"That was nice," I say as we walk back into the house after dinner. He nods, "It was."

His expression still blank, it's obvious that this is more than just a band argument, especially now that I know I probably have something to do with it.

"Skwisgaar, I'm not stupid," I say. He stops and sighs, turning to face me. "I know something's up. You don't need to pretend."

"I'm sorrys. I didn'ts wants you to worries about us," he says. His eyes lower to the ground and my heart breaks just a little bit.

"Hey, it's fine," I say, pulling his arm lightly. We continue to walk down the hall together, somehow avoiding most gears along the way.

"How cans I makes it up to you?" He says, a little more energy in his voice. There are plenty of ways, several of which likely would please him as well. That isn't the priority right now, though. All I want is for this fighting to end. So my answer is clear.

"Make things right with the band."

"That's... Not what I hads in mind.." he says quietly.

"Look, I love you, but this is ridiculous. Whoever is in the wrong, I don't care. Can you guys find some way to at least talk this out?"

He shrugs, "We don'ts talks about feelings or anything likes that."

"Do it for me," I kiss him on the cheek. "I'm going to bed."

So with that we part. He makes his way downstairs to hopefully fix things, ending this obnoxious fighting. Hopefully after this the rest of the band won't hate me anymore. Should I be there with him? If I'm actually a part of this, maybe. If it came to it then maybe I'd talk to them. Right now they're intimidating. Every single time they see me they're giving me dirty looks.

I walk into the bathroom to wash my face and change into my pajamas. It doesn't take long to fall asleep. Not too much later, though, I'm awoken by something I can't process until a few seconds pass.

Loud voices only sound like mumbles from my side of the door. One of which I recognize as Skwisgaar's, the other belonging to Pickles. I hadn't noticed he wasn't in bed until I heard the yelling from down the hall, which gradually got louder as they got closer. Now they probably stand only feet away from the door, screaming at each other. Eventually the door flies open and Skwisgaar begins to pack up his guitar.

"Get up, we ams leaving."

"What?" I say, now wide awake. "What happened?"

"They ams being unreasonable, so I quit."

"No," I almost yell, "That's the opposite of what I said, Skwisgaar! Why can't you guys fix things?"

He forcefully shoves a few of his belongings into a second guitar case, and now after turning the light on I can see his face is oddly pale while his cheeks are bright pink.

"There ams too many reasons," he says.

"It's me, right?"

He stops to stare at me, his expression of anger fading. That's it, then. I hit the nail on the head. All this, it's my fault. And I didn't even know it. Not until recently, and even then it was only a suspicion.

What now?

He has to stay with the band, right? This is what he's meant to do. Me being here has kept him from that. If I'm out of the picture...

He could finally be at peace with them.

I guess there's a reason for everything. At least that's how I justify all of this in my head.

"Stay," I say firmly. "I'll.. I'll go."

"No," he says, dropping everything and rushing to my side. "We cans go together."

"Skwisgaar, we both know this is what you're supposed to do. I'm keeping you from that and I'm sorry." My eyes fill with tears, but I hold them back. I can't do this.

"I'm hurting you, and your band, and all of your fans, and you know it."

"Please..." he says. There's really nothing more for him to say, anyway. I'm right. I'm like a drug. No matter how much he might want me, I'll only hurt him. I can't intoxicate him anymore. It'll only ruin things for him.

"Thank you," I say, struggling to keep my voice from cracking. "For showing me how it feels to be loved." He shakes his head, hands wrapped around my shoulders. I pull away, though, and walk out of the room, picking up only my shoes as I go.

It's not clear what's going to happen next, but I do know that I'll be left with only half a heart.
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Hey! Just to be clear, this is not the end of the story although it is close. I'll make sure this has a fulfilling ending but we need conflict people! Anyway, I'm working on an original story and it'll probably be released after this story is done. I'd love for you guys to check it out when it is, I've written quite a bit of it and so far I'm pretty proud of myself. Thanks!