Brave the Storm and Embrace the Rain

I spent the next few days out with Eadon and the occasional days with Kalib, Reid, and Trenton. Eadon would call me every afternoon stating that he was sitting outside in my driveway, waiting for my "Pretty Face".

Today was the same as the last few. It was around 1:30 when my cell phone starting ringing from under the covers of my bed. I reached over and put it to my pierced ear.

"Hey," I greeted, already knowing who was on the other line.

"I'm outside, Indybabe. Come on, Lets go," Eadon murmured, but not in a demanding way. His tone was soft yet deep with adulthood.

I laughed, "I'll be out in a minute. I'll have to defuse Karli again," I joked as I slipped my shoes on and yanked on a red hoodie that I had stolen from Eadon one night as we sat at McDonalds, freezing in the over air-conditioned play room that was barren of any children at that late time of night.

"Your Step-Mom must really hate me," Eadon laughed as I walked down the stairs to see Karli sitting on the living room couch as the twins played with their toys.

"Just strongly dislike," I informed him as I waved goodbye to the boys and their mom who stood up and motioned for me to stop. I lowered the phone from my ear and turned to face her with a bored look on my face.

"Yeah?" I questioned lightly as I inched towards the front door.

"When will you be home?" She asked.

"Around 9, maybe? I'm not really sure," I replied, feeling the tenseness that had been building between us since our argument.

Karli sighed and waved me away with her hand as she turned to go and sit back down on the couch. The twins looked between their mom and I before walking over to me with glum looks on their almost identical faces.

"You're leaving again today?" Maddox asked as he and Wyler stood in front of me.

I nodded and pulled them each into a hug as they whined and grabbed onto my jacket in attempt to let me know that they did not want me to go out with Eadon. "I'll be back later," I told them in a voice that was begging them not to cry or whine anymore.

"Why don't you play with us, anymore?" Wyler questioned.

I shrugged, "Because I'm a big kid. But I'll play with you guys tomorrow, okay? Promise." I told them as I released them and started to walk past them.

"Will you take us to the movies?" Wyler shouted after me as I hurried towards the front door, realizing that I hung up on Eadon moment before.

"Sure," I told them and I waved, called goodbye, and walked out the door. I looked back to see their little faces in the front window as they waved frantically. I waved back and then turned to grin at Eadon who sat in the drivers seat of his custom detailed mustang.
A smile spread over his lips as I opened the door and hopped in, waving goodbye to the faces in the window once more. Karli stood there too, watching as Eadon and I screeched out of the driveway and down the street.

"What are we doing today?" I questioned, knowing that Eadon never had a plan when he came to pick me up every afternoon.

Eadon shrugged like usual with a cute grin on his features as he steered.

"Well, think of something," I laughed as I leaned back against the leather seats as I fiddled with the touch screen on the dashboard that controlled everything from the heat and air to the stereo and radio. I put in Eadon's Avenged Sevenfold 'Nightmare' CD and began to sing along to the first song, "Welcome To The Family."

Eadon laughed and shrugged again as we turned onto main street, heading in the same direction of Peyton Skate Park. When we reached Newark Eadon seemed to have some idea of where we were going, so I sat back and let him take me where he pleased. He pulled into a parking lot about 20 minutes later. We were sitting outside an apartment building.

"It's not my place, " Eadon murmured before I could start to become suspicious.

I pouted slightly, stumped on who's house it could be. I sat there as Eadon switched the car off and got out. I followed suit automatically and walked around the car so that I was standing next to him. His hand ran down my forearm and his fingers slipped in between mine as he led me into the light grey building and towards the stairs.

I whined as we got half way up our third flight of stairs. Eadon was laughing at me as I reached out and waved my hand at him tiredly, in attempt to smack him. He slid back slightly and bursted out laughing as I pulled away from him. I took a deep breath and sat down on the stairs. Eadon groaned and reached down to grab and tug on my wrist.

"One more set of stairs!" He told me as I ripped my hand away from him, playfully.

"Nope," I replied, "I'm not going any farther until you tell me who's place this is!"

Eadon rolled his eyes and took a seat next to me. He rested his elbows on his knees and looked at me with his head tilted downwards. His hair fell pin-straight around his face. His foggy green eyes were bright with mischief and surprise. The sun was streaming in through the windows above the stairs and highlighting his eyes and the lighter brown streaks in his hair.

"You really don't like surprises, do you?" Eadon questioned as he tangled his fingers with mine, his face coming closer to my own on instinct.

I shook my head in disagreement, "It's not that. It's just that I don't like working for surprises."

Eadon chuckled and pushed his lips against mine quickly before dragging me up by my hand. He pulled me up the rest of the stairs and down a hallway that had bright red walls and pretty lighting. He stopped abruptly and knocked on the door of apartment number 38 before pushing the door open and walking right in. There was a kitchen to my left and straight ahead was a living room filled with familiar guys.

"Eadon!" I shouted as I smacked him, "This isn't a surprise! It's your loser friends!"

Trenton jumped up off of the couch as the three of them shouted in offense. "I'm hurt!" Trent shouted as he rushed towards me. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and yanked me away from Eadon.

"I meant no harm," I giggled as he spun me around.

"Well you hurt my feelings!" He screeched as he held on tightly to me.

"Mine too!" Reid yelled playfully from the couch, winking to let me know that he was just feeding Trent's theatrics.

"I'm sorry, guys," I told them in a serious voice as Eadon's arms replaced Trenton's, "But Eadon's surprises just suck."

The guys bursted out laughing as Eadon put a pout on his face. I copied Eadon's pout and pressed my lips against his to subdue him. His pout changed into a small smile as he sat back on the couch.

The guys and I talked for a bit while Eadon sat and contemplated something. He sucked on his lip ring as he watched the t.v blankly. His arm was wrapped around my shoulders as we sat together but his mind was some where else. After about a half an hour of sitting there hanging out with the guys Eadon spoke.

"Let's go do something," He murmured, stretching, "Something more entertaining than hanging around this dump," He flinched when Reid reached out and punched Eadon in the shoulder. He held his hands up in defense as the guys got to their feet without questioned Eadon at all. I could once again see the air of authority that he held over the others. Authority he and the others didn't realize he had. Eadon stood up as well and then turned to me and held his hand out. I shook my head and crossed my ankles.

"What?" Eadon whined.

"I've barely been up here. I really don't want to tackle those stairs again."

I laughed as Eadon groaned yet held a smile on his face. "How about I carry you?"

I laughed this time and stood up quickly. I shook my head, "No thanks. But I'll race you guys."

"Deal!" Trenton shouted as he ran out of Reid's apartment.

I slipped my shoes on quickly and chased after him. I hurried down the hall and caught up to him as he rounded the first set of stairs. I jumped to the bottom from the middle an grinned as Trent yelled out.

"Cheater!" He screamed as I started on the second set of stairs.

I ignored him, not wasting my energy on talking. I reached the bottom huffing and puffing. Trent came down after me with a sad look on his face.

"No fair," He whined as the guys came walking down a few minutes later.

"Perfectly fair, you dumb ass. My girl is just faster than you," Eadon murmured as he sauntered down the stairs.

I grinned at Trenton in a cocky way as Eadon wrapped his arms around my shoulders and led me out to his mustang. I watched as the guys went over to another nice car, one I didn't know the name of, that seemed to belong to Kalib. They piled into that car as Eadon and I got into his and began driving to a destination that was unbeknownst to me. Once again I sang along to Avenged Sevenfold's 'Nightmare' album as Eadon watched with a grin on his face.