Creatures

"What are you two doing?" I teased Balz and Hailey when I walked downstairs the next afternoon to them watching a movie together. They weren't cuddled up, but they were pretty close.

"Look who decided to wake from the dead." Balz teased.

"Shh, Josh, she gets grumpy in the morning." Hailey put her hand on Balz's shoulder.

"Who's Josh?" I asked, confused.

"Balz. Balz is Josh." Hailey insisted.

"Yeah, that's my real name." He admitted.

"I like Balz better." I smiled.

"So nice PJ's." Balz pointed out. I looked down. I was in a tank top and DC Comics pj pants.

"Thanks." I nodded at him.

"Also, Ryan and TJ said they want you to come over when you can." He told me.

"I'll go get dressed and go now." I went back upstairs, dressing into a faded pair of jeans, and a green tank top. I slipped on my black Vans and a black hoodie, and noticed I still had my fang necklace on. I put my hair in a pony tail, and lined my eyes with thin black lines. I grabbed my phone and put it in my pocket. I ran downstairs, and noticed Balz and Hailey were still watching the movie.

"Where's Skylar?" I asked, having not seen her this morning.

"She went out with Bella." She was talking about Skylars closest childhood friend.

"Okay. Well, I'm going next door." I stated, and walked out, letting Hailey and Balz get back to their movie. I knocked on the door, and Chris opened it.

"Come in." He stepped aside, letting me come in.

"Thanks, Chris." I smiled.

"So what's up?" He asked, leading me towards the living room.

"Apparently Ryan and TJ said they wanted me to come over. According to Josh." I said, using Balz's real name.

"Yeah, they went out for pizza. They'll be back soon." He said, sitting down.

"Is Ricky here?" I asked.

"He should be upstairs." He pointed towards the stairs.

"Alright." I ran up the stairs, searching for Ricky's room. It was all the way in the back of the hall, with a Bela Lugosi poster on it. I knocked, and heard shuffling.

"Who is it?" He called out.

"Hal, Ricky. Let me in." I pleaded.

"I'm sleeping." Any happiness in his voice leaving.

"Please let me in, Rick. I want to talk." I said, turning the knob to let myself in. He was fully dressed and reading a book.

"Can't you just leave me alone?" Anger flared in his voice.

"No." I closed the door. "What did I do?"

"Nothing. Get out of my room." He demanded, standing up.

"Ricky." I started tearing up. "What happened to you?" I whined, tears no flooding down my face.

"Hal." He said, and I quickly rushed out of his room. I found their bathroom, and cleaned up my face. I wouldn't let this boy, who I didn't like, hurt me. Once I made myself appear like I hadn't cried, I went back downstairs and sat down next to Chris.

"Did you find Ricky?" He asked.

"Yeah, but he was passed out, so I decided not to disturb him." I lied. I didn't like getting into lying habits, but I didn't want to put so much attention on Ricky. I know he was mad at me, but I didn't want to be a bitch back towards him.

"Typical Rick." He chuckled. "So how have you been? Anything exciting in the past 12 hours that I haven't seen you?" He joked.

"Um, I've been waiting for my cousin to call me with details on when she's going to come move in.

"Your cousin? Who's that?" He asked.

"Hayden. She lives in Miami. She's moving here. Personal reasons. Not my place to distribute them." I said, having only respect for Hayden.

"So, when the guys get here, would you like some food?" He asked.

"Sure."

"Well, Balz is next door, and Angelo went out with Skylar and some other chick." Chris mentioned.

"Bella. Her best friend." I said.

"Ah." He nodded in an understanding way.

"So what are ya' watching?" I asked, getting interested in him instead of having all of the questions about me.

"The Office. My all time favourite show." He said.

"It's a really good show. Especially because of Steve Carrol." I said, him looking at me with agreement. We were quiet for the rest of the episode because we both had wanted to watch it. Ryan and TJ finally came in with the food. I stayed on the couch while Chris went in with the other two. Next thing I know was I was being tackled from behind by TJ and Ryan.

"Oh god." I had the wind knocked out of me. "You guys are so fat and heavy and stuff." I said while my body was being smooshed into the ground.

"She called me fat. I'm going to bed." Ryan sniffled and got up. TJ honestly didn't weigh that much, but I still didn't like being somebody's person cushion.

"TJ if you don't get off of me, I will break up with you as your mall girlfriend." I threatened.

"I'm sorry, Hal!" He whined, hopping off of me. We were both laughing when he helped me up. "C'mon, let's go to Ryan's room." He said, leading me to Ryan's room. When we got there, he was playing PS3, his food by his feet.

"Hey, fag." I said, sitting next to him. He looked at me and smiled.

"What's up, what's up?" He said fast. He turned the game system off and put on regular TV.

"Ricky wants me." He said after his phone beeped and he checked it. "I'll be right back." Once Ryan left and closed the door, TJ scooted closer towards me.

