Callie's POV
"Thank you again for meeting with us, you have no idea how much this means to me," I say to my dad as we walk toward our cars. "Like I said, it was no problem at all. I'm really glad that you found someone who makes you happy, and I look forward to getting to know him a lot more," he replies. I flash him a quick smile before getting into Brandon's car. I watch Brandon shake my dad's hand, and my dad says something to him before getting into his car. Brandon walks over and joins me in the car. "So that was fun," he says, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah, it was," I reply. "Are you still mad at me?" he asks. "I don't know, Brandon," I say, shaking my head. "Please don't be mad at me. I love you," he replies. He rests a hand on my thigh and squeezes it gently. "It's so hard not to be mad at you right now. You were being a jerk earlier, and you wouldn't tell me what was wrong. It's really hard to help you when you won't tell me what's wrong. I can't be here for you if you aren't open with me," I say. "I know, and I'm sorry. I was just so pissed off that Lou would even think that I would lie about what you are to me, and I didn't want to upset you when I told you about it. We were getting ready to meet your dad, and I didn't want you to be distracted by what Lou said," he replies. "I would've been distracted either way," I say. "I know. I really am sorry," he says. "Okay, I forgive you," I reply. "Did you really mean what you said earlier? About not going on tour with me?" he asks. "It sounded like a good idea at first, but now that I know how Lou feels about the whole thing, it's probably best if I just stay here. I don't want to be in a place where we have to hide our relationship again. We've moved past that, and I refuse to go back to that place," I say. "I told Lou that. I told her that I won't lie about who you are to me. I want the world to know that we're together, and I don't care what kinds of distractions the news brings to the band. You're what I want, and you're who I really care about. Your opinion matters most to me, and I don't care what anyone thinks about that. If what Lou said is making you not want to go on tour, then I'm not going on tour either," he replies. "No, Brandon. You're going on tour. You aren't passing this up; I won't let you do that," I say. "Well I don't want to be without you. If this makes you uncomfortable, then I choose you. I choose to be with you, and I want to be wherever you are. If you stay here, then I'm staying here too," he replies. "I said I would go, didn't I? Yes, I have my doubts about it, but if this is going to make you happy, then I can push them aside and just live in the moment. I want you to be happy, and it's time that I chased you. You've chased me for too long; now it's my turn. I'll still go, but I want full access to you while we're on tour. I don't like sharing, and I was never one to agree to sharing what's mine," I say. "I love you so much," he replies. "I love you too," I say, kissing his hand gently. "We're going to Lou's right now," he says. "Wait. Why?" I ask. "So we can talk about the tour. I want her to know that it's our way or no way."
Brandon's POV
"B, we really don't have to do this," Callie says. "I'm totally cool with just going on tour and seeing what happens." "No way. She needs to know that you and I are going to be together while we're on tour," I reply. "She's going to hate me more than she already does if we do this, Brandon. I don't need her hating me when we're going to be on the road together for two months," she says. "She's not going to hate you. Lou respects people who stand up to her, even though she doesn't show it all the time. It'll be fine," I say. "Okay," she replies. She opens her door and gets out of the car. I follow behind her, and I knock on the door to the garage. A few seconds later, Mat answers my knock. "Hey man, what's going on?" he asks. "Nothing much. We came to talk to you guys about the tour," I reply. "Hell yeah," he says, smiling. "Come on in." I lead Callie inside, and I pull her down on the couch with me. "Where's Lou?" Callie asks. "She's inside getting drinks," he says. "I'm just warning you now, she's going to freak out when I tell her what I have to say," I tell him. "Hey, she'll get over it. You know I don't agree with what she said to you earlier. I love Callie, and I know you love her too. I think the world needs to know who she is to you. No more sneaking around," he replies. "Amen to that," Callie says. I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her onto my lap. "Everything's going to be fine," I whisper in her ear. She wraps her arms around mine, and I squeeze her closer to me. "Brandon? What're you doing