Owen was the first one to pull apart from the kiss. He held her face in his hands tenderly, "Forget about Lucifer. Date me, Belle. You know you want to." He tried to sound like he was good heartedly teasing.

She wrenched herself away from Owen, "What?!"

"What do you mean what?"

"I'm dating Luce! I don't even know what the hell is going on here! I can't date you." Isabelle was becoming hysterical.

"You're not freaking married to Lucifer. You guys aren't even officially boyfriend and girlfriend. I don't see why we can't date." Owen thought it was so obvious that they would be perfect together. He didn't understand why after such an amazing kiss that Isabelle didn't return his affections. They had chemistry and her head was so far up her butt that she was being ridiculously slow, in his opinion at least.

"Dating you would be like dating George!" She exclaimed. "You're my friend. I don't date friends. It's too risky. I don't want to lose you." She was clinging to his jacket and shivering, desperately trying to cling to her friendship.

He ripped his jacket away from her grip, turned away from her, and sulked. He turned back to her, "Did you ever think that if we don't date that that might ruin our friendship?"

"What do you mean? This was never even brought up until I started dating Lucien."

"You're not dating that guy! You guys have been hanging out, but you guys aren't really dating. I don't understand why you're acting like you're married to this guy. You barely know him. You know me much better. We have chemistry, we get along. We have things in common. You have nothing common with him." He spat.

"We're friends. I only want to be friends with you. I don't want to take a chance in ruining the friendship. It means too much to me." Isabelle insisted.

"Honey. Too late. You just ruined everything. I cannot be your friend anymore. It's all or nothing, Belle." He walked off to his car, slammed the door, turned the car on, and drove away with his tires squealing.

"Damn you, Owen! Why do you have to make my life so complicated? Why can't you just let me be happy??" Isabelle screamed out to the heavens, frustrated. She stomped on the ground ferociously, she felt as if she was going to cry.

Just then the door to the club opened and Luce came out. He looked concerned, it was very obvious something was wrong. "Hey, Belle. What's wrong?"

"Don't call me that! I'm not some freaking Disney Princess!" She yelled at him, quite unfairly.

Luce held up his hands as if he was surrendering. "Woah. Hold up there. I'm sorry. I didn't know you didn't like that nickname." He took her hand. "What's wrong though? Some random guy was talking about a girl who was outside having a fit."

"Owen and I aren't friends anymore." She replied a matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean? I thought he just had homework. I didn't know that homework caused friendships to end."

She sighed. "It wasn't about homework. He doesn't approve of you. He thinks that we don't have enough in common."

"I don't see how any of this is his business," he stated.

"It's not!" Isabelle yelled back.

Luce grabbed her by the shoulders, in a calming voice he replied, "Get a hold of yourself, Pepper. If he's going to end your friendship because of something like this then he's not worth it."

She laughed, the tears forming in her eyes started to fade. "You sound like some girl trying to tell her best friend that the boy she likes who she just found out was cheating on her isn't worth it."

"Well, I'll gladly sound like a girl if it makes you happy again." He joked in a mock girl voice.

Isabelle giggled. Luce put his arm around her shoulders, turned her around, and lead her towards the front entrance to the club.

"Now, Pepper, I'm glad to see that you are okay again because when I left to come find you Sean was talking about starting his set. However, since he's my best friend, he agreed to postpone it until you and I came back. So if you don't mind, can we go back inside?" He asked politely.

Isabelle nodded in agreement. Luce produced a big smile to show his happiness and opened the door for her, leading her inside by a hand on the small of her back.

The club was darker than it had originally been, it was obvious that the bands were going to come on soon.

However, when people walked on to the stage moments later, after Luce and Isabelle had re-entered the club, it wasn't Sean and his friends who walked on to the stage and picked up instruments. They were a band that Isabelle had never heard of and to be honest she wasn't too sure she liked them very much. They screamed way too much. She didn't like that type of music, if it could even be called music. It just wasn't her cup of tea.

She looked up at Luce with a questioning look on her face. He looked down at her and smiled charmingly. He leaned in close so she could understand him. He spoke into her ear, "This is just the band that starts for them. All these people are here to see Sean and his band." He paused for a second in thought, "Would you like to go back stage and meet them? I'm sure we have enough time."

