A/N: This story was inspired by my random thought of what someone would do if they were given seven days left to live. Its one of my few original pieces, so please tell me what you think!
Seven Days
Chapter 1:The Night Before
Maggie
The night air bit at my nose and the tips of my ears, and I felt my cheeks warm with cold and exhilaration. It was so dark that I couldn't have seen the ground below me had it not been for the many streetlights adjacent to the path I was walking upon. I wasn't alone. Innumerable amounts of people hurried along excitedly beside me. Everyone was eager to reach the concert.
A tall, dark haired teenager walked up next to me. I turned to look at him, and caught his eyes. They were dark brown. In my mind, a vision of Kyle caused my heart to catch in my throat, but I shook away the emotion. Kyle was someone that I would have to move on from. The boy next to me looked to be about my age. He wore a black shirt, baggy jeans, and brown vans.
I grinned at him, trying to look sexy. I knew I did. I had straightened my hair so that it hung down my back in long, blonde strands. My eyes were decorated with black eyeliner, dark brown eye shadow that blended into a light tan, and mascara. My cheeks wore a light, delicate blush that made my face sparkle, and my small, red lips were lightly covered in sparkle "cloud" lip gloss. I wore a tight, sexy black shirt and baggy black pants with various chains and straps hanging from them. They hung low on my hips. My teeth were straight and white, and I smiled sincerely at him.
Samantha stood beside me as we made our way to the stage where the concert was taking place at Jones Beach. The last time I had been here was when I was about nine years old, and I had been going to see a Britney Spears concert. The mere memory disgusted me. But as I looked quickly at Sam, her eyes urging me to talk to the hottie that had fallen into step with me, I reminded myself that this wasn't a Britney Spears concert, and I wasn't nine years old.
I turned back to the boy and he was grinning at me. My heart caught in my throat. Damn, he was hot.
"Hey," he cooed. His voice was sexy and sent a shiver up my spine. He was still grinning at me.
"Hey, I'm Maggie," I replied, holding my hand out. He took my small palm in his and we shook softly. I noticed that I let my hand linger in his a bit more than I should have, but he didn't seem to have realized.
"Ben. You like Evanescence?" He asked.
"I love Evanescence!" I exclaimed. "Why else would I be here?" I asked, motioning around me. He laughed softly and stuck his hands into his pockets. Even his laugh was sexy.
"True. What seat are you?" he asked, looking eagerly at the ticket in my hand.
I looked down and examined the seat number on my ticket, then examined his as he held it up next to mine. My heart skipped a beat as our shoulders brushed against one another's and he leaned his head towards mine.
"Looks like were next to each other," he whispered into my ear. My voice was weak as I replied.
"Yeah." I looked at him and smiled softly as he did the same. Then, suddenly, he grabbed my hand.
"C'mon! Let's ditch this crowd. I know another way in." He led me away from Sam, but she grinned after me and mouthed that she would meet me at the seats.
"Ben!" I stumbled along after him, giggling as he led me away from the crowd and over the grass to the stadium.
"I used to work backstage here, last summer. They'll let me in through the stage door. We can meet Amy."
I stopped short and stared at him.
"Really?" I asked, raising my eyebrow unbelievingly.
"Will this convince you?" he asked. Then, suddenly, he grabbed my two hands in his own and leaned towards me. As his lips pressed against mine, softly at first, then harder, I closed my eyes as a shiver ran through my body. His lips parted slightly, working mine open, and he slid his tongue in hesitantly, peeking one eye open to make sure I was okay with it. I opened and closed my eye slowly and kept kissing him, sliding my tongue into his mouth as well. It was my first kiss, but I didn't let on. If this was how to get over Kyle, then this is what I would do. And it felt good.
He pulled away, slowly and unwillingly. Then he grinned at me and I grinned back.
"Save some for later," he said. I felt a tingly feeling run through my body as he said this and nodded. I became even more aware of how good I looked.
Then, he took my hand again and led me to the back entrance. When we reached the large black door, he pounded on it without removing his other hand from mine. No one answered at first, so I started pounding with him. He stood there, hand in hand, laughing and pounding on the big black door until finally a big black man answered. Then, he saw Ben.
"Yo! Ben! Wassup brotha! You come back for more, eh?" The security guard embraced Ben quickly, then pulled away.
"Nah, Craig. Got a girl with me," he said, nodding towards me and causing me to blush. "I've had enough of cleaning up these celebrity messes!"
