Melt Your Headaches, Call It Home

"Thanks, Officer," I snapped my phone shut.

I had been talking to the police about my assaulter, and they just told me to call immediately next time we saw him. They also said to make sure that someone was always with me, preferably a large guy. I don't really have any of those available at all times; although I'm sure Neil would do it.

Now that I've had time away from that fear that I felt while he was following us, it's all faded and doesn't seem like a real event anymore. Once we got to the shopping center near the apartments, I relaxed and decided that we should go see a movie at the big screen, we stuffed ourselves with popcorn and candy. Ryan ate an entire thing of Sour Patch Kids and was complaining earlier about his tongue. I told him he should've just gotten nachos. I played it safe with some Skittles.

The only uncomfortable bit was when the couple in front of us started making out, and then continued to do so the whole movie, the rest of the time I had a lot of fun. The movie helped put distance in between me and the real world, making it easier to disregard the fact that the guy was following me.

Anyway, now I'm much more concerned about the stupid article that's going to be appearing soon, even though it shouldn't matter.

Ryan groaned as we walked into my apartment, "I seriously dislike journalists."

"I'm starting to," I agreed, "You know what the worst part is?"

"What?"

"My mom subscribes to People…" I trailed off, thinking unhappily about her reaction. It would probably be along the lines of "what a slut."

Ryan sighed and shot me a sympathetic look before flopping down on the couch. I sat down next to him and we looked at each other with small smiles on our faces. "What?" we both said at the same time.

"I dunno," we said again. His eyes seemed to twinkle and the smile that stretched across his face made my heart jump. I blinked to break my stupor, trying to not concentrate on his attractiveness.

Ryan stretched and in the process shoved his uninjured hand in front of me with his wrist bearing the message, 'Thin as a dime.'

"Did that hurt?" I asked, motioning to his tattoo.

"Yeah," he said looking at the letters, "but it's been worth it."

"I've always wanted a tattoo," I said thoughtfully, "in the same spot as yours are, actually."

"Do you know what you want to do?"

"Yeah."

"What?"

"You'll see, I want to get it when I get my cast off… that means two weeks." I had a specific thing in mind but I wanted to wait on telling anyone.

"Alright," he said, tapping on the armrest.

My eyes wandered around the room and the magazine that Pete brought over was lying on the kitchen counter with a piece of paper stuck to it. I stood up, walked over and peeled the sticky note off of it.

"What does it say?" Ryan asked from the couch.

"Here's a copy of the magazine to surprise Brendon and Alice with when they get home. Make sure it's good. We went out to a bar," I read, and laughed at the next part, "so that you two could have some alone time when you get back. Heart, Jon & Pete."

"They are just so thoughtful," Ryan remarked sarcastically.

"No kidding," I sighed, sitting back down on the couch and handing the magazine to Ryan, "So what do you want to do?"

"I –" Ryan started, but the door swung open and Brendon and Alice stumbled into the room, giggling. They were attached at the lips were oblivious to our presence.

I turned to Ryan and said dryly, "So the rumors are true..."

I don't think they heard me.

"You'd think they'd at least get a room," he said loudly.

They both froze for a second and then leaped apart, straightening clothing, looking guiltily at us.

"That was real smooth guys," I said seriously.

"We were just –" Alice stuttered.

"I was tasting her lip gloss," Brendon said quickly.

"What?" Alice, Ryan and I all said at the same time, turning to look at him.

"You guys just had a little more warning then we did," he tried again.

"We were just talking," Ryan said, "We don't need a warning."

"Ok, whatever," Brendon held up his hands, "You guys have been 'talking' a lot lately." He used air quotes to try to prove his point.

"Anyway," cut in Alice, "Sorry about that."

"It's fine," I said waving my hand like it was nothing, "we already knew."

"You did?" Brendon and Alice said at the same time, looking at each other, surprised.

"Everybody does," Ryan agreed with me.

"Everybody?" they repeated.

"Just all of America, possibly Europe, Japan, and Australia too," I confirmed.

"What?" they exclaimed together, again.

"Well, they won't until tomorrow morning," Ryan reasoned.

I agreed, "True, true, and people have to go out and buy it. It's around 5, so what does that leave? Like 15 hours?"

"That sounds about right."

"What are you two talking about?" Alice asked, frustrated.

"Just the magazine that caught you two making out," I state casually as Ryan tossed the magazine in their direction.

Brendon grabbed at the magazine and showed it to her, shock showing up on both of their faces.

"Well," he said resigned, "I guess everybody knows now. It might be a good thing."

"Yeah I guess," replied Alice, a small smile turning up the corners of her mouth.

"Yeah that means I can do this!" laughed Brendon pulling Alice into a long kiss.

"Gaagh!" cried Ryan and I throwing out hands up, to block out the slobbering scene.

"Oh, come on," said Brendon after he had detached himself from Alice, who went blushing to change out of her pj's (she had worn them to the airport and apparently they hadn't been back since), "It's not like you two don't do it… just not in public, though apparently you did here."

"It's fake... We're don't!" we said earnestly at the same time.

"Sure," he said skeptically. "So what have you been doing then?"

Ryan explained, "We just went out…"

"Ha!" cried Brendon.

"… to go buy some CDs," he finished.

"Oh what did you get?" Brendon asked reaching for the bag.

