Chapter 18 – That’s It?
“What’s wrong? Benj, you can tell me.”
“Well, that day…I was really stressed; you know with the album coming out and everything. Well…”
“Benj! Tell me, what is it? If you tell me you were with another girl, I’ll kill you!” I laughed because of how stupid I must have sounded.
“No. I could never do that to Emily.” Benji paused and let out a sigh, “I was at a bar.”
I started laughing uncontrollably when I heard his response. “That’s it?”
“Stop. It’s not funny. You see--I
was an alcoholic last year. I actually stopped drinking after I met Emily. And,
the stress and…well when I was looking for her I found this bar that I heard a
lot about, the Krause Hause (hehe I’m in creative writing now, and my teacher
is Mrs. Krause…and above her door she has a sign that says “The Krause
Hause”…ok, I’ll get back to the story...) and I decided to check it out. My
curiosity got the best of me…but I only had one drink!”
“Ohhh I see how it is.” I replied while laughing, I thought it was a stupid reason. “Well, just tell Emily, I’m sure she’ll be fine with it.”
“Tell me what?” Emily said.
“Nothing…aren’t you supposed to be in the shower?”
“Yeah, I forgot a towel. So what does someone want to tell me?”
“You’ll see…you’ll see.” I replied.
“Oooh, Emily in the shower, I wish I was in New York…”
“Stop it Ben—”
Benji screaming something to Paul interrupted me. “Paul wants his phone...should I give it back?”
“No…never. RUN!”
I heard things bang in the background, and Benji breathing heavily into the phone. I laughed at the obscenities Paul was screaming; secretly wishing I was there to see this. After a few seconds I heard a loud thud, which made me laugh, and then Paul screamed, “I got it!”…Which obviously meant he tackled Benji.
“Hey there…”
“You…are…evil.” Paul said to me.
“I am not! I’m just not…nice.”
Paul mumbled something under his breath. “So, what did Benji have to talk to you about?”
“Hmmm, I’m sure he told me somewhere during the conversation, but right now, I can’t seem to remember…”
“I hate you.” Paul said sarcastically.
“Really? Cause I LOOOOVE YOU!” I giggled. I was feeling really happy for the first time in so long.
“You’re crazy...” Paul said.
“And you’re adorable.” I paused, “So how did things go today?”
“Eh, it was ok. I’ve got a headache from all the fans screaming.”
“Aww, I’m sorry.” The doorbell rang. “Oh man, I gotta go. Sorry…”
“Alright, I’ll call you later. Love ya” Paul said.
“Love you too.” I answered the door, but no one was there. I closed the front door and went back into my room. I didn’t feel like calling Paul again, seeing how we just hung up, so I laid on my bed. It was only 5:30, so sleep sounded like a good idea.
The loud annoying sound of my apartment buzzer woke me up. I looked over at my alarm clock, “Damn, it’s only been 15 minutes.” The buzzer rang again. “Meh! I’m coming!!” After stumbling into the living room, I opened the door. My jaw dropped in pure shock. Maddie took her index finger and tried to close my jaw, but it wouldn’t stay shut. “What??...huh?” were the only words I could think of.
Maddie gave me a hug, “Hey! How’s it going?”
I stepped back to take a look at Maddie and pinched her. “Wow, what are you doing here?”
“Well—”
“Oh I’m sorry, come in!” I took Maddies bags and put them in the living room.
“Thanks, anyway—”
“Oh my god!!” Emily screamed. I saw Maddie’s face become angered because no one was letting her talk. “What are you doing here?” Emily said while giving Maddie a hug.
“Well…” Maddie paused while waiting for someone to interrupt her. “Ok, so being alone while Joel and the boys were out was so boring. I mean, I loved being with Joel and what not, but being alone during the day on that bus was…hell.” Maddie looked at Emily, “How did you do it for so long?”
“It was hard, but I dealt…” Emily said.
“So you decided to visit us in New York?”
“Yeah!” Maddie replied.
“Good, we could use another painter!” Emily said while laughing.
“Well, you can bunk with my if you want.” I said, “Here, I’ll show you my room.” The week passed and the three of us re-painted the apartment…“bonded”, if you will.
Walking back from my morning class I took a breath of fresh air, which wasn’t so fresh. During the midst of my spazzing from my seizure, I dropped a few of my books. As I was picking them off from the ground, I heard a familiar voice.
“Hey is this yours.”
“Thanks!” I said while looking up, still trying to figure out the voice. I stood up and looked the girl in the eye. She was of Asian descent, with blue chunky streaks in her hair. “…Amber?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s me! Hailey!”
It took a couple of seconds, but Amber finally registered who I was. “Oh…my god!! What’s up?”
“Nothing really…you?”
“Oh nothing. Wow, I never knew you went to school here, I always thought you would stay in Maryland.”
“Yeah, things changed after you moved away.”
“Are you still with Paul?”
I laughed, “ Funny you should say that…. we actually broke up a month after he left, and then about a month or so ago we got back to together.”
“Wow…that’s awesome, you two are so right for each other!”
Amber and I walked over to the park bench and sat down.
“So, how’s your love life going?” I asked.
“Shit.”
“I’ll have to fix that…you know Billy’s single now.”
“Now? Wasn’t he always single?”
“Nah, stuff happened and well, now’s he’s single.”
Amber laughed, “Well how is Biller? I haven’t talked to him since the day that he left for New York.”
“He’s good.” I paused and poked Amber with my elbow. “He’s loooooonely!!” My beeper went off, which meant I had to get back to the apartment soon.
Amber and I walked to my apartment, while I told her the whole Paul and Ayla stories.
“Emily, I’m home, what do you need?” Emily walked into the living room and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw me. “Em, this is my friend Amber, Amber—Emily.”
“Oh, so it’s you!” Emily screamed.
“Hey look Hailey, I gotta get going. I’ll call you sometime!” Amber left faster than I ever thought possible.
I turned to Emily, “What the hell was that about?”