Anna And Eric Slip Up

The breakfast was shared mostly in silence thanks to the hangovers and overall awkwardness hanging between most everyone. In particular, Eric was growing agitated by Anna who didn't seem to care that she was joining the Watchtower group just to be near him. Eric knew he kissed her last night, but that was...that was the drinks and a mixture of locked up emotions. He was with Zoey now, and she made him very happy, Eric was over Anna, and she needed to know it...he had to be over her.

Once the group dispersed to pack up their bags, Eric followed JJ to his room, grabbing a few items of clothes from him, seeing as he was also in need of some clothes. Anna and Zoey, however, returned to Anna's room, the blonde offering to do the same for her with her clothes. Eric knew that Anna didn't have a mean bone in her body, nor Zoey for that matter, but Anna was a romantic. The teen worried that Anna would tell Zoey about his mistake last night, he didn't want for her to find out about the kiss period as it should never have happened. Anna could have confused it as something more, the blonde girl could think that was him choosing her over Zoey, and Eric just couldn't let that happen, it wasn't fair to Zoey.

Eric quickly grabbed a few things from JJ's dresser, before stuffing them into his pack and jogging over to Anna's room. He quickly entered the room and saw Zoey and Anna all smiles while picking through her clothes, "Hey Eric," Anna waved as she picked out another shirt, "What about this one? It's kinda loose,"

"Anna, no," Zoey giggled, "I think I'm going to have to ask Nicole if I can borrow some of her clothes. You're are just too small, the one you gave me last night just barely fit anyway,"

"Sorry," Anna laughed back, "But yeah, Nicole should be able to help you out, and you two both share...some things in common," She teased while motioning at Zoey's large chest,

Zoey let out a loud laugh and quickly turned around, "Stooooop," She playfully whined before smiling at Eric, "Are you already packed up?"

"Uh...no, just got my clothes from JJ," Eric mumbled back, surprised to see the two getting along so well, "So you're getting clothes from Nicole now?"

"Yeah," Zoey nodded back, "I wish we knew we'd end up staying here ahead of time, I'd have picked up some stuff from town." She sighed with a small shrug, "Oh well,"

Zoey stood up on her toes and planted a soft kiss on Eric's lips, "I'll be back in a minute, okay?"

"Absolutely," Eric smiled back as he watched his girlfriend step past him, he glanced over at Anna who was happily preparing her own bag now, "Oh! Zoey, think you could grab some of the first aid kits from Brian while you're out there?"

"Sure," Zoey smiled back while peering over to Anna then back to Eric, "I like her, she's nice." She silently mouthed before slipping out of the room,

Eric gulped as he watched Zoey close the door, leaving him and Anna alone once more. He took in a slow breath and looked behind him, a bit relieved to see Anna still packing her bag and not looking at him intently. The black haired teen awkwardly wandered around the room, leaning against different pieces of furniture as he glanced up at Anna, waiting for her to try or say something. By the time five minutes past Eric couldn't take it anymore, he had to lay things out, even if it hurt Anna, "So last night, in the bathroom,"

"When you kissed me?" Anna asked with a sheepish look, "Yeah, I was wondering when you were going to talk to me about that."

"I...I didn't kiss you; you kissed me...right?" Eric asked, his mind a bit foggy on the details as the whole moment was a blur in his head,

"No, Eric, you kissed me." Anna calmly replied, "You...I don't know, that just sorta happened."

"Anna, I'm sorry but-" Eric lowly said, unsure if he could go through with this,

"We can't be together, I know," Anna firmly finished in agreement, "Zoey doesn't deserve to be cheated on, and I don't want to participate in that either."

"You...don't?" Eric asked in some surprise, "But last night, you were the one talking about my real feelings or whatever,"

Anna felt a little sinking in her stomach as she stepped towards Eric, "I-I wasn't trying to do anything with you last night. I was a little drunk like you-"

"Anna, we both only had three drinks, we weren't drunk, and you know it," Eric sternly corrected her with a little eye,

"Fine, I was loosened up by the ****," Anna corrected, "But I was going there to get some closure. And things just kinda...spiraled. I guess I wanted to know if I was the only one of us who still cared,"

"Of course I still care about you," Eric quickly said, almost sounding hurt, "I never wanted to break up with you, if I didn't move I would have still been dating you, you know that,"

"Right, I know that now...you told me a lot last night, and I thought about for hours, everything you said and how you said it." Anna sighed while hanging her head, "I felt that way too, but I can't Eric...we can't," Eric blinked and his lips fell into a small pout, agreeing with her reluctantly, "You need to let me go, and I need to let you go."

"You're right," Eric nodded while staring at the floor now, "It's-It's what's right,"

"We broke up, you being here...you almost moving back doesn't change that. You and I both moved on to new people," Anna mumbled out,

"You moved on to someone new? Who?" Eric immediately asked causing the blonde to freeze,

"I-uh...um," Anna stumbled back, trying to think of a lie,

"Anna, you didn't move on," Eric firmly said with a headshake, "I know when you're lying and right now, you're trying to think of a good one,"

"Fine!' Anna admitted with a toss of her hands, "I couldn't move on, but that doesn't mean shit. You're with Zoey, she lives in your town, and you two make perfect sense. I need to do the same, and we need only to be friends!" She exclaimed with a shallow breath,

Eric could hear the break in her voice towards the end of her words and quickly ran over, embracing the blonde tightly, "Anna, I'm sorry....I'm so sorry," Eric tenderly said while holding the sniffling girl whose heart burned for Eric but conscious told her to stay away,

"How do you do it? How can you just be with someone else while loving another person?" Anna asked while pushing her head up, nuzzling Eric's neck,

"I didn't...I-Anna, I thought I wasn't going to see you again. I had to do something to get my life back on track. Every fucking day felt like hell; I didn't want to get up some days after I left. Zoey helped me get past that, and I figured given enough time, I'd feel the same way about her as I do you," Eric explained as his right hand stroked Anna's back,

"So what? You don't even care about her?" Anna asked in a little bit of disgusted shock,

"No!" Eric quickly exclaimed, "I do care about her, a lot, actually. But it's just, ugh, Anna, I like her, but I love you."

"You love me?" Anna asked with a small swallow while pulling back to look Eric in the eye,

"I..." Eric gulped as he looked down, somehow he was once again embracing his ex-girlfriend, and this time he just confessed love, "I do," He hardly admitted,

Anna's lower lip trembled, "I love you too," She whimpered back before suddenly pushing forward and kissing Eric. Eric breathed a sigh of relief and accepted her tentative kiss, which ended after only a few moments, "But we can't." Anna said in a barely audible voice.

Eric nearly felt crushed by the words, why was something that was clearly so wrong for wanting, making him feel complete? Eric loved Anna Ross, but here he was, watching her pull away from him as she told him she felt the same. "I know," Eric uttered out, nearly sounding pained as he too stepped back. The two went silent, unable to look at one another before Anna quickly turned around and went back to her bag. Eric wandered back to the far side of the room and leaned up against the side of the wall, waiting for Zoey to return. Meanwhile, just outside the door, Zoey put a hand over her mouth and gasped as her ear remained pressed against the wood, catching the end of her boyfriend's conversation with his ex-girlfriend.