Chapter 1

For there will always be guys like potter

Who realise tears in your eyes, because he got her

She'll never ever know how much you'd have brought her

If you'd only done something more for the one back when you were young

The lyrics rang in his ears. How they summed up most of his life astounded him. How there was a girl, who was so perfect, that he'd loved her since they were young. But she had someone else. And this 'someone else' happened to be his best friend. What made it worse was that there was nothing he could do to change it. He just had to watch on, stuck in between wanting them to break up, but not wanting her to get hurt. But she did.

Three years later, after all the jealousy, and all of the helplessness and of all the sadness later, they broke up.

He still remembered that night. It was a cold and stormy one when she knocked on his door in the dead of the night. He'd opened the door to see her broken face, tears streaming down them at an astoundingly fast rate. That night, he felt like storming up to his best friend and punching him in the face. Because he'd hurt her. She had poured her heart out to him about how much she had loved him, and how much she thought they understood each other so well, and then about how 75% of the time, he was seeing someone else behind her back.

And what angered him even more, was that he was still with the person he cheated on her with. This honestly made him question his friendship with him. How could he just do something like that to someone, and then still continue to torture her? How could he have taken such a beautiful thing for granted?

And it still killed her. Of course, because when she was with him, they weren't just boyfriend and girlfriend, they were best friends. She denied that she still had feelings for him. He asked her once, but she just pursed her lips, shook her head, and then walked off to do something else, but something told him she wasn't being completely truthful with herself. And at every mention of him, her face would fall, and she would try her hardest not to think about him.

Brian, honestly, had loved her since he first laid his eyes on her. He didn't know he had feelings for her at the time, but one day, it just clicked. He realised he was in love with her. And for the next four years, it was a whirlwind of him denying his feelings for her, telling himself it was just a little crush. Until two years ago, when he stared down the ugly truth that he was, 100% in love with Lauren Lopez. Ever since she burst through the doors, late, on her first day of school, and was forced (she literally had no choice) to sit next to him.

She would never be his, he had concluded. They had been close friends for years, and she would never suspect his true feelings. And besides, she was too perfect. How could such a flawed girl be so perfect? And, a question that had been thrown around in is mind a lot lately, how could he be in love with his best friend?

"Hey, are you okay, Bri?" and all too familiar voice interrupted his thoughts.

"What?" he jumped slightly, afterwards looking up at Lauren, her eyebrows knitted with worry "oh, yeah, I'm fine"

"Are you sure?" she asked, her eyebrows relaxing the tiniest bit.

"Positive. What makes you ask?" he asked, watching her every move as she sat down on a seat next to him in front of the stage.

"Oh, you were kind of just staring into space. You looked really sad…"

"I was just thinking- you know, about tour and stuff" he lied (well, what was he supposed to say, I was thinking of you?)

"I know, I can't wait! I can't believe we're gonna tour around the country" she grinned widely, her eyes lighting up.

"To put it in your words" he cleared his throat "it's all a bit cray-cray, isn't it?!" he mocked her voice.

"Exactly" she nodded "and I do NOT appreciate the way you impersonated me" she narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms and eying him suspiciously.

"I'm only joking" he put his hands up in surrender.

"I know that" she snapped "I just don't appreciate it" she poked out her tongue.

"Okay then" he sighed, flinging his arm around her shoulders. She snuggled in closer to him.

"Bri, I'm scared" she admitted.

"What about?" he looked down at her, frowning.

"What if no one comes? What if it isn't a big turnout?" the reason was only a part lie. Lauren was actually scared to death about performing. She always was. Before every single show, she would have butterflies swirling around in her stomach, making her feel sick, her head spinning.

"It'll be fine, Lo" he re-assured, kissing her on the head "Remember leaky-con? Heaps of people turned up, hmm?"

She looked up at his smiling face and into his dazzling blue eyes.

"Yeah" she sighed, smiling as convincingly as she could, although Brian realised it didn't quite fully reach her eyes. Brian wrapped his arms properly around her and pulled her into a tight hug. Lauren snuggled her head into his chest and shut her eyes tight.

"Think of how fun it's going to be, hey, Lo?" he grinned down at her.

She nodded and looked away, trying to think of a way to change the subject. But someone else did it for her;

"GUYS! Why aren't you helping pack up?" an angry Julia stomped into the scene, hands on hips.

"Well, we're kinda having a conversation here, Jules" Lauren answered cheekily, causing Brian to choke back laughter.

Julia, although thoroughly attempting not to, stifled a smile, and ruffled Lauren's hair.

"Make sure you guys help next time, okay?" she ordered, after making sure they hadn't forgotten anything, allowed them all to leave, and Lauren went to grab her coat and scarf.

