Fuel to the Fire

My. Brother. Is. The. Best. And so are his friends; I love them so much! I finally met Boys Like Girls; Pat made Garrett call Martin to meet up with us somewhere. They came to The Maine’s concert and after meeting some fans, we headed to a bar.

“Stop bouncing” John said, placing his hands on my shoulder and forcing me down. I shrugged him off.

“You’ll break your ankle” Max warned me. I looked down at my feet; my heels weren’t that high.

I smiled when I was them coming – Jared had made a joke about it before, his exact were “if you’re reacting like this with Boys Like Girls, I don’t wanna be near you when you meet Ryan.”

I just couldn’t help that. Well, I could. After so many years fangirling over my brother’s band, I learned to control that, and now, I am good at keeping my feelings at bay. I think.

Paul smiled at me and I couldn’t help but smile back.

“Hey dude” Martin said. I did not squealed or something, I just… beamed at him. “You’re Leigh, Pat’s sister?”

“Are you too shocked to say something?” Kennedy teased. I stuck my tongue out to him.

“Yeah, uh, hey.”

When Martin leaned down to hug me – cause he’s reeeeeeeeeeally tall – I looked over his shoulder to see John, Jared and Max snickering. I flipped them off before Martin could see me. Paul was next, and oh my god. He’s taller than Martin. He leaned down and I had to stand on my tiptoes to hug him.

“Where are John and Bryan?” I asked.

“John’s sick and Bryan had a few problems. Maybe he’ll show up later.”

I pouted.

“C’mon, you wanted to meet Paul and Martin. Here they are and you won’t complain about it, okay” John said, poking my shoulder. I smacked his hand away.

“Let’s go” Garrett said, seeming bored. I rolled my eyes.

“You wanted to meet us?” Martin asked.

“Yeah, she was desperate” Kennedy said.

“She almost killed us. If we don’t do whatever she wants, she’ll stamp her foot and punch us or something. Garrett and Pat spoiled her too much” John laughed.

“Garrett?” Paul asked confused. I sighed. Oh why, John Ohh, why do you always have to talk too much?

“Never mind” I said. Garrett frowned.

“Hey, you’re Garrett’s girlfr-“

“I do think we should go inside.”

Not cool, Garrett. Martin and Paul exchanged a look and shrugged.

Without any words, I followed Pat and Garrett into the bar. I felt Paul, who was laughing at some joke John had made, right behind me and looked over my shoulder to see him grinning at me. Being distracted by him, I bumped into Garrett and cussing, he pushed me away.

“What’s your problem?” I whispered to him.

“You” he whispered back, his face close to mine.

I stopped walking and Paul bumped into me and so did John and Kennedy. If I weren’t so mad, I would have been funny.

“Can I talk to you?” I asked Garrett.

“Leigh, let it go” Pat whined.

“What’s wrong?” Martin asked. We ignored them and I followed Garrett to a secluded booth in the club.

“I think you should stop” I warned him.

“Stop what?”

“Gare, plea-“

“Listen, this break thing is not working, Amanda. Do you wanna break up with me?”

“What are you saying? I don’t want to break up with you.”

“I think it is the best thing to do right now, Leigh, do you see the things you’ve been doing lately?”

Wait. You?

“It’s because you started this, Garrett. Do you remember, in New York?”

“You know what, forget it. I’m breaking up with you.”

I breathed deeply. Garrett wanted to break up with me; he must have a good reason. Things hadn’t been fine recently and if it was the best choice right now, I would do it.

“Give me a good reason.”

“You just said a reason. New York. And New York again. Isn’t that enough, Leigh?”

“No Garrett, it is not enough.”

He ran his fingers through his hair, looking weary.

"Do you wanna say anything else? I'm not leaving until you give me a good reason."

“You know, I miss those times when I was only your best friend, you weren’t so dramatic back then.”

“I didn’t ask you to listen to my talk to Lauren.”

“Do you rather hide your feelings than talk to me?” Garrett asked, a bit outraged.

“I did that for a long time, didn’t I?”

He looked a bit shocked; I think he was surprised; maybe he didn't expect my answer. Come on, Garrett didn’t know that? I spent three years “hiding my feelings” and he only finds out now?

Not knowing what to do next, I left him there and walked back to where the guys were. Pat and John were curious to find out what happened; I knew they were just worried about me. I flashed my best smile, reassuring them.

“What´s up?” I asked. Garrett went to the bar, where Kennedy and Jared were watching football. He whispered something to Kenny and looked at me.

“We’re drinking” Martin replied, raising his glass.

“Great, just because I’m not gonna drink tonight.”

Pat sighed in relief.

“But how old are you? You can’t drink, can you?”

“No, I can’t drink, but I do it anyway.”

“She’s dangerous when she’s drunk” John said, laughing. I elbowed him.

“Dangerous?” Paul asked.

“I make… funny jokes and some other things when I’m drunk.”

“I don’t believe you, alright” he laughed.

“Why? I’m a super cool, nice, lovely person.”

“She’s my sister, that’s why she’s so awesome” Pat said, making us laugh.

I was in heaven. The Maine and Boys Like Girls were here with me. Only Ryan Adams to make it even more perfect. Martin was making fun of me and Paul was trying to get me drunk to understand what I meant by “funny jokes”. And man, I loved him. He was such a sweet guy and always had some compliment to make me smile.

“You have beautiful eyes” he said suddenly, catching my attention; it was the third or fourth time.

“Ha, again? Thank you, Paul. You have pretty eyes as well; I like brown-eyed guys.”

Pat coughed a little, staring at me.

“I thought you were into blue-eyed guys” Martin said suggestively. Duh. I knew what he was talking about.

“Right Martin, you have beautiful eyes too” I smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder. He and John laughed.

“I need to talk to you” Garrett said, coming from behind me

“I am talking to them” I replied, pointing at Martin, Paul and John.

“No, it’s cool Leigh” Martin said.

“Nah, I’ll talk to him later.”

Garrett sighed, but didn’t discuss.

It was after 3 when we headed back to the hotel. Pat wanted to shower and I remembered Garrett wanted to talk to me. I didn’t want to go, knowing we would fight in the end. I changed into shorts and an old shirt and went to his room, but he was showering too.

Max, who was sharing his room with Gare, told me to wait for him. He was watching some random movie on tv and I laid on Garrett’s bed Max fell asleep after about five minutes; I could hear him snoring softly as he rolled to his side. I turned the lights off; the only brightness in the room coming from the tv. I tried to pay attention to the movie, but instead, I drifted off.