The Bird and the Worm

“Oh my gosh Heather, so how did the rest of your time go?”

I settled into the passenger seat, resting my phone on my leg as I buckled my seatbelt. “I missed you too, Gina,” I said with a soft sigh, and she twisted the key in the ignition until the engine came to life. She snickered, and I smiled over at her. “To be honest, it really sucked to have to leave him behind.”

“Well duh. I mean, he put a frickin ring on-“ Her gaze flashed to my left hand. “You’re kidding me. It’s still there. Heather, explain, please, and do not leave out any details.” I laughed at her, and she sighed frustratedly. “And I promise not to freak out too much.”

I looked over at her, folding my hand around my phone and holding on to it. “Okay. No major freak out, right?” She nodded, and we pulled out of the airport, merging onto the highway. “Kay, well, first off, he asked me to be his girlfriend, so of course I had to say yes to that. And then he said that he was going to come back for me once he was done with the tour, which means he wants me to live with him once the semester’s out.”

“Is that it?” she questioned, sounding a little bit disappointed in my lack of the ability to dive obnoxiously into a long, full account of the last three days, and she huffed and pouted her lip, rapping her fingernails on the steering wheel. “I mean, it’s all big, but…”
‘I let him make sweet, sensual love to me two nights in a row.’ “We kind of…slept together…and not exactly in the most platonic way.” My cheeks flushed, and Gina opened her mouth to say something, then closed it, opened it, and then closed it back up again. A short huff escaped her lips instead. “Well?”

“All I can think of is how…jealous…I am of you right now. I mean, he loves you, he agreed to be your boyfriend, he asked you to live with him, and he’s unfairly gorgeous.” She laughed a little. “Who gave you that chain, anyway?” Not to mention that the clothes I was currently wearing were not the clothes I’d been in when she’d left me at the concert. “Because it’s like…seriously amazing.”

“Matt gave me the new one with the pendant, and Brian gave me this one,” I picked up the chain I was referring to, smiling at her, “so that I could have someplace to wear the ring when in front of the crowds at the concerts.” I saw her gaze flicker to my ring as I mentioned it, and I bit my lip.

She rolled her eyes. “Jesus. The hottest freaking guitarist on the planet and you make him a hopeless romantic and practically tie him down. What a great fuckin’ friend you are.” She let out a mock groan of exasperation, laughing at me. “God…my best friend knows Synyster Gates, and I don’t even get to have sex with him now.” She should have sounded pissed about this, but she wasn’t. I sighed, and she shook her head.
'I don’t want to cause a trouble, don’t wanna stay too long, I just came to say to you ‘Turn around, I am here, if you want it’s me you’ll see’, dark or cold, far or near, I can hold you when you reach for me…I don’t want to cause a trouble, don’t wanna stay too long….'

“Ooh is that him?” She asked me, quirking an eyebrow and grinning. I scowled at her, flipping my phone open and pressing it to my ear, ignoring her whining.

“Heather?” I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath as I heard him say my name. “I just wanted to make sure you landed alright.” I ran a hand through my hair, and I smiled over at Gina. She knew. She wasn’t stupid.

“Yeah Gina just picked me up.” I was fairly certain that he liked the sound of that. If he was like most guys, I had a feeling that he wouldn’t have minded me casually mentioning that I was going to make out with her or something. But he also knew I wasn’t a ridiculously dirty kind of girl and I’d only given myself to him because of my feelings for him, so he didn’t expect much out of me there. “What are you guys up to back on the east coast, eh?”

He laughed. “Well, right now, we’re just…doing absolutely nothing. The only fun we have is when someone else is on the bus with us.” There was a definite hint behind his words, and I heard him snicker. “What about you? Are you going to do anything fun once you get back to your dorm? Movie night? Party night?”

I laughed softly. “Well after I leave my suitcase as my dorm, I’m going to try and sort a few things out with my mother. I don’t like being out of touch with her.” I sighed. “Besides, I’m gonna have to break it to her gently that in five months, I’ll be living with a gorgeous rock star.” I heard him snicker. He probably was laughing at the fact that I thought he was gorgeous. Clearly, his self-image was a little jacked up if he had that kind of misconception about himself.

