Caught In The Way You Got Me (Book One)

Anticipation's On The Other Line

Brendon:

I'm thankful that Asteria's mother actually goes into the room with me. I sit at the edge of Asteria's bed before speaking and her mother glares at me with pursed lips.

"First off, this man whore rock star's name is Brendon," I tell her and hold out my hand for a handshake. She rolls her eyes. "Second off, there are a couple of things you need to understand about your daughter. The first and most important thing is within her memory loss, she lost the incident that happened when she moved here. She hasn't regained that. I think it's best, and I'm sure you'll agree, that she forgets that."

"I don't need you to talk to me about my daughter. I know my daughter. And she needs to come home to California." Christ, this is like talking to a wall.

"You take your daughter away from this place, you take her happiness. You take her opportunity. You take away the fact that she's living her dream. You take what drives her. You take her from here, you destroy her. And I'm sorry but even though you're her mother she's old enough to make her own decisions. I understand that you're worried but this is where she wants to be."

"She needs to be back home before you get her pregnant."

I spit out a laugh. I guess everyone has the right to think of me but it really doesn't help with the whole changing thing.

"You don't know me. Neither does Davey. I'm changing because of your daughter. I'm falling in love with her. I'm going to take care of her. It's hard but I'm going to do it. I don't want to ruin her...I don't want to break her...I want her to feel cared about. Please give me the chance to do that."

Her mother's features don't soften. She remains stern and cold. It's hard to believe that Asteria and her have anything to do with each other. She relaxes slightly in the silence.

"I'm never going to get her to go back. Not now that she met you. She has you and David. I guess that's going to have to be enough."

"I know it's hard to trust me but I need your daughter..." I say quietly. She stares at me for a while then nods. We both become distracted by the shouting going on in the living room. I quickly move to the door and open it. Davey what did you do? When we walk in Asteria is sobbing.

"Asteria that's not-" Davey starts to tell her and he starts to move towards her.

"No. It is. I saw it. It was all over your face. I'll be okay, Davey. You don't have to take care of me anymore." She tries to manage her sobs as she grabs her purse and keys and walks out of the apartment. I debate on following her or kicking Davey's ass but my brain pushes me into a third option.

"David, what did you do?" I ask through a clenched jaw, trying to keepy patience.

"This is your fault. You saw her as a challenge the day you met her. You got her put in the hospital. You made her make these mistakes. And I don't want to have to sit and fix her when you break her." I'm shaking at his selfishness. This is a side of him I didn't know existed.

"I get that I'm probably not the best person for her to be with right now but I am fuckig trying and you are fucking giving up. I'm going to go and try to find her while you get your shit together!" I bark as I storm out of the apartment. I'm out of the building in time to see her turning at the nearest light and race to my car to follow.

By the time I'm in she's a couple of lights ahead of me but there's still hope for catching up in New York Traffic. I realize she's slowly headed towards the Fueled By Ramen building and decide to focus on getting there more than following her. Fucking Davey. Why did he do that? What's going to happen when all of this settles? And Asteria you should know by now that storming off alone when you're angry isn't the best option!

I park my car next to hers and try to peak inside of the building to see if I can see her. It's completely dark. Asteria where did you go? I think back to the day that I met her and realize that this was never where she was going. She wants to be alone and there's only one place in this city that let's you do that. I walk past the next few buildings behind Fueled By Ramen and someone is stepping out. Perfect. Asteria must have had an easy time getting in wearing that dress. She must have looked like she worked here. But I'm in jeans, a leather jacket, and a white T-shirt and I get a dirty look as I step into the building. I walk straight to the elevator and take the ride up, hoping I'm right and that my goddess is sitting in the early afternoon sun.

I smile when I open the door labeled ROOF ACCESS and there she is, hunched over at the edge and watching the skyline. When I get closer I realize that she's drawing something.

"Asteria?" I ask quietly. She let's out a sigh and turns to look at me, eyes puffy and red. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she says with a small and defeated nod. "I just...don't know what to do. I don't want to go home. And Davey is sick of me. I just feel like a huge burden for everyone."

She keeps sniffling and crying and I have no idea what to say to make her feel better. I sit next to her and pull her into me, her head resting on my shoulder.

"You're not a burden. Davey just isn't being a very good friend right now." She nods and I can tell she's trying to calm down. "And maybe you need a couple more friends out here. I happen to know some pretty cool people."

She looks up at me with a smile and I wipe the last trails of her tears. She looks unsure, like she thinks she's being too hopeful about me getting her closer to the guys. I don't see why not, right?

"They really like you as it is anyway. It's not to replace Davey. It's just good to know a lot of different people. Break out of your comfort zone a little bit, Asteria. You might be surprised but Davey isn't the only person out there that can be our best friend." She's finally stopped crying and gives me a small smile and nod.

"I need to talk to my mom," she says with a sigh. I debate on telling her that I spoke with her already and decide that it'll be best to watch Asteria deal with this without that knowledge. She dials her mother's number in her phone and takes a deep breathe. You can do this Asteria. Be firm. You're not going back to California.