This thought excited Isabelle, she had never been backstage to see a band before. Even though she didn't really know if Sean's band was good or not, she was still excited. She nodded her assent and Luce lead her towards the backstage entrance.

The guard to the door didn't even pause to stop them. Isabelle asked Luce if the guard knew him and that's why he didn't stop them.

"No. I've never seen that man in my life before, but if you look like you are supposed to be here then they don't stop you. You just have to look like you belong." Luce explained.

"Ohh. So it's like when you escape from class without a hall pass. If it looks like you have a destination then the scary golf cart ladies won't stop you." Isabelle had a habit of re-explaining things with analogies that she makes up on the spot, then regurgitated basically what she just heard in different terms. She needed to say things out loud again to fully understand them. She also fairly quickly learned that people didn't like to hear what they just said spouted back out at them. That's why Isabelle came up with analogies.

Luce smiled back warmly, "Yes, that's exactly what I meant."

"Sweet! I'll keep that in mind the next time I want to get backstage at a concert." Isabelle was practically jumping with excitement. She's always wanted to go backstage.

"Woah, hold on to your horses, Pepper. You can't exactly get into every backstage like this. It's not exactly easy when it comes to the more popular bands. Sean's band is still fairly unknown. They basically only have one hit going for them so far. Although their songs are pretty catchy. The only one that seems to have caught on in the indie scene is the one they are named after."

"And that would be what?" Isabelle asked snarkily.

"The band is, at this moment, named Eclipse. I'm not too happy with the name and I tried to talk Sean out of it, but he renamed the band after they got their hit. Which is also entitled Eclipse. It's a typical crappy song about heartbreak. That's probably why it caught on, because everyone seems to enjoy a sappy song about heartbreak..." Luce wasn't at all enthusiastic at the moment. He almost seemed disgusted.

"Eclipse seems a little random.. But I think there are other popular songs that aren't about heartbreak and love. Although I don't really see what the problem is with a song like that. I think that if it sells and he enjoys the song, that there's nothing wrong with that. What type of sound are they exactly?" Isabelle seemed to be unusually curious about the band than she usually was when it came to music.

Luce cringed at the question, "They are kind of a pop-y, synth type music. Think mainstream like The Metro Station or Shiny Toy Guns. To me it kind of seems like they sold out when it comes to their sound, but they enjoy it and they have a fan base. Personally, I think Sean could do so much better when it comes to his music. He has so much talent... He wrote the song, Eclipse. Technically it started out as this really shitty poem he wrote about this girl. I don't really know exactly where the whole eclipse concept came from. He's a hopeless romantic." The last sentence that Luce uttered came out like he had just smelled something really gross. Isabelle was beginning to wonder if Luce didn't like anything pertaining to romance. She worried about admitting to him that she was a hopeless romantic...

"That sounds... cool." Isabelle responded dejectedly.

Luce smiled and opened the door in front of them, he ushered her in. The room was filled with smoke, the legal kind, thankfully. There were about five guys sitting around in various different chairs and couches. Izzy noticed that Rae was sitting on Sean's knee. She went over to where Rae was, she was the only one in the room not smoking. Not that it really mattered anyway, Rae was probably getting more second-hand smoke from being in that room than the people who were actually smoking.

Isabelle raised her eyebrow in mock concern, "So I see you have made yourself comfy over there, Rae darling."

Rae laughed at her dear friend, "What can I say? Sean and I hit it off."

"Well, I'm glad someone is having fun." Isabelle responded, smiling down endearingly at her friend.

Rae looked concerned, "Are you not having fun??"

Shaking her head, Isabelle answered, "I'll tell you about it later. Right now, I'm here to watch a concert."

Sean, who had been listening in on the conversation from the beginning, interjected, "Well, you can't do much of that from back here."

The look she gave him was cold and demeaning, "Thanks for pointing out the obvious."

"Well, Ms. "Prep Disguised as Something Cool", I wasn't too sure how intelligent you really were. Seeing as you seem to enjoy wearing pastels on occasion." Rae straight up smacked Sean over the head. He smiled endearingly at her, with no hint of sarcasm or mischief or annoyance. "What? That wasn't a crack at you."

