If I Was Perfect Then This Would Be Easy

"You guys are great, you know that?" their manager asked and we smiled modestly." For God's sake, you're a freakin awesome band, don't be modest." I smirked at his words. "My guys here tell me you've had some issues with a certain label..."

"Yeah. Our style wasn't exactly appreciated," Dom explained and I looked around the table we had sat at. It was a busy night at James' and the music was blasting through the speakers. Matt had the brilliant idea of us moving from the bar to one of the tables somewhere in the back.

"Why is it you're asking?" Cate enquired. Matt grinned widely and Larry smiled.

"Look, I know you probably don't want to deal with anymore managers, but I want to help you." I froze. These lines were all too familiar to me and as much as I loved the guys and their gesture, I didn't feel like going through the same story we'd gone through with fuckhead Donners. But I left Cate to speak up. She was our leader, after all.

"We're listening."

"You have some really cool music. Really good. Worth listening to. But what you need is someone capable of actually bringing you forth to the great audience and someone who can provide you with everything you need." Cate remained skeptical at his explanation and quite frankly, so did I.

"Look, I promised I would help you. And we wouldn't have asked Larry to help you, too, if we wouldn't have trusted him," Jimmy intervened, looking at me. Cate watched me unsure and I nodded. Larry took this as a sign for him to continue.

"I can get you into a studio and I have some people who can help you with recording. Also, I have a very old friend...he's pretty picky about his clients, but I know for sure he'll want to work with you. It's been a while since he's been involved in a very serious business, but trust me: he's one of the best managers out there." What could I say to that? We all just sat there watching Larry talk to us. "And once the album is out, he'll help you with everything."

Dom gulped. Jack sighed in disbelieve. Cate smiled. Corey was playing nervously with a guitar pick. I stayed silent, looking at my glass. Risk it all. Or stay just like this.

"Trust me, guys, this will be all worth it," Johnny encouraged.

"Totally. There is no way you could go wrong with this," Matt added.

"What could you lose by saying 'yes'?" Zack asked. Jimmy got up. I stood up from my seat on the couch and let him move to sit next to Cate, wrapping his arm around her. I leant against the couch.

"I'm in," Dom said simply.

"Well, I trust these guys. So I'm in, too," Jack said.

"Same here," I added. This seemed to get everyone really excited, as though my decision mattered most. Cate smiled widely at me and Corey agreed with the idea, as well.

"Perfect. I'll try and set everything up this week," Larry decided and looked at his watch. "I have to go. But I promise you, this is going to be great."

We said our goodbyes to Larry and once he left, everyone got up and began hugging eachother. Jack and I, being the grown-ups we are, began yelling and jumped in eachother's arms. This brought up a wave of laughs.

"I just had to do that," I explained. Soon enough, most left the table and the couch, some of them heading towards the dance rink through the crowd of people, while some went to the bar. I sat on the couch and looked at Cate and Matt slow dance on a song by Within Temptation. James had some realy interesting tastes when it came to the music playing in his huge bar.

"Enjoying yourself?" I jumped as Brian plopped himself next to me and gave me a beer.

"Are you trying to get me drunk, Gates?" I enquired and he smirked.

"You didn't answer my question." I laughed and nodded. "Then no, I'm not trying to get you drunk." He huffed and snickered. "Those two are getting really comfortable," he said, pointing towards Cate and Matt.

"Yeah. Maybe he'll ask her out soon," I said, wiggling my eyebrows and he laughed.

I looked only for a second to see Michelle glaring at me (or was it at Brian), then turned her back to us. I raised my eyebrow and I heard Brian mutter profanities. I raised my eyebrow at him.

"Don't mind her," he muttered.

"She doesn't really dig me, does she?" I asked sarcastically and he seemed speechless.

"It's not you, seriously! It's....more complicated." He then noticed my confused look and sighed in defeat. "Michelle and I...dated...a while ago." Oh. "And we didn't exactly split on good terms...and...she's still pissed at me."

"Why did you break up?" He seemed taken aback by my question. Honestly, I was surprised I'd asked that, too. "If you don't mind me asking," I added quickly.

"Nah. It's cool. I guess at some point we just...got bored." He shrugged. "Well I acted like an ass to her and I'll admit it, but she fuckin overreacted, too."

"Sorry," I muttered. Although his words didn't really explain me why she glared at me, but I thought it would be rude to ask more.

"But enough about me," he said suddenly, then looked at me cockily. "Who I would really like to know about is you." I sighed.

"And what would you want to know?" He shrugged nonchalantly. But his voice gave him away.

"I don't know. Past," - he got slightly closer to me- "present," -he placed his arm on the couch, behind my back- "future." With that final word his face came inches from mine and I found myself trying to breathe normally. I felt the smell of cologne and cigarettes on him as he leaned towards me even more, his breathing steady. You could have probably compared my heart to a broken CD at that moment. You know, a one that skips tracks like a fucker.

"Brian!" Brian stopped suddenly at the sound of Zacky's voice. I quickly pulled away and inhaled, then smiled at Zack, as he cheerfully sat at the table across from me and Brian. Brian, on the other hand, didn't seem to enjoy his presence at all and huffed as if he'd caught onto something. I also noticed he hadn't moved his hand from my back and he was still leaning towards me.

"Zack," he hissed, "shouldn't you..be somewhere?" he asked, obviously annoyed. This wasn't good.

"Don't think so, Gates." He smirked. I discretely looked around for Jimmy and caught a glimpse of him at the bar. As if on cue, he turned around and saw me, then saw Brian and Zack. He gave me an 'I-told-you-so' look and almost turned around before he saw the pleading look on my face. Thank God he caught onto the idea. I had been so focused on getting Jimmy's attention I hadn't really payed any attention to the lines between Zacky and Brian.

"Syn, I'm not gonna argue with you," Zacky explained calmly. "I'm sure Lexa wouldn't mind some real company." This really got Brian and I saw him clench his jaw. Usually I would've gotten between them, but I didn't know Zack and Brian well enough to know how they'd react. It would've been as if I would've come between two rabid rottweillers, to be honest.

"Lexa!" All three of us looked up to see Leana coming towards us. "What are you doing? Come on. I wanna have some girl talk with you," she winked and I sat up. I looked at Brian wearily and for a second, I could've sworn he'd seemed disappointed, but then he turned to glare at Zack, who seemed pretty pissed off himself, although there was a sparkle of pleasure in his eyes.

"Thank you," I whispered to Leana as we headed to Jimmy and Val at the bar. My brother and Dom were also there and I noticed them glare at the two men who were still at the table, cursing each other.

"Don't worry. Let's leave those two to kill eachother."