Sorry it took so long guys. We're just getting to teh good part ;)
John's POV-
I landed in Arizona three hours later and called Max to pick me up. He thought I was crazy for flying all the way home but I promised him I'd be back in LA soon to work on the album, there was just something important I had to do at home.
He dropped me off at Lacey's and thankfully her car was in the driveway. I hoped out of Max's car and took off towards the door. I barged in without knocking and screamed Lacey's name. Sadly, there was no response.
"Lace," I called again. I heard footsteps up stairs and I felt my heart begin to flutter. Booking it up stairs I slammed down the hallway and peeked in the only door that was open. The stairs up to Lacey's attic bedroom were to my right and an empty room was too my left.
"Lacey!" A door opened down the hall and I skidded towards it, "Lacey!" But it wasn't Lacey, it was Gwen, or Carolyn rather. The girl I knew was Carolyn, though to the world she was Gwen.
"John?" she shook her head in shock, "you're here? In Arizona? In my house?"
"Where's Lacey?" I exclaimed, "I have to talk to her."
"She's gone John," she replied clutching the door frame, "she left about an hour ago."
"What? Where did she go?"
"Los Angeles John," Gwen replied.
"What!" I yelled, "wh-why?"
"She-she said she was uh going to fix things with John, she said breaking up with him was a mistake and she wanted to make up in person."
"What?" I whispered, the back of my throat beginning to burn. I flew all the way home for her to not be there. For her to have gone to LA to tell John Gomez she made a mistakes breaking up with him.
"Are you sure she didn't go to see me?" I asked in my last attempt at any hope.
"She didn't mention you," Gwen replied sticking out her lower lip, "you didn't come up in conversation."
Lacey's POV-
I hadn't been to LA since they discovered Carolyn's body. That's all I could remember as I stepped out of the airport and into the hot sun. Every thing was death. It smelt like death, it felt like death, it even tasted like death. I didn't think I'd remember everything since I was so young when Carolyn died, but I remembered exactly how it felt. The cold and gloom surrounding me even when it was 90 degrees out. The sympathetic faces and the tears, oh the tears. Los Angeles was a haven to some people, but for me it was hell. It was dark and twisted. It was death.
I hailed a cab and pulled the mapquest directions out of my bah that had the address for the studio The Maine was recording at. I told the cab driver where we were headed and soon we pulled away from the airport. I was nearly broke, alone, and shivering as the feeling of death returned to every inch of my body.
We pulled up in front of the studio and I paid the driver. He peeled away from the curb and I clutched my bag close to my side. A burst of chilly air greeted me as I pulled open the glass door of the recording studio and marched up the stairs. A small hallways sat before me and I turned the corner into an extremely modernized lobby.
A petite blonde secretary smiled up at me and tapped her pen against her desk. "Good afternoon, welcome to Fearless records. May I ask who you're here to see?"
"John," I blurted, "I'm sorry, I'm here visiting The Maine it's kind of a surprise."
"Alright," she looked back down at her desk and seemed to be double checking a list. "I'm sorry," she began, "I didn't catch your name."
"It's Lacey," I replied, "Lacey Monroe. I'm uh, John's girlfriend."
A twang of jealousy entered her tone as she replied, "of course, one second."
She picked up her phone and dialed a single number. After the mysterious voice picked up on the other line, she explained who I was. I heard the phone bark "let her in!" And the secretary waved me towards the door. "Go right in."
I stepped inside and met eyes with Garrett who was reclined in a blue chair in yet another lobby. Jared sat across from his playing on his phone and John, Pat, nor Kennedy were anywhere to be found.
"Lacey!" Garrett exclaimed as I entered the room, "you're here!"
"Where's John?" I asked, gently rubbing the tiny blue envelope in my right palm.
"He's gone," Jared replied, "he left a few hours ago. He took the van, we've been stranded here all day."
"Wait? What do you mean he's gone. Like gone from the studio gone?"
