She Manages My Heart

Alison's P.O.V

"Wow that was a great lunch. I'm stuffed," Tre said as we all walked into the developing room.

"Yeah that was great. Thanks Alison, we would have never have found a decent place to eat. We'd just end up getting lost, like last time we where here." Mike said, as he and Billie turned to glare at Tre.
Tre looked up at me and shrugged. "I thought I could read the map!!" he said as the others sighed.

I giggled and walked over to the table where all of the photos I had taken were drying.

"Ok guys, these are the pictures I took. Just flip through them, and if any jump out at you, tell me and we'll make you some copies.

They then sat down and looked at the pictures for a few minutes.

"Wow Alison!! These are really good!! They all look so great. You really do know what you're doing, don't you?" Billie said, shooting me a grin.

I felt my cheeks heat up as I blushed and said "So what ones do you want?"

"Well we could just take then all and sort it out later." said Billie. Tre and Mike then nodded in agreement.

"Hey Alison, we were just thinking, and we realized that we are going to be here a few weeks and it would be nice to hang out with someone from around the area. So we were wondering if you could come show us around; you know, be our tour guide for the next few weeks. We know you would be taking time off work, but we would be paying you. This could help us out a lot." Billie said, adding the latter as an afterthought.

"Well, that really all depends on what I have to really do." I said with a smile.

'Hello? Earth to Alison. Your heroes have just asked you to hang out with them for a few weeks. You don't ask what you would have to do! You just say yes!' I mentally yelled at myself.

"Well you would show us around. You know take us to fun places and shit. We could discuss the new album; you could even help us with ideas for merchandise, because you seem to be good at that. You know, just help us out with shit we're too stupid to figure out." Tre said.

"Well, I'm not sure." I said, hesitating, not sure what to say.

"Come on Alison, this should be really great. We can get to know you a lot better, and you can get to know us more. We would love you to work with us." Tre whined.

"Well ok." I agreed, inwardly smiling at Tre.

Few hours later

"Well thanks guys, I had a great time today." I said as we walked down the street towards my apartment.

"We had a great time Alison. So I guess we will see you tomorrow morning around 11?" Mike said glancing at his watch.

"Yeah that should be great." I said as we reached my apartment.

"Ok, this is me. Should I meet you down here tomorrow morning? Or will I meet you at your hotel?" I said looking at Billie.

"Umm, I guess we will meet you down here." Said Tre considering his options.

"Ok then. If anything happens, my apartment number is 63 and this is my mobile number" I said, writing down my number and handing it to Billie.

"Ok then. Oh and you know what hotel we are staying at anyway, so yeah." Billie said awkwardly.

"Ok then. Well I better turn in for the night guys. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Bye." They replied in unison, waving at me as they set down the street.

I slowly walked up the steps to my apartment building.

I leaned against my apartment door, trying to find the strength to unlock it. I smiled to myself and slipped the key into the lock.

"Hey loser!" I heard a familiar voice say.

I turned around and there was Alex; my best friend. She was sitting on the couch with her feet on the coffee table. Her jeans were slightly rolled up so that you could see her stripy black and pink socks. Her dark eyes were fixed on the television. Her short black and pink hair was messy as usual but for some reason it always seemed to suit her.

"What are you doing here?" I said, putting my bags down on the kitchen table.

"You gave me a key for emergencies." She said turning around and facing me, as though stating the obvious.

"Yeah well I'm starting to regret that decision." I said, putting my hands on my hips.

"So what was the 'emergency' this time?" I added, making quotation marks with my hands.

"I had a... food situation." she said looking at the floor, avoiding my gaze.

"Let me guess. You ran out of cheese?" I said with a smug grin, my voice dripping in sarcasm.

"No! Even worse than that! I ran out of Tim Tams!" she yelled.

"Couldn't you have just gotten them off Ian? He lives across the hall from you! Whereas, I on the other hand, live across the street!"

"He wasn't home. He's off sucking face with that slut again." she whined.

"Well you didn't have to ask him. You could have still gone in there."

"I can't, he took my key." she said, pouting.

I sighed. "Why after 17 years I am still your friend makes no sense to me." I said to her.

"Aww, come off it! You love me!" she said grinning like an idiot.

"Don't get to cocky." I pointed.

"So why are you this late anyway? Its 9:30 and I know that Paul makes you go home at 7 because you would stay there all night if you had the chance." she said standing up.

"Calm down mother. I was busy." I said, looking away from her.

"Ha ha ha. Very funny. Allie I know you to well. So what were you doing? Getting laid?" she said, cocking an eyebrow.

"Alex you know that I was not getting laid. I don't just give it away. Anyway, I'm still not ready for a serious relationship."

"Allie, it's been 2 years. You have to get over it. What's the point on going on dates if you don't end up having sex in the end?" she asked, smirking.

"Alex I'm not saying that I haven't had sex in 2 years. I'm just saying that I don't want to get hurt again."

"Allie you have to get over it. You've been out with guys since Him, but you never stay with them because you jump to conclusions and think that they are going to do the same thing He did to you."

"Well, it's hard to forget Alex. He slept with one of my best friends. He was the man I loved. I can never forget what they did to me." I said, my voice lowering

"Seriously, girl you need to move on! Take a chance, get a boyfriend, and try to make things work out with him!" she was getting frustrated.

"Yeah yeah, whatever."

We both sighed.

"So anyway, why are you home so late?" Alex said

"Alex, it's not late! I was just out with a client. That's all!" I said, pulling out a block of chocolate from the pantry.

"Who?" she questioned, looking interested.

"No one you know." I said with a mouth full of chocolate.

"I would still like to know." she said

"It was a rap artist." I said, lying through my teeth.

"Bullshit! Alison I know you to well. So who was it really?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I stated.

"You never know until you try."

"I spent the day with Green Day?" I mumbled, more a question than a fact.

"Green Day? Bullshit! I'm not that much of a bimbo!" she said, laughing.

"Fine don't believe me."

"Tell me!!" she whined.

"I'm going to bed. Goodnight Alex. You can sleep in the spare room if you want." I said, closing the door. The last thing I heard from her was a growl of frustration as she admitted defeat.