The Last Good Thing About This Part of Town

After the incident with Joe and Erika, they decided that they were going to be friends until Erika was ready to date again. She liked him and he definitely liked her, but she just wasn't ready. Its been a few weeks since that happened and Luis was making it a little difficult for Erika to move on.

We had the state meet this week and at this point, thats all I was thinking about. Practice was getting a lot more serious, especially since it was just the varsity left. It was getting really cold like it always does at the end of the season. I was just thinking about what coach told all the seniors.

“How do you want to leave your last season? Do you want to make a mark on this team? Or do you want to leave knowing you could have done better. Just think about that this week and let that set the precedent for your race.” He had said.

“Nicolette. Hello Nicolette?” Andy waved his hand in front of my face pulling me out of my thoughts. I guess I stopped listening to whatever he was talking about.

“Huh, oh sorry babe.” I said, returning to my lunch that was in front of me.

“Still freaking out about the meet I see. Did you hear a thing I said?” He asked.

I looked at him with sorry eyes “No” I said.

“You’re lucky that you're cute” He laughed. “But what I was saying was that the Fueled By Ramen guy loved our demo. He wants to set up a meeting with us. I think this is it!” He exclaimed.

“Thats amazing Andy! I’m so happy for you guys!” I exclaimed, wrapping my arms around him in a hug. “I’m gonna be dating a rockstar” I jokingly bragged then kissed him.

Then the bell rang for our 6th period interrupting our moment.

“I’m not ready for this english exam.” I complained.

“You’ll do great babe. You always do.” He said as he stood up, pulling me up with him. I followed and threw away the remains of my lunch. We walked hand in hand to class, resuming our conversation from lunch.

“When is the meeting?” I asked.

“Saturday morning” He said reluctantly

I turned to face him “Wait, thats state.”

“I know and I really tried to convince the guys to get it in the afternoon but its the only time they can do it. I know I promised I’d be there and the meet means so much to you and I hate that I can’t be there but, I can’t miss this meeting. This is my future we’re talking about.” He rambled on.

My emotions got the better of me and I was definitely upset. “No I get it, your band is more important than a promise you made to me, It’s cool” I said passive aggressively.

“Nicolette, come on” He sighed

“Really Andy, it’s fine. I’ll just see you later.” I kissed his cheek and turned to walk into class early.

I know it was really stupid of me to be upset. This is really a big deal and I was happy for him, but state was really important for me and he promised me for weeks that he would be there. I wanted to get over it, I mean its not like it was his fault, but I just couldn’t. I was counting on him being there for weeks, I can’t just get over that. It wasn't just that, but thats the reason I was telling myself.

If I was feeling bad about this english test before this happened, then I knew I was fucked. It was already an AP level test, and I was so distracted that I could have basically chose c for all the answers and get the same score.

After I turned in my test and the bell rang, I didn’t really want to talk to Andy, so I stayed after class and talked to my teacher about an essay grade that I got until the bell rang, and I just asked her to write me a pass. Thankfully when I left the classroom Andy wasn't waiting for me where we normally meet. He was big on being on time to class, I don’t think he’s been late since that morning on the second day.

I walked into my last period and handed the pass to my teacher and sat down at my normal seat when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. It was a text from Andy that read

WHY DIDNT U MEET ME?

TLKED 2 MY TEACHER BOUT AN ESSAY. ILL JUST C U LATER

ARE U MAD AT ME?

I didn't reply but he was worried and texted again

NICOLETTE?

TLK LATER

I put my phone away and tried my hardest to pay attention to the art history lecture my monotoned teacher, Mr. Schaffer was giving. But just like last period, my mind was somewhere else.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After my torturous last period, I walked to my locker and grabbed all of my things and started heading to practice, not waiting for Andy like I usually do, but he was actually in front of the locker rooms waiting for me instead. He knew me well.

“I knew you wouldn't wait for me” He said, walking up to me

“Yeah well, I had to get to practice.”

“Nicolette, can we please talk about this? I hate fighting.” He said, trying to grab my hand from my crossed arm position, but I just pulled away.

