You Drain The Life From Me.

From: Kerosene Kid
Urban Outfitters?

To: Kerosene Kid
Urban Outfitters. Isn't Trey working there today?

From: Kerosene Kid
Yeah! We should go harass him ;)

I pulled on a plain white dress with a hat that I had stolen from John. Slipping into my sandals, I grabbed my bag and walked into the kitchen to munch on an apple before I left.

"Good morning, sweet cheeks!" I greeted my boyfriend.

"Where are you going?"

"Urban Outfitters with Gary."

"You guys are awfully close," he commented, obviously unhappy.

"You've finally caught on?" I chuckled.

"I thought you hated his guts."

"I forgave him. We're friends now, remember?"

"Well, yeah, but I didn't expect you guys to become so close so fast."

"Stephen, do you have a problem with Garrett and I?"

"No, but I have a problem with Garrett."

"Why is that?" I asked, annoyed.

"Because he hurt you, and that's not okay."

"Well yeah, but I have you now, and it's not like he's hurting me anymore."

"Sometimes I feel like you love him more than me. You're always talking about how he's known you for ten years, and I can't compete. You know? Like, I've only known you for what, three months? He knows things about you that I will probably never know."

I was speechless. And I was guilty. I pulled out my phone and opened a new message.

To: Kerosene Kid
Can we hold off on Urban Outfitters? Something came up.

"But I don't do some things with Garrett that I do with you." I got up and walked towards him.

"Like what?"

"Like this. I'm sorry, Stephen."

I stepped up on my tip toes and pressed my lips to his. He placed his hands on my waist, deepening the kiss. My vibrating phone on the table was forgotten in a rush of kisses and moans and soon, I was lifted up onto the counter and his lips were at my neck, biting at the spot that only one other person knew about, the other person whose name I had forgotten. Stephen was the only one on my mind, and it stayed that way when he carried me to the bedroom, and when our clothes were thrown haphazardly around the room.

"I love you, baby," he breathed.

"I love you, Stephen."

And it was true. I did. And I hoped it was enough love to overpower the love I had for another boy, another boy who also played bass, one who loved Ryan Adams and zombies. I really hoped so.



"Jesus, that was a great apology, Leigh."

"Why thank you, dear."

"For a pregnant woman, you really can--"

He was interrupted as my phone rang loud and clear from the table outside. I pulled on one of Stephen's shirts from the drawer and ran outside to pick it up.

"Hello?"

"Are you still up for Urban Outfitters?"

I walked back into the room and plopped down next to Stephen. "Well, not exactly. I mean, I really would love to go, but not today. I'm sorry, Gare."

"You're busy? Too busy for your best friend?" I knew he was joking, but I also knew that he was somewhat serious.

"Well, I just want to spend time with Stephen."

"You spend every day with him," Garrett whined.

"We'll hang out tomorrow, I promise."

"Alright, then. I'll just hang out with Pat. Bye, Leigh."

"Bye, Garrett."

As soon as the phone was down, Stephen grinned and asked, "Round two?"

"Round two it is, babe."



"Garrett, do you think I'll ever get out of Tempe?" I asked. We were tangled in the bed sheets as we lay in his bed on a lazy summer afternoon. He had just gotten a new record player as a gift from his parents for successfully passing the eighth grade and he called me over the minute he got it all set up so that we could listen to the Ryan Adams vinyl that we had bought months ago just for this very occasion.

He shifted so he was facing me, and I did the same. "Why do you ask that?"

"Well, you're obviously gonna get out, what with your bands and all. Maybe Short Bus wasn't the right band," I said, referring to the recent breakup of his first band, "But I know you'll find another one and get really fucking famous and go all around the world."

"I'm glad you believe in me, Leigh. Thanks," he replied with a wide grin.

"You know I always have. Even when we were little, I thought you were gonna be the most kickass jedi master I had ever met in my life."

"Is that really what you thought?" he asked incredulously.

"Yep. When I walked into the first day of second grade and you were there with your Obi Wan Kenobi action figure, I whipped out my Darth Vader action figure and we went at it. I knew right then that we were gonna be best friends."

"Kiddo, you need to lend me your memory one day."

"Don't act like you don't remember, Babynicko!"

He chuckled at the nickname.

"Leigh," he said, "you know what? When we get older, I know how you'll get outta Tempe. When my band goes on tour, you'll be our merch girl, because I know you'll be able to handle the money and math and you're responsible. Plus, you're my best friend and I don't care who I'm in the band with. They'll just have to trust you because I do. I trust you with my life."

My mouth gaped open and his confession. "You trust me with your entire life?"

"Yup. I really do. You're everything to me, Leigh. You're the best friend I've ever had."

"I love you, Garebear."

"Love you too. Don't you ever forget it."

I woke up with Stephen's lips on mine, and his soft voice saying, "Good morning lovebug." Guilt washed over me as I realized that I had dreamt about Garrett while in bed with Stephen, but I shrugged it off.

"Good morning, mister Gomez!"

"You sound way too chipper for someone who just woke up."

"Well, it might have something to do with what happened last night, Stefan," I shot back, using the wrong pronunciation of his name, just to annoy him.

He ignored my nickname and asked, "What happened last night?" feigning innocence.

