Fallen Angels (UNEDITED)

XII

He set fire to the world around him but never let a flame touch her.

  Hotels never seem to have excellent breakfast unless they are the five-star hotels my parents insist we stay at. When Marcus and I would travel, just the two of us, we would stay at cheap places.

We wanted the experience of normal.

Not having parents who insist on spending thousands of dollars on luxury.

It doesn't matter where you stay, the hotels all have the same powered eggs that taste like shit and make you gag at the thought of consuming them.

I push my fork around the plate, mixing the yellow clumps in with the maple syrup I drenched them in.

"Who the hell puts maple syrup on their eggs?" Scarlett takes her eyes off her phone to glance at my plate, "can you stop? That is so gross."

I stop pushing the mess on my plate around and decide to pick at the scone I had grabbed before this germy little kid decided to rub his hands all over the food with no parents in sight.

"That's how my cousins eat their eggs in Toronto." Scarlett scrunches her nose at that before handing me her phone.

"This is the last year for the Vans Warped Tour." I look at the article she is reading, the end of one of the greatest things in the world. This was a thing my brother and I used to do every summer, sometimes going to more than one show.

"Shit." I sigh as I hand the phone back to her, "have you told the rest of the guys?"

Scarlett shakes her head no. I can see the sad look in her eyes at the thought of The Warped tour ending. Maybe it's the fact it is ending or maybe it's that the chance of ever being a part of it is over.

"Who died?" Lucas sits down beside me with his plate of eggs and bacon, hopefully not the same food that snotty kid was touching. I can only imagine the stomach flu that Lucas could possibly get from that kid.

"The Warped tour." Scarlett hands her phone over to Lucas. I watch his facial expressions as he reads over the article, his eyes darting around the screen, "has anyone told Erik yet?"

"Told Erik what? What secrets are we keeping from him?" Both Devon and Kyle take a seat on the other side of the table. Kyle reaches across and takes a strawberry off my plate before continuing, "is Ava back?"

"Who's Ava?" I look around the table at their faces set in stone, all glaring at Kyle. Devon throws a punch across the table into Kyle's shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, just an old friend of Erik's." Devon continues to glare at his younger brother, "in other news, Caroline is coming to the Philly show and she's bringing Aaron."

"I can't wait to see the little guy again, how old will he be?" Everyone's faces seems to relax at the mention of a new topic while Scarlett gushes over Devon's baby.

"He'll be three months on the fifth, same day as the Philly show."

"When are you putting a ring on it? You two have a kid, you've been living together since you were twenty-four and we can't forget the nine years you've been together you old fart." Kyle continues to munch on the strawberries on my plate as he talks. I hand him the plate and he gives me a sheepish look.

"I was actually wondering if the two lovely ladies would help me go ring shopping? I want to propose to her while we are in her hometown." Scarlett is quick to answer with a yes and run around the table to hug Devon.

"I would love to help you." I smile softly at the group that surrounds me, the group that is slowly starting to feel like a group of friends.

"Where's Erik? He's usually down for a coffee by now, Kyle did he come back last night?" Lucas questions as he glances down at his phone, "I'll check the snapchat map."