Guarded

08

“Mate, you could ask.”

I waved him off with my hand, typing Archer Grey in the search bar. And sure enough, there was Annaleise who was now going by Archer Grey. There was a small biography about her on IMDB about how she had a small part in a few other television shows and that the current show she was on, “Latimer Villa” was the winner of some award and she was very lucky to have gotten the leading role. At that point, the words had all become a blur and I searched for her pictures. I scanned through hundreds of pictures, probably the entire one’s that were on Google for all I know.

“Mate, are you done yet?” Liam asked.

Niall had walked over to us, peering over my shoulder. “If you’re looking for porn, it’s quite disrespectful to do that in front of four other lads.”

“Shut it, will you?”

“Crikey, you’re sensitive today. Oh, I see you fancy that bird I showed you on the American telly show.” He laughed and took the iPad out of my hands.

“Zayn, Louis, check out this bird. She’s quite fit, yeh?”

“That’s my ex-girlfriend you’re talking about.” I stated through gritted teeth. Even after two years I still was protective over Annaleise. She wasn’t even mine anymore.

They all turned to look at me. “You’re joking, right? She’s American, there’s no way.”

I whipped out my mobile and logged onto my very old and thankfully never found MySpace account.

Liam grimaced something about needing to use his iPad when I had my own phone.

I pulled up the few pictures of Annaleise and I that actually existed on the Internet. She was two years younger and had brown hair, but it was definitely her. They all nodded in agreement.

“What the hell happened, man? How did you let her get away?” Niall asked, coming to sit down at the table.

“She left me, actually. Just sort of picked up one day and left.”

“That’s rough, mate. Sorry to hear that.” Zayn said. The rest nodded in agreement. I made them all swear to not repeat the days events as I ended up telling them the full story of our relationship from the beginning to the end only two years ago. It was obvious without me even saying anything that I was still in love with her.

That was the best thing about being a band with four of your best friends though, you could tell them anything. They certainly were the best friends that I could ask for. We rarely spoke of her again until a few years later when we were in Los Angeles and all of a sudden she appeared at my concert.

Of course, I had known she was going to be there. That’s why I felt so lucky and it felt so surreal. The tour manager gave a little rundown of the guests invited backstage just so we knew who people were after the show. It was protocol I suppose. Annaleise, or Archer Grey, was attending with her friend Lizzy whose father was handling our USA tour dealings.