Let It Chase Me (1)

Chris-tmas

Christmas Eve.
A night full of happiness, lights, smiles, and laughter.
That's how I spent my Christmas Eve this year. Honey and I had been dating for about a month and things seemed to be going well. We always made sure Chris was with us in public so we had an excuse if anyone questioned us. It wasn't easy, but we made it work.

That morning we exchanged gifts. Honey was going home for the holidays that evening, so we celebrated a little earlier.

"What are you going to do in this apartment without me?" She asked playfully.

"Without you? Well Rivs is here, I'll never be alone" I said back with a small smile. She smiled at me and then leaned over to kiss me.

"Merry almost Christmas" she said when pulling away.

I went to kiss her again when there was a sudden knock at the door. I opened it and was met with Chris.

"Hey bud, how's it going?" I asked, moving slightly to let him know it was okay to come inside.

"Hey, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I didn't want to be at the house with Andy still in rehab. It just doesn't feel christmas-y to me" he said with a slight shrug. I looked at him with sympathetic eyes.

Andy being in rehab was hard for all of us. It's hard to believe that your friend can be in so much trouble of their own to need rehab. I looked over at Honey and she just gave me a small smile.

"You weren't interrupting, Chris," Honey spoke up. "I was actually just getting ready to leave." She stood up and walked over to me.

She placed her hands on my hips and gave me a short kiss. "Merry Christmas, darling. I'll see you in a few days."

"Yeah of course, have fun!" I yelled at her as she was walking out the door.

Once the door closed I turned around to see Chris sitting on the couch. I walked over and plopped down next to him.

"It always seems to be us in the end, huh?" I said towards him. He chuckled slightly.

"Yeah, that's because we're best friends."

"Well you know what best friends do" I said raising an eyebrow at him. He look at me confused for a moment.

"New Kids dance party!" I yelled at him. He rolled his eyes, but still got up to dance with me anyway.

Anything to take Andy off our minds.

I just didn't know how soon we would need to do that.

—-

The next few days were wonderful. Chris and I got along better than anyone else. Well, almost anyone else.

We stayed up late watching movies, he told me about his family, I told him about Eddie, we really opened up over those few days.

"You know, as each day passes, I know more and more that you're my best friend" he said looking over at me. I blushed and tried to hide it. I loved how sweet he was to me.

A few days passed and it was time for Chris to go home. I didn't want him to go, but I know he had to.

"Honey will be back soon, I don't want her to think anything happened" he said as he gathered his things.

"You're my best friend, Chris. If she can't trust us then she's not the one I want to be with." I said defending both Chris and myself.

He smiled at me before kissing my cheek. I waved at him as he walked out the door, then turned back to my empty apartment. River hadn't been around much. They were staying with someone else, but they wouldn't tell me who. It made me a little anxious, but it wasn't my job to monitor them. So I let it be.

Later that day, Honey came over for dinner. She said she had something she wanted to talk about, and that really got my anxiety heightened.

"So," I started as we sat at the table. "What was it you wanted to talk about?"

She put down her fork and took my hand in hers. "My parents asked me to move back to Montana. I didn't give them an answer yet because Seattle has you and the band. But Seattle also has drugs at a high level. Especially in the music scene. I just wanted you to know it's in my radar. Not saying it'll happen, but it's in my mind." She finished and let go of my hand. I didn't know what to say.

"Well, thank you for telling me" was all I could manage to get out. I excused myself from the table and went straight to my room. I shut myself in and didn't let Honey in that night. She eventually left.

When I knew she was gone, I went back out to the kitchen. There was a note left on the table with my name on the top.

Ems, I want you to come with me. Come to Montana with me
-Honey