Craig laughed at Ben's last comment. "Yeah, yeah, I hear ya! But aint never been no better kid we've ever had to clean up those messes."
Ben smiled and laughed, too. "I guess. I was a pretty good janitor, I guess."
I laughed. He had been a janitor here.
Ben looked at me and smiled, then led me past the big man. Then, as we stepped inside and our eyes adjusted to the light, I froze. There, in front of us, was Amy Lee.
Sam
The lights stung my eyes when I looked up into them, but I hardly cared. I was walking beside my best friend, Maggie, heading towards the Jones Beach stadium, about to see an Evanescence concert. The crowd that moved around me caused my body to heat up although it was a chilly night.
I was aware of the gazes of a lot of the teenage guys around me, scoping me out, and I knew why. I had applied a sparkling eye shadow and lip gloss, and my blush brought out my smooth cheeks in a pink glow. My shirt was tight, revealing one shoulder but covering the other, and my jean hung low on my hips. It was hard walking in my high heeled boots, but it was worth it to look good, and taller. Yet the gazes of the other guys barely concerned me. My heart belonged to someone already. Tony.
Just then, as his face appeared in my mind, a guy fell into step beside Maggie. She looked at me for confidence, and I smiled, urging her to go on. It wasn't long before he was leading her away from me, and I nodded encouragement to Maggie. This was our night, and I wanted her to have fun. Especially after her heartbreak over Kyle, one of her best friends.
She and Kyle had been best friends for about a year, yet she had been in love with him for all that time. Then, he had told her that he thought he had feelings for her too. Things had been so nice between them in that time, and I remembered how ecstatic she was when she had called me on the phone and excitedly told me how they had held hands. She had never sounded so happy. But that all ended in one day. Maggie, who suffers from depression and manic depression, had a panic attack, and her tears had scared him away. Sam could kill Kyle for what he did to Maggie that day. Their friendship had been rough after that, but Maggie and Kyle had worked it out after a few days and were now just as close as ever. Still, now Maggie can never let Kyle know how she still loves him even deeper than before, and that love grows greater and greater every day. Yet I knew that she still had to get over him, and she did too. There was no way the two of them could ever be.
It had been about fifteen minutes later, and I was still walking in the crowd when my celli rang. It was Maggie. I quickly answered, and her excited voice screamed at me through the phone.
"Get to the back entrance!"
"What?" I asked. She sounded so excited and breathless.
"It's Amy Lee! Get to the back entrance!"
I told her to clam down. I could barely understand her through he excitement.
"Woah! Where's the back entrance?"
Maggie quickly explained directions to me, then promptly hung up. I raced to find the stage door. As I walked quickly away from the crowd, I stopped short. I hoped Maggie wasn't going to do what I thought she was. If she called Kyle, I knew her chance with that hottie was over. I pulled out my celli and thanked my mom for teaching me how to put my friends on speed dial.
Maggie
When my phone rang, I nearly jumped. I was so involved in shaking Amy's hand that I wasn't expecting to hear the shrill ring. But Amy looked understanding. She smiled at Ben and shook his hand while I answered my phone. Sam's voice jumped out at me.
"Don't call Kyle! You'll ruin everything with Ben when there's no chance between you and Kyle in the first place!" She was breathing so heavily I could barely understand her.
"What? How did you know I was going to call Kyle?"
"I know you, Maggie. I know how in love you are with him. You can't ruin everything with Ben for something that is never going to happen."
I swallowed. I knew that Kyle and I would never be, but I couldn't keep my love from growing every time I saw him. I looked at Ben, and he winked. My eyes looked down to his hand, and I knew what I had to do.
"Don't worry, Sam. It won't happen." My eyes were still on Ben's hand as I put my cell back into my bag. Then, slowly, I walked to Ben and slipped my hand into his. My eyes watered as I felt my hand in his and realized that no one's hand would ever feel as nice as Kyle's did in mine. But I tightened my grip and closed my eyes, and felt Ben's warm, soft hand in mine. Yet somehow, Kyle's hand had made my heart beat faster. His hand in mine had made my stomach turn and gave me a sliding feeling even greater than when Ben and I had kissed. Kyle's hand had felt... right in mine. It had just felt right. I softly slid my hand from Ben's and smiled at Amy.
"Wow. I can't believe I'm actually meeting you! I mean... I admire you so much! Your voice is amazing!"
She laughed. Her laugh was soft and sincere. She seemed like such a woman.
"Thank you," she said, sincerely.
