‹ Prequel: Find Your Own Way
Status: INDEFINITE HIATUS

Coma Therapy

Relevations

Making his way back to his room Dan laughed heartily at his friends. Will and Casey had gotten pissed drunk and lost all their money, and Damien was trying his hardest to get them to their room.

Telling them he’d see them later he slid his keycard in his door. It seemed like Ari was having fun, the music was blaring, and he could hear her singing.

Opening the door he felt his jaw drop. The room was trashed. The TV’s screen was cracked, furniture was over turned, and to his horror, many empty mini bottles of Jack were scattered across the floor.

“Ari,” he shouted running towards her room. “Ari what the hell happened?”

Turning to Dan, Ari smiled lopsidedly. “Oh you know, just a little celebration,” she slurred holding up a mini bottle of Smirnoff. “Join me Dan!”

“No Ari,” Dan stated walking towards her and taking the bottle from her. “What are you doing? What happened?”

Glancing around the room some more he noticed her notebook was torn to pieces, his guitar’s neck was broken, and there was a hole in the wall.

Ari had trashed the place.

Holding onto his friend he blinked back his tears. He should’ve stayed with her. This wouldn’t have happened.

“Talk to me Are, what’s going on in that head of yours?”

Tilting her head to the side Ari looked at Dan and grinned. Sticking her tongue out she licked up the side of his face. “You know Dan, before I realized that I liked girls, I had the biggest crush on you. And if I didn’t like girls, I’d definitely jump you right now.”

Taking a deep breath Dan closed his eyes and held her tighter. He wasn’t sure what to say, he wasn’t even sure what to do, but if Ari was relapsing he wouldn’t be able to let her out of his sight.

“Maybe that makes me bi… You know, we could try it. I know you haven’t had any in a while,” she said guiding her hand down his chest towards his pants.

Grabbing her hand Dan shook his head. “No Arianna, we aren’t having sex.” His voice was choppy, his emotions laced through every syllable. “Let’s get you in the shower, you stink.”

Nodding Ari got up from the floor and jumped onto his back. Feeling the alcohol slush around in her stomach she groaned.

Dan sighed and walked faster to her bathroom and set her down next to the toilet. He watched as she leaned forward and he held her hair as she puked. She was definitely going to regret this in the morning.

Scooting back Ari gazed up at her friend. Her smile was replaced with a frown as another wave of nausea wound through her.

When she finally felt that she could speak she turned back to him and took a deep breath. “You’re my best friend Dan, I wouldn’t know what to do without you. Don’t ever leave me okay? I wouldn’t be able to handle that. I wouldn’t.”

“I know Arianna, I’m not going anywhere,” he whispered brushing her hair out of her face. “I won’t leave you.”

Nodding Ari closed her eyes, passing out.

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“I don’t know guys, I mean we have to do the show, I just,” Dan paused and looked towards Ari’s room. “I don’t know what to do. She’s probably going to be getting up soon. I’ll talk to her.”

The show would go on, Dan just needed to know that Ari wasn’t going to get wasted after her set was done. That wouldn’t be good for anyone.

Hearing her door open Dan said a quick goodbye and hung up. Watching her walk towards him he wondered what she remembered. Hopefully not the part where she asked if he’d have sex with her.

“Hey,” she whispered bowing her head. “I’m sorry.”

“I know,” Dan whispered back opening her arms for her.

Accepting his hug Ari clung to him tight. She was so upset with herself. She couldn’t believe she had done that. The worst part was, she had broken Dan’s guitar. The one that his son had picked out for him.

Wiping away her tears Dan just shook his head and kissed her forehead. “You aren’t going to do that again are you?”

Looking deep into his eyes Ari stayed quiet. She couldn’t promise him that she wouldn’t, she would hate herself so much if she did end up breaking it.

“Ari, I understand you’re hurting, I do. But you need to know that I’m here for you, always. I don’t want you hurting yourself, falling back on that path. You have too much to lose,” he spoke, staring right back into her eyes.

Her words from last night replayed in his head. He couldn’t stop thinking about it. Her confession, the crush, because he too had crushed on her for a little bit. It would have been illegal to do anything though, but now…

Searching her eyes Dan bit his lip. He wouldn’t pursue her. He couldn’t do that to their friendship.

