Stare Like You'll Stay

“Babe, are you almost ready?” John asked through the bathroom door as he slid his leather jacket on over his broad shoulders.

“Yeah, just give me a second.” She tried to keep her voice calm as her eyes flickered away from the bathroom door and back onto her reflection in the hotel room mirror, adjusting her long brown hair to see if she suddenly would look different. Standing there for almost ten minutes, she realize she wasn't going to change at all.

Five months ago, Edith White opened her heart up and opened her eyes to a man by the name of John O'Callaghan. After struggling with accepting the new boy in her life and dealing with her mom, her brother and her best friend Eric, she thought she finally had it all.

No longer was she this hermit of a person who spent her days working or on the couch with her cat, a pad of paper and pencil in front of her.

Her life was completely different. She was dating the lead singer of a successful band, switching in her coffee shop apron for a suitcase and her passport – following his band around as their merch girl and number one support. She found herself living a whole new life with new friends, seeing new places and her drawing habits being at an all time high.

She felt good, or at least, she thought she did. After five months, John and Edie had managed to keep their relationship a secret for the sake of privacy. She was known to many fans as the new merch girl, just another crew member on the tour and nothing more.

Edie turned her body to the side and sucked in her stomach, trying to flatten it out with her hand. The printed dress she was wearing barely hid the fat that was still latched onto her body, all of the feelings she felt five months suddenly coming back. She adjusted the dress a little more, feeling uncomfortable and sad by just looking at herself.

She strapped her bag over her shoulder and flicked off the bathroom light, exiting back into the hotel room where her boyfriend stood.

“Sorry, I am ready now.” John looked up at his girlfriend and gave a huge smile, so happy to have her back on the road for another tour. Edie was his sanity, when things were going wrong – she was there to give him some piece of mind.

“You look beautiful.” He leaned down and brought their lips together for a quick kiss before grabbing the key card off the table and leading her out the hotel room door. With their hands interlocked, preparing to meet the guys down in the lobby – Edie leaned into her boyfriend's arm.

“First day of the tour – you excited?” The two of them stopped at the elevator as John's long finger pressed the down button, it illuminating with a white color. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear once more, looking up to lock eyes with her boyfriend.

“Of course I am, its going to be a blast.” She forced her lips up into a smile, allowing her white teeth to show as the elevator dinged and they stepped in.

For the first few months of their relationship, Edie's face would hurt from smiling so much, but now, she found herself forcing the corners of her lips to turn up. She wasn't going to let anything of what she was feeling shine through. She wasn't going to give in to her emotions.

Edie White would sacrifice anything to keep John O'Callaghan happy and in her life even if that meant lying to everyone about how she was really feeling about herself. She lied about crying herself to sleep some nights or changing her outfit seven times until she felt alright. Edie found that you could hide everything underneath the surface with a simple smile or a laugh. She had to under control. But it wouldn't be long before the spotlight shifted and all eyes were on her.