Paul's POV
She was hiding stuff from me, I could tell. Susie's always been a secretive person, but she usually tells me important stuff. Which is good, because when you're working with someone 11 months out of the year, it's healthy to have a good relationship with them.
Susie's our... well, manager sort-of person. She basically helps to co-ordinate our lives, make sure everything runs smoothly. Suse is the person you go to if you want a day off, or if you want to do a gig at a certain place, or whatever. And she's sort of our unofficial counsellor, as well. She's hasn't got a degree in Human Psychology or anything, but she's a brilliant listener and gives great advice. I think she knows more about us than we do. And on top of that, she's my best friend- we met in high school and I guess she just got, well, almost sucked into the band. The twins' fault. They have this odd, innocent-little-boy charm that makes everyone want to do what they want.
Anyway, I'm getting off the point. The point was, Suse was hiding stuff. And she looked unhappy the whole time, which I couldn't handle. See, even back in high school I loved her- I just didn't know it until Good Charlotte got bigger and I only realised it slowly, too slowly, and I couldn't tell her because she never seemed interested in me in that way... And I loved her so much, I couldn't bear to see her unhappy like that, so I tried to get her into stuff- we went to random parties and had stupid bets with each other... That's how it all started, with a stupid bet...
Susie's POV
I was drunk. I admit it freely. In fact, we were all drunk- Paul too, or he'd never have agreed to the damn bet in the first place. The only sober one in the whole house was Benji.
So anyway, we were all dancing and drinking and celebrating GC's success with Lifestyles, plus the beginning of a whole week off, home in Waldorf.
I danced my way up to Paul and slurred kind of drunkenly into his ear, "Hey, Skunkboy [that's my nickname for him, 'cos of his hair], I betch you I can toucchh the dickof every g-guy in h-here." Paul never could resist a bet, plus he was pretty plastered, so he said, "You're onn... if you win, I'll be y-your schlave for theday, n if I win, y'gotta be my slave." So off I went, and I must say I was actually pretty good. I made my way through the entire room and touched every single guy. They were all so far gone that most of them didn't notice, and finally I only had two guys left to do. Paul and Benji.
Well, this made me shake, even through my drunkenness, because I thought Benji was sexy as hell. I always had done, ever since high school. And Paul... well, I loved Paul, but somehow he never gave me butterflies or anything. And that's important, isn't it, you've got to have lust as well as love, right? But the thing is, I didn't love Benji or anything. I'd seen the way he was capable of treating girls- he'd screw them senseless for one night and then dump them. I couldn't get involved in that. And even in my drunken blurry mind, something was saying, "Be careful, be careful, be careful!"
Well, I didn't listen to my mind. I should have just lost the bet. Hell, I should never have made the bet in the first place. But the alcohol was doing funny things to my mind, and mixed in with all the passive weed-smoking I was doing- well.
Paul's POV
Even through my drunken haze I was jealous. By the time Susie had done half the room I was blazing, so you can imagine what it was like by the time she only had me and Benji left.
Suse stumbled over to me and sat on my lap. She reached down and touched me gently. "Gotcha, Skunkboy," she smiled. She got off me and staggered over to Benji. I watched her flirt with him, going greener and greener with envy. God, I wanted her. Just do it and then let's go home or something, I prayed. But no. I watched with horror as he got up and led her upstairs. I wanted to get up and stop her, but as soon as I moved I felt violently sick and had to go throw up in the sink. Don't get me wrong, I love Benji like he's my brother, but he does screw around a little too much and I didn't want my Susie to have to go through with this. Plus he knew how much I loved her. God, he's a bastard sometimes.
Susie's POV
Well, I have to admit, Benji was a fantastic lover, from what I remember, and it was okay because I knew he didn't want any long term thing, so I crept out early in the morning. And I won the bet, so I was feeling pretty good as I walked downstairs in the house that me, Paul and Billy shared. The twins' house was only next door and Chris lived with them on the rare occasions that we stopped in Waldorf.
Paul was sitting at the breakfast table, eating a piece of bread in the slowest way possible. I was surprised that he was even up this early, but "Paul, you're my slave today," I reminded him.
"Uh, yeah," he agreed.
"So, first of all, put a smile on your face. Then bring me an aspirin and a glass of water. I'll be in the living room."
I snuggled down in an armchair and pulled up the sleeve of the hoodie I was wearing. Shit. You could still see my scars. I only cut occasionally and these were a week old but you could still see them clearly. Benji had noticed last night but I, er, distracted him. I didn't want anyone to know. "Skunkboy, bring me some Vitamin E cream," I commanded.
Paul did as I asked. Such a good boy, hehe. I needed him to go away before I could rub my cream in, so I sent him off to get me some coffee.
Paul's POV
I knew they'd slept together the second she walked through the door. She had an "I've had sex" face on. And then I had to be her slave for the whole fucking day. So I was in a filthy mood, especially with Benji. I was going to scream so hard at him when I next saw him. He knew I wanted her, the dickhead. He wasn't even drunk.
Anyway, she sent me off to get coffee, but it only took me a second because the kettle was already boiled. When I walked back into the room, she was rubbing the Vitamin E cream she'd made me get before onto her wrist, and didn't notice me.
"I thought Vitamin E was for dry skin. Why are you rubbing it onto your wrist?" I asked suspiciously.
Her behaviour then was even more suspicious. She seemed to almost jump as she hastily pulled her hoodie sleeve down. "No reason," she said shiftily.
I put down the coffee and walked up to her, pulling up her sleeve. "Let me see," I commanded. She knew she couldn't resist- I'm bigger and stronger than she is. Reluctantly, she allowed me access, and when I saw her scars I couldn't help but gasp.