Rae gave him the same look that Isabelle had given him moments before, "That may have not been directed towards me, but she is still my best friend. And she probably couldn't pull off anything else because dark colors messes with her complexion usually. Plus, as you can tell, even when she tries looking like something other than a prep, she tends comes off as a poseur. She may be preppy, but she's one of the greatest people you'll ever meet and she's my best friend. So you better get along with her buddy. Or else you can say asta la vista, baby." Rae moved to get up from his lap, but he pulled her back down. "Hey buddy, don't you be getting rough with me." She smacked him over the head again.

He responded by pulling her in closer, "I like girls feisty. The more you fight back the more I'm going to fall madly in love with you."

She pushed away, landing with her back on the couch, and her legs still on his lap. "You're an odd one, Sean. We just met like two hours ago. Now you're talking about love?"

He smiled warmly, "What can I say? I'm a hopeless romantic. I think it's a necessary quality to have in a musician."

She raised an eyebrow. Isabelle knew that Rae agreed, she had said something along those lines many times before to Izzy. "What's up with the masochism then?"

Sean laughed out loud. "It's not masochism. I just think that a little bit of fire in a girl is a good thing. It means that there's a chance at passion, and without passion there is nothing. Without passion there is no point in living another day."

Rae propped herself up on her elbows, she looked positively ridiculous in that position, "I guess I agree with you. Without passion, all there is in a relationship is friendship masquerading as love."

Sean pulled Rae close to him into a hug, "I'm glad you agree." He kissed her passionately, never losing the goofy smile from his face.

Isabelle had been watching the little disagreement silently. As she watched her best friend kiss a boy that she had literally met only a few hours ago, she felt a little tug of jealousy. Izzy had always wanted to be able to live her life with such abandon as Rae typically did, but she was always cautious with her life. Rae had only just met Sean and now they were making out. Isabelle had known Luce for weeks, been interested in him romantically almost from the beginning, but the most she had gotten from him was hugs.

Just then, when her jealousy was peaking to the beginning of an inner rage, Luce wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a bone crushing hug. "Come on, they are about to go on. Tear your friend away from Sean, so we can let him do his job."

"I can't interrupt them. They are having so much fun," she refused adamantly.

"Honey, if you don't interrupt them, then his band mates are going to and you don't want to know how that works. Usually, they just dump water over him when he's distracted." Luce explained patiently.

"Well then. If it keeps my friend from getting wet, I'll interject." Isabelle bleakly acknowledged. She was not looking forward to the glares she was going to get from Rae for the rest of the night by doing this, but she didn't want to have her friend be cold because she got wet.

She pulled herself away from Luce's hold, walked over to the couple, and tapped Rae on the shoulder. "Rae, honey, we have to go." Rae waved her arm dismissively at Izzy. "Come on, Sean has to go on stage. We have to go watch them outside." This time Rae tried to dismissively push Isabelle away without breaking contact with Sean. Isabelle was starting to get upset. "Rae. If you don't stop now. I'm going to do something very drastic and mean." Again she was dismissed. So Isabelle did the only thing she could think of, she kicked Sean really hard in the shin.

On the bright side, it worked. On the downside, Sean was now screaming in agony. "Oh come on you freaking pansy. I didn't kick that hard!" Izzy yelled.

"That hurt! How dare you? What was the point in kicking me??" Sean screamed, clutching his injured shin.

"I was being ignored." Isabelle deadpanned back.

Sean looked like he wanted to kill her. Instead of actually following through the with look he was giving, he looked at Luce with an angry glare, "You better control your girl. How many times do I have to tell you this??"

Luce was chuckling, which probably wasn't helping the situation at all. "Aww, she was only doing what I asked her to do."

The injured boy looked like he was about to lunge in Luce's direction, "You told her to kick me in the shin? Why would you do that??"

Luce was laughing pretty hard at this point in time, he was clutching his stomach like he had a cramp from laughing, "I didn't exactly ask her to kick you in the shin. I told her that you were supposed to be on stage pretty soon and that she should probably separate you and Rae. But she ended up kicking you in the shin after Rae blatantly ignored her. Isabelle has got a bit of a temper at times. She also really doesn't like to be ignored."

