You Drain The Life From Me.

"We've done it! High school is done!" Pat screamed.

"Oh shit, now he's gonna go all Ratboy on us..." Garrett muttered.

"Didn't he kill Ratboy off?" Lauren questioned.

"Yeah, it's Michael now," I answered.

In my opinion, Michael was worse than Ratboy. At least with Ratboy, we knew when he was going to have an outburst, because he would tuck his hair behind his ears and then he would attack. With Michael, he would just attack.

The four of us were standing off to the side, and I knew none of us could really grasp the fact that we had finished high school.

"Party at Pat's tonight, right?" Garrett asked everyone.

I nodded. Lauren went to calm Pat down, so I told Garrett, "I think I'm gonna tell everyone today. At the party. I mean, the band. Everyone in the band."

He turned to me, eyes wide. "Really? Have you told your parents yet?"

I shook my head. "My next checkup is tomorrow. I'm bringing my mom."

Before Garrett could respond, Stephen came up to us. "Congratulations, guys."

Gare mumbled, "Thanks. I'll see you guys later, I have to, uh, go say hi to my family. Bye."

I sighed. "He's never going to warm up to you. I mean, not that I expect him to. But it'd be nice if he did."

"I'm never going to warm up to him either, you know that, don't you?"

I nodded. "But anyway," Stephen continued, "Congratulations on finishing high school, Leigh!"

He wrapped his arms around me and asked, "What does it feel like to be a graduate?"

"Stephen, don't squeeze me too hard, the baby--"

"Shit! I'm sorry." He loosened his grip on me.

"Hey! It's not fair that you get to hug my sister before I do!" John yelled from about two feet away. He, my brothers, and my parents were walking towards us.

"It feels great to be a graduate," I whispered to him.

My parents still didn't know about Stephen.

"Hey, Leigh! Who's this?" my mother asked. I guessed she had a right to be surprised, she never really ever saw me with Stephen.

I could see my dad assessing Stephen, trying go figure out right there on the spot whether he was a good guy or not.

"Um, mom, dad, this is Stephen Gomez. He's my boyfriend." And the possible father of my baby

Stephen stuck his hand out immediately to shake my father's. Both my parents were quite shocked at the fact that Stephen was my boyfriend, due to the fact that they didn't even know that I had broken up with Garrett yet.

"Hello, I'm Stephen. Nice to meet you, Mr. And Mrs. O'Callaghan. You've raised a wonderful daughter."

My mother and father both smiled.

"Stephen, why don't you come with us for dinner tonight so we can all get to know you?" my mom suggested, "Leigh's never really talked about you before!"

Stephen nodded. "I would like that."

My mom and dad started talking about how wonderful the ceremony was and how beautiful I looked up on the platform thing. How they couldn't believe I was growing up and soon, I would start making plans for college.

I barely paid attention. I just thought about how hurt Garrett looked. He and his family were standing right behind my parents and he was staring at me and Stephen. If things were normal, he and I both knew that he would be here instead of Stephen, talking to my family, and his family would be here as well.

"There are the Nickelsens!" my dad said suddenly. He turned and waved them over, and they jumped right into our conversation.

Needless to say, it got really awkward. Stephen and Garrett were staring each other down, John, Ross, and Shane were having a stupid poke fight, the Nickelsen and O'Callaghan parents were conversing animatedly, and here I was, feeling the need to barf.

"Uh, d-dad, what time did you make those dinner reservations at?" I was trying my best to break up the conversation so that we could leave before Garrett and Stephen killed each other.

"Oh shoot! We're going to be late if we don't get going. Hey, why don't you guys join us?"

I froze.

"We haven't had you guys over for dinner in a while!" my mom said.

The Nickelsens? Coming with us for dinner?

No fucking way. No. No no no.

"We'd be happy to join you!"

Fuck.



"Well that certainly was awkward as fuck..." Stephen said in the car.

It was. Stephen, Garrett, and I barely talked. Our parents did all the talking. John  and Trey noticed what was going on and distracted our parents whenever they tried to ask a question related to me and Garrett's relationship.

Stephen tried to be as polite as he could. He even tried to pay for his portion of the meal. Garrett and I refused to make eye contact with each other.

I thanked God that no one noticed that Garrett and I were playing footsie under the table. Force of habit.

"I'm just glad it's over."

"Hey, I don't think I'll be able to make it to Pat's party tonight."

"What? Why?"

"I'm really tired out from dinner. Ignoring your girlfriend's ex and trying to be polite and make a good impression on your girlfriend's parents all at the same time can really drain the life from a person."

"I'm really sorry about that, Stephen."

"It's not anyone's fault."

"I wanted you to come though."

"Well, it's just a party, right?"

"Yeah...but I was gonna tell the band tonight."

Stephen's eyebrows shot up and he turned to me at a red light.

"Tell me how that goes, okay sweetheart? And if you need someone to drive you home, I'll be there in a second."

When we got to my house, we both got out of the car and stood there. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips to his. His hands went around my waist and he smiled into the kiss. "I'm really bummed that you're not coming tonight," I mumbled.

"I'll go next time, I promise."

"I wouldn't go, I would rather stay with you. But I kind of have to go. I'm one of the guests of honor or whatever."

"I'd rather you go and have fun. You'll be fine, Leigh. I promise."

He pressed his lips to mine one last time and warned me, "No drinking. Okay? I won't be there to watch over you this time. Absolutely no drinking."

I nodded and gave him a proper hug. "Bye, sweetheart."

"Bye Stephen."