"Can I help you?" I stared at him.

"Do you want to kiss?" He asked. This caught me by surprise.

"I don't know how." I said with wide eyes.

"I'll teach you." He smiled at me. I don't know if it was his smell. If it was how cute he looked at the moment. How tired I was. How thoughtless I was. How bad I felt at that moment, but I let him do it. He brought his head in closer, and pressed his lips to mine. Not only did I let him, but I kissed him back. It wasn't open mouthed. It wasn't touchy. It was soft and sweet. I wasn't quite paying attention to anything until I heard a faked cough, and looked at the doorway to see Ryan shaking his head. Ricky just shook his head and stomped off.

"Tsk, tsk." Ryan teased. "Bad timing." He chuckled and sat down next to me. I didn't need a mirror to know that I was blushing intensely. Then I thought of how Ricky stormed off, leaving me with a sick feeling in my stomach. I got up and ran, yes, ran to Ricky's room, barging in.

"I want to know what's up." I blurted, seeing that he was in his computer chair turned towards the opposite way.

"Nothing, I guess." He said, monotonously.

"Ricky, you have been giving me shit for the past 12 hours. I stomped over towards him and stood in front of him, to see slightly smudged eyeliner under his eyes.

"I was going in there to apologize." He stated, turning around again. I stood in front of him and sat down on his lap.

"Get off." He forcefully pushed me off of him, putting me on the ground. I just looked at him with disbelief. "I don't think we should be friends anymore, Halibell." He said. I can't stress to you how much it hurt me just then. I didn't storm out. I didn't tear up. I just stood, and walked out calmly. I didn't break down until I got into my room. I guess I didn't shut the door or anything, because the next thing I knew, I had a pair of arms around me in about 15 seconds flat.

"Shh. It's going to be okay." I heard Hailey's soothing voice. I then felt another pair of arms around me.

"It's okay, Hal, we're here for you." I heard Balz next. But he didn't hold on to me like Hailey did. Eventually I let go.

"What's wrong, babe?" Hailey asked.

"TJ kissed. And Ricky. Pushed to the ground. Hates me." I managed to say between sobs. Balz came in with a glass of water, and I sipped it slowly. Nobody said anything until they saw that I was calm.

"Okay, now, tell me what happened?" Hailey tried again.

"TJ, Ryan, and I were in Ryan's room, and Ryan had to go to the bathroom." Sniffle. "TJ and I kissed, and," Sniffle. "Ryan and Ricky saw. Ricky stormed off." Sniffle. "I went to go see what was wrong and," Sniffle. "He pushed me, and said we can't be friends anymore." Sniffle.

"I knew it." Balz sighed.

"Knew what?" Hailey death glared at him.

"Ricky likes you, Hal." He put a hand on my shoulder.

"I know. He makes it so obvious." He smiled at how adorable it was when he put it out there, when he held my hand.

"Then why didn't you go for him?" He asked.

"I'm not ready for a relationship." I admitted.

"So why did you kiss TJ?" Hailey asked.

"I have no idea." I really didn't know why I let TJ kiss me. "I think it was because I was down."

"Why, what was wrong?" Balz asked.

"I was sad that Ricky was mad at me then, too." I said, disappointed.

"Well, why he could have been mad at you before that, I don't know. But now he'll probably be pissed at TJ but he won't start that drama for the sake of the band." Balz warned.

"He just said it was best if we weren't friends." I said, with a sad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I messed with my thumbs and earned another hug from both Hailey and Balz.

..::BALZ POV::..

I kissed Hailey on the forehead briefly before walking back over to my house. I strongly liked her, and I was thinking about asking her to date me soon, but not yet. I want to see if she actually likes me to before I do anything drastic. I went back over to my house and everybody was in the living room except for Ricky, who was in the kitchen.

"Rick." I walked up to him. "I know you're mad, jealous, whatever. But, I just wanted to know what you did."

"What do you mean?" He put his slice of pizza down.

"I just spent half an hour calming down Hali because of you." I said it like it was nothing.

"Half an hour? When she left she was fine." He said defensively.

"Funny, because when Hailey and I ran into her room she was collapsed on her floor sobbing." I said, seeing pain in his eyes.

"She lets everybody else in but me." He said like he lost his break, and started to walk out.

"Rick, I know you like her." I said.

"Not anymore." He didn't even look back at me when he said it. I heard him go up the stairs, and close his door. I have never been so disappointed in somebody, but right now, I pitied where Ricky was going.

Poor Hali.

..::HALIBELL::..

I didn't have to go to bed early, I had tomorrow off. But I put my iPod in and curled into a ball under my sheets anyway. I couldn't play him, because it made me sad. I couldn't listen to happy music, because it made me sad. I couldn't STAND music about love or guys at the moment, so I put on Black Veil Brides.

It took me about three hours, but I finally drifted off, not quite wanting to wake up.

(c)Shannon.