Stay With Me

“WHAT THE F-“

“Max” I hissed, jumping forward and putting my hand over his mouth forcefully. “Be quiet, someone might hear you”. Max licked my hand, my immediate reaction was to pull my hand away and shriek like a little girl would if a spider was crawling up her arm.

“Hah, I knew that would work. But anyway, what the hell’s going on?! You’re hot!” Max cried over dramatically, pulling a strange face. I’m not sure how to explain it... it was sort of like the scream mask, but his eyes were wider and his skin obviously wasn’t as white.

“You can’t tell anyone” I pleaded, “If my mum and stepdad find out someone knows they’ll be furious”.

Max nodded his head, “I promise I won’t say anything”. I held my pinky out to him, a small pout on my face. Max rolled his eyes quickly before stretching his arm out and linking his pinky with mine, “Pinky promise”.

“Right...” I started, I pushed Max over so I had room to sit on the bed. Fat bastard was stealing all the space. “I’m not this person Max, I’m not who you guys think I am” I whispered, I grabbed the wig and shoved it in his face before throwing it on the floor messily. “Everything’s a lie. But my name is actually Lauren, thank god. It’d be strange being sent off to a new house and having a complete new name as well. But anyway, my mum and stepdad sent me here because they got in massive debt with Josh’s family. As you know, Josh recently split up with his girlfriend and his parents thought he wasn’t going to find anyone to marry and have kids with, so my mum and stepdad basically chucked me their way”.

Max gave me a sympathetic smile and pulled me into his arms. I gently rested my head on his shoulder and inhaled his scent deeply. Mmmm. “I don’t wanna be here Max, I don’t wanna get married to someone I barely know. I’ve got a boyfriend for fucks sake” he gasped and pulled back to stare at me.

“Are you actually being serious?”

I nodded my head. “Completely serious... I told my mum about Cody, that’s my boyfriend, and she just said how pathetic I was being. We’ve been together nearly three years Max... I don’t wanna throw it all away because of my fucking stepdad. My mum’s making me put this act on as well, I’d rather be myself. I don’t like all that classical shit. I prefer rock music; I wanna be rocking out to fucking Blink 182 and New Found Glory. Seriously, and my wardrobe... I wanna wear my skinny jeans and ripped up tops again” I whined.

Max smirked at me, “You’re just what Josh needs”. My face dropped and I stared at him confused, “you’re everything his ex wasn’t. You’re funny, you like the same music, you’re not a slag, you wear decent things and you’re such a nice person. It sounds like no matter what you do, you’ll have to marry Josh anyway, so you might as well get to know him”

I gazed at Max with tears in my eyes, I knew he was right. I would have to accept it sooner or later, either way I would be marrying Josh and there was nothing I could do about it. “I don’t want to Max” I cried, “and the worst part is, I can’t let him see me like this. My mum will kill me”.

“If Josh see’s you like this, he will be all over you in a flash” Max smirked, he winked at me and pulled me onto his lap, his chin resting on my shoulder. “Are you going to try and get to know Josh?” Max asked, he pressed a small kiss to my shoulder and then fell backwards so he was laying down, me still sitting on his lap.

“Well, there’s nothing else I can do. He seems like such a brat though, when I met him for the first time he just took one look at me and pretty much ran out screaming how ugly I was”. I shifted so I was lying next to Max and placed my arm around his waist, snuggling into his side.

“Of course he’s a brat. He’s Josh Franceschi. He gets what he wants, when he wants it, it’s the way it’s always been. We’re all used to it, but trust me; it used to piss us off just as much as it pisses you off. Wait, fuck that. It still pisses us off. Especially when we have band practice and he just bails because he has something better to do. That something better usually tends to be fucking his girlfriend, but hey he won’t be doing that anymore” Max chuckled. I rolled my eyes wondering why he wasn’t sympathetic towards Josh.

Max turned on his side so he was facing me and gently played with my hair, “how long have you known Josh?” I questioned.

