And So, This Is Love

The next day Friday left for New York. We borrowed Alex's dad’s van because none of our cars were big enough to pack everyone and everything we needed. The drive was only about two and a half hours so we didn’t worry about having to switch drivers or anything. Erix stepped up and decided he’d take the drive. We were only on the road for about ten minutes before Abner had to pee, though. I took this time to get a coffee and so I was wide awake. Due to boredom, everybody but Erix and I feel asleep.

Erix had Fall Out Boy playing lowly, Abner’s snores slowly drowning it out.

“So how are you and Alex?” Erix asked me, peaking at me through the rearview mirror. Emmie had her head lolled onto my shoulder and I was just watching the scenery pass by.

“We’re good,” I sort of lied, giving him a smile.

“Cayne, I’ve known you long enough to know when you’re lying to me,” he said, sighing at me. He glanced at me in the mirror again, and I could see the disappointment clearly in his eyes. “I thought we were best friends, Honey Bunny?” I smiled at the nickname he had given me a long time ago. He was the first to ever give me one, long before Alex and Jack had stepped into the picture. “You can tell me anything.”

I sighed. “We fight like, all the time,” I confessed. And then out of nowhere tears began to pour from my eyes. “Finally. Finally I’m with Alex. Finally I get to kiss him, I get to hold him whenever I want. Finally I could call him mine. And when I finally get him… It’s disastrous. It’s a repeat of my past. It’s a nightmare. It’s everything I tried to get away from when I left Peyton. And it’s us.”

Erix kept quiet throughout my mini breakdown, but as soon as my voice cracked away into nothing he spoke up. “Listen, Cayne. Relationships are hard, and I get that. I get that you’ve been hurt in the past. But don’t you think that you could just be pushing Alex away because you’re so terrified of being hurt again?”

“No,” I shook my head immediately. “Alex is absolutely perfect. I know that he would never hurt me.”

“Then when you start to get angry at him for something that’s just basically bullshit, then remember that. Remember that you love this boy with all your heart and you would never want to lose him.”

I gave him a small smile, “Thank you, Punkin.” I wiped away at my eyes. “Enough of me. What about you and Keyline? How are you guys?”

Erix got on that goofy smile that was always on his face when Keyline was in the picture.

“I think I want to ask her to marry me,” he admitted.

I gasped, my eyes widening. “Oh my god! No way! Oh, I’m so happy for you!” I held back on bouncing in my seat in fear of waking up Emmie.

“I was actually wondering if you would help me pick out a ring tomorrow,” he asked me.

I vigorously nodded my head. “Yes, of course. I would love to!”

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So the next day after our first photo shoot we told the band some bullshit about how we were going to go get food and went to find a jewelry store. We went through three of them before we walked into a place that was all shiny and glimmery. The air smelled like roses, and chandeliers hung from the ceiling.

“Smanchy place,” I whispered to Erix. Smanchy is my word for fancy.

“I don’t care how expensive the ring is,” he told me, going up to the first ring case he saw. The lady behind the counter walked up to us.

“How may I help you?” she asked with a kind smile on her face. Her blond hair was pulled back into a neat bun on her head and she had smile lines around her mouth.

“I’m looking for an engagement ring,” Erix told her.

She had a twinkle in her eye. “When’s the wedding?” she asked.

“Oh, we’re not together,” I said, blushing. “I’m just a good friend of the happy couple, here to help my dimwitted friend on what kind of ring to get a girl.”

The woman laughed, “My apologies. Rings more suited for engagement are over here.” She led us over to another case. Erix bent over, carefully inspecting them until his eyes caught onto a ring with a huge diamond in the shape of a heart, with another little diamond on the top of it.

“That one,” he told me. I grinned when he pointed it out to me.

“Key would love it,” I told him honestly. The woman brought out the ring. “And Key’s ring size is a 6, just so you know.”

“Dainty hands,” the woman behind the counter laughed. She rang up the price. “Okay, so we’ll just have the ring fitted and you can pick it up in a couple of days.”

“Thank you,” Erix said, paying for the ring. We took our leave.

I squealed as soon as were on the street. “Oh, I’m so exited, and I’m not even the one getting married,” I said, bouncing on the balls of my feet.

“Shut up and let’s go get pizza before everyone starts to think we’re shacking up somewhere.”

I giggled and followed him down the road. “Mmm, New York pizza.”