here?" Lou asks when she comes back in to join us. "Callie and I thought we would stop by to talk about the tour," I say. "Great," she says. "Because we need to get the ball rolling on this. We leave in a few weeks, and I need everything to be perfect." "I'm glad you agree," I reply. "I have a feeling you're here to tell me something, and that I'm not allowed to have any input," she says. "You know me so well," I reply. "Alright, spit it out," she says. "I don't agree with the whole plan of making sure no one knows that I'm dating Callie. When we're on tour, she's going to be there. There's no stopping that. She'll be with me all the time, and if someone from one of the shows asks me who she is, I'm telling them that she's my girlfriend. I'm done hiding our relationship. I get that the tour is important, but my relationship with Callie is also important, and I'm not doing anything that will put our relationship in jeopardy," I reply. "Fine," she says. "I told you earlier that you can tell whoever you want about your relationship. I don't care. But like I said, one distraction, and she's done." "I promise I won't distract Brandon. I know how important this is to him. I'm only going to support him and be with him. I won't get in your way," Callie says. "Good," Lou replies. "Because I need him completely focused." "Trust me, he'll be focused," Callie says. "I'm glad we're on the same page," Lou says. "Now, let's talk about the hotels and the bus. There's a lot to decide on and not a lot of time to do it. So we better get busy."
Callie's POV
By the time we walk into Mike's apartment later on that night, I'm exaushted. Planning with Lou was exhausting, and I never knew someone could be so anal about hotels. "Well that was intense," Brandon says. "Yeah, serioulsy," I reply. I walk to our bedroom and throw myself on the bed. "Thank you for being such a good sport about all of this. I know how hard it can be to talk to Lou," he says. "Hey, I don't know anything about going on tour or booking hotels. She's better at this than I am, so I figured I would just agree with everything she said," I reply. "Well you're allowed to have a say in all of this too. You're going to be with us the whole time, so you can have an input too," he says. "I know," I reply. "But I honestly don't care what we do as long I have time to hang out with you. As long as I'm with you, I'll be happy." "I want that too," he says as he lays down next to me. "I'll make sure that we have time to spend time with each other while we're on the road, even if it's just for a few minutes." "So I guess this means we have to tell your moms soon," I say. "Yeah, I guess it does," he replies. "Do you think they're going to be mad?" I ask. "Probably, but I honestly don't care. They lost the right to have a say in our lives the minute they kicked us out," he replies. "I think Lena is okay with our relationship. I think your mom is the one who has a problem with it, but Lena doesn't want to say anything to her about it," I say. "I think so too, but it's not my place to say anything. Lena has to be the bigger person and come forward to my mom. She has to be the one who says something," he replies. "Do you think she would do that?" I ask. "I don't know. Maybe if things got worse than they are right now she would, but for now, I think she's going to go along with whatever my moms says. She knows how my mom gets. You haven't seen how ruthless my mom can be; it's scary. But no matter what she does, I promise I will never leave you. From here on out, it's you and me agaisnt them," he replies. "We'll just have to see how it goes when we tell them," I say. "Yeah," he says. "Are you sure you're okay with telling them?" I ask, reaching for his hand. He laces his fingers with me and gives my hand a small squeeze. "Not really, but I know it's what we have to do. Technically, we're both still their responsibility, so I have to tell them where I'm going. But like I said, they lost the right to tell us that we can't go as soon as they kicked us out. I don't want you to worry about this; this is for me to take care of, and I won't drag you into it," he replies. "I want to be there for you," I say. "And I really love you for that," he says. "But I love you too much to let you get involved in this. I know how they're going to react, and I don't want anything to happen to you. You've been hurt enough, and I won't let anyone hurt you again. Not as long as I'm with you. This is something I need to handle on my own." "I love you," I say. "I love you too," he replies. He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me down on the bed so that we're laying next to each other. For the first time in months, we fall asleep in each others arms.