My eyes met Ryan for a split second as we realized what was in the bag, he managed to snatch the bag away just as Brendon's fingertips brushed the bag. He looked at both of our red faces and asked, "What the hell is in the bag?"

"You're birthday present," I tried.

"My birthday was two months ago, nice try, what's in there," Brendon reached for the bag again.

Ryan and I looked at each other again. He shook his head, he didn't have any ideas; he's not being very helpful.

"It's just tampons," I said, hoping the issue of feminine hygiene would put him off track, "Just let me go put them away."

It did. Brendon dropped the issue immediately. I ran to my room and dumped bag in one of my drawers. I stopped in Alice's room to run an idea by her, and then went back out to the boys.

"Ok," I said as I walked back into the room, "We're having a girl's night tonight!"

"Cool! It'll be so much fun!" said Brendon. Ryan and I just shot him a you're-so-weird look.

"That means no boys." I said, trying to get the point across to Brendon.

He nodded.

"No boys with us… at all."

He nodded again.

"The whole night."

No light bulb was going off in his head.

"Brendon," Ryan interjected, trying to help me out, "that means we have to leave, as we are considered boys. Although you could probably pass for a girl..."

"But I want to stay here," whined Brendon as he understood.

"Too bad!" I said, marching them out the door, "We'll probably come over at some point."

"Yeah," agreed Alice, coming into the room, "Anyway, bye Bren." She gave him a quick kiss on the lips and I gave a wave to Ryan.

Alice shut the door, and looked at me with a blushing smile on her face, "I was going to tell you."

"It's fine really," I assured her, "It's funnier this way. It's cute."

"So you and Ryan?" she asked with a smirk on her face, going to the hallway closet to rummage through some traditional spa treatment stuff.

"Have never kissed… or anything," I said.

She paused, laying some stuff out on the table, "Really? You guys spend a lot of time together and that picture..."

"The picture was probably taken when we were pulling apart from our hug... thing. And we do kinda spend a lot of time together, but he doesn't like me or anything." She's obviously figured out I like him.

"How do you know?"

"Because I'm me." I walked into the kitchen and stuck some popcorn in the microwave and began to pull out candy, dumping it in a bowl.

"That's a stupid reason," she said, jumping up to sit on the counter, watching me make our candy fruit salad (it's made up of all gummy candy), occasionally stealing a piece or two.

"I've only had one boyfriend, ever, Alice. I don't exactly know what I'm doing," I admitted, stirring the candy a little harder than necessary.

She replied, "That is exactly why you aren't qualified to say whether he likes you or not."

"I just don't want to screw things up like I did last time."

"You never did tell me who Connor was, is that what you're talking about?" Alice asked, taking the very well-stirred bowl of candy away from me.

I grabbed the popcorn and put it into a bowl, bringing it in front of the TV; Alice came and sat down next to me, I explained, "He was one of my best friends starting in junior high. We always hung out, I didn't really have many friends besides my brother's friends. Finally, after a little prodding from my best friend, Tyler, I kissed him at a party and from then on we were a couple. That was the summer before junior year. Everything was great… for a while. We went out for about two years before he changed. He got more aggressive and possessive. He pressured me to sleep with him, I told him no. So on my 19th birthday, my best friend other than Tyler, Leah, told me that she was really sick so couldn't come over. I had nothing else to do, since Connor told me he was going to his aunts funeral, so I went over to Leah's and to bring her some soup. I walked in on them together; I dumped him and have never talked to her again." I shook my head to clear away the memory of that betrayal.

Alice was quiet for a minute before she said, "It doesn't sound like you screwed it up. It sounds like he did."

"I must have done something wrong to make him change; he was always such a sweet guy."

"Charlotte," she said firmly, grabbing my shoulders so I was facing her, "That was not your fault. He's the one who cheated; there is no excuse for that. And your friend, well, she obviously wasn't a real friend."

When I didn't answer and avoided her eyes, she continued, "I don't think Ryan's like that anyway. You should see the way he looks at you."

"We don't even really know each other," I said weakly, Alice has already won this round.

"It's almost been a month," she reminded me. It doesn't seem that long.
"But –"

"No more buts," Alice interrupted, "Let's forget about boys. We've been breaking one of the fundamental Alice/Charlotte time rules. Let's just watch our movie and we can discuss boys sleepover style, right before we fall asleep."

"Fine," I agreed, "but then we are talking about you and Brendon."

"Alright," she said, and bounced over to our extensive movie collection, "What should we watch?"

"The Notebook or The Titanic," I suggested. I'm in the mood for that type of movie.

"Charlotte," she replied turning around, "The whole point is NOT to talk about guys. Both of those movies leave me wanting a guy. How about a Disney movie?"

"Nah. How about Psycho or The Sixth Sense, something scary?"

"You know I need a guy to watch those with, I get to scared otherwise."

"Alice, there must be some non-Disney movie that you do not need to think about or be with a guy for."

"There are!" she protested.

"Well than pick one!" I exclaimed, picking a movie should not be this hard.

"Ok ok. How about How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days?"

"Perfect," I answered.

She popped the DVD in and we both snuggled down into the cushions eating candy and spent the rest of the night laughing at the movie and whispering about boys. It was after two when I got into bed and although thoughts about a certain boy were running through my head, I didn't have any trouble falling asleep. My dreams were certainly interesting.