Compilations & Complications

***Hey guys, sorry I've been AWOL on this story. This last semester was crazy and I had a little bit of writer's block. Things have finally settled so now here's Chapter 20! I also have a new story called "Playlist Love". It's a Kellic that's mostly in Kellin's POV. It's on this site but I mostly update on my Tumblr page so try to go there first. Anyway, enjoy this chapter***



I breathed a sigh of relief as I walked out of the emergency room. Yes, walked. A couple months had passed and now Mike, Kellin, and I had finally gotten our casts off. It was such a relief to be able to use both of my feet again, even if I had to use a cane. I know Mike was feeling the same way. Kellin, well I’m sure he was glad he was able to reach things on the top shelf without Kay’s help.

“I feel like I could run a marathon,” I said as I walked toward Kay’s car.

“I’m surprised you feel that way since you still have some physical therapy to do,” Mike countered. I shot him a look. Leave it to my brother to bring down my mood.

“First of all the doctor said I don’t need that much therapy since I can move my toes. And second, shut up.” Kellin and Kay laughed.

“C’mon, Mikey, don’t kill the little guy’s high,” Kay joked. I gave her the finger and continued to limp to the car.

“Because of that, I’m riding shotgun.” The three of them didn’t say anything, probably because they knew there was no use arguing with me. At least that’s what I told myself.

“So what’s the plan?” Kellin asked when we were all in the car and driving away.

“Let’s throw a fucking party!” Mike exclaimed from the back. “We’ll have games and snacks and beer and dank and-”

“And you can’t have the last two because of your meds,” Kay interjected. I looked back to see Mike pouting.

“Well fuck babe, tie me in a corner all night.”

“I think I might have to.” Mike pouted more, if that were even possible.

“Bro, you do know it’s possible for you to have good, clean, sober fun, right?” He gave me a look of confusion.

“No, I do not. Tell me more about this ‘sober fun’. What’s it like?” I rolled my eyes.

The rest of the ride back to my apartment was kind of like that. The four of us cracked jokes, went over details for the party, and just goofed off. For the first time in months we were all happy. Today seemed like a turning point in our lives, even if it was a small one.

The months leading up to now had been rough. Everywhere I looked there were signs and announcements asking for any information on our attempted murderer. It was a drag to see, especially since there was never any new information. I often wondered why they were still asking for leads. No one knew anything about what happened. There were no cars on the road besides ours. Jaime and Tony were the only other witnesses and they didn’t see anything useful. It was no use.

I kind of wished they would call off the investigation. It seemed like a waste of time and only reminded us that we almost died that night. But as much as I hated it I knew there were still things that needed to be done.

I hadn’t forgotten about my plan. Yes, things were going well, but I was still pissed. We wouldn’t need a turning point if we hadn’t been run off the road that night. I guess you could say I had conflicting emotions about it all. On the one hand I didn’t want to hurt anymore but on the other I wanted to hurt others. I just wanted some closure on the situation.

I had talked to the boys and Danielle about how I wanted to execute my thoughts. It wasn’t gonna be messy. I wanted to get as much information about this guy as I could then use it against him. Find out where he lived and worked, who he hung out with, if there was anyone so close to him that they’d come for us. Danielle was getting that information so until she secured it we couldn’t do anything. The boys were all for it, even Tony who hated being in situations like this.

“Vic? You alright?” I blinked a few times. I hadn’t realized that we were back at my apartment and Kaylee was talking to me.

“Huh?” I said.

“You need any help there?” she teased.

I shook my head with a nervous chuckle. “Nah, I’m okay.” I opened my door and stepped out of the car with only the slightest bit of difficulty. Kellin was by my side in an instant to help me through the door.

“Thanks.”

“You doing okay? You were quiet the whole ride here which is unusual,” he joked.

“Just thinking about how I’m gonna fuck you up now that I can use the lower half of my body,” I said with a wink.

“The doctor told you to take it easy too, or did you forget?”

I shook my head with a smile. “You can try to be responsible but the blush on your face says different.” I pat him on the shoulder and headed inside.

“You’re a jerk, you know that right?”

“Of course. That’s why you love me so much.”

He shook his head at mean and mumbled something under his breath. Knowing Kell it wasn’t anything too bad so I let it go and walked inside.

“But Vic I’m serious about this party.”

“Tell you what Mikey,” I started, “if you can get people here in the next hour then you can have your party here.”

“That’s a deal!” he said excitedly. He quickly took his phone out of his pocket and started typing. Kay just looked at him and laughed. I don’t think she thought he could pull it off either.

I grabbed Kellin’s hand and pulled him towards my bedroom. He looked at me skeptically but didn’t say a word as I led us inside and locked the door.

“Vic, if you’re thinking of trying something…” I didn’t get to hear the rest of that question because I kissed him. It wasn’t a hungry kiss. No, this was one of those “I need to feel okay again” kisses; ones that could only come from him.

“Sorry,” I said when I pulled away. “I just…I really needed to do that.”