“No really it’s okay, you go to your meeting and I’ll just hear all about how perfect your life will be when your famous some other time.” I said sarcastically.

“Is that what this is about? My life after we get signed? Come on babe, don’t be silly.” He said, still trying to comfort me, but I still refused.

“We’ll talk about this later, I really do need to get to practice.” I said, I tried walking past him but he stopped me.

“Fine, I’ll pick you up after practice okay? I love you.” He said

“I think I’ll just get a ride with Erika today.” I pushed past him and into the locker room to my assigned locker.

“We have a speed workout today” Erika came up and told me. Thank god, I needed to let go of this anger.

“Good” I exclaimed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damn it. I can’t believe Nicolette is so mad about this. I mean, okay yeah I get it but this is my future we’re talking about. This is what I’ve wanted to do my entire life and I just want to be able to share that with her. And the way we ended things back at school just fucked me up. When she didn't tell me she loved me back and just walked away from me, it broke my heart. After thinking about the situation and how stupid it was, it just made me so mad. Fuck it, I’m just gonna call Joe, he’ll figure out how to calm me down before I do something stupid.

“Hey dude whats up? I heard Joe’s voice on the other end

“I need to fucking smash something. Please say you’re not busy.”

“No man, why are you so pissed?” He asked concerned.

“I’ll explain later. Are you home?”

“Yeah”

“I’m on my way”

“Word”

Then I hung up, got in my car and angrily drove through the traffic of the school parking lot.

Once I got to Joe’s, I honked and he came walking out with a black duffle bag filled with something I didn't know.

He set the bad down in the backseat then got in the passenger seat.

“Whats that?” I asked

“Just something to help you channel your rage. But we gotta get out of the city, somewhere away from civilization.” He said

“Okay. I think I know just the spot.” Then I started the car and we made our way to a spot about 20 minutes outside of the city. I pulled up to the same spot I took Nicolette for our first date and got out of the car.

“So are you gonna tell me what we’re doing?” I asked

He just smiled and pulled out a shotgun from the duffle bag, followed by a few empty cans and bottles.

“You ever shot one of these before?” He asked

“Hell yeah man. I knew this was why you're my best friend.” I grabbed the shotgun out of his hand and aimed it at a tree, but didn't shoot. I would never even dream to shoot an animal or destroy their home.

Joe placed the bottles and cans on a fence that separated us from some more deserted land that someone probably owned.

“So are you gonna tell me what happened?” He asked as I raised the gun to aim at the bottles. I shot a few rounds before I answered.

“Nicolette is mad at me because I’m not gonna be at her state meet.” I sighed, and reloaded the barrel.

“Thats why she's mad?” He exclaimed

“Yeah, but I promised her and its a really big deal to her, and like I feel bad.” I raised the gun one more time and took a few more shots. “But I don’t really think thats the real reason though. She said something about how she’ll just have to hear how perfect my life is gonna be after we become famous or whatever.”

“Ahh, so she’s not really mad that your missing the meet, she's just upset because she thinks you're gonna forget about her.” he explained.

“You think?”

“Of course man, girls never really say what they’re actually mad about. They just expect us to figure it out.”

“Nicolette’s never been like that though. She always tells me when something is up or when something is bothering her. It’s just weird that she's acting like this now.” I said.

“Every girl will be like that at one point or another. It’s inevitable dude.” He said

“But why the would she think that though? I love this girl more than I’ve ever loved anyone, I wouldn’t leave her just because we have a record deal.”

“I think it’s just an insecurity thing. Like maybe she thinks you’ll find someone better, or that you’ll realize that she's not good enough for you. I don’t know man, thats a girl issue.” He said, and took the shotgun from my hold “Give me that, it’s my turn.”

I thought about what Joe said and we shot at the bottles until we finally hit them all and had nothing left to shoot at. It really did help me get out some anger so after we were done, we decided to get some food and go hang out at my house. Nicolette said she was gonna get a ride with Erika so I didn’t bother picking her up, I’ll just stop by later so she has some time to calm down.

Once I dropped Joe back off at his house, I decided it was time to go talk to Nicolette. I drove to her house thinking about what I was gonna say. If she in fact felt the way that Joe had said, then I knew I needed to reassure her that I wasn’t going to do that to her.

