TW: Dark themes, Talk of Suicide and abuse.

The next couple hours breezed by. I had to admit that I really enjoyed Rolan's company. He was genuinely a great guy, there was nothing that somebody could dislike about him. 

When he came over to my apartment, he took it upon himself to start cooking a meal. I hadn't ate anything except microwavable noodles for the past week so I was pleasantly surprised when he started to cook up pasta, with the little ingredients I had. 

"Rolan, that's really sweet, but you really think you'll be able to make pasta?" I said, referring to the little bits of ingredients he placed on the counter. 

He scoffed as if I had just challenged him, "Of course, m'lady," he joked.

I laughed and walked over to him. I heard keys jangling in the door and assumed that this time it really was Kristen. 

The door swung open and it really was her. 

She locked eyes with me then scanned to the right of me where Rolan was standing. Her jaw dropped evidently as she brought her hand to her mouth to cover it. 

I had been telling Kristen about the Warflowers for weeks now but she hadn't really got the opportunity to meet them, well not up close anyways. 

Rolan looked up then at me wondering why there was a random girl frozen in the doorframe. 

"Kristen, come on in," I said, urging her in. 

Kristen walked in smiling ear to ear, failing at containing her excitement. 

"Rolan, this is Kristen, Kristen this is--," I started.

"Rolan Peters!" she exclaimed. I widened my eyes at her signaling her to keep her cool. "I-I think, right?" 

"Ha- yeah," Rolan politely laughed.

"Rolan, this is my best friend so now she's also your best friend, that's how this works." I explained. I walked over to her, pushing her closer to us. "She's also a big Warflowers fan, so she's a bit starstruck." 

He nodded lightly and smiled. "There's no need to be, really. I'm really dumb and probably the biggest doofus this girl has dated."

I blushed softly. He didn't know that he was kind of the only guy I really dated. Well, not counting this one guy who shall not be named.

Kristen softened up. "She's dated some doofs before," she said, staring at me, thinking of the same guy. "You seem really cool though."

She stuck her hand out and I could tell she was warming up to him. 

"Kristen," she said.

Rolan softly grabbed her hand and shook it, "Rolan," he said.

My heart warmed as I realized how official this thing with Rolan was becoming,

*****

"So, you pulled one over me," Sillias said as he walked over to Eli and I.

The room was tense. The bandmates knew what happened and I knew that it would have repercussions but my heart was still beating a million miles a minute. I could actually hear its beat in my ears.

Sillas slammed his shoe on the floor. "How stupid do you think I am?" he said, inches away from my face. "You think you could just defy me like that?"

"It wasn't her fault," Eli snapped, as he pushed me back with him arm softly, to face Sillias.

Sillias smirked and scoffed. "Hey, lover boy, where was this energy on press day?" he asked. 

I looked over to Rolan who had a lost puppy dog expression on his face. 

"You just had to kiss her, not like you haven't done that with millions of other stupid girls," Sillias spat. 

My heart stung at his words. I didn't know if it hurt me more that he called me just another "Stupid girl" or the fact that Eli had kissed so many girls. The latter shouldn't matter though, right?

"Don't call her stupid," Rolan pitched in, from the back.

Sillas bit his cheek as he turned around. "And what are you going to do about it?" he challenged.

Rolan looked down and shook his head softly, "n-nothing," he stuttered. 

"Leave it to me," Eli said, staring at Rolan. 

Sillas shot back at Eli.

 "What? What are you going to do to me! If you can't follow directions, I swear I'll have you--,"Sillas began screaming.

"What? You'll what?" Eli said, raising his eyebrows. 

"Don't do this for this little girl Eli, I'm warning you. Don't." Sillas warned.

"Maybe show some respect to her. Her name is Merry." he corrected. 

"Oh okay, my bad. Tell Merrrrry to take you in when your father's given you another black eye, or when he's too drunk to make it to one of your shows or when--," Sillias began unloading.

"That's enough Sillias," Kellen said, stepping up towards him. 

Eli's face sunk. His expressions looked ghostly and he looked sick. He looked like the life in him was knocked out. I saw veins emerge in his arms and jaw clench up. At the same time, I could tell he was dropping his face to cover up his watery eyes.

My heart dropped looking at him. I had no idea what Eli was dealing with. He had been through so much and here I was complaining about the stupidest things.

"Fine, just go to your mommy, oh wait you don't have that either. She killed herself cause of your dumb ways." 

Eli swallowed hard and ran straight out of the door. 

Kellen ran after him and my heart sank. I was still in the room with Sillias, Rolan and James. 

Sillias stepped towards me and I felt my anxiety risen and my throat close up. Until, Rolan stepped in front of me. 

"Stop SIllias, please." he urged, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

"Tell her to make this believable, at least for a couple weeks, then she could do whatever and go back to her meaningless life." he spat, even though I was just meters away. 

Rolan nodded as Sillias marched out of the room. 

Right after he left, James went out of the studio. 

I felt Rolan's arms wrap around my body as I rested my head against his body. I felt his soft heartbeat against my ear. 

I was tired and I could tell he was too. 

I looked up and he looked at me. I went on my tippy toes and placed a soft kiss on his lips. I felt his soft honey-like lips against mine and for a moment everything felt like it was alright. He deepend the kiss as he grabbed my face softly with both hands. 

I broke away slightly and opened my eyes to see Eli entering the studio again with his bloodshot eyes and broken appearance. 

I stepped away from Rolan slightly and couldn't help but wonder if Eli was alright. I needed to talk to him.