Chapter Fourteen: Meeting Meghan
I walked through LA feeling a sense of calm, which was strange, considering I had just been a complete jerk to my ex-girlfriend. That stuff normally bothers people, doesn’t it? Well, I guess I felt better for being honest, even if it did mean acting like I did.
The air was a bittersweet crisp and it nipped at my cheeks as I breathed it in gently, I was loving the feeling against my skin, so I started running, just to feel the cool breath of the wind against my face.
After five minutes I made it to the five-star hotel that I was staying at with Evan, I looked up the glittering building and then stepped inside; hearing my loud footsteps echo inside the nearly empty lobby. I sprinted up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and finally made it into my room.
It hardly took me two seconds until I completely collapsed into my comforting sheets.
*~*
My eyes adjusted to my hotel room as I looked around, all was calm and quiet as I stretched my arms up and got up to go take a shower.
I automatically put the water on cold to help me wake-up and was in and out of the shower within five minutes; I got myself dried off pretty fast and threw on whatever I could find that was clean.
I needed to talk to Billy again.
The streets were alive and buzzing with many tourists and shoppers, but I didn’t have time for that; I quickly started shuffling my way through the crowd the way that Crystal taught me oh-so-long-ago. I was running on nothing but adrenaline; which was pretty dangerous with me, who know what I was going to do if I didn’t get my daily energy fixation.
I rushed through the maze of halls until I reached Billy’s office not to find Billy-but a girl with straight burgundy hair that was cut short and bright brown eyes; the energy around her seemed to be buzzing. She was sprawled out on the floor like Crystal would be with a book and she had a few pieces of music lying out in front of her, I saw her look up at me and instantly get a slightly disgusted look on her face.
“God. Haven’t you ruined Crystal’s life enough in one day? Now Daniel’s gone all homicidal on her ass and he’s debating on whether or not he should come after you, and we have to keep on trying to convince him that it wouldn’t be worth it – do you realize how lucky you are that she still actually doesn’t want you dead?” I was amazed at by how much she actually reminded me of Crystal – whoever this mystery girl was, of course, I had to give her my side of the story, if she would let me, and I was guessing probably not.
“Well. Thanks for the introduction, since you know Crystal, maybe you could help me. I’m having a bit of a dilemma with her.” I watched as she got up from the floor and straightened out her tank top – I noticed that she dressed a lot simpler than Chrissy did, and gave a small smile; leave it to Chrissy to find someone that thought like her, but was completely the opposite at the same time.
“Why should I help you? I’ve already helped Crystal clean up your messes.” She had a slightly b****y look on her face as she picked up her things and put them on Billy’s desk.
“Could you at least listen to my side of the story? Please? I don’t know why Crystal left, and to be completely honest, I have no idea why she hates me except that maybe she’s trying so hard to not fall in love with me again. I didn’t even attempt to hurt her at all until last night, but I was even trying to hurt her, I’d just exploded. I had been completely letting her not tell me the truth for our entire lives, so don’t I at least deserve a little bit of respect from her? Don’t I deserve to not be yelled at for absolutely no reason?” I saw her features soften as she walked around the desk and sat down in front of Billy’s computer. She started typing something in it.
“Okay. Listen here, Geiger.” She paused from typing and looked up at me with a serious gaze. “I want to help Crystal… and… It’s kind of hard to explain. I’ve only known her for six years, and you’ve obviously known her longer, but the point is that… when I look at her while she’s telling stories about you, her face is just so… bright. I love hearing her stories about you; they always involve something completely out of the ordinary, something you wouldn’t expect, of course, that could possibly be just Crystal.
“Moving on, I haven’t actually seen her that happy in such a long time. Yeah, she’s been happy, and she’s been energetic, but I haven’t seen that same magnetic sparkle that she has when she talks about you. She’s completely convinced herself that everything from her past is somehow horrible, and that if she lets any of it in besides Alex, that she’s going be sucked back into whatever happened.
“You know that jerk that started yelling at you last night? Yeah, well, Daniel… he’s her current boyfriend,” I winced at the word, I had admit, I was pretty d**n jealous. “Daniel isn’t a bad person, but he acts as if Crystal’s his property. It’s pretty disgusting. So, after a total of me thinking for three seconds, I’d like to make a proposal with you, Teddy.” I saw a small smirk start to graze her face, her eyes starting to get brighter.
“That depends on what it is.” I took one step forward and glanced down at the music she had been writing earlier, it was quite amazing actually. “Oh, and you never did tell me your name, but I can tell by the amazing writing skills that you must be Meghan. I heard Chrissy talking about you earlier. She was actually playing this piano part…” I trailed off as I looked into it a bit more, reading the lyrics when a smile crossed over on my face. “Anyways, the proposal?”
She quickly finished her typing and turned to me. “I was thinking that we find some way for her to be friends with you again. At least friends. I’ve only actually known you for… well, about five minutes, but from what I can tell, you’re a good guy and wouldn’t hurt her. And after the box...”
“… Box?” I was completely confused now. What do I have to do with a box?
Meghan’s eyes glittered a bit when she looked at me; she was resisting an urge to smile. “Well, after she’d got an apartment with me and she’d been settled for around… two weeks, maybe? A box came from Rochester; Alex had sent an entire box full of basically… you. Your hoodies that had been in her room, pictures, notes, stuffed animals. You name it and it was in there. Alex had basically got into her head and tried to manipulate her into telling you where she was, and let me tell you, she almost hopped onto a flight to Rochester the second that she got that box. It was killing her inside.” A grimace crossed over her features, you could see that she didn’t enjoy seeing Crystal in so much pain; it was basically killing her as well.
“I really hate how she screwed up some our lives, but then again, she wouldn’t have met you. Now she seems less… emotionally stressed.” I tried my best to choose my words best. I didn’t necessarily want to sound like an jerk in front of Crystal’s new best friend.
“Yeah, I’ve talked to Alex, he said that she basically… well… she registered a few hits below the belt. Alright, Teddy, what do you say? Let’s get her to be friends with you. At least friends.”
The thought of actually being able to be friends with Crystal was… appealing, but I still wanted more. I missed her like crazy, but I would wait for her. I’d just need patience.
I should be pretty good with that, right? I mean, I’ve had to deal with Crystal for God knows how long…
“Deal.” I shook hands with her and then we started the planning.
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Okay. So this will be the last update for around a week because I'm leaving tomorrow.
Maybe I'll finally get an update up on Jump? Who knows?
Thoughts? Feelings? Suggestions?
oh. snap. 