"I know you probably hear that a lot, but it's true."
She smiled.
"I really have to go now, warm up with the guys, you know?" She explained. "It was nice meeting you two. I'll look for you in the audience and do this," she said, pointing at us with two fingers.
"Okay!" I said, enthusiastically. "Can you just wait one minute? I'd really like an autograph now when there is no teenage mob huddling around you."
She laughed and took the pen and paper from my hands just as Sam ran through the door. Amy looked surprised, but I just laughed.
"Hey, buttox!" I said, giggling and taking the autograph from Amy. Then, Sam quickly ran up to her and thrust a paper and pen into her hands.
"Oh! Wow!" Sam was still recovering from the shock of meeting Amy Lee. Ben laughed and gave Amy and pen and paper for him, too.
We all shook her hand again and thanked her for the autograph, and I figured she was probably getting pretty anxious to go warm up for her performance. I took Ben's hand and he, Sam, and I walked out to the stadium entrance where we looked around for our seats. When we finally reached them, after moving at a snail's pace through the crowd of people, Ben traded seats with a man that looked to be about thirty years old so that he could sit next to me. As we all sat down, Ben whispered into my ear.
"Who's Kyle?" he asked, and my heart caught in my throat. He must have heard me on the phone.
"He's one of my best friends, but that's all. There's nothing between me and him," I answered, truthfully. He and I were just friends, and that's how it would always be.
"You sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure. You want to know why?" I asked, looking up at Ben through my eyelashes, seductively.
"Why?" He asked, grinning.
"Here's why," I said, pressing my lips firmly against his as he kissed me back and slid his arms around me. This time, I felt the same sliding feeling as when Kyle held my hand as Ben's hand brushed against my chest as he snaked his arms around me. I knew I turned red, but I kept kissing him and slid my tongue into his mouth. But then, a voice broke out over the stadium.
The concert was starting.
Sam
I haven't been to many concerts in my life, but I knew that this one was going to be better than all of them. After meeting Amy Lee, we all found our seats. Maggie and Ben had just started making out when the announcer stood up on the stage. He was now riling up the crowd and getting everyone screaming. Them, a burst of flames shot up out of two tubes on either side of the stage, and Linkin Park came bounding out, performing Faint. They were performing the opening numbers as well as Trapt. Everyone shot up out of their seat immediately, jumping up and down and bobbing their heads to the music.
I looked over and saw Maggie swaying her hips, her arms above her head. Ben's eyes were on here, and I thought of what must be going on in his pants, seeing Maggie dance like that. She looked sexy. I started mimicking her, swaying my body to the music. I felt the eyes of the guy next to me, watching me, and glanced over at him, smiling. He was hot, and I kept dancing, glad to have him watching me. When I looked over at Maggie again, she and Ben were jumping up and down, screaming the lyrics to Faint and holding hands.
When Faint ended, Numb filled the air and Maggie and Ben kept jumping up and down. I took Maggie's hand and started jumping, too. The three of us belted the lyrics into the air like madmen, and we didn't feel tired in the least. Adrenaline was pumping through our bodies.
After numb, Trapt came on and performed Headstrong. Our wild antics continued until, finally, the announcer came back on. The stadium got quiet and he announced Evanescence. We all jumped up in our seats and screamed as they opened up with Bring Me To Life. As soon as Amy spotted us, we screamed at the top of our lungs and she pointed at us with two fingers, just like she said she would. By this time, my shirt was clinging to my body as was Maggie's, but we kept jumping and dancing and screaming, all through Going Under, Tourniquet, Haunted, Imaginary, and Saving My Last Breath. They closed up with My Immortal, them Amy Lee sung Going Under again.
Maggie, Ben, and I were so worn out that we fell limp into our seats, finally feeling the adrenaline draining from our bodies. Maggie was breathing even heavier than I was, since her heart had most likely been beating fast from the start, being with Ben. He draped his arm around her and pulled her into his lap, leaning back as the announcer ended the concert. I knew I shouldn't watch, but I did. They slid each other's tongues into the other's mouth and their lips worked passionately at one another's. Ben's hands held her waist, but soon began to travel upward, resting finally on her ribs. She straddled him and pressed her body against his, but then pulled away, breathing heavily.
"Ben, we're in public..." she seemed to have just realized and looked over at me, embarrassed.
"Really? Sorry, I didn't notice. All I could see was you... You're so beautiful, Maggie," he said, softly, grinning at her.
