heard his voice.

“It’s a surprise to see you here. I didn’t think you came”

“Life is full of surprises”

That was the best line that came in my mind when I met his eyes again, and when my heart exploded. It would have been hard to pick up all the pieces after that.

“So, where’s your friend?”

“Toilet. She wanted to come and she asked me to come with her and I couldn’t say no cause…”

“You’re telling me that you’re just doing her a favor? You didn’t want to come?”

“Well, I didn’t want to put it this way, but yes, if you ask, I didn’t want to come”

“Are you still mad at me?”

“Not really, you just make me nervous”

“I apologized”

“Yes, I know. But that’s not enough”

“Why you’re making this so difficult to handle? I came to say hi and you’re treating me like shit”

“At least now you know how I felt at Warped”

“Oh yeah, let’s talk about that. How is my friend Halvo? I know you two go out”

People talked too much. I had to shut every mouth up soon. I hated rumors.

“We don’t go out. Not yet. We still have to- but I don’t have to talk about it with you”

“Halvo is my best friend”

“I know that, he told me”

He puffed and looked away for a while. I was acting like a total bitch, I knew that. But having him around made me feel really uncomfortable.

“Well, I guess there’s nothing else to say. Have a good rest of the day”

Before he walked away I took some papers from my bag and called him again.

“Here’s my review, anyway”

He seemed surprised. He grabbed the papers and read the first words.

“I thought you didn’t…”

“what, do it? Well, I wanted to try anyway. Just cause you are a jerk doesn’t mean your friends are as well. Let’s say I did it for them, because someone like Kennedy deserved it”

“Ok, I got it. Thanks. I’m going to read it on the bus. There’s any way I can reach up to you to tell you my opinions on it? I don’t mean you have to give me your number, just the e-mail. Or facebook, or twitter”

“All that technology makes me mad. I just have the e-mail. Use that if you really feel the need to write me, it’s at the end of the papers”

“Ok. Thanks again. Bye”

He walked away without letting me saying goodbye back. Elliott came back in that moment, though.

“There was so much tension in the air”

“I hate you ok? You went to the toilet because you knew he would have been come to talk to me”

“He was staring at you from the other side of the room like he was undressing you with his eyes”

“Sweet-can we go now?”

“Sure, princess”

We left after saying goodbye to the guys again. John looked at me and we started at each other for a couple of seconds. Pat called him but he was –we were- too much into that look that John didn’t hear a word. I got out of the auditorium and Elliott asked me to go eat Chinese food. Before we could get off of the place I heard Kennedy calling me out so I waited for him to run to me.

“I’m sorry. I know you were leaving, but I forgot to ask you something”

“What’s that?”

“Would you like to go out with me sometimes?”