You Left Me With Nothing but a Kiss

How dare she just come up to me and tell me she's still in love with me?

If she loves me so much then why didn't she contact me for months? Why didn't she come back to me? Why didn't she do something?

I walked to the van and swung the driver's side door open forcefully.

"Calm down, tiger," Rachael remarked.

Instead of saying anything I just glared at her.

Kennedy climbed into the van next to me.

"Hey man, do you want me to drive? You hit the bottle pretty hard last night. You must have a killer hangover," he joked.

"I'm fine," I snapped.

He mumbled something under his breath and pulled out his phone and began texting.

After 3 straight hours of driving we pulled into a Denny's to get lunch. I exited the van and was making my way into the restaurant when Garrett grabbed my arm and pulled me aside as everyone else filed in.

"Hey, I know now isn't the best time and everything, but I trust your judgment the most...," he said while fumbling with something in his pocket. When he pulled it out my eyes widened. "I wanna ask Rach to marry me tonight on stage," he grinned opening up the little black box to reveal an engagement ring.

"Holy shit. Are you serious?" I blurted.

"Well...yeah," he stammered, looking back at the ring.

"That's awesome man. I'm really happy for you," I smiled half- heartedly. I was happy for him, I just couldn't help but think how that could have been Beth and I.

"You are?" He flinched, as if he was expecting me to yell.

"Yeah, dude. If she makes you happy then don't let her go," I told him as I patted his back.

"Thanks John. That means a lot. So I was wondering if after 'I Must Be Dreaming' you could let me do it?" He questioned.

"Yeah dude. Sure thing," I replied.

"Awesome, thanks," he smiled.

"No problem," I said.

We walked through the door and sat at the empty seats at the edge of the table.

I looked around the table and saw Rachael and Beth talking.

To put it nicely, Beth looked like shit. Her hair was pulled up, her make-up was smeared, her eyes were bloodshot and her clothes were wrinkled. Our waiter came over and took our orders.

"Could I please have the chicken fingers with barbecue sauce?" She asked with a raspy voice.

The guy nodded and smiled at her. I felt my stomach lurch.

After he took everyone's orders the group started talking. I glanced over and saw Garrett with his arm around Rachael. They both looked so happy together. I was truly jealous, but happy for them at the same time.

A couple minutes later the waiter came back with a piece of chocolate cake and set it in front of Beth.

"Oh, I didn't order this," she stated looking at the guy.

"I know, but you look like you could use it sweetie," he said winking.

I wanted to barf, or scream, or hit something.

"Thank you," she smiled sweetly.

"Hey! Excuse me? My drink is empty," I yelled at the waiter.

"Oh, my bad. Coke right?" He asked smugly.

"Yeah," I snapped, rolling my eyes at him.

I looked over at Beth who was sharing the cake with Rachael.

Rachael was nudging Beth with her elbow, obviously talking about the stupid waiter.

The guy wasn't even good looking, he had huge horse teeth and too much gel in his hair.

I tore my eyes away from the girls and started to stand up to go to the bathroom. I soon as I got up from my chair I collided with the waiter, spilling soda all over my shirt.

"Oh, dude...," he said with a fearful look in his eye.

I pursed my lips and knocked glass out of his hand and stormed out to the van. I roughly opened the door and grabbed my things and started to look for another shirt. I pulled a clean shirt out and shoved my duffle bag back inside. I slammed the sliding door and debated what to do next. I could go back inside and get yelled at by management and everyone else, or I could wander around.

I chose to wander. I walked about a block down and took a seat on a bench.

God I was scared when Bee passed out this morning. But I was still kinda pissy because of my god awful hang over. Even though I didn't show it, I could have cried tears of joy when she woke up. Staying mad at her is getting harder every day. I don't know how much longer I can go on with this.

And man, that guy flirting with Beth made me so angry. She was my Bethy. Waiters weren't allowed to wink at her!

Besides, I think after I blew up at her today I could at least ease off the meanness. I don't know what I'd do if she told me she hated me, but I'd surely react worse than she did.

My phone started to ring and I looked at the screen and answered it.

"Hey Pat, I'll be back in a minute," I said before hanging up.

I got off the bench and made my way back to the parking lot.

I wonder if that guy asked for her number?

If he did, would she give it to him?

_________________________________

I greeted my friends at the venue when Halvo started talking.

"Hey John, come meet our new merch girl," he suggested, dragging me over to their booth. I was expecting an edgy girl with piercings and six different colors in her hair, but what I got was a sweet looking girl next door.

"Beth, this is John from The Maine," Halvo introduced.

"Oh, I love your music! I'm Beth. It's nice to meet you," she smiled, sticking out her hand. I took it and my mouth became dry.

"Thanks. You too," I managed to choke out. There was something about this girl that made me so nervous.

"Are you alright?" She asked looking genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, I'm perfect. Uh, could I maybe get your number?" I stammered nervously.

"Absolutely!" She grinned, taking a Sharpie and scribbling the digits on my hand.

"You know you could have just put it in my phone," I joked.

"Yeah, but I like to be old school," she chuckled. "So are you actually going to call me, or do you ask every merch girl for her number?" She smirked.

"Just you," I answered truthfully, because I knew Beth was it.