Fool Everyone

Two days later, my knuckles were still swollen and Nick’s face was still black and blue. The guys in the band put two and two together eventually, and so here I was, being interrogated by my brother.

“What the hell is going on here, Allison?” my brother asked wildly as we sat outside of the venue we were at currently. “Why are you keeping things from me? This isn’t like you.”

Honestly, I didn’t know how I was supposed to reply to that. In a matter of weeks, my life had turned upside down from one single action, an action I still didn’t know for sure happened. I was quiet for a few moments and drew in a sharp breath, finally opening my mouth to speak.

“Apparently I slept with Nick” I sputtered out nervously.

My brother raised his eyebrow and then glared at me.

“Excuse me? You WHAT?” he asked, obviously shocked that his baby sister could do something so…..stupid. “Apparently? What do you mean, Allison?!”

“Apparently as in I’m not sure if it happened or not…he says it did but I don’t know…” I trailed off and he just looked at me, waiting for me to explain further. “That morning you found me in his hotel room? It happened then. We had both gotten drunk the night before. Well, he’d had a few beers, but I was plastered…I don’t remember anything that happened.”

“God, Al….” Eric groaned.

“I know, I know…it was so stupid. And now everything is a fucking mess and everybody’s mad at me…” I sniffled, starting to cry. “I mean, did you see Garrett’s face when he left? He’ll never talk to me again. And Nick…that’s a whole different story. I HIT him, Eric! I can’t believe I did that!”

“I’m sure Garrett will get over it…he likes you, you know? I overheard him telling Justin the other night…” Eric said, ignoring my statement about Nick completely.

I bit my lip in thought. “Seriously? I thought it was all an act…” I asked and he nodded.

“He may have said it was just an act, but I know what I heard. He likes you. A lot. I didn’t hear the whole conversation because I didn’t want them to know I was listening but from what he said, he’s really into you.”

“Crap….” I muttered, slapping my forehead. This made things so much more complicated.

“Why crap? You don’t like Garrett?” he questioned and I shook my head.

“It’s not that I don’t like Garrett…because I do….” I said softly and my brother laughed.

“But…..?” he pressed on.

“And then there’s Nick…”

“What about him? Surely you don’t have feelings for him? Isn’t that why you punched him?” Eric asked, and it sounded to me like he was trying to convince himself that I didn’t like Nick rather than me convincing him.

“Right” I said. It was a lie, a downright lie because I knew that my brother would never approve of us together anyway, so it didn’t matter.

“What are you gonna do about Garrett?” he wanted to know and I shrugged.

“I’m gonna give us both some time, I think…he was so mad at me when he left..and honestly I don’t know if I can face him right now anyway. I’m too ashamed of how I acted about everything.” I admitted. I hated the look he had on his face after I’d yelled at him, and before I could apologize, he’d up and packed his bags and left.

"It’s gonna be okay, Al. Garrett will forgive you. He’s a little strange, sure, but he has a heart of gold. No matter what you said to him, he’ll come back like a lost puppy” he laughed and I gave a half smile.

Honestly, I didn’t know if I wanted to be with Garrett. Yes, he was sweet and nice, and of course cute, and yes, I did find myself having feelings for him, but he could be so…awkward sometimes. Nick seemed a little more confident about himself, or at least I thought so, which was something that I liked about him. It was quiet for a few minutes and my brother squeezed my arm.

“Do whatever you think is best for you, Als.”

“I don’t even know what that is” I sighed and my brother laughed.

“You’re smart, you’ll figure it out” he said and at the moment, I didn’t feel very smart.

Before I could reply back, Justin walked up and smiled at me.

“Hey sweetheart, how’s that hand of yours?” he questioned and I rolled my eyes. He thought it was hilarious that I’d punched Nick considering the fact that I’m four foot ten and weigh 100 pounds.

“It hurts” I said bluntly and he laughed.

“With good reason! You beat up Nick’s face pretty good! He’s been icing his jaw for days!” Justin bellowed and I instantly felt about ten times worse.

“What do you want, Justin?” Eric asked, obviously annoyed with the fact that he’d interrupted our conversation.

“You don’t have to get all rude, Huff Huff! I was coming to tell you that we go on soon!” Justin exclaimed and I laughed, knowing that my brother got annoyed when people brought up his mouth breathing.

“Whatever” Eric grumbled and walked off.

As I followed them both into the venue, I passed by Nick, who was pulling his inner ear device out of a case and putting it in when some girl walked up to him, placing her hand on his forearm as they talked. I hid behind Andrew’s drum set and watched. Who the hell was she and why was he smiling at her like that? Jealousy raged inside of me, and I turned to walk off when I accidentally knocked the damn drum set sideways and the cymbals fell off, crashing to the floor.

“Allison! Don’t tear my drums up!” Andrew yelled from across the venue, laughing as I picked up everything and placed them back where they had been. Nick turned and looked at me momentarily before turning back to whoever she was.

Well, obviously he was over me.