Somebody That I Used to Know

Max and I walked into the small café with our hands intertwined and I felt my stomach churn a bit at the pungent smell of the coffee. I stopped walking and placed a hand on my stomach.

“Are you okay, Ana?” Max asked with a worried expression on his face.

“Yeah, but, do you think we can go somewhere else to eat, the smell of the coffee is getting to me.” I said.

Max’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion before he nodded his head and we walked out.

“If I didn’t know any better, I would ask if you’re pregnant. The last time I saw a girl get nauseas over coffee, Craig’s girlfriend had Leila a few months later.” he joked a bit.

I stopped in my tracks as I counted back the days since my last period which I just realized was a few months ago.

“Is everything okay?” he asked, turning in his tracks.

I nodded my head.

“Yeah, Max, I’m fine. Let’s just head out to eat, I’m starving.” I said.

Max and I made our way to a small diner and were shown to a table. The two of us sat and ordered our food shortly after. I sat in front of him with my cup of warm tea and a sandwich in front of me when I noticed Max fixing his hair and large amount of red eye shadow with his own reflection on his shiny phone.

“You’re so vain.” I said with a chuckle as I took a small bite out of the sandwich he bought me.

He smiled at me a bit before gesturing for me to sit next to him.

“I’m not sitting next to you; all you’ll do is take a few embarrassing pictures of me.”

Max rolled his eyes before patting the seat next to him. I bit my lip before moving to sit next to him, moving my food as well.

“I knew you could never resist all of this sex appeal.” he joked before taking a huge bite out of the burger that was twice the size of my sandwich.

Max and I both finished our sandwiches quickly and Max wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer to him.

“I still can’t believe how much you eat.” I said.

“I still can’t believe you let Jacky get so close to being in your pants.”

“Did you just want to take me out to lunch to make fun of me?” I said with a whine.

“No, I took you out to lunch because I wanted your help with something.”

“Really, what’s wrong Maxi-Pad?” I asked sweetly.

“Craig and the guys kicked me out of Escape the Fate, and now me and my friends are forming a new band.” he explained.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, Max. How can I help you?” I asked.

“Well, the guys asked if I knew anyone that could be our band manager, and I might have mentioned you. You’re the best person for the job, after-all.” he said.

“You want me to be your manager? I haven’t even met the rest of your band yet.”

“Anastasia Lara Chek, with you on our side this band could be amazing. Please do this for me.”

I bit my lip before nodding my head. Max pulled me closer to him and hugged me closely to his body and placing kisses all over my face.

“Jesus Christ Max, I said I’ll help out your band I didn’t say I’ll give you my kidney.” I joked.

Max pulled his face away from mine and placed a hand on each side of my face, his mossy green eyes melting into my own.

“You have no idea how much this means to me.”

I smiled and Max pulled me closer to him before pulling out his phone.

“What are you doing?” I asked curiously.

“Making sure everyone knows how fucking amazing my new manager is!” he said before holding his phone out at arm’s length.

Max and I posed for a few pictures and when we were done, he posted them all on Twitter.

“So, now you need to tell me about your new boy toy, Jacky.” Max said in his best girl voice.

I groaned and put my head in my hands.

“There’s not much to tell. He thinks I’m hot and he’s kind of cute, he walked into my room the other night when the guys were watching movies and playing video games in the living room and he kissed me.” I explained.

“Is he a better kisser than me?” Max asked with a whine.

“Maxwell Scott Green, you can’t just ask me that!” I said after I scoffed.

Max smiled before taking the last big gulp of his soda.

“So, how are you going to tell Ronnie?” he asked.

“I have no idea. I’m going to have to like make him his favorite dinner and buy him a hooker or something.” I joked as we started standing up and walking out of the diner.

“You really might,” Max began before moving to be behind me where he wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and moved to whisper in my ear, “do you remember when Ronnie caught us in your bed together?”

“How could I forget? We were so young and stupid, we left the door halfway open and I was pulling your pants down.” I said, causing both of us to laugh.

“He got so mad!” Max said.

“I know, if I didn’t know any better I’d say he was jealous.”

“Ana,” Max began as he stopped walking, “that’s the smartest thing you’ve ever said.”

“What are you talking about, Max?”

“Look, you and I both know that you’ve always had a thing for Ronnie. Maybe you don’t realize it, but it’s there. That’s probably why he was never okay with whenever you had a boyfriend.”

“Max, what are you going on about?” I groaned.

“Don’t you see? You need to pretend you’re with Jacky so that Ronnie can suck up his fucking pride and tell him he loves you more than anything and fucking propose to you!” Max said with his sugar levels obviously going haywire in his little body.

“Max, you’re insane.” I said as he pulled his phone out.

“I know, princess. I need to go soon because we have our first band practice later today. Come on, let’s get you back to work so you can support your man.” he said happily, grabbing my hand and pulling me in the right direction towards where I worked.

After what seemed like just minutes, I was finished with work and walking into my large home to see Ronnie slumped on the couch with our pets around him. He smiled at me when he saw me walk in and our two pets walked over to greet me.

“Hey RonRon.” I greeted, walking over to him and kissing his cheek.

“Hey Angel.” Ronnie greeted, “How was work?”

“It was good. I invited my assistant to come on tour with us when the time comes so that he can kind of learn what it’s all about and after that Max showed up and we went to get lunch and stuff.” I said, kicking my heels off before slumping onto the couch next to Ronnie.

“Ana,” Ronnie began, “if something was going on between you and, well, anybody, you would tell me…right?”

“Oh, RonRon,” I began as I moved over and placed my legs in his lap before placing my hands on either side of his face so that he looked directly into my eyes, “of course I would tell you, I tell you everything.”

“Do you promise?” he asked again.

I sighed, looking at the floor. I moved my hands away from his face and watched from the corner of my eye that his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Ronnie, I need to tell you something. But, no matter what I say I need you to promise me that you’ll stay calm.” I said as I kept my gaze focused on my hands that were folded in my lap.

“I promise, Angel. What’s wrong?” he asked.

I looked at Ronnie, biting my lip as I did so.

“Last night, when you guys were watching movies and playing video games, Jacky came into my room because everyone else fell asleep. We started talking, then he kissed me, and I kissed him back. Jacky and I started making out and then this morning when you were taking a shower we were practically dry humping in the kitchen.” I said nervously.

Ronnie stood up and started pacing in front of the couch.

“I can’t believe this, I gave them one fucking rule and he can’t even do that! Oh my fucking God you have a hickey on your fucking neck! I feel like we’re teenagers again!” he said loudly, causing our dog to growl at him.

“Ronnie, please don’t be mad at him. Don’t do anything stupid, please. This is my fault.” I managed through tears.

Ronnie stopped his pacing and looked at me, his eyes softening noticeably when he say my pained face and the tears streaking down my cheeks.

“Hey,” he began softly as he kneeled in front of me and took my face in his hands, “I’m sorry, you know I just get protective and stuff. Please stop crying, I won’t get in your way this time, I promise. If you really like Jacky then you can date him or do whatever, I just get worried about you.”

I nodded my head.

“I don’t know if I want to be with Jacky yet, he’s too…I don’t know.” I said as I wiped the last few remaining tears from my mascara and eyeliner stained face.

“If you really really want to be with Jacky, I’ll support you no matter what. I love you.” he said.

“I love you too.”