Chapter 2
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- - - - - - - That Night- - - - - - -
I woke up around 9:pm to the shrill ring of the phone.
"Hello?" I answered yawning into the phone.
"Hey Erin! How's it going?" the voice on the other end asked. A smile
spread across my face.
"Hey Billy. It's going good. What's up?" I asked. I could hear
commotion and yelling in the background.
"Will you guys shit the hell up? I can't hear her!" Billy yelled. I
could barely hear what was said in the background, but it sounded
like someone asked
'is that Erin?'. I heard Billy say yes, and then bring the phone back
to his mouth.
"Anyways. So are you two up for going out tonight?" he asked. I was
about to answer when I remembered that Meghan was going to be
working late.
"Yeah. I am, but Meghan had to work late. I don't know when she'll be
home." I said looking at the digital clock next to my bed.
"Well. How about you come with us and then Meghan can meet us up
there when she gets home from work?!" Billy suggested. It seemed like
a good enough plan to me. So I agreed. After Billy and I hung up, I
called Meghan to give her the message.
The phone rang 7 times before the voice mail picked up.
"I just wanna be with you but there's no way now. You know I have to
leave I'll be back any day now::beep::" the song "Any day Now" played
on Meghan's voicemail. She had a different song each week.
"Hey Meg. Uh the guys are home and they want to go out. I'm gonna go
with them, so just meet us at Rock Rest when you get off. Bye." I
said quickly. I plugged my phone into it's charger and hopped in the
shower.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The guys arrived at our apartment right around 10pm. I had just
finished getting ready when they knocked on the door. Only, they
didn't wait for me to open the door, they let themselves in. Nice huh?
"Oh hey. Uh let yourselves in?!" I laughed. I grabbed my phone and
keys and looked at them, as they all stood with excited looks on
their faces.
"Ok. What's up with you guys?" I asked, confused. Paul smiled and
threw his arm around my neck.
"God it's just so good to be home. That's all." He said happily. I
giggled at the way he had said it then hugged him.
"It's great to have you guys home! I missed you." I glanced at Joel,
who was studying a picture of myself and Chad on the counter.
"Well. Let's go! I'm hungry." Benji said patting his stomach. We all
headed out the door and piled into Billy's car. I was stuck in the
back in the middle between Benji and Joel. How uncomfortable was I?
Not just because I was squished, but because I hadn't talked to Joel
in nearly a year. This was awkward. Benji started chuckling out of
nowhere. Causing us all to look at him a bit funny.
"What's so funny dude?" Joel asked, looking irritated. Benji just
smiled and shook his head.
"Ah. It's nothing really. I was just thinking, Erin is a twin
sandwich!" he said, making himself laugh harder. Poor Benji. He just
wasn't funny. [A/N: I really do think Benji is funny, but I just
wanted that in there.] I rolled my eyes and caught Joel smiling out
of the corner of my eye. Hmm. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all.
I leaned my head back and looked up at the roof of the car. Just
then, we sped around a corner causing me to land in Joel's lap. I
looked up at him with my eyes wide.
"Uh sorry about that Joel." I said, half smiling. He smirked.
"It's alright." he replied. I sat back up normally, and looked out of
Benji's window. We arrived at the Rock Rest about ten minutes later.
We all piled out of the car and walked into the building. We sat
ourselves at a table and waited for a waiter or waitress. While we
were waiting, Meghan walked in.
"Hey there's Meg." Benji said, waving her over to our table. She
spotted Benji and headed over to us. She sat next to him at the table
and sighed heavily.
"What's wrong babe?" Benji asked wrapping his arm around her neck.
She shook her head.
"Nothing. I'm just worn out." she replied, smiling. Benji kissed her
quickly on the lips and then they both turned their attention back to
the rest of us. The rest of the night went pretty slowly. We ate, and
talked, before the point where bordem overcame all of us.
"So what should we do now?" Paul asked, with his chin resting in his
hand. He stirred his drink with the straw slowly as we all thought.
"There is a local show tonight. It's a band that we've been working
with at the label. They're called `Nothing Short'. We could check
that out." I said, finally figuring out something. Everyone agreed
and we headed out for the show. We arrived at "Nations" at about
11:45. Luckily the show was a midnite show. In fact, a lot of local
shows were midnight shows.
--------Inside Nations--------
I was leaning against the rail, half watching the band, half watching
Benji and Meghan slam dance in the pit. I laughed as Benji fell over
and Meghan fall on top of him trying to help him up. I swear they
were drunk.
"Hey!" I heard a voice from behind me say. I whirled around to come
face to face with Joel. 2 years ago, I would've made out with him
right there, in fact, I still had to urge to, but I knew I couldn't.
"Hey." I smiled. Joel leaned on the rail next to me and looked out. I
saw a smile form on his face, right before he started laughing.
"What the hell are those two doing?" he asked, referring to Meghan
and Benji.
"I think they're slam dancing." I answered, giggling myself. Joel
shook his head.
"I still can't believe after all these years, they're still as in
love as they were in high school." he said, staring down at the two.
"Well, some people never change. Some people fall in love in high
school and stay together until the day they die. It's sort of like a
fairy-tale. It's pretty rare that it happens too I'm sure. But I'm
happy for them." I stated as I looked over at Joel.
"Oh don't get me wrong." Joel started. "I'm happy for them too. Maybe
even a little jealous. It's just hard for me to believe." he
finished. Wait? Jealous? Did he say he was jealous? Why would he be
jealous?[A/N: I just noticed, that Chad hasn't been in the story yet.
Hmm] I looked at him for a minute, and then turned my attention back
to the band.
"Uh Hey! I just wanted to make a quick shout-out to `Social Disaster
Records' for signing us. They're a pretty brave label. And I saw Erin
when I walked in, so I want to say WHAT'S UP to her!" Mike, the lead
singer of `Nothing Short' said into the mic.
"WOOOOOO! YEAH" I shouted from my spot, laughing. I could see Joel
smiling at me. And he was doing one of those `I love you and I want
you' smiles. Ugh. It was that smile that made me fall in love with
him. Oh no! Shield your eyes. I think I'm falling..I..oh no.