I walked up to her front door and rang the doorbell, it was her mom who answered.

“Oh hi dear! Nicolette isn’t here, she's at Erika’s and won’t be back for a little while.” She said.

Damn it. I didn’t want to wait this out until tomorrow. I wanted to talk to her tonight.

“Um okay. I guess I’ll just talk to her tomorrow then.” I told her.

“Okay, it was nice to see you!”

“Yeah you too Mrs. Pacheco” I said, then walked back to my car and headed to Erika’s house. When I got there, I felt weird ringing the doorbell so I tried calling Erika, because I knew Nicolette wouldn't answer if she was still upset. And I guess I made a smart move because Erika answered after a few rings.

“Hello?”

“Erika hey! Is Nicolette at your house with you?”

“Uhhhh” She was hesitant but gave me an answer, “Yeah she is”

“Well, I’m at your house but I felt weird ringing the doorbell because I don’t know your parents. I need to talk to Nicolette.”

“Uhm, okay well, just go to the front door and I’ll let you in.”

“Thank you so much.” Then I hung up and ran to the door, which Erika opened not long after.

“Look, I didn’t answer the phone in front of her so she doesn’t know your here.” She said

“Is she still mad?” I asked.

“Not really mad, I think she got that out of her system at practice, but she upset.”

“Okay, that I can handle. She kinda scares me when she's mad.” I admitted.

“Yeah, she's not one to mess with.” She said.

I walked into Erika’s room where Nicolette was sitting on her bed. She looked like she had been crying. When she saw me she looked away probably to hide that fact that she had been crying.

“Oh hey Andy.” She choked out.

I kneeled down in front of her on the floor and pulled her chin to look at me.

“Why are you crying?” I asked.

“No reason. I just get like this sometimes.”

“Come on Nicolette, no you don’t. You're one of the happiest people I’ve ever met, you don’t just get like this. You’re upset with me and I want to help.”

“I-I just…” She sighed and looked away from me again “I wasn’t mad at you because of the meeting. I was just upset because… Well because I’m just scared you're not gonna want to be with me anymore after you guys make it big or whatever.” She admitted, a tear rolling down her face once more.

“Why would you think that? Nicolette, I love you. More than I’ve ever loved anyone. Ever.”

“You say that now, but what about when you're gone and theres all these girls throwing themselves at you and…” I cut her off before she could finish.

“Then I’ll tell them I’m flattered, but I already have the most amazing, sexy, beautiful, talented girlfriend in the entire world.” This finally got her to smile a little. “And besides, we don’t even know if people will actually like our music, so theres a chance we might not even make it big.” I added.

“There’s no way people won’t like you guys. There’s just something so amazing and special about the four of you making music together. You guys are just too good not to make it.”

“This is why I love you so much. You always believe in me.” I wiped the tear from her cheek and smiled softly then gently laid a kiss on her lips.

“And I believe in you. You don’t need me to be there on Saturday, because I know you're gonna do amazing without me there.” I assured her

“Yeah, I know, but It would just be nice for you to be there.”

“I know, and I’m sorry I won’t be. I really feel horrible about it.”

There was a small moment of silence before she finally spoke

“I love you”

“I love you too. And I always will.” I said, then kissed her forehead, and wrapped my arms around her.

“It’s getting late, do you want me to take you home?” I asked

“Please.”

I helped her off the bed and we walked out to the living room where Erika was waiting for us.

“Everything good again?” She asked, seeing us hand in hand.

“Yeah” Nicolette said, nestling her head into my shoulder.

“We’re gonna take off.” I told her.

“Okay, see you guys tomorrow then.” Erika got up off the couch and came and hugged Nicolette.

When I pulled up to her house, I walked her up to the door, like the gentleman I am, and kissed her goodnight.

“We just got done fighting, do you really have to go?” She said hugging me and not letting me go.

“Yes babe I really have to go. My dad is probably freaking out that because I haven’t been home all day.”

Fine, I’ll let you go.” She whined, pulling out of the hug. “I love you”

“Love you too” Then I kissed her one more time before I finally left for home.