We Only Breathe For So Long

Sophie and I arrived at the bookshop just before Jessica did which is a great thing, or else she would’ve freaked.

“Good morning, how’s my little miss organizing doing?” she asked with a smile stuck to her face. She was clearly in a very good mood.

“I’m great, thanks Jess. This is Sophie by the way,” I told her while holding Sophie’s shoulders.

“Hi, I’m Jessica,” she shook Sophie’s hand with a smile, “feel free to explore around the store and read a bit if you’d like. I’m afraid I will have to steal Kylie from you.”

“Thank you ma’am, see you around Kylie,” she waved goodbye and trailed off to the back of the store.

Jessica took her clipboard and quickly read through all the information written on it.

“Kylie, the boys will be here at 8:30. As they arrive, I want you to introduce yourself firstly and make sure that you know their names and positions in the band. I want you to explain them the schedule and how the day is going to go and then leave them to get settled in that room that we’ve prepared for them. Make sure to check every now and then if they need anything. At 8:50, you have to take the boys to their seats and give them their markers and all. After they’re done with all the signing and whatever, I can handle from there. Understood?” she looked at my eyes deeply to make sure I understood.

“Yes ma’am.”

I went over to the counter to grab my bag and take the markers and I allocated two to each table. It was 8AM so I had half an hour to pull my nerves together and check up on everything.

As I was about to begin, Greg and Eric entered the store. Greg looked awful; he was totally dying with a trembling headache. You could see it since he always kept on frowning and placing his palm on his forehead.

“Someone party too hard…” I casually spoke as Greg sat down on top of the counter.

“Do not say a word Kylie, I might throw up.”

I laughed, “don’t look at me then.”

Eric joined in and sat beside Greg, patting him on the back several times.

“Pal, you went too hard! Did you at least get with that babe?” he asked, nothing but curiosity in his blue eyes.

“Um… My mom called before we… you know…” Greg said shyly and as low as possible.

Eric and I looked at each other and burst out laughing.

“What?!” I asked incredulous, “No Greg, that shit only happens in movies! God, that’s so lame!”

I was laughing so hard that I couldn’t even stand up straight. Eric was in the same situation, he was almost crying of laughter. Whenever we controlled ourselves and stopped laughing, we’d look at each other and the laughter would erupt even harder.

“You guys suck,” Greg said while standing up and dragging himself to the bathroom.

Eric rubbed his hands on his eyes to clear his blurry view.

“Just so you know,” he sat down on one of the chairs behind the counter, “I did not raise him that way.”

I sat beside him and we laughed all over again.

As we managed to control ourselves, Eric spoke.

“Has Jessica gotten here yet?”

“Yeah, and she is in a great mood so be careful. If you piss her off, you will probably need a plastic surgery after.”

He dropped his head and laughed. He then looked at me.

“Why did we never try this before?” he asked.

“Try what?” I asked, confusion made my muscles to form a frown.

“This. Being friends, hanging out and all.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I guess we’ve never gotten the opportunity or something.”

He held his hands together and turned his gaze to it. I couldn’t turn my gaze away because he looked nice today. Even though he looked the same as any other working day, he still looked really nice.

He looked up and met my eyes. I flinched and quickly looked away. He smiled and sat up.

“I’ll see you around.”

Before he walked any further, we heard a high-pitched scream coming from the back. We quickly turned our heads to the direction where the sound came from and I saw Sophie come into sight. She was standing still, looking at the front door and she was so still that she wasn’t even blinking.

“What the…” Eric began saying but he didn’t get a chance to finish. We turned our heads towards the direction she was staring at to see five guys standing at the front door.

The Maine, I presumed.