Jealous Orchard

"So you'll be recording in Maryland," Peter explained with a smile on his face.

I just sat there with a lame look as I tried to wrap my mind around what had just happened. Two songs played and we had a record deal. Not even eighteen yet and I had a record deal.

"Maryland?" Ryan asked with a huge smile plastered on his face.

Pete laughed slightly before looking at his watch.

"Maybe we could discuss this over dinner? I haven't had a chance to eat since noon."

"Yeah, we can go out. What do you want?" Ryan asked standing up from the amp he was sitting on.

"I'll let you guys pick. I honestly haven't been to Vegas that many times."

"Okay, well let's go," Ryan and Pete both stood up as Brent, Spencer and I stayed in our place.

"Are you guys coming?" Pete asked chuckling.

"I think they're still in shock," Ryan said laughing while walking over to Spencer and shoving his shoulder.

"We're going now," he explained.

"Holy fuck! I have to tell my grandma!" Spencer shouted, jolting up from his seat and pushing Ryan out of the way.
I stood up slowly watching Spencer jog up the stairs.

"Grandma!" I heard him shout before the slamming of the door.

I could hear his grandmother clapping and a creaking of the floor signalling she was jumping up and down.

"Well I'm glad two of you are out of shock," Pete said chuckling.

"Come on, I'm starting to get hungry too," Ryan said pulling me toward the stairwell.

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"So, Brendon will drive with you," Ryan said pointing at Pete. "And then I'll just drive everyone else."

"Where's Morgan?" Pete asked looking around as if she was hiding behind the chair in the living room.

I stared blanking at a moment, completely forgetting that she had been here earlier. I too looked around to see if she was hiding.

"Oh, she went home. Her friend called her said she had to go," Grandma Smith explained licking batter off of a wooden spoon.

Pete made an "oh" face, and I could have swore a look of disappointment flashed across his face for a second.

"Okay, let's go before we starve to death," Brent said over dramatically while whipping the door open.
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"I'm sure you get asked this a lot, but what's it like to live in Sin City?" Peter asked as we sat in late night traffic.

I chuckled lightly at the fact no one has ever asked me that before, and I never really considered it.

"It might sound weird but it's pretty normal to me. I mean I haven't lived anywhere else, so living with a city as a night light and reading about strippers being stabbed and dumped isn't anything new."

Pete just nodded his head before looking out the window, watching tourist walk by with beer in hand.

"How long have you an Morgan been together?"

I had forgotten about her again. It took me a moment to realize he was asking about us dating.

"Just this summer," I said shrugging my shoulders.

Pete turned to look at me with a puzzled face.

"The way she talked about you, it seemed like you've been in love since childhood."

I could feel that pit form in the bottom of my stomach. Building in weight, causing me to feel the need to vomit.

"Yeah," I paused glancing at him. "Just since this summer. Nothing serious."

He simply nodded his head before laughing slightly.

"Sorry. I don't mean to pry, I just was looking for something to talk about."

I placed the car in park, considering traffic wasn't going were with the car crash blocking both lanes. As I took my foot off the break I slowly turned to look at Pete. He simply flashed me his pearly white teeth, and I could see how girls have gone crazy over it.

"I also want to-"

"I think we're in trouble." I said cutting him out, and feeling like everything I've wanted to say was being pulled out of me by that smile.

"Excuse me?"

"Morgan and I. We're in trouble. A lot of trouble. And I have no idea what the fuck I'm suppose to do!"

"Everything seems fine. What's going on?" he asked.

"I don't even deserve her! She the school sweetheart, and I got her! I did! I'm a fucking band geek. And yet I've still messed this up plenty of times and she stays with me. I'm the one always wondering if I should break it off to spare me the heartache when she finds someone better, but then I just end up making her cry. And now with the band being signed, I hadn't even told her that you were flying in! I haven't even told her I got kicked out of my house! But I'm sure she knows. She knows everything, and it's killing me, because she knows I've been lying to her and she's not doing a damn thing about it!"

During my rant I could tell my voice was getting louder and louder, because the people in the car on Pete's side were staring at us.

Pete on the other hand, surprisingly didn't have a face of shock or terror, but instead a face of concern.

"Why haven't you told her?"

"I always tried to find the right time but Ryan always beats me to giving up the news, and I know she wants-"

"No, what you just told me? I'm pretty sure that little rant was directed at Morgan."

"I can't tell her that," I mumbled putting the car in drive once the brake lights of the cars in front went off.

"She seems like an understanding girl. I'm sure she'd be glad if you told her."

"No, she'd probably just break up with me," I said shooting down every suggestion he gave out.

"Well, do you want to stay with her, or break up?"

"Of course I want to stay with her," I said nodding my head.

"Even with you leaving soon?"

It grew eery silent in the car. I hadn't even thought of me leaving. To go literally all the way across country to record an album, to leave Morgan behind. I suddenly wasn't hungry anymore, and I could feel the heavy weight in my chest again.

"When do you leave?" I could hardly get the words out.

"Right after you graduate. But look, I'm bad with these talks. Seriously, you guys can still be together. I mean being in a band doesn't mean you can't have a girlfriend. It just means you have to do a little more work for it," he explained rubbing the back of his neck.

"God," I muttered resting my head in my hand. "I can't believe I just did that to you. Like you really needed to hear all of that. I'm sorry. I just needed someone to tell who didn't know Morgan."

"Don't be sorry, man. I mean you're going to be seeing a lot of me. So, you should feel free to talk to me about anything.Pretty soon, I can tell, we'll be good friends," he said patting my back.

I quickly flicked on my turn signal while pulling into the parking lot of the restaurant.

"You wanna cool down for a minute?" Pete asked with his hand on the door handle.

"No, I'm good. Just can you not tell the guys?"

He smiled slightly, without teeth, and nodded his head before opening the door and stepping out.