The Sun Also Sets

Kennedy Brock left the stage with a loose grin on his face. He shook the sweat out of his hair all over the girl in front of him as she let out a giggle.

“Gross!” she laughed.

He engulfed her in a hug, “How did I do?”

“Wonderful, as always honey,” she said, kissing him.

He kissed her back, realizing how much he had missed her. Kristen Holland was the most beautiful girl he had ever met. She was fun and sexy, and he was falling for her. He had met her at one of their shows a few months ago, and they had been together since.

“I don’t want you to leave, baby,” she mumbled into his neck.

“We only have about half of the tour left, I’ll be back soon,” he told her.

“Come on, lover boy, we have fans,” Jared said, pulling Kennedy away by his shirt.

“Bro, we’re only in town until the morning, I need to spend time with her,” Kennedy whined.

Jared rolled his eyes, “Dude, you’re annoying.”

Kennedy sighed, walking out to the fans. He loved interacting with the kids and hearing them tell him how The Maine had impacted their lives. He really did love what he had to opportunity to do on a daily basis.

Nothing was wrong in his life. It was perfect.

“Please don’t leave,” he heard in his ear as a pair of arms wrapped around his waist.

He turned around and kissed her, “I have to. But let’s not talk about that. You’re coming to John’s right?”

“Of course. But I was sort of hoping to have you alone,” she smiled guiltily.

“I have to go home first, but I’ll pick you up at nine, okay?” Kennedy said.

She pouted but finally nodded her head, “Okay.”

Kennedy kissed her goodbye and found Garrett, who would drive him home. As they drove, Garrett glanced at Kennedy as he sat with a smug grin on his lips, “So how are things with Kristen?”

“Great,” he replied.

“Hasn’t it only been like three months?” Garrett asked.

Kennedy rolled his eyes, “I like her, a lot.”

“She’s kind of an idiot,” Garrett said.

“Shut up, bro,” Kennedy said, looking out the window.

“Just saying,” he replied.

They arrived at Kennedy’s house and he climbed out of Garrett’s car. “Hey, say hi to your sister for me.”

Kennedy rolled his eyes as Garrett winked, “No way. See you at John’s.”

He walked into his home and shouted, “Hello?”

“Kennedy!” he heard a squeal before he was nearly tackled to the ground.

“Oh, Kelsey, I missed you so much!” he mumbled against her hair.

“I missed you, too, big bro,” she said, pulling away.

“You look like you need to put some clothes on,” he said, “Where do you think you’re going?”

She smiled at him and he quickly surveyed her scantily clad figure and high heeled shoes, “I’m going to that party at John Oh’s, Eric invited me.”

“Of course he did. And you’re not going,” Kennedy said, “Where are mom and dad?”

“Probably in the kitchen. But guess what?” she asked, a smile on her lips.

“What?”

“I got accepted into NYU!” she said excitedly.

He embraced his little sister in a tight hug, “I knew you could do it.”

“Things seem pretty well for us right about now,” she said.

He smiled at her, “No, things are perfect.”

*

Eric laughed at his friend, “Come on, gloomy, cheer up!”

“No thanks,” John mumbled, keeping his head pressed to the window and his eyes closed.

“Oh my God, I haven’t seen you in a month and a half and you’re already making me excited for when you leave,” he said.

“I’m just tired, Halvo,” he said.

“Well, you better put on a smile for Leah and my parents, they’re excited to see you,” Eric said flatly. It annoyed him how unbearable and unsociable John was as of late. Only to Eric, though. Everyone else he would be completely fake to. But with his best friend he didn’t have to lie, and sometimes Eric wish he would. Most of the time he could deal, but John always got this way around March.

That’s when it hit him, “Oh god, tomorrow is...”

“Yep,” John replied curtly, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay,” Eric said softly. The rest of the ride was silent. They arrived at Eric’s family’s home and John jumped out. He jogged to the door and opened it without knocking.

“Hello?” he called into the big house.

He heard the click of heels on the ground and turned to see Mrs. Halvorsen walking towards him with her arms wide open, “John O’Callaghan, I’ve missed you.”

He held her tightly, “You too.”

As he pulled away she held him close, “Your mom sure is proud of you.”

He nodded his head, “I’m sure she is.”

Her shoulders slouched, disappointed he wasn’t more interested. John felt a pair of hands tighten on his shoulders and he turned to face Eric’s dad, putting his hand out to shake.

“Mr. Halvorsen, nice to see you,” he said.

“O’Callaghan, why didn’t you take my son on tour? He’s annoying us so much,” he laughed.

“Sorry, sir, next time I’ll work it out,” John said.

“I hate you guys,” Eric mumbled. “Where is Leah?”

“She’s at a party. Can you believe she’s fifteen now?”

John’s mouth fell agape, “Wow.”

“John, there’s dinner in the microwave for you. I know you probably want to shower so go on ahead,” Eric’s mom said.

“Thanks Mrs. Halvo,” he said before following Eric up the stairs.

They entered Eric’s old childhood room. He was still in the process of packing his things to move into the house he and John would soon be sharing.

As Eric looked around for a towel for John to shower with, John surveyed his room. His eyes fell to one box with a label in Eric’s scraggly handwriting, just a single name in black ink.

“You should get rid of this,” he said, kicking it.

“It’s not mine to get rid of,” Eric replied.

“It’s not coming to the house,” John said sternly.

“I’ll keep it in my room,” he said, rolling his eyes.

Eric left the room, claiming he would be back in just a second. John waited until he heard Eric bound down the stairs. He opened up the box slowly, seeing a picture frame. He ran his hand over it gently. It was of three gangly looking kids, their arms slung over each other’s shoulders, probably around age eight.

