I Guess This Is Growing Up

The four of us walked around the blocks for a bit, before deciding on Panera Bread.

“We’re both from New Jersey. Are both of you French?” Marky asked as the four of us sat down. The other people that they had come with already left.

I nodded, “Yeah. But I lived here for ten years. Evan only lived here for one year; our last year of high school. Then we moved to England. But Evan still knows little English, because she always has translators or wherever she goes has a French speaking person.”

They nodded and when the waitress came Amanda ordered for Evangeline. “How long are you two in America for?”

“Just a few weeks.”I replied, taking a sip of my water. Evangeline sipped her green tea, and then our food was brought. I hadn’t been to Panera Bread since the date with Jack where he brought Ashli.

Evangeline ate her sandwich, and then looked at the two men in front of her, “So what do those two shirts that you made say? The ones with the couples, with the French under it?” Jonny asked.

“Le ‘Que faites-vous, quand l'amour n'est pas assez?’ un?” she asked and he nodded.

“What do you do, when love isn’t enough?” I answered.

“I think it sounds better in French, myself.” Marky replied, a slight smile on his face.

“Je consens.” Evangeline muttered. I half smiled and then we idly chatted, with me translating.

When we were finished eating, the four of us took a picture together, and they said that they’d keep in touch. As we walked away, there was an air depression around both of us.

“They’re close with them.” She said.

I nodded, “Yeah. And there’s a good chance that they’ll see the picture. And know that we’re here.”

“We already know.” A voice behind us said. Both of us whirled around, and were face to face with the four people we were trying to avoid. “We saw you in the park.” Alex continued. “And Flyzik said he saw you.”

“Oh...” we said in unison.

They walked with us, and the silence was excruciating. “So how long are you guys in town for?” Rian asked.

“Until early December.” I said, and they nodded.

“How’s school?” he continued.

“It’s okay. I’m going for nutrition and business.”

“And I dropped out.” Evangeline said, shoving her hands into her hoodie pockets.

I felt a pair of eyes on me but refused to look at him, and I noticed that Zack was watching Evangeline, who was staring at the ground. “So what about you guys?” I said, but already knowing the answer.

“Oh you know, just touring.” Alex said a grin on his face.

“So I’m sure you guys are having fun.” I replied, a slight smile on my face. Alex grinned and nodded, “Yeah.”

“Have you listened to any of our newest stuff?” Jack asked quietly.

The two of us shook our heads in unison. “No, sorry.” Jack shrugged, but I knew that it hurt him.

“Well anyway we should get going.” I said, and Evangeline nodded as I continued, “Still trying to catch up to this time zone and everything.”

“Oh, okay. Yeah.” Jack said, nodding.

“Maybe after the show tomorrow we can all hang and catch up?” Rian suggested, “I mean, I haven’t seen you, Amanda since your grad party, and you Evan since the ceremony. Where did you end up going?”

“I don’t remember.” She mumbled. Zack was looking at his feet and so was Jack. I wondered if this was as painful for the two boys as I knew it was for us.

“We’ll have to see. We’ve yet to see our parents, you know.”

“Yeah, your mom said that you were planning on spending Thanksgiving with them?” Alex said. We both nodded, “Well that’s good. In case we don’t meet up before then, we’ve taken to having a really fucking huge Thanksgiving. All of our families and such.”

We nodded and were at our hotel. The group of us walked in, and Evangeline told me that she was going to sit out by the pool for a bit. I nodded knowing that she needed to be alone.

Jack walked me to my room, “Amanda, can we talk?” I nodded, letting him into the room. We sat in the room, and he sighed. “I’m sorry about prom night. I should have told you that sooner, and not just the night before you left. But...God, I was seventeen. And I had fallen for the girl that I had known for most of my life. And then you just...you refused to talk to me. To let me explain, to-”

“Oh so all of that was MY fault?” I said shrilly. He winced, and shook his head.

“No. It’s just...You and Evan were so convinced that I was this asshole who would hurt you like that-”

“Can you blame us?! It’s not like you were the perfect boyfriend! You brought your ex to a lunch date between us, ‘just in case we were over’ and then you just...” I took a deep breath, “Plus, it’s partly your fault that Evangeline and Zack broke up.” Jack winced.

“I know. Well...I know that I had a role in it.”

“Glad to see you can finally admit that you caused three people pain.”

“What the fuck do you want from me, Amanda?!” Jack shouted, “I don’t know what you fucking want. I’m sorry, okay. I’m fucking sorry.”

I felt myself standing in shock, not used to this Jack. I had never seen him get so worked up about something. “Just leave.” I said, tears coming to my eyes. He groaned and walked out. Right before I followed to slam the door in his face he faced me, “I still care about you, Amanda. And Zack still cares about Evan.”

“Well that’s too bad for you. And as for my best friend, well I think it would be best if you just stayed out of her personal life. You already fucked that up once, you’d better not do it again.”