I Don't Love You, Like I Did Yesterday

Jesse's P.O.V.

"Hello?" I answered my phone and frowned at the unknown number, putting my feet up on the small coffee table in the lounge of our tour bus.

"Yo dude." A deep voice came from the other end.

"Uh... who's this?" I picked at my nails, a habit I had picked up when I quit smoking.

"Bryan." I heard the man chuckle.

"What's up dude! When did you get out?" I grinned and made a mental note to save his number since we'd be getting off tour pretty soon.

"A couple weeks ago. I'm actually home right now. Where ya at?"

"Actually I'm in Jersey right now still on tour, we're stopping in Reading PA and Buffalo New York and then we're comin' home." I sighed and ran my free hand through my hair to push my bangs out of my face.

"That's weird."

"How so?" I frowned.

"Well, I just saw Lex the other night and assumed you guys were off." He replied.

"You saw Lex..?" Uh oh. There's no way this could be good. Bryan and my best friend hadn't ended on very good terms, and by that I mean with him being dragged off by the cops out front of her house and her struggling to put her inside-out top on screaming at him that she'd never wanted to see him again and calling him a bastard and a liar.

"Yeah, at the hospital. She gave mea ride home." My eyes practically fell out of my head.

"She what?"

"Yup."

"Wow." I sighed. "I didn't see that coming."

"Me either. That's actually what I'm calling you about. You guys are still attached at the hip, right?" I smiled to myself and nodded. No matter what, Alexandria was always going to be my best friend.

"Yeah, always have been."

"Well umm... I don't really know how I'm supposed to come out and say this..." He drug out with a sigh.

"Say what?"

"Is Lex... um... seeing anyone?" I thought back to about an hour ago when I had taken the short drive over to Philly to check up on Lex, only to find her and Ronnie... well... having some fun.
I chuckled a little bit.

"Yeah dude, sorry." I laughed a little. Even if Lex and Ronnie hadn't gotten back together, I still didn't want him sniffing around her. The poor girl had enough problems without some crazy ex-con after her. It took me second to realize what I had just been saying to myself...

"If you don't mind me asking, who?" I shook my head in disbelief. This girl had more guys after her than when we were teenagers. Let's just say I had lost a lot of friends over the years because of my one rule.

None of them were allowed to touch her.

Of course, this rule didn't apply to Bryan, considering she was friends with him before I was. But I was still protective over the girl.

"Ronnie. We met him on tour a few years back, why?" I asked, seeing no harm in telling our old friend what's been going on.

"Ronnie Radke?" He asked slowly. My eyes widened.

"Yup. You know him?" I asked cautiously.

"No, but I know of him." He bit out. I was confused.

"Know what of him?"

"Let's just say," he began, taking a deep breath."I heard some things."

"Like what?" I asked quickly, ready to come to the man that I had come to call a friend's defense.

"That his last girlfriend left the relationship with some bruises and cuts as a parting gift." I laughed a little at the memory.

"And you think her injuries were from him, don't ya?" I chuckled and I heard his scoff.

"Well yeah, unless she fell." He said sarcastically.

"Actually. That's a funny story." I laughed as shook my head at the memory.

"I bet." He replied flatly.

"Before ya get the wrong idea about the guy, I should probably tell you it was Lex who trashed that girl, not Ron. I was actually there." I rolled my eyes.

"Oh." He said quietly. He was obviously discouraged since he really had no reason to bag on Ronnie, other then the fact that he was with his ex-girlfriend and possibly the girl he was interested again.

"I'd still rather it be Mattie." My eyes bulged again and before I had chance to stutter a reply, he quickly spoke.

"Sorry dude, I gotta go, hit me up when you get back to Philly." And with that, my phone beeped, letting me know the call was ended.

I sighed before texting Lex and letting her know that her ex-boyfriend had called me, and not to be suprised if he stopped by, also apologizing to her for walking in on her.

Mattie's P.O.V. (Flashback to Three Years Ago.

"So if we do this... and we're actually picked... what the hell are we gonna do?" Lex asked me before she took a long drag of her cigarette. I put my feet up on the glass table on her back porch and laid back farther on the outdoor couch. I shrugged and took a sip of my beer.

"Play our hearts out almost every night for screaming fans?" She laughed and reached for another beer out of the cooler next to us before she plopped down next to me.

"Like really, think about it. Do you really wanna pick up and leave? Like everything and everyone behind?" She asked me softly as she cracked open her beer and chugged some of it. I knew she was having second thoughts as she fingered the disk that held our demo in her hand.

"You'll be homesick like crazy at first." I put my arm around her shoulder to comfort her. "But if by some crazy chance, they do pick us, we'll never have to worry about stupid shit again." I spoke from experience of having to leave my home and move states away to the city I'd never even seen in person.

"What stupid shit?" She frowned. "Like the parties? The late night drives just 'cause we feel like it? The ability to play whenever we want to? Seeing our families and friends everyday? Being able to call one place home instead of a bus?" She looked at the CD as if it were the first one she'd ever seen. I frowned and leaned my head against hers.

"No, I mean all the shit we had to go through these past few years. When everything was bad, before we all were able to get jobs, before your dad was able to get everything back, when Dyl's sister got booked, when Jesse's dad split. We all thought we were gonna be homeless for a while. None of us had shit. Jesus Christ, we were robbin' houses for money. We won't have to worry about any of that anymore." I said softly and she nodded.

"You always see the brighter side of things, Mattie. What would I do without you?" She laughed.

"Get a boyfriend." I snorted and she punched me in the arm.

"Shut up." She muttered.

"I'm kidding. Just remember that promise you made."

"How long ago was that?" She scoffed.

"Two years ago? Maybe three? It still stands." I got up, pulling her with me. She looked up at me confused before standing up straight.

"Let's go mail that demo." I smiled and grabbed her hand and we walked down the steps of her back porch and walked towards her alleyway.

Flashback End

I stared at the picture of all of us three years ago, the night that we got the call about our demo on Alexandria's wall from my spot on her small bed. I had taken to sleeping in her small room for the past few nights since my bunk was pretty cramped. I sighed and rolled over. I hoped she was okay, but I also wondered what she was doing. I had seen Adam yesterday, and he told us that Ronnie was going to stay with her. I frowned before closing my eyes. Maybe he'd cheer her up.

Can I really blame you for not keeping some stupid promise you agreed to when we were teenagers?