“I just, I couldn’t keep myself together, and you weren’t here,” she cried. “I didn’t know what to do. And writing wasn’t helping, music wasn’t helping, nothing was helping. I’m so sorry Dan. I,” she paused and closed her eyes. “What I said last night. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“You were drunk Are, we all say things we don’t mean when we’re under the influence,” he said. It broke his heart to say those things, because he knew she had meant them.

Bowing her head she held onto Dan tighter. She wanted to tell him she meant them, she just couldn’t. He wouldn’t feel that way about her.

“Let’s get you in the shower, we have to be out of here by two,” Dan said. “And I already talked to Jazz, he’s going to talk to the hotel about the room.”

Smiling sheepishly Ari made her way to her shower. Her heart was in shambles, and her mind was running a marathon. What was she going to do? With all these feelings bubbling up inside of her.

What was Dan going to do? His best friend had feelings for him and he had them in return. But he was so much older than her. He sighed and went about packing their things.

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“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Dan asked as they stood beside the stage. The room was full of their fans all screaming waiting for someone to take the stage.

Ari nodded and locked her eyes with his. Last night held many revelations for her and she wasn’t sure what to do with them.

“Alright, I’ll be standing here until you’re done,” he said squeezing her in a tight hug. “And if you need me, all you have to do is come.”

Nodding Ari took one more deep breath before charging onto the stage. The smile on her face wasn’t quite real but she couldn’t break down.

Closing her eyes tight as she reached the microphone stand she promised herself she would stay strong. Her fans wouldn’t want to see her a mess.

“How are you doing tonight Vegas?” she screamed and smiled as they shouted back at her. “You guys ready to be rocked?!” The audience once again screamed. Nodding Ari glanced over at Dan. She could do this.

A few songs later she was nearing the end of her set. She was no where near ready to play the cover yet but she wanted Dan to join her on stage. She could cover his song.

“Alright for this one I’m going to need my best friend,” she said waving Dan onto the stage.

Walking towards her Dan smiled and waved to the crowd. He wasn’t sure what she was doing but he wouldn’t leave her hanging.

“A long time ago he wrote this song for someone he lost,” Ari spoke. “And just recently he released it. This song is called I Will Follow You Into The Dark!”

As Dan sung the opening line Ari felt her heart drop. The pure emotion coming from him as he sang over powered her. She wanted to collapse but she wrapped her arm around him and made herself stay standing.

“The time for sleep is no it’s nothing to cry about,” she sang staring straight at Dan. This wasn’t just for lost love now, it now meant so much more.

Joining her they both sang the next line together perfectly, “Then I’ll follow you into the dark…”

They stood staring at each other as the song ended and the audience cheered. This was it. Who cared about the age difference, not him and not her.

Leaning in Dan raised his hand and took her ear piece out and whispered to her, “We could try it.”

Watching his face as he backed away once more she felt her cheeks heat up. Was he serious? He was.

Feeling tears prick her eyes she just nodded and pushed him off the stage so she could finish her set.

“This next one is going to be the last one for tonight, and I might need your help singing it,” she said. “If you know the lyrics, sing along.”

Closing her set with Be Still she couldn’t help the tears that escaped. She would have to take this song off her set list. It was too much.

Thanking the audience real quick Ari ran off the stage and collapsed in Dan’s arms. He had half an hour before he had to be on stage and for that half hour he would do nothing but hold her and comfort her.
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The last few days I've been doing a lot of thinking. I can't help but feel that I shouldn't have done this sequel. I feel like I'm streching Ari's story a bit too much. So with that said I've decided that I'm going to step back for a little while. I really hope you all will understand and stick with this until I can figure out if I do want to continue or not.

If I do eventually decide to discontinue this I would just like to take this moment to thank every single one of you for supporting it. It means a great deal to me and I'm always flattered when one of you tells me that you love my writing style, or just my writing in general.

I know that I'm leaving you with a huge bomb and I apologize for that. I just need to take some time and think this story over.

Once again, thank you.

-Ruth