These Stars Defy Love

The next morning I woke in a much better mood. It was still early, as jet lag is a very serious thing. I hopped out of bed and pulled on some shorts and a tank before heading to the bathroom to freshen up. On my way there I realized everyone was still asleep, so I decided to head downstairs and make breakfast for everyone. I turned on some music as I cooked and ended up dancing around the kitchen as I flipped the pancakes and cut the fruit. I hadn't been in this good of a mood since before the split, and I knew it was Mike's love and support that was getting me through this. I couldn't help but feel like I had finally found someone who was never gonna jump ship, no matter how crazy my shit got. And that felt good. I flipped a pancake and went to toss it on a plate when a voice from behind me startled me and made me almost drop the plate. "First morning here and she's already cooking us breakfast. Mike, you can invite women to stay with us any time you like." Tony joked and then gave me a small cautious smile. He was clearly testing the waters, seeing how much teasing the fragile girl that cried herself to sleep could take.

"You think this is standard with any woman you invite to stay?" I raised an eyebrow and flipped a pancake onto the plate sitting in front of him. "Nah baby, I'm the deluxe edition. Any other woman simply won't meet these standards." Tony let out a loud snort and then looked over his shoulder at Mike.

"You were right. I like her. You can keep her." I snickered and went back to flipping pancakes as the other two stumbled into the kitchen. Jamie took a total of five seconds to perk up before he started making chipper small talk with everyone about how good of a day it was going to be. Having his optimism around was definitely going to prove useful as I tried to get over James. Vic, on the other hand, shuffled over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup of coffee before going to sit down and sip on it slowly. I didn't think it was possible, but he was even more dreamy when he was sleepy than he had been the night before. I handed him a plate of pancakes and poured some syrup on top of them.

"Eat up sleepyhead." I joked as I pushed the plate towards him and handed him a fork.
"You're amazing.' He responded as he took a heaping bite of the pancakes. He didn't say another word as he continued to shovel food down his throat. I peeled my eyes from him and grabbed a plate of pancakes for myself before taking a seat across from the boys.
"So what's the plan for today?"

"We," Jamie paused, clearly trying to build tension. "will be showing you around San Diego."
"Yeah because there is simply nothing worse than someone who lives in San Diego and has no idea what they are doing." Tony piped in as Mike ruffled my hair and looked at me cautiously. He clearly wanted to know if I was okay with this much attention, and I surprisingly was. In fact, I was sort of excited.sitting around all day moping would have been miserable. And knowing my way around the area would be nice.

***

Half an hour later we were all crawling into Tony's truck and heading downtown. I was riding shotgun and plugged in my music. We had the windows rolled down and I couldn't help but smile. This was going really well. They were all shouting and pointing at different shops and restaurants as we drove past them. When we reached downtown Tony parked and we all pilled out of the car. We walked around for a couple hours before we ended up at a tiny Mexican restaurant. "This place is to die for." Jamie said as he held the door open for everyone. We piled inside and sat at a small corner table. We ordered and they continued to tell me all about their favorite places.

"So, how are you liking it?" Vic asked between bites of food.

I laughed and shook my head as I stirred my margarita with a straw. "The food or San Diego?"

"Both." Tony pipped up after taking a swig of his beer.

"The food is incredible. San Diego is going to take some getting used to, but it's really helpful that I have such incredible tour guides."

They all smiled at me as they ate and I smiled to myself. I was starting to get really thankful Mike had invited me to live with them. They were all so nice. This was exactly what I had been needing, and I guess Mike had known that.

"Okay. Enough about San Diego, tell us about yourself. It's not fair Mike knows everything and we know nothing." Vic smiled at me as he asked, he had no idea how much I hated that question. I was so uninteresting.

"Well... there isn't much to tell. I'm pretty boring."

"Oh come on. That's bullshit. Mike wouldn't be friends with you if you were boring." I chuckled and twirled my hair around my finger for a minute before sighing.

"Alright, but I warned you. Well. I grew up in New York. Wasn't a big fan of high school, so I graduated early. Ended up at UCLA because of their arts program."

"You're an artist?" Tony asked excitedly.

"Sort of. I'm a photographer."

"She's a total artist." Mike cut me off. You should see her pictures. They're incredible."

"Well. Not really. But like I was saying I ended up at UCLA for their arts program, met Mike, and now I'm here." I didn't really want to say anything else about myself, because it all seemed so sad and pathetic at the time, but thankfully they all attacked me with questions about my photography and the conversation slowly drifted away from me.

After lunch we decided to call it a day and headed home. I couldn't stop thanking them for showing me around, it was going to be nice to already know my way around, at least a little bit. When we got back to the house everyone split off into their own directions and Mike and I ended up in my room, finishing unpacking.

"Hey Mike, thank you. I know I was really hesitant to move in with you guys, but this is going to be really nice. I really can't thank you enough."

"Of course Evee. I'm happy you decided to. I would have been really sad if you had moved back to New York." I snorted. That is the last place I would have gone, anywhere near my mother. Mike and I finished unpacking and I said goodnight and headed to bed.

The rest of the week kept proving to me I had made the right decision. These boys were incredible. I finally had a group of friends that seemed to genuinely care about me and they were so much fun to be around. I could feel myself slowly getting over James. And I was also slowly starting to love myself again.

***

A week after moving in Mike and I were chilling in his room. We was sitting at his desk, scrolling through his Facebook and twirling his drumsticks. I was laying on his bed with my laptop editing photos. We had been doing our own thing in silence for over an hour when he blurted out without even turning around. "Hey Eve... can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"I heard you crying last night... at like 3 am..."

"That isn't a question." I was hoping my snarky comment would put an end to the conversation, but he pressed on.

"Evee. I know this isn't all about James. Like, we can't just ignore everything else because of him."

"Mike. I'm fine. I have everything under control. I'm all good." He got up from the desk and came to sit next to me. He grabbed my arm and flipped it over, pointing to the small, raised scars on my wrist.

"We can't let this happen again though..." I chewed on my lip and stared at my lap.

"Mike. I'm fine. I'd tell you if I was feeling like that again. James didn't really trigger any of it. Surprisingly." I knew this conversation was coming. Mike was always worried about something setting my bipolar off. I couldn't blame him. He had seen more highs and lows than just about anyone. But I needed him to understand I was fine. I needed for this to not become a thing. Him constantly worrying about me.

"Okay. If you say you're fine, I believe you."

"Thank you."

Notes

I apologize for these first couple chapters being so short and choppy. I originally wrote this as a one shot, and decided to develop it into a story, so the first part was a lot of filler I felt I needed to add. I promise it gets better!