Caught In The Way You Got Me (Book One)

The Sun Was Always In Her Eyes

Brendon:

"Jesus, that's awful!" Dallon shouts after I finish telling him about everything that happened. At first he thought I was joking but I started to choke up a couple of times and he finally started taking me seriously. I'm glad Kenneth brought him along.

"You shouldn't have been there...you should have left..." Kenneth says. I turn to him angrily.

"What the fuck do you mean I should have left?" What the hell is this crap?

"Brendon...you're going to leave her."

"You don't know that, Ken. You have to give him a shot."

"I know how he gets, Dallon. You do too. I don't think he'll stick around. He's probably already thought about leaving her without even thinking about how hurt she'd be."

"The only reasons I wanted to leave were because she really wants kids and she's a virgin!" I shout. The entire restaurant turns to look over and I apologize. Kenneth and Dallon stare at me for what feels like hours before they say something.

"Brendon..." Dallon sighs before continuing. "Brendon, do you even like this girl?"

"Yeah...yes. Yeah. I like her."

"But do you see yourself falling in love with her?" As soon as Dallon asks I'm reminded of how I felt when is watched her with that baby...I wanted that. There was something beautiful about that...there was something about that that I wanted...but I can't have that. My job won't let me have that.

"I can see it..." I mumble. "But I can't have kids. You guys know that." They both scoff and roll their eyes.

"What do you mean you can't have kids? Something's wrong with your junk? Too many girls?" Kenneth laughs at me.

"No! I just, I'd never be around!" I retaliate.

"That's really up to you, Brendon. You're perfectly capable of that. You don't have to do huge tours all the time. We could do small ones individually among coasts and zones. A lot of people do it. Look at Bayside. They do that. Muse does it too. It's not impossible to be a father and a musician." I didn't realize that I'd ever actually talk about this. Stupid Dallon.

"I mean if you want that you should stick around but if not I think you need to call it a day. It's only been a week and a half. You've had shorter relationships." My stomach drops at the thought of not seeing her again.

"No, I want this..." I mutter. Kenneth and Dallon smirk at each other.

"Then get your shit together! You should bring her to tomorrows interview," Dallon says with a smile.

"Crap I forgot about that."

"I knew it! Kenneth! You owe me five dollars!" He holds out a hand as Kenneth glares at me and places a five dollar bill in Dallon's palm.

"It won't hurt to get to know her, though," Kenneth says. The thought of Asteria coming along for the day brings a smile to my face. "Besides, it doesn't sound like you can leave her by herself right now."

I nod and the rest of the breakfast is spent with them teaching me how to basically be a good boyfriend to her. I text her in between, hoping she's doing alright at Fueled. When we leave I decide to take her a cup of coffee before I take her to school and decide to wait in my car after dropping it off. An hour isn't bad and it gives me time to try to write lyrics.

A while later I'm startled by the car door opening and quickly try to hide my notebook. She notices but is too sweet to ask and pretends she didn't see.

"Thank you for the coffee!" She says happily as she slides into the passenger seat. She's beaming and something about the way her huge band tee fits her adds to her beauty. The collar is so large it nearly goes over her shoulder and an array of flowers shows on her skin. I've never actually paid much attention to her tattoos but something about these cherry blossoms really suit her.

"Guess what!" She says excitedly.

"What is it, beautiful?" I ask as I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

"If my memory comes back in time I might get to host the holiday party! And I remember meeting you!"

I'm stunned at that last part. She remembers meeting me? No, she remembers meeting a different version of me...

"You were so annoying!" I burst into laughter when she says this because I knew that's what she felt about me but she says it so cheerfully. "It's true! You were the worst!"

I laugh harder and start driving, happy to see that things are slowly coming back. I feel like I've changed so much since that day...my thoughts are consumed by this the entire drive back to her campus, but I listen as she goes over how confusing her job is and laugh a little. She's so cute. Just her personality. Especially now that she doesn't think I'm annoying. When we park and get to campus Davey is waiting for us with smoothies.

"We've got some more memories!" I shout to him as we get closer. He immediately perks up and rushes to Asteria and I roll my eyes at his ability to hold two smoothies in one hand with ease. King Kong over here is such a show off.

"What is it?! What did you remember?!" He asks, shoving a smoothie into her chest. She laughs as she grabs it and he shakes her by the shoulder.

"Ow! Calm down!" She giggles as she grabs her side. "I remember meeting him. And getting the job."

"You're getting your recent memories back!" Davey yells. People are staring but we hardly notice. He's right. Hopefully she doesn't remember what Davey told me about...of course she didn't like me...she was on high alert and she could probably tell what I wanted right away.

"Bee! She asked you a question! Listening skills!" Davey tells me as he shoves my smoothie into my chest.

"Sorry, beautiful. What was it?" She goes slightly pink at me calling her beautiful in front of Davey but answers.

"Do you like acai berries or strawberries more?" She asks with a shy smile.

"Strawberries," I tell her, a little confused.

"Yes! I keep the acai!" She takes a large sip of her smoothie to celebrate.

"You're adorable," I tell her. She gasps and goes red. I don't know why I said that, I didn't think about it. It just sort of came out. But I need to be more transparent with her.

"Um... Thank y-" her apology is interrupted by her alarm.

"You've gotta get to class," Davey says. "Are you going to carry her or should I?"

"I'll do it, you carry her bags," I tell him without thinking, still trying to get used to their relationship. I scoop her up and she happily sips her smoothie while she holds mine and I'm careful not to hurt her ribs. If she walks too fast she could really mess herself up. We race over to her building and get there three minutes before the class starts.

She looks around and we have no idea where to start. The instructor isn't there and she has to set up. She takes a deep breath and starts heading over to the corner of the room. I follow and we see a drawer with her name on it. There's a lock.

"I think..." She starts as she reaches over and starts turning a combination. We're both surprised when it clicks open. And she gives me a huge grin. I smile back. She finds an area across the room to set up, far away from the girl that tried to verbally attack her yesterday. She seems excited but she also seems nervous. I just realized that I have no idea what this class is...