What Can I Do To Make You Stay? (one shot)

“That’s all for tonight folks! I love you, New Jersey! We’ll see you next time.” That was what my old friend John said to the crowd when his band and him was done playing. I shot one last picture of him and I was satisfied with the result. The lighting, the angle, the sharpness; perfect. The night was perfect too! I can’t wait to show this to my boss.

I’m a student from The College Of New Jersey and I work as a photographer as my part-time job. It’s tiring and fun at the same time, but I enjoy it so much. I go to concerts all the time and shoot pictures and my work today is done. The Maine concert was a success and I feel that I should meet the band members because they were my best friends and one of them is my ex boyfriend. Yikes.

Luckily, I don’t have to go in to the backstage because they went out and all I need to do is go search for them. But then someone bumps into me and my camera fell. Damn. I heard the sound of glasses shattered and I know that my lens was broken. I hold back my tears and bit my lower lip. I took a deep breath and try to pick up the pieces. I picked up my camera and thank god it was only the lens. Even though the pictures were fine, I am really mad to the one who crashed me.

“Shit. Are you alright? Did I break something?” he asked me as I begin to bitch-slap him.

“You fucking broke my lens, you asshole!”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to! Shit, I’m terribly sorry about your lens. I could make it up to you!” he touched his neck, feeling guilty of what he did.

“Well I want the exact same lens, babynicko.”

Then he stood there and stared at me. And the awkward silence strikes.

“A—Ash?”
“Hey, what’s happening?” John O’Callaghan came by to see what happened to his friend and I. And then he realized that his friend broke my camera lens. John greets me instead.

“Whoa, hi Ash! Long time no see! What are you doing here? Did Garrett did this to your precious lens?” he squeezed me and we burst out laughing.

“Yeah, it’s been forever. I’m a photographer now! And yes he did. He should buy me a new one by the way.”

“You are? Wow! That’s amazing, Ash. Oh and Garrett, what a nice way for saying hello to your ex.”

Garrett stood still and he looks confused. And then his face turns red and he ran away. And it’s my turn now to be confused. Then we search for Garrett and as soon as we caught him, John asked me to stay back while he talks to Garrett. Garrett looks mad, confused and frustrated and he left John alone.

“Wh—What’s with Garrett?” I came in closer to John and folded my arms.

“I hate to say this but he doesn’t want to meet you right now. Or ever.”

I bit my lower lip and hold my tears back. I took a deep breath and took the urge to speak again.

“What do you mean he doesn’t want to meet me? I need an explanation, John Ohh!”

“It’s a long story, I’m sorry Ash.”

Tears started flowing down my cheeks and I ran and search for Garrett. I didn’t bother to leave John alone because of my disappointment of him not telling me something that I must know.
Minutes after minutes and there’s still no sign of Garrett. I was starting to get really frustrated and I went out of the venue. I sat down to the nearest bench, not bothering to see whose beside me and cried really hard. Even though I covered my face with my hands, I could feel that the person sitting next to me was staring at me.

“Ash?”

“Can’t you see I’m crying right now? I’m trying to find my ex—I mean, my best friend that broke my camera lens but he ditched me instead! I miss him so much and I wanted to meet him after the show but he disappoints me instead.”

“Ash, I didn’t mean to disappoint you… I just…”

“Wait, Garrett?”

“Yes, it’s me Ash. Come here.” He hugged me tight and I cried harder. He calmed me down and kissed my temple.

“Why did you ditch me, Garrett?”

“I—I don’t know, Ash. I don’t know.”

I got so angry and stood up right away. I slapped him again and he looked down.

“I’ve had enough of this! Why wouldn’t anyone give me one fucking explanation? I’m tired, Garrett. Tired. Tired of being like this in one fucking night! All I want is meeting my old pal and hangout for a sec! But what did I get? Disappointment! Fuck you, Garrett. Fuck you. If you wont explain anything to me, it’s better for me to leave now.”

“Fine, Ash! Please stay, I’ll explain it to you. I can’t see you again because you keep reminding me of the old times. I’ve tried to forget everything about you. Your name, your face, our past, everything! Because it hurts, Ash. It fucking hurts. It hurts to remember the time you left me.”

“But we broke up like, 4 years ago!”

“But I still can’t get over you! I still love you, Ashleigh! Do you know that my parents sent me to a psychologist because of this? Thank god the psychologist erased everything about you from my mind. Except for one thing; my nickname from you. So that’s why I didn’t recognize you when I dropped your camera. But after you called me ‘Babynicko’, I know I can’t see you again because I can’t stand the pain of being hurt and being ditched. I’m tired of being disappointed! So now I hope you know what I feel for the past 4 years.”

Tears starting to burst down my cheeks again. I kneed in front of him and I cried so hard. He cried too, but he tried to be strong and pulled me up and hugged me and he calmed me down. And now I know what he felt and I started to apologize. He kissed my temple once again and he wiped my tears off my cheeks. He looked at me deep in the eye and our lips started to press against each other. The lips I miss was once again placed on mine. And after all these time, his lips was the one I really miss.