“We grew up together. We spent every damn second together, our parents never got tired though which I’m surprised about. Josh is like my little brother... my little brother that’s taller and fatter than me...”

I giggled. I fucking giggled. Since when do I giggle? “I had a friend that I grew up with, we spent every day together” I smiled, remembering her soft brown hair and bright blue eyes. I remembered her so well yet she’d been gone for months. Months isn’t long enough to forget someone though is it? Especially when they’ll be in your heart for ever. Sometimes I wish I could forget, just be able to sleep one night without waking up dripped in sweat and my eyes burning from the salty tears.

“Are you okay?” Max asked, I nodded my head quickly and shot out of bed. I lifted my hand up and rubbed my eyes realizing I was now crying. “What’s wrong?” Max whispered, jumping out of bed and walking over to me, he wrapped his arms around my waist making
me jump back and stare at him harshly.

“You should go”

“B-but... I-I... Did I do s-something?” Max stuttered, as a reply I shook my head and pointed to the door. “Lauren...” Max said softly, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion and his brown eyes flooding with hurt.

“Just go”

Max glanced at me once more before walking out of the door.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“El, stop it come back” I chuckled. She turned back to me a grin on her face and continued to run. Running wasn’t my strong point so catching up with her was a bit of a bitch. “Eleanorrr!” I whined, coming to a halt and leaning over to rest my hands on my thighs.

“What? Don’t tell me you’re not having fun”

“I’m not having fun. I hate running, you know I do. Why’d you even have to drag me out for this stupid run! It’s 7am, you usually go on your own, why didn’t you just go on your own again. You knew I’d constantly complain” I muttered.

“It’s nice to have company” She smiled, which in return made me smile. “I get lonely running sometimes, plus I saw some freaky dude yesterday and didn’t wanna come on my own today in case I saw him again and he tried to rape me” she giggled.

“Oh thanks, so if you seem him you’re going to throw me at him like a piece of meat and run?”

“That’s the plan batman” El grinned, “anyway... I need to show you something”. El carefully took my hand and started pulling me through lots of Alley ways and streets until we came to an abandoned building. She let go of my hand and ran up some stairs. I followed her slowly, cautiously looking around at the half burnt down building.

“El... I don’t think it’s safe” I whispered climbing up the rest of the stairs. Once I reached the top of the stair case I gasped. The stair case had lead to the roof of the building. You could see for miles, you could see most of surrey. All the fields, all the beautiful houses... everything. “It’s so beautiful” I breathed, El nodded from beside me and walked to the edge of the building.

“I know” She smiled, she leaned over the edge causing my heart to beat considerably faster.

“Be careful, you might fall” I gushed, grabbing her arm to steady her. She looked at me with a streak of black eyeliner coming from each eye. I frowned, wondering why my best friend was crying so suddenly.

“I love you so much, you’re my best friend. You always will be”

With that she jumped. She fucking jumped. She jumped off the edge of the building to the ground below, obviously not caring that she had left me behind. “EL!” I screamed.

“Lauren!” Josh yelled, I shot up in bed and stared at him with wide eyes and my cheeks covered in tears. “Are you okay? What happened?” He asked pulling me into a hug. I grabbed a fistful of his shirt and cried harder. “Shh Shh, its okay...” He cooed running his fingers through my hair. Thank god I’d put the wig on before I went to bed. Once I’d calmed down slightly, he laid me back down and pulled the covers up too my neck. “Do you wanna talk about it?” I shook my head and he sighed in understanding. “Night” he whispered getting up and walking over to my bedroom door to exit my room.

“Wait, don’t go” I sobbed quietly, he turned around and shot me a small smile. He chewed on his lip for a couple of minutes before giving in and walking over to my bed. He pulled the covers back and got in next to me. I snuggled up to him and placed my head on his chest and one arm over his waist. Josh placed a small kiss in my hair and pulled me into him tighter before falling into a deep sleep.