My Life in a Band

It was now Thursday. The principal said there was no class. Yipee.

I got upstairs and lay in bed. I've been thinking about what I'd do if I actually fell in love with Eric. But I don't want to be. I've just talked to him the day before yesterday and now I'm gonna fall for him? And besides, I hate him for giving me almost two injury and he had no reason to do that. He just said it's fun. Ha. As if.

And I haven't given a thought of him having a girlfriend. That's another one. I can't go on liking him if he has a girlfriend. I wouldn't let myself be given false hope. The one with Martin was why I didn't want to be tricked anymore.

I opened my laptop and checked for any new messages. I found four new ones. One was from Charlie, Nathan, and William, constantly saying sorry for Eric's behavior. I replied that it was already a bit okay and that I would be fine on Friday. I told them I'll be sure to bring my own sticks.

The other two messages were from my dad who was in Florida. He asked me if I was okay and that he'd buy me the book I've been asking for. Whoopee!

The last one was from someone I didn't know. It said: Five thirty later. The abandoned building. Rooftop. I've got something to show you. Please be there. Eric.

Okay. Now that I knew it was from him, my heart started to beat very fast. Part of me was excited and the other part was hesitant. Should I go there? Or was this just another prank? But I wanted to go out. Now that there was no reason to go to school, I was actually bored. I needed to talk to someone too. I have to admit I was excited. I checked my watch. Five o'clock. Damn. He should have told me earlier.

I picked some clothes to wear. I chose a colorful skirt and a sleeveless white blouse. Wait. This wouldn't me. I didn't want to appear like I like him so much I had to dress up just because he wanted to show me something. I finally settled into a plain black long sleeved shirt, cargo pants and my converse. That seemed casual. And if I wore the one I first chose, that would be so weird since the weather was cold. This wasn't summer. I took a bath and dried my hair quickly. This wasn't a date and I didn't have to expect anything. I had to calm down.

I didn't pick up my bike and ride it like I would have done. I was a little bit fast there in the shower so I still had twenty minutes to kill. I didn't want to be there first. I wanted to enjoy walking too. It's been a while since I've walked going somewhere. It's either I ride my bike or ride a car.

By the time I got to the building, I regretted having left my bike. I was sweating by the time I got there. And I was still going to climb all the way up to the rooftop. The building had five floors. Oh man. As I neared the building, I saw Eric's car outside. And the door leading inside the building was open so I figured maybe he was there. I climbed up and up and up. Damn him. The stairs were quite long too. By the time I got to the rooftop I was panting.

I saw him looking up the sky. He was alone. The rooftop was surprisingly clean. I expected it to be damp and dirty since this was an abandoned building.

"Hey!" I shouted from where I was. The rooftop was really wide. He was on the other side.

"Oh, there you are." He waved, smiling a little. I didn't want to blush so I looked away. I got to where he was but not so close to him. Just enough for him to hear me if I had to say anything.

"So what do you want to show me?" I asked casually. I was looking at the sky too.

He came closer to me. I fought the urge to back away. I stayed where I was. He was now right beside me. It was nearly night now. He smiled sadly, took hold of my shoulders, and made me turn around. Now, we were looking at the beach near town. It was such a beautiful sight. But what was even more beautiful was the sunset. The sky was now red with a tinge of pink, blue, and purple. There was also a bit of orange. It was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. For a while I couldn't take my eyes off the view. It was breathtaking. Eric and I looked at it for quite a long time, his hands still gripping my shoulders gently. I could look at the sunset and be with him forever.

He finally released his grip on me. "Do you like it?" He crossed his hands in front of him and stood beside me.

I couldn't say anything. Of course I liked it. I still continued on looking at it.

"This was where my dad used to bring me everytime I cried about my mom." He sighed and looked at me. I don't know if it was just because it was dark but I could see some small tears at the corner of his eyes. I fought the urge to wipe them.

I couldn't understand this person right beside me. He had a hard and soft side. But which one was more dominant? His soft side was very strong if he wanted it to be. I was curious about what he just said. I asked, "Well I'm always here if you need me." I really don't know why I said that.

"Thanks. I just needed someone to talk to right now. I miss my mom and dad." He sounded like a child and I sympathized him.

"Why?" I guess all my questions right now were kind of stupid.

"They're dead."

The sun was now sinking deeply and the sky turned a very dark blue. Night. "I'm sorry."

He smiled a bit. At least he did. "It's getting dark, let's go." I agreed and we went down together. We were quiet all the way. The building was very dark I couldn't see anything. I was afraid maybe I would slip accidentally. I didn't want that to happen so I tried very hard to be careful. Eric seemed to know where he was going very much. We didn't say anything the whole way down. But at the third floor, I heard something.

"Did you hear that?" I asked Eric. We stopped. It sounded like a squeek. I crossed my fingers and prayed it wasn't a rat.

"It's okay," that was all he said. We started to go down but I was still panicking.

As I stepped on the second stair, something really big jumped onto my pants and I saw two gleaming pair of eyes. It was disgusting. I was surprised and scared and I screamed really loudly as I swatted the horrific thing away. Next thing I knew, I screamed for Eric. It was still really dark. I was really panicking so much that I fell down the stairs and I fell on something. I screamed again but then realized it was Eric beneath me. I was now really ashamed but then I remembered how the disgusting thing earlier stuck on my pants. I hated to admit this but I cried. And Eric was still right beneath me. And that made me cry more.

"Ssshh," he said, placing a finger on my lips. We sat up and he wiped my tears. He helped me stand up and although I was still crying looking like a baby, he held me close to him and all the way down, he held my hand and put his free arm on my shoulders, all the while saying comforting words like 'I'm going to kill that thing' or 'Everything's all right, I'm here.' But I was still crying.

I was really glad when we went outside. He knew I didn't bring my bike(he was looking at me from the rooftop, he told me earlier) so he offered me a ride. I just nodded silently and he helped me beside the driver's seat.

He drove and although I calmed down a bit, I was very conscious of his free hand holding mine gently. I didn't say anything. The feeling was too good to be true.

I hope he'll always be there for me.