Push You Back

Chapter 8

-NIGHT TIME-

"Anya!" Rowley calls out to the girl walking up the Heffley's doorstep.

"Oh, hey kid you sleeping over too?" She ask him ruffling his hair as he nodded and knock on the door.

"Hey Rowley. Hey Anya." Greg says opening the door letting them get inside.

"Hey." They both say entering as Anya waves at Fred and Rodrick yanks Greg quickly.

"Does he know about the D-O-R-E?" Rodrick whispers making Anya and Greg look at each other more confused than ever and look back at Rodrick.

"The door!" He says in a duh tone making Anya snort.

"Y-yeah. Don't worry. I already told him, deny,deny,deny." Greg says making Rodrick stand next to Anya as he looks at Rowley.

"Hi, Rowley Anya; what's new, huh?" Frank says walking towards them as he hits Rowley with his newspaper.

Rowley lets out some small weird noises not knowing what to say out of fear. Anya side eyes Greg.

"Okay." Frank says weirded out and walks away. Rodrick does some hand movements towards Rowley scolding him.

"Wasn't there a lock on this door?" Frank asks making all their faces drop. "I must be losing my marbles." He says making all of them sigh in relief.

"I-I-I can't take this pressure. I'm leaving." Rowley says about to leave. "Okay everybody dinner time." Susan says.

"Actually, Mom, I have to skip dinner." Rodrick says making Anya confused.

"Why?" His Mom asks waking towards them. "I've got the most important meeting of my life tonight." Rodrick says.

"You didn't tell me anything about a me-" "Did you say you have a meeting?" Frank comes in asking surprised cutting Anya off.

"Yeah." Rodrick says as Anya still is confused. "Like for a job?" she asks.

"Yeah. Kind of." Rodrick says happily. "I'm meeting with the best guitarist in Planinviwe. Now he's in between bands, and if I can get into loaded diper, then winning the talent show is a lock." Rodrick says making Anya smile and his parents smile as well.

"I mean, you'd like him, Dad. He's a real professional, like you." Rodrick says trying to get on his good side.

"Be supportive." Susan tells her husband and then there's a knock on the door.

Manny runs over to Anya who she then picked up into her arms smiling.

"That's him. I'll get that!" Rodrick says only for Frank to open it.

"Oh, man, I barley made it here. Your address has so many numbers!" A dude with blond long hair appears making everyone's eyes go wide.

"Do I smell pot roast?" Bill says smiling.

Anya hits Rodricks arm with her elbow slightly which he made a face and rubbed his arm.

They were all at the dinner table eating. Bill was chewing loud and stuffing his face. Anya looked at Rodrick very confused giving him a 'get him out' look.

"We really should be going-" Rodrick says getting up only for his Dad to cut him off.

"Sit." Frank says. Rodrick sat back down slowly and Anya awkwardly ate her food.

"So, Bill. Rodrick tells me that you're a professional musician. So, that means that you earn enough to make a living?" Frank tells Bill as Rodrick nods his head quickly.

"Oh, Yeah! Yeah." Bill nods making Fred relived.

"Well enough if you live in your parents basement." Bill says cracking up. "My parents are really supportive. Respect your parents boys." Bill tells Rowley and Greg. Anya looks at Rodrick only for him to look down embarrassed.

"Hey that's what Joshie says!" Rowley says smiling only for Fred to shoosh him.

"So... W- It doesn't sound like a cakewalk, right?" Frank tells him. "No." Bill says digging back into his food.

"Why don't you tell Rodrick? Give him a picture of just how challenging it can really be." Frank tells Bill. Anya looks at Rodrick knowing what his Dad really meant.

"No, it's really hard. First of all, there's no home-cooked means like this." Bill says.

"What? Really?" Fred say pretending like he cares. "Yeah, Yeah, No on the road, it's all burgers and fries and pizza. Then you gotta deal with the fans, especially the girls." Bill says. With that both Anya and Susan look at each other.

Anya just wanted to get out of this awkward situation. "No, it's definitely not for everyone. But, If you like rocking deep into the night and partying hard all day. Then it might be the life for you." Bill tells them.

"It's definitely for me." Rodrick says nostalgically. "It does sound fun." Rowley says. "But what if you don't okay a musical instrument?" Greg asks.

"Löded Diper always needs roadies." Bill says chuckling. "So you're joining the band?" Rodrick asks Bill excitedly making Anya smile at his happiness.

"Yeah, brother! I'm in let's rock!" Bill says going in for a high five as Frank looks at him and his son not too happy as Frank high fives the two other boys. Anya looks at Frank who stabbed the food with his fork.
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Bill left and thanked Susan for the food. Anya helped clean. Once she was finished she headed upstairs to Rodrick's room.

She opened the door and saw him on his bed spinning his drum stick. "So, that was something." Anya says chuckling.

Rodrick sat up looking at her shaking his head. "Yeah, but hey at least he agreed to going my band." He says smiling as he scooted over letting her sit.

"I guess you're right. But do you think this is a good idea? I mean how well do you know this guys?" Anya asks him.

"Why does that matter? He's good at what he does, and my band needs this." Rodrick says frowning. "Okay, okay. I'm just saying." Anya says softly making him nod.

Rodrick's then looks down and chuckles making Anya confused. "What's so funny?" She asks smiling.

"Remember that time we tried to build a treehouse in my backyard?" Rodrick asked, a grin spreading across his face.

Anya laughed, "How could I forget? We got as far as nailing two planks together before we gave up and had ice cream instead."

They both laughed, reminiscing about their childhood adventures. It was moments like these that made their time together so special.

Anya then saw a comic book from middle school. She smiled and picked it up comics that were in an old box.

"Look at this!" Anya exclaimed, holding up a comic with a colorful cover. "Do you remember when we used to trade these at school?"

Rodrick smiled, reminiscing about those days. "Yeah, those were good times. I always tried to get the ones you wanted because I knew they'd make you happy."

Anya laughed, touched by the gesture. "You're the best, Rodrick. You've always been the best." She says truthfully making him look at her. Rodrick looked at her with a secret affection in his eyes, hoping she wouldn't notice his true feelings.

"And so have you Anya. Always will be." He tells her. They both looked into each other's eyes smiling. She looked at her best friend with a mixture of admiration and longing.

Rodrick wishing he could tell her how he truly felt. But he knew it could risk losing her. So he pushed it away. And his face fell a little.

"What? Is something wrong?" Anya asks noticing how his smile faded. "Hm? Uh, no just tired. We should go sleep. It's late." Rodrick tells her.

Anya nodded. "Yeah, okay." They got into bed and started to drift off. Anya was still awake, but Rodrick was knocked out.

She smiled and kissed his forehead and turned off the light closing her eyes.