"No," Garrett shook his head, "Kennedy says he went back to the hotel room, packed his bag, and took off. Lacey I think he went back to Arizona."
"Probably to see you," Jared added.
"Oh my god," I gasped, "we missed each other."
"What?" Garret asked.
"Us. John and I. We missed each other. He went home. I came here."
"Wow," Jared rolled his eyes, "that's misfortunate."
"Lacey?" Garret lightly began, "I have to ask you something."
"What?"
"Did you break up with John Gomez?"
"Yes," I replied confused, "why?"
"You broke him!" Garrett exclaimed, "The Summer Set's here in LA and John's too fucked up to do anything. He's so depressed over you."
"What?" I replied, my head spinning, "they're not recording?"
"They can't!" he yelled, "he won't talk, he won't eat, he won't sleep. Lacey you have to do something. John's a wreak."
"What do you want me to do?" I begged, nearly in tears, "I can't fix him! I broke up with him because I couldn't be with him anymore. I came here to talk to John and he's gone. What do you want me to do?"
"Fix things with John," Garrett replied, "at least until the records finished."
"Garrett that's not fair!"
"No Lacey, what's not fair is that The Summer Set is going to have to post pone their album because you broke up with John and he gave up on everything. Go talk to him. Fix him. The album will get done and then you can do whatever you want with whoever you want."
"Garrett I'm not doing that, I'm not selling myself for this record."
"Well if you can't do it for the record," Garrett began, "do it for yourself."
John's POV-
I plopped down on the couch and let out a deep sigh. "She really left?"
Gwen sat down next to me and handed me a glass of ginger ale. She shook her head and stuck a chip in her mouth. "It's kinda like a sign you know," she began, "like maybe you were meant to miss each other."
"I don't believe in signs," I replied, "this was a freak accident."
"I'm sorry you missed her John but I'm not sorry you guys aren't together, it's for the best."
I looked at her in shock and set my glass down on the table, "what are you talking about?"
"You and Lacey, you were something but both of you have to realize it's over between you guys. I mean she's with John and me and you…"
"Gwen no!" I sternly replied, "we aren't anything."
"Oh really? So Madison isn't anything?"
"Gwen-Carolyn who ever the hell you are, don't bring Madison into this. She was-she was…"
"A mistake?"
"No!" I exclaimed, "she was not a mistake…she's just a reminder of how much I fucked up. I cheated on Lacey with you for years and I knew I shouldn't have and then you got pregnant! It made me realize that I had to stop Carolyn. I had to stop lying to Lacey, and you, and to myself."
"Lying to yourself about what?" Carolyn inferred, "lying to yourself that you loved me? Because you sure told me you did plenty of times."
"I did love you Carolyn, believe me I did. But I shouldn't have loved you and Lacey at the same time. I did something wrong and I know I did."
"Loved Lacey? Please John, you never loved her! If you loved her you wouldn't have been sleeping with me, and going on dates with me…"
"Half way across the state so we wouldn't get caught!" I exclaimed nearly jumping off the couch.
"You said you liked the thrill," Carolyn cooed, "you said you loved being with me and you loved the rush of almost getting busted."
"I loved being with you. Past tense, we're over Carolyn. We were never meant to be anything."
"No. You and Lacey are over, you and Lacey were never meant to me anything! We can be together whenever we want! We could tell Lacey about Madison and us. And you know what John, she'd be with John and I'd be with you and things would be fine."
"You're insane," I replied, "if you really think that would happen."
"It would John you're just too stupid to see it!"
"See what Gwen? See that Lacey would never speak to either of us again if she found out what happened? If she found out I was Madison's father! Lacey loves me and there's no way she'd ever be okay with that!"
"If she loves you John, then why'd she fly all the way out to Los Angeles to make up with John Gomez?"
Lacey's POV-
I didn't know then but I know now I took it as a sign. I took it as a warning that John and I were never supposed to "find" each other. There was some underlying force that was separating us and it would never stop. No matter how much I loved John, and I did, we could never be. I knew that now.