She smiled at him, her eyes watering with joy.
"That's so sweet!" She said, pressing her body against his again, her chest on his. Then, she leaned her head on his shoulder, straddling him again, and he wrapped his arms around her. Then, they pulled away, quickly.
"Hey, you know there's an after party at some hotel. Wanna come?" he asked Maggie and me.
"Yeah!" we both said in unison.
"Don't we need invites, though?" Maggie asked.
Ben grinned at her and pulled three cards from his pocket.
"Awesome!" she screamed.
"Let's go," Ben said. Maggie moved off of him and stood up as he and I did the same. Then, Ben took her hand in one of his and my hand in his other. "C'mon, ladies. Our fans await."
Then, he led us away as we giggled.
Maggie
It got so heated between Ben and I at the end of the concert, I was afraid I might do something that I would regret later. But when he invited Sam and I to the after party at the hotel, I smiled and agreed, accepting his invitation. If I wanted to get over Kyle, like I promised myself I would, then this was the life I had to lead. I was being exotic and rebellious, and I loved it!
My body kept screaming for more as Ben led Sam and I to his car. We had gotten dropped off, and I was supposedly sleeping over Sam's house, but her mother believed that we were on an overnighter at my house. Everything would go smoothly, and we were sure of it.
I climbed into the front passenger seat, leaning close against Ben. I pretended it was Kyle who I sat next to, but instantly felt guilty. Ben was what was supposed to help my love for Kyle ease.
It was only a five minute drive to the hotel, but it took forever to finally find a parking space. It seemed as though everyone from the concert was here at the party. Ben quickly ran out of the car once we had parked and ran over to the passenger door. Then, he opened the door for me, took my hand, and led me to the door, Sam following behind happily. As soon as we entered the door to the hotel, we were greeted by darkness and smoke. I knew I wouldn't smoke or drink, and something told me Ben wasn't the kind of guy to do that either. Instead, he led me to the dance floor after quickly telling Sam to find us a table. We entered just as s slow song was playing. It sounded like My Immortal, but the noise was too loud for me to hear the music over it. Ben slid his arms around my face, and my body tensed as I felt his hands dip near by ass. But, instead, he settled his hands on my lower back and I wrapped my arms around his neck. Then, I leaned my head on his shoulder. But he placed a hand on my chin and brought my lips to his. His lips worked passionately at my mouth. Then, after the song ended, so did our constant kissing.
He took my hand lightly in his and led me to a door. Opening it, hesitantly, we stepped in to find an empty hotel room. He led me to the bed, and I willingly followed him. Somehow, I knew he wasn't trying to get me to sleep with him. Instead, we sat down on the bed and talked. We talked for over an hour. Over the course of an hour, we covered our lives at school and home, our family and friends, what we liked and disliked, and our hobbies. Now we lay down on the bed, and I lay with my back against his chest, his arms around me from behind. We were silent, just enjoying each other, when suddenly there was a knock on the door.
"Hey! Are you guys in there?" It was Sam.
"Yeah!" I shouted back. I wanted to stay like this in Ben's arms forever. Now that I had gotten to know him more, I felt even more attracted to him. Somehow, though, he couldn't compare to Kyle. I guess it was because Kyle and I were almost exactly alike in so many ways. We were both crazy and silly, and he always made me laugh. I was always happy when I was with him. Even if I was crying, I still felt happy being around him. That would never end.
Sam walked in and sat on the edge of the bed.
"Maggie, I think you and I should talk. Alone."
I looked at the clock on the bedside table. It was nearly 3:00! I looked at Ben.
"I'll go get the car, then I can drive you two home afterwards," Ben said. I nodded.
"Maggie, something strange is going on... I just threw up three times, Maggie! I'm scared."
Just as she spoke, I felt something churn in my stomach and I ran to the bathroom. Then, I got sick.
I walked out of the bathroom, wiping my face with a wet towel.
"Maggie... neither of us have been drinking." Sam spoke softly. I stared at her.
I remembered that I had started feeling sick right when the flames had exploded from the tubes on either side of the stage. I gasped. I remember the sparks flying over me and the twisty feeling in my stomach. I had mistaken that feeling for nerves over being with Ben. I stared at Sam.
"The flames," she said. We had both been thinking the same thing.
The last vision that passed through my mind before I fell unconscious was of me and Ben laying on the bed together, and then of Kyle's hand in mine.
A/N: I hope everyone liked that first chapter. PLEASE REVIEW!