~Rising, Shooting, and Falling Stars~

~Chapter 11~

[POV Switch to Dave]

"Scarlett, is everything ok?" I said, speaking very low and quiet.

"Well, I'm not too sure about that right now..." She said, her eyes were wider than the ocean and she looked like she was going to have a heart attack.

"Why is that? And why do you look like you just saw a ghost? I'm not in any of my stage makeup so I don't think its me... unless I look that ugly." I said smiling a little.

"DAVE!" she yelled "You look like you haven't slept in a week, you sound like you can't even speak, but you're forcing yourself to speak. You're giving me looks like you just lost the person closest to you, and you look like a kicked puppy!"  She yelled. 

"So I do look that ugly, huh?" I said keeping my face expressionless.

"DAVE KNOCK IT OFF!!" She yelled, obviously not amused by my comment. 

"Ok, ok. I get it." I said as I raised my hands in surrender.

"Dave, tell me what's going on right now....please...." She said, but that please was just barely a whisper. 

"C'mere." I said quietly as I held my arms out in a hug. We both needed one, and she wasn't really in the position to object.

"Only if you promise to tell me what's going on." She said, crossing her arms. 

"I promise." I said as I slightly smirked.

She walked over and bear hugged me. I think this was the first time she had ever fully hugged me. Maybe she had before, I really couldn't remember. I was too busy thinking about how I'm going to break the news to her. 

"Ok, start talking." She said as she pulled away from the hug. 

"Well that was particularly quick, how come? Are my hugs that bad?" I said, trying to stall a little as I still tried to figure out a way to tell her. 

"Dave, don't start with me" She said as she shot me a death look, obviously noticing my attempt to stall. 

"Look, I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to tell you this. This isn't easy." I said, holding her gaze but with a hopefully less intimidating look. 

"So it's bad news then?" She said dropping her crossed arms as she started to look for a chair to sit in.

"Well, there's a bit of a good news and a bit of bad news. And back behind you, to your left." I said still watching her as she looked for a chair. 

"Right, thanks. So can I have bad news first and then good news to soften the blow?" She said as she moved the chair closer to me to sit directly across from me. 

"Well, I figured that's how you'd want it, so that's how I'm trying to configure this whole mess." I said as I buried my face in my hands. 

"That bad, huh?" She whispered as she saw my head fall. 

"Well, I'm sure its going to be more hard than just bad." I said as my voice was muffled by my hands. 

"You're leaving.... aren't you?" She said almost without a second thought. 

Without me even getting a chance to think I slammed my fist into the counter I was leaning against. 

"DAVE!" She shrieked as she almost fell out of her chair trying to run around the counter to get to me.

"Yea....?" I said half growling, half whispering.

"What's wrong? What did you did that for?" She said like she was panicking.

"Y'know.... that feeling.... where you don't know if you want to beat the living hell outta someone or cry until your eyes can't cry anymore?" I managed to growl and cough out. 

"Dave...." She started to say as she moved closer to I guess hug me before I cut her off.

"NO! Get back! Don't get close to me... not while I'm like this. I don't want you getting hurt." I yelled but tried not to scare her.

"How am I going to get hurt?" She said, crossing her arms. God, the stubbornness in that kid is unbelievable some times. 

"Because when I'm like this, I get unpredictable. I could take a swing at you for no reason at any particular second. Without provocation, anything." I said, looking her in the eye to make sure she knew I was serious.

"Well you'll just have to meet the reason why I play guitar to begin with." She said without emotion, looking me directly in the eye. 

"You got into fights. A lot of them. Most feared kid in school, I bet. When they took fighting from you, you needed a coping mechanism. Guitar was what you were given. Am I right?" I said, with a little bit of confidence in my voice again. 

"Just like the fairy tales." She said, still holding the look in my eyes with no emotion.

"Your eyes say it all, Kiddo. You're reliving flashbacks.... the good and bad.... c'mere Sweetheart, you need a hug, don't you?" I said standing up and extending my arms out for a hug.

"Now its your turn to get away..." She growled back. 

"I'll tell you everything if you give me a hug." I said simply. 

"Promise?" She said, much more softer this time. 

"Promise and a glass of my killer chocolate milk you still haven't tried yet?" I said smiling.

"Ok, fine. You broke me." She said smiling as she walked into my hug and we both bear hugged each other.

"Here goes.... I'm moving back to LA to do some stuff.... and that means I have to set sail in the next few weeks.... but I can't just leave you like that... so I want you to join me in one performance before I go." I whispered to her. But.... no answer from her....