I left the studio and called Brian; he told me which hotel they were at and asked me why I came to LA. I told him I had come to see John and to try and work things out. That was the first lie I told.
He gave me the address and I caught a taxi to hotel. With the little cash I had left I paid the driver and made my way into the hotel. I wasn't proud of myself for what I was doing, what I had done, and what I was about to do, but I told myself it was for the best. That was the second lie I told.
Brian had told me they were in room 219 so I climbed in the elevator and pushed the two button. A younger woman, maybe a couple years older than me, wearing a charcoal skirt suit stepped in next to me and gave me a small smile. She had striking blue eyes and a gorgeous complexion. I was almost jealous. After a few seconds she said hi.
"Hi," I replied, not knowing what else to say; I didn't usually have conversations with random strangers in elevators.
"You're staying here?" she asked.
"No, just visiting someone who is. Are you?"
"Yeah," she shrugged, "I'm on one of my first jobs. I'm a model."
"I can tell," I replied, "you're really pretty!"
"Aww thank you!" she gushed, "I'm Jess by the way."
"Hi Jess, I'm Lacey."
"Lacey, I like that name." The elevator door opened and she motioned for me to go before her, "bye!"
"Bye Jess," I said before heading down the hallway towards 200-220.
I found room 219 and rang the tiny door bell to the side of the knob. Jess pulled the door open and waved me into the poorly lit room. John sat on the bed farthest from the window and was staring blankly at the TV screen. The TV was off. As soon as he saw me he hopped off the bed and stood sturdy on his feet.
"Lacey?"
"Hi John," I weakly replied.
"You're here, you're in LA?"
"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you and I couldn't do it over the phone."
"I can't believe you came all the way here!" Finally he stepped forward and pulled me into a hug. It felt amazing in his arms and I started to forget why I was actually here and put my thoughts in the mindset of actually fixing things with John.
"I love you," I whispered over his shoulder.
"I love you too," he replied.
Stephen came bounding out of the bathroom and stopped short when he noticed I had arrived.
"Lacey! You're…here?"
"Yeah," I laughed as John and I pulled apart, "I'm here."
"That's great!" Stephen exclaimed, "maybe we'll actually get some shit done."
Jess smacked his arm and at first he winced but then gave her a flirty smile. Knowing Jess I expected her to roll her eyes but instead she returned the smile. A little alarm went off in my head but it soon faded as John gently grabbed my hand.
"Thank you," he whispered, "thank you for coming all the way out here."
"I missed you," I replied. And it didn't feel like a lie. I did miss him. I did love him. Was I fooling myself chasing John Ohh? John Gomez was always there for me, even before we were together, and when we were together he made me feel like the most amazing and important woman alive.
"I made a mistake John," I blurted, "I shouldn't have broken up with you. I didn't know what I was thinking."
"You guys have a lot to talk about," Stephen interrupted me, "Josh and Brian are waiting for us in the lobby I think we're going to go fuck around the city and maybe get some food. You guys should stay here and work things out."
"It'll only be a couple hours," Jess added, "you'll be alright?"
"We'll be fine," I replied.
"Perfectly fine," John sighed and wrapped his arm around my waist. He leaned his head on my shoulder and I waved Jess and Stephen goodbye.
As soon as the door closed I took John's hand in mine and began rubbing his wrist with my thumb, "I love you John."
"I love you too Lacey, and I'm sorry for whatever I did to hurt you or make you question me…"
"You didn't do anything," I assured him, "I was wrong to just end things like that. It's not your fault I just wasn't thinking right."
"What were you thinking about?" John asked.
"The fact that I was still in love with John Ohh," I replied, finally telling the whole truth.
John got really quiet and pulled his hand back into his lap. "What made you change your mind?"
"You," I replied, "I remembered how much I loved you and I realized that you were who I was supposed to be with. I realized I loved you more than anyone and breaking up with you was one of the biggest mistakes of my life."
And that was the third lie I told.
