'Cause Baby I'm a Dreamer for Sure

Brooks came to stand beside me, wrapping his arm around my waist protectively while I just stared at Julie in complete shock.

"I'm sorry Annie he overheard me talking to you and then you're parents and got here shortly after I did." Julie said panic rising in her voice.

"It's okay Jules; you didn't know he was listening right?" I asked trying to keep a strong voice when all I wanted to do was go back on the bus and hide.

"No, I found out when he got here." Julie replied shaking her head vigorously.

"She's telling the truth, he said it himself." Lauren said from beside Derek who was holding a smiling Grey in his arms. When I saw her carefree smile I couldn't help but smile as well, whether it is from how adorable she was with Derek or what. Derek noticed my smile as I looked at his daughter and walked over to me.

"Grey can you wave to your Aunt Annie?" Derek said waving at me but she didn't catch on, or either she just didn't want to listen, and just started giggling. Derek sighed with a smile at his daughter's cuteness and looked at me. "Do you want to hold her?" I nodded knowing Derek was trying to cheer me up and took the sweet baby girl in my arms.

As I was holding Grey she noticed my braided hair resting over my shoulder and began to mess with it. I just laughed and watched her until I heard a very familiar voice say my name.

"Annie, you're back." I turned to come face to face with Ben.

"Yeah, I am." I said looking down at Grey; her laughing had stopped as she stared at Ben with wide eyes that were the same beautiful color as her father's.

"Look Annie, I came here because I wanted to talk to you, preferably alone." Ben's gaze shifted from me to Brooks, who still had his arm around me, and then to Derek who was standing close to me, just watching Ben carefully.

"If you have something to say Ben, can't you say it in front of my friends?" I questioned looking at him briefly before turning my attention back to Grey.

"Please Annie, can we just talk alone?" Ben pleaded and I gave in.

"Fine, you win we can talk alone." Brooks' grip on me tightened and I gave him a reassuring smile. "We'll stay in eyesight and if anything goes wrong, I'll come back to you okay?" I said quietly. Brooks let go of me, and watched Ben with an unreadable expression. I handed Grey back to Derek before following Ben to his car that I hadn't noticed before. Once there I hoped up on the hood and looked to Ben.

"Alright you've got me alone, start talking." I said getting straight to business.

"Annie I was wrong about my feelings about the other girl. I shouldn't have let you go; she's not the one for me. When I broke up with you, I started dating her, but found out recently that she cheated on me."

"Sort of how you began to cheat on me." I stated more than asked catching Ben off guard a bit.

"You found out about the kiss?" He said shocked.

"Yeah I did, but I let it go, I'm through crying over you." I said wanting nothing more than to run back into Brooks' arms and stay there.

"I'm so sorry I hurt you Annie, it was a mistake. Please forgive me?" He begged. I glanced at the others who were watching us carefully, The Maine and The Arkelles had come to join my Mayday family now.

"I can forgive you Ben, but I can never forget how much you've hurt me." I said my voice starting to waver a bit.

"I know Annie; I understand that, I was just being stupid." He stood there awkwardly for a minute so I knew he had more to say. "I know I may be rushing this, but does this mean we're back together?"

My heart stopped for a moment as I stated at him. How could he think that I'd take him back so easily? Besides I'm finally happy, truly happy and Brooks is a main part of that happiness. He treats me as more of a girlfriend than Ben ever did. Brooks was romantic at times and could make me laugh while when I was with Ben I never felt like there was really any romance between us. It took the breakup for me to realize that, along with falling head over heels in love, and I couldn't just leave Brooks when I felt that way.

"I'm sorry Ben, but we can't get back together." The hope that was held in his features slipped away with those spoken words, and before he could ask why I continued. "I'm actually in a relationship right now, and I'm really happy being with him. You had said the separation had made you realize your feelings, well our breakup made me realize mine. You're a good person Ben, but I'm in love with Brooks now. I'm sorry." I said hoping off the car and slowly started making my way back to the group.

"So that's it then, we're just over for good now?!" Ben yelled at me and I saw Brooks heading my way before I turned to face Ben again. "You're just going to leave me?"

"You left me Ben, and I met someone else." I said as calm as I could. "We can still try to be friends, but I don't want to date you."

"You think he truly loves you back Annie? He's a rock star; he has girls falling for him left and right! You're just going to end up getting your heart broken." Tears fell down Ben's cheek and I knew they were falling freely from my eyes as well. Brooks had made it to us and wrapped his arms around me from behind, keeping me close.

"You're right, there are many girls who would love to date me, but I would never cheat and I definitely don’t plan on breaking Annemarie’s heart." Brooks yelled. I just stood there holding on to his arm that was draped over my shoulder, while I watched Ben crumble before me.

"You don't plan on breaking someone’s heart, it just happens. It doesn't matter though, you can have her!" Ben yelled hoping in his car and driving away. I turned in Brooks arms to bury my face in his chest as my sobs began. He wrapped his arms tighter around me and stroked my hair. He told me Ben wasn’t worth my time and cursed under his breath, but I still heard it and clung to him more. So much for not crying over Ben anymore.