"Don't play dumb with me! That was great apology sex and you know it."

Even though I was the one talking about it, I blushed profusely. "Wipe that blush off your cheeks, O'Callaghan! Don't be ashamed. I know I'm wonderful in bed."

I rolled my eyes at his cocky remark and got up and out of bed, grabbing a shirt from the dresser drawer.

"Leigh," he whined, "I'm too lazy to make breakfast. Let's go to IHOP!"

"Oh, so you can pig out on like three plates of pancakes? It's your turn to make breakfast, though!"

"You read my mind! And I'll pay," he replied with a smirk.

"Alright, fine."

"And plus, I have something to tell you, and I'd rather do it over a nice breakfast than a crappy one that I made."

"A crappy breakfast being cereal with blueberries and bananas, in which you exert no effort to make?"

"I slice the bananas, you know. And I have to unpeel them too. And I have to shake the cereal out of the box, and open the fridge to get the jug of milk out - which by the way is really heavy. Then I have to-"

"Oh shut it and get outta bed. I'll be in the shower."

"Can I join you?" he asked with a hopeful gleam in his eye.

"No. Don't even try."

A pout formed on his lips, which I ignored, and I walked off to the bathroom with a smirk.



An hour later (Stephen took much longer with his hair than I did), we were patiently waiting for our turn to be seated. Stephen and I talked about the possibility of him opening a taco restaurant when I spotted a tall, lanky figure make its way to the men's room.

I chuckled to myself and called out, "Hey, John Ohh! You're walking into the wrong bathroom. The ladies room is on the other side!"

He turned and grinned once he found where the comment came from, and I snickered. He walked over to Stephen and I and gave me a hug. He did that bro hug thing with Stephen, which to this day I still did not know how to do.

"You should've told me you were gonna eat here! We would've totally saved you guys spots."

"Yeah, well, Leigh takes forever to get out of bed after having s-"

"Some tea! Yeah. You know, a hot cup of tea always knocks me out. Gotta love tea!"

"Leigh, you hate drinking tea," said John suspiciously.

"So!" Stephen changed the subject, "Who are you here with?"

"Just the guys. You should come join us! There's an empty table next to ours, we can just ask if we can put them together."

Without waiting for a response, John walked over to one of the employees and I saw him motion to the table. The employee nodded with a smile and John motioned for us to follow him to where the rest of the guys were sitting.

"Look who I found!" announced John as he and Stephen worked on pushing the two tables next to each other.

"You found Leigh and Stephen in the bathroom?" asked Pat.

I laughed. "No, I called him out on using the wrong restroom."

"Did Joanna try to use the men's restroom again?" asked Jared.

"Yup, she really has a problem. She should really get her eyes checked."

"I don't think it's her eyes," said Kennedy, "I think she just can't read."

"Fuck you guys," John lamely retorted with a laugh, "Y'all are shitheads."

John, Stephen, and I all took seats. Kennedy and Stephen went right to talking. Even though their band, Last Call For Camden, was broken up, they still remained best friends and gay lovers. They hung out so much that I worried that I was going to lose Stephen to Kennedy.

"Wait, so, if you had to go to the bathroom," I said to John, "but you stopped to talk to us, doesn't that mean you still have to go to the bathroom?"

"Oh...you're right. I'll go do that now."

Everyone laughed at John. "How does someone forget to go to the bathroom?" Jared asked with a chuckle.

"It's John. He can forget to do anything," I reminded him.

I noticed that Garrett was being oddly quiet. My eyes flickered in his direction and I saw he looked awfully sad about something. He was sitting diagonally from me, so I ripped off the top part of my straw wrapper and blew into it so the bottom part would smack him in the face.

He snapped out of whatever trance he was in and his eyes filled with annoyance as he looked up to see who had done the deed. When he saw it was me, his expression softened.

"You okay, Garebear?"

"Yeah, just doing some thinking."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

I looked at him skeptically but I knew not to push it. He would tell me eventually.

When our food came, all the guys were overjoyed - of course. And Stephen wasn't the only one who liked to order three different plates of food. I had come to expect this, though. You were never surprised about these things when you were constantly surrounded by boys.

While I had one plate of chocolate chip pancakes with nothing but hash browns on the side, Stephen had a Meat Lover's omelette, stuffed French toast, and a waffle.

"Are you kidding me right now, Gomez?"

"What?" he asked with his mouth full.

"You are such a fat Mexican chipmunk."

"I've been notified of this, baby," he chuckled.

"You're just so obese!" I laughed.

With a smirk, he swiped his finger in the small mountain of whipped cream on his waffle and put it on my nose.

I started to giggle uncontrollably, doing the same to him.

John just rolled his eyes and said, "Couples."

"Excuse me, I'll be back," I announced, getting up to use the restroom. Being pregnant could really do things to your bladder, as I was starting to figure out.

The guys hadn't noticed I was back, but they carried on conversation.

"I heard you were going on tour for like a month," said Garrett.

My eyes widened. A tour? For a month?

"Um, yeah. It's gonna be east coast. I think we're touring with The Cab and A Rocket To The Moon."

"You're going on tour with Halvo?" John asked, his voice overflowing with playful jealousy.

I came closer to the table and made my presence known. "You're leaving me for a month?"