“Apology accepted,” he said in kind of a daze. I guess I couldn’t blame him.

“Anyway, what do you wanna do this weekend?” He raised an eyebrow. “Oh don’t tell me you forgot.”

The upcoming Friday was my birthday and my boyfriend had totally forgotten. I was never planning on making a big deal about it. I was just turning twenty-two, but after everything that happened I felt the need to appreciate my life. Of course that would’ve been better with a boyfriend who remembered important dates.

“I didn’t forget, Vic.”I take it back. “I just didn’t think you’d be up for anything.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Because you’ve been so down lately. You’ve been really quiet these last few days. Usually when you get like that you don’t wanna do anything.”

He had me there; I had been pretty depressed. “Yeah but I’m over that now.”

“You sure?”

Was I sure? Kind of. I knew that I was happy in that moment. The day had gone so well and things were looking up. Our new classes were easy-going as were our professors considering what happened. All of the relationships within our group were stronger than ever. Life was good, and at that moment I wanted to go out and do fun things.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Let’s do something this weekend, all of us. The whole gang.”

Kellin smiled. “If that’s what you want then that’s what we’ll do.”

I couldn’t help but smile back at my beautiful blue-eyed boy. I found myself being overcome by emotions so I kissed him again. This time it wasn’t a kiss of desperation. No, this was one of love. I’d kissed him with passion before but this was different. I never wanted our lips to separate. I wanted to hold him there and kiss him until he felt all the emotions I felt. He needed to know how much he meant to me. He needed to know that I could never consider living without him.

“One day I’m gonna marry you, Kellin Quinn.” He blushed and looked away which made me smile. I turned his face back and kissed his nose before pressing my forehead against his. “I mean it,” I said, “I’m gonna do it.”

“C'mon Vic, don’t get too far ahead of yourself.”

“I’m not though. I can see myself spending the rest of my life with you. Hell, I’m picturing it right now and I’m wishing so badly that it was real.”

He didn’t say anything to that but I saw the intense blush creep into his cheeks. He was smiling that shy little smile he puts on whenever he got embarrassed for getting caught thinking something.

“You know, I wanna say more but you look like a tomato,” I joked. The blush and smile immediately left and were replaced with a surprised look followed by a hand making contact with my upper arm.

“Just for that I won’t accept your proposal,” he said smugly.

“I kinda have to propose first, genius,” I said.

“I meant in the future!” I couldn’t help but laugh. He was so cute.

“Whatever. You wanna go see if my brother put a party together?” He nodded and together we left the room the same way we went in: hand in hand.

***

Turns out Mike was able to pull a party together. The first person he called was Justin and after that things snowballed. By 10 PM we had a decent crowd and drinks going around. Of course Mike was bummed that he couldn’t have any but Kay kept him in line. It was funny to watch his misery though. Did that make me a bad brother? Maybe.

“You having a good time?” I looked over to Kellin who had just sat down next to me on the couch.

‘A better time now that I have a hottie next to me.”

“Wow that was so cheesy.”

“Yeah but you haven’t left me so I think I’m okay.”

He shook his head. “Sometimes I wonder why.”

“Now that just hurts my feelings,” I said in fake disbelief.

“Well, tough,” he replied nonchalantly. I rolled my eyes. Thankfully he didn’t see or else he’d pull my hair. I did that to him every time he rolled his eyes so it was only fair that he do the same to me. I’m glad he didn’t catch me though. He pulled way harder than I ever did.

“Whatever. You want me to top you off?”

He looked at me with wide eyes. “Vic we talked about this! Your meds and strenuous activities and-”

I cut him off. “I meant you drink, Kells. Do you want me to top off your drink?”

“Oh,” he said with an embarrassed smile. “Um, sure.”

I lightly pushed his head before standing with the help of my cane. I went into the kitchen area, passing some of my friends who were sure to forget that they were here the next day. I grabbed the liter of Coke that was sitting on the counter and refilled Kellin’s cup and making a cup for myself.

“Hey Vic!” I turned to the source of the voice.

“Uh, hey Dani. What’s up?”

“Not much,” she said with a shrug. “I’m surprised you were able to throw a party on such short notice.”

“It was Mike really. He wanted to celebrate getting the casts off so here we are.”

“Well congratulations. You guys must be pretty happy.” I nodded.

The conversation was getting to that awkward point where neither of us knew what to say to the other. I looked down at my and Kellin’s drinks. The ice was already starting to melt.

Dani sighed. “Look Vic, I’m gonna cut to the chase.” I looked at her. “You and I need to talk. Can we?”

“About what?” I asked.

She shook her head. “We can’t talk about it out here. Can we go to your room?”

I nodded. I knew what this was about. She walked ahead of me to my bedroom. I followed behind, gesturing to Tony, Mike, and Jaime to follow. If this was the news I was expecting then Kellin didn’t need to be involved so I ignored the look he gave me as the four of us went to meet Danielle in my room.

“What’s going on?” Jaime asked once we were all inside.

“Lock the door, Vic,” she said, “this is important.”

Notes