Adopted by Chris Motionless and Ricky Horror

Part 41: Still Not Over Him

*ECHO'S POV*

It was so stupid, I know.

But I couldn't help myself.

There I was, the 3rd day at Ange's house, laying on his couch at 2am...

Reading me and Lucas's old texts...

How was I expected to get over someone like him?

They didn't know what happened in that back lounge when no one else was on that bus.

They didn't know what happened at that concert.

They didn't know what happened backstage of their show.

But they still expected me to get over him.

They expected me to get over us.

The kiss.

The texts.

The note.

But the truth was, I just couldn't.

Alex didn't help.

Ross didn't help.

Ashton didn't help.

Just then, I heard footsteps coming toward me. I looked up to see Angelo.

"Echo? Are you okay? What's wrong?" He asked me.

I suddenly took notice of the tears streaming down my face and realized that I had been crying for the past hour.

"What? Um, yeah.." I said, hoping he wouldn't see right through me.

I should have known that Ange can always know when something's wrong.

He sat on the floor in front of me and sighed.

"Echo, what's wrong?" He asked me more sympathetically this time.

"Nothing. I'm fine." I said while avoiding his eyes.

"Echo Ryan Cerulli, I will straight up sit here and ask you what's wrong over and over again until you open up. I don't care what time it is." He said.

I sighed. "Why would you want to do that?" I asked.

"Because you're my niece. And I love you like one. And I want to know what's wrong. I...I don't want to nearly lose you again...so, what's wrong Echo?" He asked me.

"It's a stupid reason..." I said.

"I don't care." He said. "I'm here, no matter what's wrong."

I sighed again as tears welled up in my eyes.

"I...I just miss him...and I feel guilty..." I said.

"What? Miss who?" He asked me.

"...Lucas..."

"Oh? Josh's kid? Oh..." He looked down. "You two...had a 'thing,' didn't you?"

"Kind of..."

"Oh..." He said as he looked back up at me. "What are you guilty about?"

"Well, you remember Ross, right?" I asked him.

"Yeah."

"Well, we're sort of...dating...and um, I feel guilty because...I'm not quite over Lucas yet." I said as a tear rolled down my cheek.

Angelo wiped it away and hugged me.

I buried my face in his chest and started crying more and more.

"I just feel so bad..." I mumbled, "and I really really miss Lucas...I want him back, Ange...I want him back..."

He rubbed my back with one hand.

"It's okay..." He said. "I miss him too. We all do. He was a good kid. No one thought he would do that to himself, Echo. But I'm sure you're hurting. There's no doubt in my mind that that's true."

I cried more before I pulled back from him.

"I'm...I'm sorry about your shirt, Ange." I said.

"Hey, it's fine. A wet shirt can be dealt with. You being sad is harder to deal with than a tear soaked shirt. I'm sorry you're going through this, Echo. I really am." He said.

I sniffed. "It's fine."

"You want me to stay here with you for a little bit?" He asked.

I shook my head. "No. It's fine. I'm kind of tired."

"Okay. Goodnight, Echo."

"Night."