You Drain The Life From Me.

I sat on the tabletop, watching the boys play. My brother, John, stood with his back to the crowd, singing that brilliant voice of his. You count 'em one, two, three. You look so cute when you get that mad. He was nervous, a trait that both of us were born with. He hid it better than I did most times, but right now, he was a wreck.

I pulled down my tank top, but not so much that I flashed the people standing in front of me. I traced the faded Cardinology symbol on it. Garrett had bought me the shirt, promising me that one day, we would see Ryan Adams together. John had flipped a shit when he found out, assuming that the shirt was a gesture of more-than-friendly-affection. I assured him it wasn't (it took almost a week to get him to start talking to Garrett again), but sometimes, I wish it was.

I wouldn't ever go for him. John would, "beat the living shit" out of whoever tried to date me and then, "kick their asses so hard they'd end up in Maine."

John loves the guys like he loves Shane, Ross, and I, but he was over protective of me and I knew it better than anyone else. Even when we were little, he watched me like a hawk.

We were on the playground with Garrett and Pat. John was nine and Garrett, Pat, and I were seven. I had admitted to having a crush on Garrett the week before, and everyone made fun of us. Garrett avoided me like the plague. But then when John and Pat buddied up to use the bathroom like our parents had taught us, Garrett and I stayed behind. He told me that John had instructed him to stay away from me because it was gross that he liked me. I was insulted, but Garrett informed me later on in our secret hiding place that John had really told him that he would beat Garrett's butt if he liked me back. Which he did. Like me back, I mean, and so he kissed me on the cheek. It would have been awesome. Except, John saw us. And then he ran over to us all the way from the bathroom and pushed Garrett on the sand. He threw his toy dinosaur across the park. Then he said, "Don't kiss my sister like that, you snot face!" Garrett, being only seven at that time, cried and Pat had to bring him home to his mommy and John got a time out while I was told I was too young to kiss boys. Jared and Kennedy came over to laugh at John's expense and make fun of me for kissing boys.

Even then, we were all best friends. We all still are. Things haven't changed much. Well, except for the fact that Garrett and I weren't romantically involved. John had switched from using words like snot face to fuck ass. Garrett didn't cry anymore, but I couldn't say the same about his toy dinosaurs. He still kept them in his room. And we still went to our secret hiding spot all the time.

The Maine ended their set with Daisy, and I jumped off the table to walk to the other side, manning the merch, bracing myself for the swarm of fans coming my way.

"Can I get the I Partied Way Too Hard With John Ohh shirt in a medium?" a girl asked. She looked about my age, sixteen or seventeen. I turned to dig the shirt out of the boxes behind me and when I twisted back around, I saw that most of the line had dispersed. The girl in front of me looked to her right and I saw my brother being attacked with requests for autographs and pictures. I chuckled to myself, and called for Jared.

"What's up Leigh?"

"Can you go help my brother? He looks absolutely terrified."

Jared jogged over to the crowd, half of which went over to him. I could see that John was extremely relieved.

"That'll be $20." We traded money for clothing and I smiled at her.

She shoved a $5 into my tip jar and I smiled even wider. "Did you like the show?"

"I loved it!" she replied honestly, "My favorite song was Give Me Anything. Is the lead singer your brother?"

"Yeah, we're two years apart. He's a pain in the ass and overprotective as hell, but I love him."

Suddenly, an arm was draped around my shoulder and a voice said, "I hope you're talking about me. I'm not a pain in the ass though, but I watch out for you and you love me."

I shook my head as Garrett lifted his head up to the girl in front of me. He did his famous, awkward, "Hey!" She smiled back. "You're in my English class!"

"Yup, second period, right?"

"Yeah! Sorry if I've ever thrown anything at you or anything...I don't mean to. It's just..I try to hit Ms. Rogers and I miss sometimes, so..."

"You've never thrown anything at me, don't worry."

"Okay, good. Wait, you're Lauren, right?" She nodded and he lowered his head back down to mine. "That's the girl Pat has a crush on!"

I could see Lauren visibly blush. "Garrett, you said that kind of, really loud."

He smacked his hand to his forehead. "Oh well. Lauren, did you tip her already?"

"Yeah, she tipped me and I love her for it!" I said.

"Okay, well if she didn't, I would have just made up for it in the bedroom anyway."

Lauren's blush crept back onto her cheeks. "Oh my God, shut up, Garrett. He's kidding, Lauren."

"Am I really kidding, Leigh?" Garrett walked around the table and grabbed Lauren's wrist and singsonged, "Oh Pat..."

"Hey Leigh, I'll catch you later, alright?" she said to me. I nodded and went back to selling t-shirts and demos.