Your fingers had barely knocked against the dark wood when the door swung open. His welcoming smile was brilliant as you leaned forward to offer him a tight hug. Following him into the dorm, you nodded politely at the band members who waved to you. He tapped a hand rhythmically on your shoulder.

“I need to finish something up on the computer, okay? Then I’ll be ready.” You smiled and nodded, but tugged lightly at his sleeve with upturned eyes.

“Sure. But hurry okay? It would look bad if we made them wait for long.” You wanted to make a good impression on your friend, her being the person constantly expressing skepticism towards the wisdom of your choice to date a star. He grunted an affirmative response, hurrying back to his room to finish his work.

One of his band members stood up, walking in the direction your boyfriend had turned. His eyes rolled upwards, his features expressing a mix of stress and irritation.

“Can you not be so needy? He has work he needs to finish, you know. He’s taking a risk even being with him, you don’t have to get in the way of his job too.” You stared silently a moment, processing the hurtful words. He walked away, leaving you still trying to pick a clever response from your offended thoughts.

But were you burdensome? Perhaps it was indeed wrong to hurry your boyfriend when he was inevitably working on something important to the group. You shook your head. Even as the girlfriend of a celebrity, you still had the right to ask things of him. This thought satisfied you for a few moments, but the creeping shadow of doubt slowly closed in tightly.

He had seemed stressed lately, promotions, compositions, and the burden of the idol lifestyle were oftentimes overwhelming for him and his group. The date you had planned was likely adding to his anxieties and you felt guilty. Being a part of the relationship meant you tried to help each other through difficult times, and his band member’s words were slowly convincing you that you had just violated that promise.

Tears blurred in your eyes and you hardly noticed. You sat tiredly on the couch and stared blankly, your focus on the blank wall clouding over with the wetness in your eyes.

“What the hell?” Your boyfriend waved his hand gently in front of your face, startled by the drastic shift in your emotions. “What happened?” His band member wandered behind him, a sheepish look in his guilty eyes. Your boyfriend turned around, quickly reading the expression. “Is this your fault? You made her cry? What’s wrong with you?” His anger was beginning to steam and you shook your head hurriedly.

“It’s not his fault. I’m really sorry if I’ve been adding to your stress.” He held your fingers in his, his thumb pressed tightly over the top of your hand.

“Of course you aren’t!” He turned again to his friend. “Is that what you told her? Why would you do that?” His band mate looked guilty, facing you with a sorry atmosphere.

“I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to make you cry. That was a real jerk move on my part.” You shrugged, looking away. “Really. I’m an idiot.” Your boyfriend shoved lightly against his head.

“You are an idiot. What kind of person makes his best friend’s girlfriend cry?” His exasperation was fading with the apology but you could tell he was still angry. His piercing glare made you laugh, and you wiped your cheeks while smiling happily. “Just because you don’t have a girlfriend doesn’t give you an excuse to be mean to mine.”

It didn’t take long for everyone to forgive each other, and you found yourselves laughing together on the couch. You looked at your phone, noticing a curious text message from your friend.

“We’re late!” you said, jumping quickly to your feet. You grabbed your boyfriend by the hand, dragging him quite literally out the front door. His band mate stared a moment before breaking into more laughter, and you smiled again. Turning on your feet, you grabbed the hand of his friend as well, pulling him along with your boyfriend. Both boys stared at you as you encouraged them into the car.

“I have someone I want you to meet.”