Talk Me Down

“Oh Rian, I love you so much. I can’t believe we’re finally together. After all this time, after all this trying, we can finally be together,” her beautiful lips whispered to me as I only pulled her closer to my body.

“I love you just as much, if not more, Emily. You’re my everything, and I’m sorry I didn’t realize that until this late,” I kissed her head which soon turned into making out. Everything about this was perfect, she was perfect, life was perfect.

~ 6 Months Later ~

I walked into my favorite local coffee shop and ordered my usual drink. Every day I tried to get in a bit of relaxing time each morning. Now that All Time Low had become more popular than ever before, I was constantly on my toes – doing something for the band.

After paying for my drink and smiling at the cute barista, I sat down at a small table. Even though some may call it lonely to sit by myself like this, I actually really liked it. It gave me some time to think and get away from everyone for a while. Don’t get me wrong, I love my friends, but I still needed some alone time.

“Rian Dawson, is that you?” a girl’s voice called to me. I looked up, expecting to see a happy fan.

I smiled and almost began to greet her, before I realized who it was – Jane Milton. Jane happened to be my Emily’s best friend. Jane and I used to be great friends, practically best friends until Emily and I broke up. And every little lie that came out of that bitch’s mouth went straight into Jane’s ears.

“Oh jeez, Jane, it’s been a long time,” I noted as she walked closer to me and sat down across from me at the table.

“I just, I don’t even know what to say,” she huffed as she set down her purse. “I guess an apology would be the best thing to start with.”

“Probably dear, probably,” I admitted. “I do deserve one.”

“I am sorry, Rian,” she gave me a sad face as she sipped her coffee. “I shouldn’t have left you just because of what you did to Emily. That doesn’t change our friendship at all.”

Though her apology was sincere, I couldn’t keep my mind off of Emily. “What do you mean what I did to her? What exactly did I do to Emily?”

“I really rather not talk about your relationship issues with you, I want to catch up with you instead,” she smiled and put her hand on top of mine.

I took it away and took a drink of my coffee. “No, please, tell me what Emily said about me.”

“Well,” she began wearily. “She told me all about that hooker you slept with about three months before you two broke up. Emily told me that’s when the problems truly started to begin
for you two.”

“Can she honestly sleep at night with this pack of lies on her mind?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“Her lack of conscience probably tells her everything is alright. She never did have much of a heart in her.”

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Jane asked me with a curious look plastered on her face.

“It’s just that she thinks she’s some fucking Princess. And I’m just another boy she can tool will until she finds Mr. Right,” I ranted. “Never mind, I’ll explain in a minute. Please continue.”

“Well, she also told me that about two or three weeks after this happened, she told me that you hit her. She said it wasn’t a punch or anything drastic, but it was still was a hit and you did
hurt her. That’s another thing she told me,” Jane explained.

“Are you seriously kidding me?” I sat back and leaned in my chair- surprised that even Emily would stoop this low to say things like this about me. “She thinks she’s some saint who can just change what really happened so people will pity her sorry ass.”

“Rian,” Jane snapped at me. “Don’t say that, even if you don’t like her, she’s still my best friend.”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t take my anger out on you,” I sighed. “Go ahead and continue.”

She took one more drink before talking. “She said the thing that really made her decide to break up with you is when she realized you didn’t want to take her on tour. That you didn’t love her enough to take her with you – even though Lisa and Ariel went with Alex and Zack often.”

“Jane, you have to realize the bus has strict rules because we are obviously working. Lisa has come on tour with us for one week on one tour. Ariel went on for the same amount of time with Lisa. But, we cannot have them on the bus without them doing a job and distracting the guys.
We have to keep them in line, you know?” I said.

“I also thought that one was a bit exaggerated, but I still don’t get why you would cheat on her and hit her. I mean that’s something I would never expect from you,” Jane told me.
I took in a deep breath before speaking. “I never cheated on her. One night a girl was dancing
on me and I told her to politely leave. If that is counted as cheating I suppose I did. But, other than that, I’ve never once did anything sexual or romantic with anybody other than Emily while I was with her. I felt so bad about it, I even told her after the fact. She said it was no big deal and that she believed me,” I stated, telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

“See, now that’s a story I can believe about you. Emily tends to get with bad guys but you were her best choice for sure,” she smiled at me. “But, what about the hitting? What really happened there?”

“Oh jeez,” I rolled my eyes. “One night I was cooking dinner for her as a special little surprise. I didn’t see her and I had a hot oven tray in my hands. On accident, I hit her with it. When I realized what I had done I dropped it on the floor and took her to the ER out of fear that she might have bad burns. She was fine, but that’s the extent of me hurting her physically.”

“So, all of what Emily said was a lie?” Jane questioned, trying to process all the information in.
I gave her a weak smile of encouragement. “Emily is a liar and a manipulator. She lies to get attention from others and to receive pity from others. I fell for it many times in the past. In my opinion, she stands a little too tall and talks a little too much. One day she’s going to bite that know it all tongue she has on her. I think that day is today, when she finds out you have been talking to me. She just, she sold me out to the girl I couldn’t afford to lose – you.”

Jane got up from her seat and gave me a huge hug. “Rian, I’m so sorry for believing that pack of lies. I know how Emily is and I guess I just got sucked into it. Please forgive me, can we be friends again?”

I hugged her back tightly. “Of course, Jane, it’s no big deal. I get it. I’m really glad we ran into each other, actually.”

She smiled as she and I took the last sips of our drink. “Me too, we should get to talking about us soon.”

“Well, you know where Alex and I live now, just drop by sometime after 6 and we’re pretty much guaranteed to be home by then,” I offered. “But for now, I think I’m going to drop by Emily’s house to talk to her.”

“Oh, you aren’t doing that alone,” she smirked at me. “I’m coming too. I think teaching her a lesson will be one of the most fun things I do in a long time.”

I smirked back as we stepped into the brisk, winter air. “Oh yes, Jane, oh yes.”