John's POV-
What Carolyn said stuck with me for the rest of the night. If Lacey did tell me then why had she gone to LA to make up with John? Had she really gone to see me? Then why hadn't she called? Why hadn't she told me she was coming to LA to see me? Because she wasn't. And that was my answer.
It was nearly 10 o'clock and I had no where to go. I couldn't go home because my brother's friend was staying in my room while his house was under construction. I couldn't got to Pat, Garret, Jared's because they were in LA. And I couldn't go to Max's because I didn't want anyone to know I had come all the way home to nothing. So I was stuck at Lacey's house, without Lacey.
Gwen sat on the couch watching some dumb TV show and I paced around the hallway.
"You can come sit down," she suggested, "you're gonna tire yourself out running that marathon over there."
I sighed and sat down on the couch, "what am I going to do?"
"Well first," Carolyn began, "you're going to calm down. And second you're going to sleep here and then go back to LA tomorrow if you want to. Or you could stay here with Madison and I and we could be like a little family."
"No!" I exclaimed, "we can't play with Madison's head like that. Soon she's going to be able to remember all this and I don't want her remembering you calling me her father or something."
"Well what am I going to do when she starts asking where her dad is?"
"I don't know," I replied, "tell her he passed away or something."
"I'm not telling her her father died John," Carolyn argued, "that's terrible."
"So what are you going to tell her?" I asked, "the truth? Are you going to tell her that the man her aunt used to love is her father?"
"No," Carolyn shook her head, "I'm going to tell her that the man I used to love is her father."
I rolled my eyes and began picking at a stray piece of string on the edge of the couch, "do you even care about Lacey?"
"Oh you mean the Lacey that's in Los Angeles right now with her BOYFRIEND?"
"No I mean the Lacey that thinks you're dead! The Lacey that I loved long before I loved you. The Lacey that has no idea that her ex-boyfriend is her niece's father."
"That Lacey is my sister and of course I care about her, but I care about you too John. Did you expect me to be able to just get over you after everything we went through?"
"Carolyn I know what we had was…"
"Amazing," Carolyn interrupted me.
"It was fun, but we were young. We made a mistake, I never should have cheated on Lacey and you never should have let me."
"Let you? I never should have let you tell me you loved me? And sleep with me? Maybe you shouldn't have LET ME have your child John."
"Carolyn!"
"WHAT!" she exclaimed, "what could you possibly have to say?"
"I'm sorry," I whispered, "I'm sorry for everything that happened."
"Don't apologize," she mumbled as she got up off the couch, "I don't want your pity."
"It's not pity!" I called after her as she entered the kitchen, "I can't lie about what happened or feel bad for myself. I loved you. I slept with you and you had my child. There's no going back, but we can tell the truth."
"There's no telling the truth," Carolyn snapped as she returned to the couch with an apple. Lacey always ate an apple before bed too.
"Carolyn…"
"Save it John, I don't want to hear it anymore. Go do what ever you want. Go tell Lacey you love her. Go get shut down and go watch John Gomez walk away laughing at you with Lacey under his arm."
With that, we stopped speaking. We sat there on the couch staring at the TV for a good twenty minutes. The only sound, our breathing and Carolyn periodic bite of her apple.
Finally I broke the silence, "Look, I'm sorry okay. If we're going to be spending the night together we might as well not fight."
"Whatever you say John," she replied.
"Come here," I waved her over and stretched out on the couch. She lay before me and let out a sigh.
"We haven't done this in a while," she reminded me.
"What we said today, can we just forget it?"
"Sure John." Carolyn turned over and her side and faced me. She gripped my shirt and pulled herself in closer and I let her. She felt my chest and her breathing fell silent.
"John, what are these bumps?" she asked.
"That's where I broke my ribs," I replied, "you know, in the accident. I slammed into the steering wheel and they shattered. When your ribs grow back the bon that replaces them is twice as strong. The heeled areas left these bumps under my skin."
"At least you don't have a whole in your chest," Carolyn replied. But she was wrong.
