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All the way home to Virginia, I didn’t leave Cameron’s side, more likely, I couldn’t. We sat next to each other in the plane, in the car from the airport until we had to separate when we dropped him off his place. It felt cold and weird to not be around him even though I had lived that way for a year. I decided to not go home to my mom’s house in Fairfax and let the girls brought me to the apartment because they were scared I would do something reckless if they left me alone.

When we reached the apartment, it felt like home. Nothing really changed since the day I moved out, but Amy changed the sofa to a wider one and Feranix painted the living room from broken white to maroon red. “This is really nice.”, I complimented as I lugged around my luggage around the living room.

“Yeah, we decided to brighten this room up.”, Amy smiled and made her way to the kitchen to make us some tea. “Your room awaits!”, she called out. I grinned and went to my room. The door creaked and when it swung open, it revealed my old room, which didn’t look any different besides there was nothing there, just my old bed with fresh sheet.

I decided to unpack first when Feranix and Amy got into my room. Feranix had two boxes of sugar coated animal cookies in her hand while Amy had three cups on tea on a tray. That could mean heart-to-heart talk. We lounged around my bed as we talked about everything. I couldn’t really thanked God enough for the friends He gave me.

“So, I saw Cameron… sneaked into your mom’s room back in Maine.”, Feranix started off while she was still munching a giraffe shaped cookie.

My eyes widened a bit but I quickly got them back to normal size before they could find out. “Really?”

Amy scoffed and picked up a monkey shaped cookie from the box. “Oh come on, Dare.”, she retorted and took a bite from the cookie. “We know you for years, you can’t fool us!”

“I guess so.”, I sighed. “He just… comforted me in this tough time.”

“Comforted? We didn’t hear any moans.”, Feranix snickered. Amy wrinkled her nose and I threw a pillow to her. “Hey! I’m just pointing out a fact.”

We laughed in unison. “Anyway, the guys are having a show tomorrow at Jammin’ Java, right on Halloween night.”, Amy hinted. “We’re going.”

“I think you haven’t asked me.”, I narrowed my eyes at her. “I haven’t said I want to go or not.”

“Oh come on, Dare! It’ll be fun.”, Feranix smiled hopefully. “We could dress up to the show!”

I looked to both of them and they were obviously pleading with their eyes. “Fine, but I don’t want to dress up and I don’t need another round of ‘let’s hook Dareen up with all of the guys we can find in NOVA’.”
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When Amy parked her car in the parking lot of Jammin’ Java, I looked out through the window to the coffee shop slash concert venue. It brought a lot of memories, of course, not to mention the memories of Cameron and I back in high school. We got out from the car and walked towards the line that was forming in front of the doors.

Of course all of us were in the guest list but before we could even tell the bouncer, we found David and Eric, talking to some fans who asked for an autograph and pictures too. “Hey girls!”, David noticed us and waved his hand to us. We waved back but some of the girls in line noticed me.

“Oh my God, Dareen Turner!”, they squealed and jumped up and down as they waved their hands to me. I smiled shyly and waved back a little to them. “We love you, Dareen!”

“Well, you shouldn’t be here, Dare, you’re stealing our spotlight.”, David teased when we got to them. I rolled my eyes and pushed him lightly before teasing him back by saying to Feranix that her boyfriend needed a good kick in the balls.

One of the girls gathered up the courage and asked me for a picture. I said yes after asking David and Eric if it was okay and leaned over to her, not forgetting to wrap my arm around her shoulder. She walked away with an excited thank you. “Can we go inside now?”, I pleaded.

“Not enjoying the love?”, Eric laughed and I glared at him. We went inside to the backstage and I walked behind the sweet couples, not wanting to disturb them. There were 3 bands playing tonight, including The Downtown Fiction. The other two bands were their friends and I guessed I would be meeting them later.

The guys brought us to their dressing room and when we got there, Cameron and Wes were laughing around with guys I’ve never met before, which I guessed were from the other bands. “Oh, hey guys!”, Cameron grinned when we got there, but gave me a smile. “These are some of the idiots we’re sharing stage with.”

One of the guys’ jaw dropped when I walked in. It was a bit disturbing but he quickly stood up and I stuck my hand out to introduce myself. “Dareen Turner.”

“Marshall Cunningham.”, he introduced himself with his eyes still fixed on me. I just wished he would stop it. “I… I love your show.”

My cheeks blushed and I smiled a bit. He turned out to be a fan, which I found cute, because not much guys watched the show. It was a girl thing. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”

He let go of my hand and gave his seat to me. I thanked him and sat down. The other one was sitting next to Cameron, more like slumping, with one of his arms resting on top of the couch. “I like your hair.”, he commented.

“Thanks…”, I trailed off because I didn’t know who I was thanking, but he got the memo.

“Donny.”, he finished for me. I nodded and when I looked over to Cameron, I could see a bit of the green eye monster in his face. I couldn’t help but smile when I knew he wasn’t that comfortable of his friends, oogling over me, but I didn’t have any intention with them.

All of us got into a conversation quickly and I found Marshall and Donny were both crack heads, in a good way. Eventually, all of the other bands joined us in the dressing room, which made it a bit rowdy. They couldn’t stop cracking jokes and it made me laugh the whole night. One guy from Marshall’s band, Sing Me Insomnia, another Wes, told me that he liked the show too and Marshall was his ‘television partner’ because they were the only ones who liked it.

Jared, Marshall’s brother, made a remark on how he would watch the show if he knew I was the star. I had to roll my eyes on that one and I even saw Cameron kicked Jared’s calve when he said that. It was around 7 when the guys of Sing Me Insomnia realized they would be on stage in an hour and excused themselves to go get ready.

“Please watch our set.”, Marshall pleaded to me with his puppy dog eyes. I laughed and nodded, telling him that I would be in the crowd. He grinned and waved at me before walking out from the room.

“Yeah, Dareen, you have to watch every set.”, Cameron added. I looked over to him and narrowed my eyes at him. He must’ve had something planned.