You Drain The Life From Me.

Band practice, again. The boys were playing another show next weekend and they needed to perfect their new songs.

Garrett brought Rachael, so Lauren and I decided to go up to Pat's room.

"So, what happened?"

I did my best to avoid her question. "What happened where?"

"After you and Stephen left 8123!" she exclaimed, as if it was obvious.

"Well, um, we just walked around, that's all."

"Bullshit!"

"Lauren, how do you know? You weren't even there!"

"Yeah, but Baby Gomez was."

"Shit," I cursed under my breath. Stupid John Gomez and his big mouth.

"Yup, so what happened?"

"Uh. Nothing. How's your day going?"

"It's actually been going pretty well, but then I found out my best friend slept with Stephen Gomez and she won't even tell me about it!"

"Okay, well, I did. Big whoop."

"What do you mean big whoop?!" Lauren asked. "You lost your virginity," she finished in a hushed tone.

"And I was drunk, too," I added with a grimace.

"So? How was it?"

"I'd rather not talk about it."

"That bad?"

"Actually, no. That good."

Lauren shut up after that, but after some meaningless conversation, she brought up something I hadn't thought about.

"Did he wear a condom?"

I was silent as I tried to comb through my memory of whether or not we used protection.

I became more and more overcome with worry as the answer became more unclear.

"I don't remember," I whispered.

*~*~*~*~*~*

"Hey, Stephen?"

He looked up from his phone and nodded as a signal to continue.

"Did we um, were we uh, you know, safe?"

He almost choked on his ice cream.

"Yeah, definitely," he responded quickly, "We were 100% safe."

"Are you sure? I mean..."

"Yeah, there's nothing to worry about. I promise." He sent a reassuring smile my way and took a lick of his ice cream cone.

"Thanks for the ice cream, by the way," I said to him, smiling. He had taken me to Daisy Dairy for no apparent reason. He just called me and asked me if I wanted to go get ice cream out of the blue.

"Don't mention it, sweetheart."

We finished up our ice cream and headed out into the intense heat of Arizona. It was nearing summertime, so the temperatures rose. Stephen took my hand in his and pulled me over to the record store window.

"There's a sale on records, Leigh!"

"Sweet, let's go!"

I heard that familiar bell jangle as Stephen opened the door and dragged me inside.

With my hand still clasped in his, we walked towards the back, but he stopped at the sight of Garrett browsing through records, alone.

I just thanked God that he wasn't with Rachael.

"Um, we can leave..."

"No, Stephen. I don't want to miss a sale like this just because Garrett's here. I'm not running away from this."

Determined, I stood in front of a box of records and sifted through them while Stephen stood next to me doing the same.

Garrett cleared his throat and I looked up, expressionless.

"Hey, uh, Leigh. Hi, Stephen."

"Hey, Nickelsen," replied Stephen.

I sent a simple smile his way and said nothing else.

"Your smile doesn't reach your eyes like it used to," he practically whispered.

"What?" I asked, wondering if I had really heard what I thought I did.

He coughed. "Nothing. I didn't say anything."

"Okay..."

"Can I like, talk to you?" he asked, and added, "In private?" with his eyes on Stephen.

"I'm gonna go over there..." Stephen told me. He went wherever he did and I kept looking through various vinyls.

"Carry on," I instructed.

"Um, are you and Stephen like, going out?"

"No. Why do you ask? I don't feel like it's any of your business."

"Yeah, it is. I mean, technically, we're still together."

"Uh, no. That ended when you cheated on me, remember?"

"But we never officially--"

"Why does it need to be official? I got the message, loud and clear. You didn't want me anymore, but you didn't have the balls to tell me to my face. So you took the pussy way out. You cheated. And then eventually, you got her to break up with me for you. So basically what I'm saying is, whoop dee doo! You broke my heart. It happens every time. But now I also see that you're a coward. So yeah, Garrett, I'm pretty sure we're done."

His face turned red with anger and he shot back, "I'm a flirt. You of all people should know that."

"Just because I know you're a flirt doesn't mean you can be unfaithful."

"It just happened! I didn't mean for it to happen but I...I just..."

"How long?" I asked.

"What?"

"How long have you been with her?"

He closed his eyes and sighed. "Fine. If you really want to know,  three weeks.

"You cheated on me for three fucking weeks?"

"I told you, it wasn't like I planned this."

"But you've liked her all along! You have! I just got in the way."

"Okay, Leigh! I admit it! I got tired of you! Is that what you wanted to hear?"

I didn't know it was possible for my heart to break even more, but it felt like it had been thrown on the ground once more and beaten with a mallet repeatedly. He promised.

His eyes got wide and immediately, apologies spewed out of his mouth. He knew that was one of the things I feared most, and it was also one of the things he promised he would never do. "That's not what I meant to say! I'm sorry, fuck. Leigh--"

"You cunt! You promised you would stay around! You promised you wouldn't get tired of me because I was your best friend and you loved me!"

"I'm--"

"Don't you dare say you're sorry because you don't mean it. If you truly cared for me, you wouldn't have done it in the first place."

Without waiting for a response, I walked out the door, furious and holding back tears.

I came to a wall by a street that was currently empty. It was the wall outside of a library. I stood with my back resting on it, trying to calm down, but instead, I slid down and sat there, my arms around my knees.

I broke down and I cried.

I cried for our broken relationship. I cried for Stephen, because he was a nice guy and he had gotten caught in the middle of a ridiculous mess. I cried for my stupidity and my naïvety. I cried for Garrett.

Maybe it was two minutes, or maybe it was twenty. But Stephen was there, sitting next to me, an arm around my shoulders, lips pressed to my forehead, gentle fingers wiping away tears that were replaced by new ones.