Permanently Yours

My phone started ringing so my arm almost involuntarily shot out of bed, searching my bedside table for it so I could turn it off…but I ended up falling out of the bed in the process. Happens every fucking time. I finally grabbed my phone and answered it. “Hello?” I tried to answer as civilly as possible, rubbing my eyes.

“Hey, Grey! Oh…I didn’t wake you up, did I?”

His voice sure was an eye opener. “No, no, not at all, Kennedy…what’s up?”

“We’re gonna play some laser tag today! You should bring your friends and come with us!”

“Uh, let me go check with them first…” I put the phone in my pocket and opened the door to the twins’ room. They were so wonderful and nice and let me have my own room since I was a girl. “Hey, you guys wanna play some laser tag with that one band that played at that one show that we saw that one time?”

“Anything...just get the fuck out,” Sam growled, pulling pillow over his head. Ben was already in the shower, and he would say yes to me for anything.

“Yeah, we’re down,” I answered Kennedy, walking into the kitchen to cook something. I figured I should make omelets – Sam’s favorite breakfast food – to make up for messing with him this morning.

“You like them, don’t you? The guys in that one band,” Ben asked, strolling into the kitchen in only a pair of jeans as he poured himself a glass of orange juice.

“They’re like family,” I muttered, scrambling several eggs.

Ben was quiet after that, so I think he heard me. “Will you ever tell us about your family, Grey?”

“No way,” I said with a bitter laugh. For the three years that I’ve lived with the twins, I’ve spent two Christmases, Thanksgivings, and New Years Eves by myself here in this apartment. The twins always went home to spend it with their parents. I went with them the first year I came because they wanted me to, and it felt awkward as fuck. I got jealous seeing how loved the twins were. I never went with them again after that.

I didn’t mind being alone. Alone, whether you like it or not, is something you’ll be quite a fucking lot. “We’re playing laser tag with them today,” I told Ben, glancing at my phone when Kennedy texted me all the details.

When we got to the laser tag place, John greeted me first, wrapping his arms around me and hugging me tightly. Garrett and Jared just waved to me. Pat and Kennedy hugged me after John let me go, in that order. We were playing as the band versus the crew. The twins joined the crew, and Kennedy claimed me for the band. “I’ve never played laser tag before, though,” I mumbled, gripping the gun tightly. “Fuck!” I whispered when we ran into the dark indoor laser tag area.

Kennedy grabbed my hand. “Stick with me, Grey,” Kennedy laughed, and we all scattered about the area. I could already see the lasers hitting people. We were in a black lit room with some obstacles and stuff. It reminded me of paintball, but less painful.

We were in there for maybe half an hour when this alarm or something went off and our guns stopped working. Me and Kennedy made a pretty good team, if I do say so myself. “Alright, let’s go,” Kennedy laughed, after helping me up when I tripped over yet another platform or ramp or something.

The way he pulled me up, though, he also pulled me closer to him – a little uncomfortably close. I laughed nervously and tried to back away and pull my hand out of his, but Kennedy surprised me by leaning down and kissing me. I surprised myself even more by kissing back. “You…remembered me?

Kennedy straightened to his full height, though his arms were still wrapped around my waist. “Remember you? From where?”

I thought he kissed me because he remembered me and actually felt something for me, like I felt something for him, but... “ Um, never mind.”

Well, I wasn’t about to be another tour whore.