“You could have it if you want.”

“Yeah, right,” John said coolly, dropping it back in the box.

Eric threw the towel at John. He entered the bathroom and turned on the shower. He stayed in there probably longer then he should have, trying to escape what waited for him tonight. It would just be people from high school, asking him how he was doing, or trying to make idle conversation so they could be those people that didn’t pry.

He was fine, they just didn’t realize it. By asking it only made him think about it. Everyone knew what was tomorrow was. He didn’t need to talk about it.

John ate the dinner Mrs. Halvorsen had prepared before he and Eric drove to their small town house. They would be hosting the party, much to Eric’s protest because he would have to clean it up alone.

They didn’t have much to prepare, just set out the drinks. Eric did most of it. He hated being around John. He hoped he would just get drunk, because at least then he was fun.

Soon people began to arrive, and Eric was glad to see John plaster that smile on his face. He had really gotten much better at faking it. It gave Eric hope. It wasn’t healthy to let your mind eat away at you, John didn’t deserve it.

He couldn’t even blame him, but he didn’t know how to help. He didn’t think that John expected anything from him, but it still made his heart go out for his best friend.

Eric watched from the couch as people began to filter into his house. It was sort of creepy but he liked to survey people at parties. He enjoyed watching people get drunk and seeing their courage reach its peak, mostly in front of people they would never remember.

He would drink beer slowly, never one to get too drunk. It was as he sat on that couch he saw her walk through the door. She was alone, and no one in the house even realized she had shown up.

He knew what must be going though her head. She felt self-conscious, wondering if anyone would give her a hard time. She had only come because Eric had begged her to. She never got out of the house, and you could tell by just the sight of her.

Her light brown hair was only loosely curled and she wore hardly any makeup. The dress she wore was slightly wrinkled at the bottom, only noticeable to someone looking for it. The worst part was her eyes. Her blue eyes didn’t shine. There was no light in them, no life.

He stood to walk to her, to wrap her in a hug and tell her it would all be okay. But before he could even get close to her he saw her staring across the room. He followed her eyes, finding the person she had locked eyes with and his stomach tightened.

“Halvo, I need some advice,” he heard as someone sat down next to him.

He turned to face Kennedy, “What’s up, bro?”

“What do you think of Kristen?” he asked.

Eric followed his eyes and spotted the girl dancing with her friends, “She’s cute.”

“I like her,” he said, “But everyone is saying she’s annoying.”

“Well do you really like her? Or just in bed?” Eric asked.

Kennedy smiled, “Well, that too.”

“I don’t know,” Eric said, “Keep her around if you want.”

“You got anyone else in mind I could go for?” he asked.

Eric looked around the party, scanning through the many girls there. Everyone wanted to hook up with a guy in a band around this town, so it was easy to find someone. But Kennedy was a good guy, he needed a girl that would last.

“Well, this is kind of depressing,” Eric laughed, “I can’t find anyone.”

“What about her?” Kenny asked, pointing to a brunette girl.

Eric shook his head furiously as soon as he caught sight of her, “No, definitely not.”

“Someone else’s girl?” he asked.

“Kind of,” he said, dropping the subject and keeping his eyes on her. He watched her make her way through the crowd, searching for him, no doubt. He almost waved before he saw another boy grab her hand, his stomach tightening once more.

Nothing good would come from them speaking.

*
John O’Callaghan sat in his bunk. He had ear buds in his ears, blocking out the sounds of his friends snoring. He was excited to leave Arizona. He didn’t even visit his family; for he couldn’t stand to see his parents that just didn't understand.
Arizona wasn’t his home anymore. It hadn’t been for four years. His home was on the road. He made a new home in every city, on every tour. These people, the fans, were his family.

John O’Callaghan wasn’t depressed. How could he be? He had people that loved him and he loved others as well. He wrote songs from his heart and some that meant nothing at all. But none of the songs that the kids sang along to really described how he felt.

He couldn’t let that out; it would break their oblivious hearts. Life did bad things to people that didn’t deserve it. But the only thing that kept him going was that those horrible thing also happened to people that did deserve it.

It had been four years since it happened, but he couldn’t lie and say that it wasn’t her face that flashed in his mind every time he closed his eyes for sleep. Or that it wasn’t her laugh that he dreamed about, or how he wished that he had only taken her home that night.

He owed it to her. She told him once that he was her hero. But she didn’t know that she was actually his. He loved her to pieces and dreaming of a world without her was inconceivable.

But now he lived in that world that seemed so much darker without her. She had touched so many lives in her short years, but in comparison with the world, they didn’t even know she was gone.

The party at his house was a good distraction. He tried to get drunk but he had built up such a tolerance and there just wasn’t enough time in the night. He didn’t wonder about the girl he left, he didn’t need to, he had said all he needed to her after he did what some would say he did best. In some kind of cruel world, she probably deserved it, and that thought running through John’s head almost made him scared of who he had become; almost.

But John couldn’t sleep. This day would never get easier. But things weren’t supposed to, he supposed. Things didn’t get better with time, they only numbed.

He felt his cell phone vibrate next to him and saw that it was Eric. He took the bud out of his ear and put the phone against it, “Bro, I literally left five hours ago. Do you miss me that much?”

“John,” Eric spoke, his voice shaking.

“Eric, what’s going on?” John asked, worried now.

But when Eric said his next words John’s mood changed. He almost felt relieved; no, he felt justified,

“They found Hayden at the base of Suicide Cliffs.”