Hollywood Hills and Suburban Thrills

Banner by BurgosCheese [Quizilla]. It's so many kinds of amazing. X]

"What do you mean she kicked you out of the house?!" Kayla screams at me through the ear piece of my cell phone. I held it an arms length away to save my hearing and when she calmed down, I brought the phone back.

"I mean we had the fight of all fights two days ago and now I'm sort of homeless." I say quietly, slightly upset by the fact that I was now homeless until college started again in September.

"Well shit, Dani. What are you going to do until college starts back up? Just live on the streets—because I will not allow that." She sounded like a mother just saying that and my stomach twisted.

"I don't know, actually. I'll figure something out; maybe I'll go live with my dad in New York City or something. Just until I get back on my feet." As I said this, Will walked into the room and gave me a hard look and I swallowed.

Two things about my present situation made me a little uneasy.

One: Kayla has no idea that I was currently sitting in the same room with my boyfriend William Beckett of The Academy Is…, not to mention she has no idea that I'm in Las Angelas with the many testosterone-driven bands of Vans Warped Tour. If I told her, she would more than likely literally shit a brick, so I would break it to her some other time.

Two: Will—since I had just mentioned moving in with my dad—was now sitting on my couch beside me, pressing his lips against my jaw and whispering sweet nothings in my ear, making my train of thought go fuzzy and me to lose focus in what I was telling Kayla. He only did this as a way to make me consider moving in with him in Chicago as opposed to going to New York City, and despite the fact that I was turning twenty in a week, I felt like I wasn't ready to live with him. We had only been together for a little over four days, and we'd only known each other for a little under two weeks. Isn't that rushing things a bit? He started placing kisses on the skin under my jaw and my thoughts temporarily turned to mush. Yes, I answered my own thoughts; it is rushing things a bit.

"Dani, are you still there?" Kayla asks and I barely caught it.

"Yeah, sorry," I apologize, trying to push Will away but he only held me tighter. "I'm going to have to let you go, Kayla. But I'll be back in Chicago in a few days and I'll explain everything to you then."

Kayla was quiet for a moment. "Wait—where are you now?"

Shit.

I spluttered. "Uh…Kayla, I can't hear you. You're breaking up." I made static noises with my teeth. "I'll call you later. I'm driving through a tunnel. Bye." And I snapped my phone shut. I had barely tossed my phone onto the coffee table in front of me before Will had scooped me up in his arms and was carrying me toward one of the beds in the separate room. We were momentarily staying at a hotel in LA while the guys finished the new album. And, of course, Will and I were alone for the other four had disappeared to Happy Hour downstairs.

Will laid me gently on the bed and he hopped over me to the other side, smiling innocently. And try as I might to keep a sour face on and my arms crossed across my chest, I couldn't stay mad at him as long as he was looking at me like that.

"Emotional bribery is cheating, Will." I state blatantly, staring him square in the eye and trying to resist the smile that threatened to show when he grinned at me.

"I don't know what you're talking about." he claims in an oblivious tone and he laced one hand with mine.

"Of course you don't," I reply cynically, turning to stare up at the ceiling. I blew out a breath with my lower lip, causing my bangs to fly up and then land in my eyes.

Will appeared above me. "Is something wrong?" he asks, all traces of kidding gone from his voice and eyes.

I shook my head and brushed his hair out of his face with one hand, still staring upward and not at him. "It's nothing," I say indistinctly.

He was quiet for a moment. "Don't lie," he mumbles with sad eyes. He pushed his lower lip out in a pout and I sighed; he wasn't playing fair at all today.

"I was just thinking about me going and living with my dad," I say quietly, hoping vainly that he would just drop the subject then and there and go back to being cute. But instead, he exhaled sharply and rolled away from me, staring at the ceiling now as well.

"You already know my views on that subject," he says shortly and I found it amazing that his mood could change so quickly. And then I felt guilty because it wasn't the first time it had been my fault that he had went from overbearingly happy to distraught or upset. And that was the first time thought I had thoughts of maybe being a bad influence on the kid, but I pushed that thought out of my head for the time being, knowing that it would more than likely haunt me later that night.

"Will, I can't move in with you." I say firmly, taking a hold of the hand that he had just let go of.

"Why?" he challenges, leaning his head sideways so his eyes were burning into mine. "Why not? We're both adults. Couples move in together all the time."

"Not couples that have only been such for a barely a week," I reaffirm. This hadn't been the first time we'd had this argument. He stared up at the ceiling again just like I had been expecting him to. "Give me some time, okay? I'll go to New York for a while and if I feel I'm ready, I'll move in with you in Chicago."

He contemplated this for a moment, probably trying to find a loophole somewhere. Then, he looked at me. "How long?"

That caught me off guard. I thought for a moment. College was starting in two weeks. I would be turning twenty in one week. So, two weeks tops?

I looked at him and made a face. "Two weeks in New York?" he winced and I knew that that long of an amount of time apart would hurt. For both of us. But what else could we do? I couldn't move in with him and he couldn't abandon his band. It was the only shot we had.

He sighed. "That's such a long time," he says quietly and the pain was clear in his voice. "do you honestly think our relationship can withstand that?"

I smiled, leaning up to catch his mouth softly. "I do," and then I thought came to me. "And besides, that time apart will make reunions that much better."

He smiled with his tongue between his teeth and I praised that his chipper mood had returned. And then his face was centimeters from mine and my stomach was doing somersaults inside me.

"Two weeks tops." He enunciated the last word and I could already see the wheels in his head turning; the switches and light bulbs switching and flickering. He was planning something and I knew it.

"What are you--…" I started to ask, but he cut me off with a kiss and then smiled at me before pulling me off the bed and toward the door, heading toward Happy Hour with the remainders of Warped Tour.