The Amity Affliction (Ahren Stringer) *COMPLETED*

Chapter Nine

2 WEEKS LATER

NINA

'I'm proud of you, Nina, when we first started, you couldn't keep up with me.'

Dan slaps me on the back as we come to the end of our jog. He was right, I couldn't keep up with him at the start, but now I could run circles around him if I wanted.

'I had a good teacher.'

He hands me a bottle of water which I grab and down like water was going out of fashion. We slump down on a bench, getting our breath back. Tonight was the last show of the Australian leg before The Amity Affliction went to Europe, and after the show, we were all going out to celebrate.

'Can you keep a secret of mine?' I ask, looking down at my hands in my lap nervously.

Dan nods, 'cross my heart and hope to die. Plus I kind of like being the person everyone tells secrets to.'

I bite my lip, 'I love you and the guys and understand you're trying to protect me from all the bad in the world and that bad includes Ahren. But we've been messaging these past two weeks again, Heather knows but I wanted to tell someone else. Please don't hate me, Ahren and I are just friends.'

Dan's smile falters for a split second, I close my eyes and prepare for him to go off at me for talking to Ahren again. Maybe I should have just kept this between Heather and I. Opening my eyes I half expected Dan to have left me in the park, but he was still stood in front of me his facial expression unreadable.

'I could never hate you, Nina and neither could the guys. I guess it would have been nice to know that you and Ahren were talking again, and at the end of the day, you should be able to be friends with him. We don't want to see you get hurt, Ahren has a way of luring people in then using them and leaving them out in the cold like trash.'

I close the gap between us and hold Dan's hand, 'I think Ahren learned not to hurt me again when Joel did a number on his face. I am planning on telling the rest of the guys slowly, maybe one at a time.'

Dan sighs, 'Being friends with Ahren does make you smile, so I guess if you're happy, then I'm happy for you. But if you ever need to talk to someone remember my bunks always open.'

~After Show~

'You guys were amazing as per usual,' I beam, struggling to keep the excitement and joy out of my voice getting to see the guys perform live.

I open my arms backstage, and Ryan runs into them being all sweaty, picks me up and starts spinning me around leaving Dan to fuss that he was going to break me if he wasn't careful.

'Mama bear Dan to the rescue' Joel jokes.

Ryan puts me down, and I pull Joel into a hug, he laughs and hugs me back. I loved these guys.

Heather pulls me aside while the guys get showered, though my attention goes to Ahren and Amy who seemed to be having a small argument. Heather looks where I was looking and grins.

'She was cheating on him with one of the techs for In Hearts Wake, Ahren didn't want to believe it, but I got evidence.'

I roll my eyes, of course, Heather got evidence on Amy's cheating ass, 'You're so bad, Heather. Let's get ready to go clubbing.'

Heather starts giggling as I drag her away from the bickering couple. A part of me was happy at the potential of Ahren dumping Amy; maybe Heather was right about me having some feelings for him.

The doctor had given my wrist the all-clear last week so I was free of the annoying wrist strap. It also meant that now the ugly blue thing didn't clash with my outfits. Heather insisted we get dressed up nice in case any cute guys were in the club when she wanted me to look hot for Ahren.