Sean looked at Rae for support, but even she was giggling a bit. When he looked at her, she sobered up a bit. "It's true. Izzy does not like being ignored."

He sighed in defeat. He picked up his guitar, kissed Rae on the head and motioned for his band mates to come on stage with him. It was time to rock.

Isabelle linked arms with Rae, and walked towards the outer door. "So you really like him don't you."

Smiling in agreement Rae just gave Isabelle a mischievous look and continued walking.

Lucien followed them from behind. He was a little unhappy about the new situation with Sean and Rae. Sean could be such a hopeless romantic that Luce gave him maybe a day before he professed his undying love to Rae, and Luce hated to hear Sean go on and on about how great a new girl of his was. Then, when things went down the drain with him, he would become immensely depressed for a good month and write crappy, sappy poems and lyrics. Lucien couldn't stand to be around Sean during these phases, and to make it worse, Luce had no way of being away from him because now Rae is the one who is dating Sean. Luce was not happy at all about this new situation, contrary to what he originally told Isabelle.

When they got back into the screaming crowd (they were screaming now that Sean was on the stage, apparently he was fairly popular among the girls in their age group, lucky Rae...) they shoved their way, quite brutally, towards right in front of the stage.

Amusingly enough, it was Rae who was making the most headway. Her 5'2" demeanor reasonably powered through the crowd. Every once in awhile there was need for more than one set of elbows to get through however.

When they started playing, the crowd really went wild. There was a surge forward as everyone tried to get just a little bit closer to the stage. Rae and Isabelle were practically crushed. Isabelle was wondering if she should really be here, and Rae was overcome with a feeling of adrenaline rushing through her veins. The more the crowd pushed, the more alert and happy she became. Luce played a happy blockade against the worst of the blows and tried to keep them from being mauled.

The depressing thing was that when Sean picked up his guitar and started playing his music, the crowd was so loud that no one could actually hear the music very well. Isabelle didn't really like concerts for just this reason, but she always thought it was good to get out once in awhile. Plus, she was invited.

Rae was freaking ecstatic. She looked like one of those stupid fan girls lusting over a band member. The ironic thing was, she really was one of those girls except she actually got the lead singer, unlike most other fan girls. However, she had never been stupid. Just lustful. She had her hands out towards Sean, like the rest of the female population with the exception of Izzy, and was screaming on the top of her lungs. She always did have a thing for guys who could sing and play guitar...

After a few sets of songs, the band stopped playing and Sean spoke alone, without music into the microphone. "Hello there. How's everything going?" He paused for dramatic effect and so the crowd could go wild. It was pretty ridiculous just how insane this crowd was. One would think it was Fall Out Boy or something stupid like that onstage. "Now, I just wanted to thank everyone for coming. We have two more songs to sing, but first I want to introduce you guys to someone really special. Her name is Rae. Rae, where are you?" He asked into the crowd, blindly searching. He really was a hopeless romantic. When he finally caught sight of her, he looked for a guard, located one, pointed to Rae. The security guard caught on fairly quickly and hoisted Rae onto the stage.

Rae stood there awkwardly, but with an immense, genuine grin on her face. Her dreams were coming true. Every night she ever felt alone and lonely in her room, was instantly forgotten. Rae's life changed forever, but in a good way. Sean kissed her smiling lips with a possessive romantic force and then looked towards the crowd, addressing them, "Now, I want Rae to be my girlfriend, but I'm not too sure she'll agree. What do you guys think?" The crowd roared louder than they had ever before, Isabelle had a hard time believing they could possibly get any louder. Sean looked at Rae, he looked her deeply in the eyes and asked, "What do you think?"

Rae looked back for a moment, then she kissed him just as passionately as he had just a few seconds earlier. That was enough of an answer for both Sean and for the crowd. They went wild. It seemed that there are more hopeless romantics in the world than just Sean and Isabelle. It seemed that even Rae was showing an inclination towards romance.

Isabelle was beaming at her friend. Her jealousy had not weened, if anything it had gotten bigger and meaner, threatening to make her unreasonable. However, Luce wrapped his arms around her from behind and said into her ear, "That is the hopeless romance that is worth watching. It may be hopeless, but for people like Sean and Rae, who believe in love at first sight, it's just right. Also, it's not some stupid movie on Lifetime or another ridiculous chick flick."