"Oh, Jules, I almost forgot; when's Dare getting here?" Lauren heard Joey ask, over the silent chatter of everyone else in the room.

"Oh, yeah! Guys!" Julia called for attention " Darren's coming when we're in Boston, I forgot to say"

Brian saw Lauren stiffen out of the corner of his eye, her expression hardening as she gingerly wrapped her scarf around her neck, proceeding out the door.

"Lo!" he called, running along behind her before he could stop himself.

"Yeah, Bri?" she asked, turning to face him.

"I was just wondering if you needed a ride home? I mean, I noticed you were coming out of a cab earlier…?" he asked, when he caught up to her.

"Oh, sure, thanks" she smiled at him, walking out of the building with him.

"It's cold, isn't it?" she stated, shivering the slightest.

"Yeah" he agreed, rubbing his hands together and shivering.

Lauren snuggled in closer to him, and he put his arm around her. This is how they walked back to the car.

"Your chariot awaits" he announced, as they reached the car at the end of the pavement,

"Thank you, kind sir" she replied in a British accent, opening the car door and crawling into it.

5 minutes later, they were on their way to Lauren's apartment.

Lauren rested her head against the window and smiled, staring dreamily up at the stars. This went on until the next stop sign.

"You right there, LoLo?" Brian asked.

"What?!" she laughed at his expression, tearing her eyes away from the beautiful, glimmering lights in the sky.

"Just the look on your face, you looked possessed! But then again, you always look a bit weird..."

"I really don't like you" she scowled.

"Come on, Lo! You know you love me" he winked, causing Lauren to scoff, smiling as she continued to stare out the window, until Brian pulled up in front of her apartment building.

"Thanks for the lift, Bri" she grinned, un-buckling her seatbelt.

"No problem, Lo. See you on Friday"

"Bye" she leaned over and hugged him goodbye.

She opened the car door, and was just about to step out onto the pavement, when Brian stopped her.

"H…Hey, Lo?"

"Yeah, Bri?" she turned to face him.

"Um…erm" he paused, looking at Lauren's warm, inviting face blinking up at him with a smile " I was just wondering if, um… maybe you'd like to, um… maybe catch a movie with me sometime before tour?" Brian's mouth went dry, but he let out a small, incoherent sigh of relief as Lauren's mouth curled into a smile.

"Yeah, I'd love that" Lauren agreed, biting her lip.

Brian couldn't believe his luck.

"Okay" he grinned "When is a good time for you?"

"Well, I'm free tomorrow…"Lauren blurted out.

"Tomorrow sound's good. How's…. 6-ish?"

"Yeah, okay. I'll see you then"

"See you, Lo" Brian winked, and he couldn't help but notice her cheeks had tinged slightly red.

Lauren fully stepped out of the car, waved goodbye, and the slamming of a car door separated them.

Lauren rushed up the stairs to reach her apartment, head spinning, and what really didn't help was Jaime squealing her name and crushing her in a hug when she walked through the door.

"Lo!" Jaime squealed "Where were you?! I was so worried! Why didn't you come home with me and Jules?"

"Oh, Brian offered me a lift" Lauren explained, unravelling her scarf from her neck.

"Rosenthal?"

"Holden" she corrected.

"Oh, okay" Jaime accepted "I don't see why you wouldn't come with us, though"

"Hey! I didn't even know you guys came together! I caught a cab to the theatre from work, and it also would have been nice if you invited me to join you guys!" Lauren crossed her arms, sticking her nose up in the air.

"Excuse me! I was going to drive you home, but obviously, Bri beat me to it!"

Lauren smiled.

"Well, thanks for the concern, anyway" Lauren grinned, skipping into the lounge room.

"What puts you in such a good mood?" Jaime asked, ,with a devious grin.

"What do you mean?"

"You're happy. Too happy. What did Bri do to you?"

"Nothing!"

Jaime tapped her foot impatiently.

"Okay, that isn't entirely true…"

"Tell me everything, my dear" Jaime skipped over to the couch and vacated a seat next to Lauren.

"I guess I'm just happy cause' I'm going to the movies with Brian tomorrow…"

"He asked you out?! Or, wait, did you ask?"

"He asked, and I don't really think he asked me out. I think he just asked because we haven't really been spending too much time together, not as much as we used to, anyway…"

"Well, what was his expression when he asked you? Was he stammering or anything, or was he just straight forward?"

"He just asked if I wanted to see a movie with him sometime before tour, and I agreed, and we settled on tomorrow at four… Brian was stammering a little bit when he asked, but after I agreed, he was fine. Jaime ,it isn't a date, we're just going out together, because we haven't in a while, that's all".

"Fine" Jaime agreed in defeat, slumping her shoulders