Luce thought that Sean was being unreasonable. He realized that he might have overshot the prediction of how quickly it would take Sean to profess his love to Rae. He also saw the look on Isabelle's face and recognized it. He knew he needed to come up with some good to please her. Luce also felt like he was surrounded by lunatics with all this sappy lovey dovey stuff going on.

Sean and Rae finally broke apart and Sean started playing, the band picked up and began playing with Sean. Rae looked uncomfortable again, now that she wasn't in contact with Sean anymore. She tried to get off the stage, now that their little theatrics were over, but Sean grabbed her back and started singing to her and only her. It was every teenage girls dream when they go to a concert, to have the main singer sing to them and only them.

When the song finished, Sean kissed Rae softly on the lips and let the security guard help Rae down off stage. The lights dimmed and spotlighted on just Sean. He closed his eyes and started playing softly, the crowd became deathly quiet, like they didn't want to miss a word.

He sang of how whenever he saw an eclipse he thought of a girl and longed for her. He spoke of heart wrenching torment, feeling caught in between longing and denial of a love. He obviously missed this girl. Isabelle wouldn't have been surprised if she later found out that the girl he missed was his best friend and an ex-girlfriend. A girl he thought he loved, and that she had returned the affections, but she moved on without a second glance. Now whenever he saw an eclipse, his heart wrenched from his body and thrust on his sleeve for the whole world to see. Obviously, most of this was inferred, the song didn't exactly explain all that, but the way Sean sang it, acoustic and with so much feeling, it was understood. He was hurt, and healing very slowly.

Girls in the crowd were crying, which Isabelle thought was a little ridiculous. It was a good song, but she's never heard a song that made her cry. Isabelle may have been a hopeless romantic, but she never considered herself that hopeless. She instead wrapped her hand warmly in Luce's, and smiled up at him, swaying to the rhythm of the acoustic guitar.

The night had altogether been very weird. It seemed like it had been more than just one night, lasting for a few days. It was definitely a very busy night with fights, kisses, blooming love, and some very good music.

Isabelle couldn't help but wonder, as she climbed into her comfy bed later that night what was in store for her in the future. She definitely had to talk to Owen, because what he did was very unusual. She also wondered if she should tell Luce about the kiss. There were so many questions roaming around in her mind that she thought she would never get to sleep, but exhausted from the busy evening she passed out minutes later.

Author's Note:

This chapter is dedicated to Syn871 for her birthday as a (modest) birthday present. I hope you have a really awesome birthday girly. Extra long and everything!!

I'm a hopeless romantic. I struggled with this chapter, I'm not going to lie. I hope everyone likes it. Please review, I feel like I'm whoring myself out, asking for reviews so much. But it really does mean a lot to me, and don't forget the bet I made a couple chapters back! Hundred reviews before the story is completed and I'll dance to Miley Cyrus's version of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", because song is just ridiculously catchy, even if it is corny.

I might produce for all ya'll (plural of ya'll apparently. It's amazing the things I learn here in the South :] I always thought that ya'll was plural...) another chapter on Monday, November 24. My birthday. Kind of my birthday present to you guys. But who knows. My sister has some plans for me that day apparently.

Special People:

Yours Truly-Derranged Pixies: I don't know if I have said this yet, but I used to be obsessed with faeries. I just thought you should know this little tidbit. Thanks so much! I try my best in writing. I'm still a student of life. Don't worry about your imagination running away with you. I do the same thing :D

Syn871: Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to Synny. Happy Birthday to youuu. :D I sing beautifully don't I? Not. I appreciate the reviews like always. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and approve of Sean. He's actually based off this guy I was really mean to in Hot Topic one day. (The Real) Rae witnessed it. I kind of did a version of the mean encounter in the chapter or two before. I really did sarcastically say "I read!!". It was pitiful. And then subsequently I got a crush on him and began going to Hot Topic wayy more than I used to.

Rae: I'm mad at you. You haven't e-mailed or talked to me in over a week. I write for you, and you don't even respond. It hurts.

I think I'm in the sharing mood tonight... Or morning?

Love,
Your Own Personal Carebear