“You say all that like you think you’re my girlfriend or something,” he teased. Clearly, he was way better at this than I was. “I mean…it’s kind of cute, but you know. Can’t have every girl that walks onto the tour bus trying to claim me, right?” I released a soft ‘Mmm’ sound, and he chuckled softly. “I mean, I already promised a bunch of stuff to this girl I had to put on a plane a few hours ago.”

“Aw cutie’s a funny man, how nice.”

He was quiet for a moment, listening to something that Jimmy had to say. Then there was a rustling on Brian’s end of the line, and then Jimmy’s rough voice greeted me. “Hey hottie, how’s my best friend’s girl doing? That flight had to be long as hell, which means you’ve got to be frickin’ tired.” I sighed. He had no idea. “Just wanted to say that if you’ve got a laptop with a webcam on it, you should probably be settled comfortably in front of it at about five your time.”

“And the occasion?”

I could almost hear Jimmy’s smile. “Just…make sure you’re online. You’ll see.” I pictured him winking, and then the line rustled again as the phone was handed back to Brian.

“What was all that about?”

He sighed. “I dunno. Just Jimmy making it much too impossible for me to have ‘everything I want’ or something.” His tone was so casual, and I heard him release a sigh of content, probably relaxing in his bunk. “I tell ya, these guys seem to believe that by meeting you, I’ve changed my whole life or something.” I scoffed. “I know. I’m just happy I don’t have to think about Michelle anymore and that you find enough value in me to be with me. You know, having only known me for a short time and all.”

“Yeah well who says no when a hot guitarist is opening up an offer to be Mr. Boyfriend?”

“A few people have,” he countered.

“I didn’t, though, so that counts for something.” Gina glanced over at me, an eyebrow raised and an odd smirk on her lips. “I have all intentions to hold on to you for as long as possible.” She winked at me, and then her gaze returned to the road. Toying with Matt’s gift again, I bit my lip as he remained silent, most likely saving this phone conversation in his memory.

“We’re about ten minutes from the dorm, Heather,” Gina said softly, and I nodded. “So say bye to the hottie. He can wait till later.”

“I definitely don’t like the sound of that,” he said with a slight groan, and I agreed with that sentiment, though groans just weren’t my thing. “I get to talk to you at five, right?”

“Yeah. Five.” I bit my lip for a moment, and then added, “I love you, Brian,” in a voice soft enough to almost be a whisper. “And I miss you.”

“I love you too, and I miss you more.” A moment of silence, and then, “Good luck with your mother, Miss Sociology.”

“G’bye, Brian.” He murmured a ‘bye’ in return, and then I closed my phone, a daydreamer’s smile forming on my lips. I glanced over at Gina, who was totally about to burst out laughing at the most romantic moment she’d been within a mile’s radius of in the last year, “You know what, just don’t. Let me enjoy the aftertaste, and then I will let you give me the interrogation session of the year, alright?” She sighed, relenting, and I smiled, leaning my head against the window and twisting the ring that was on my left hand as I considered all the things that had transpired over the last three days.

We were silent for a while, and Gina didn’t speak until we were a few minutes away from our destination.

“So does that thing mean that you’re actually engaged to him or something?” I shook my head. “Then what does it mean?”

“It means that he promised to come back for me.” My gaze met hers for a moment. “And it means that I promised to wait for him.”

“You should just marry him when he comes back for you.” I scoffed. “No. Seriously. Just…well there’s a zillion little chapels you two could get hitched at. He can wear a tux, you can fit that ridiculously slim body of yours into the dress of your dreams, and then he can have at you for as long as he likes without feeling like an asshole for hours afterward.” A sly smile crossed her lips. “I know you’re not gonna go for it, but you’ve got to admit, it’s a great plan. Short, simple, and easy to remember.”

“How will I ever go on without you if we were to ever stop being friends…” I sighed melodramatically, and she patted my hand. “But you’re right. I’m not exactly one to go for something like that, and you know he’s not gonna jump on the idea.”

“Like I said. It was worth a shot.”

“I’m glad I got stuck dorming with you, Gina Hayes,” I teased, and she laughed. “What. You think I chose you?”

“I’m a little appalled that you didn’t, actually,” she teased back, sniffing indignantly, though she wasn’t able to hide a small giggle. “I dunno…just, be careful with him, alright? You’re not exactly Casanova, and he’s pretty smooth with words, so…don’t get yourself into anything you can’t wriggle out of, alright?” I nodded. “I mean it, because if you end up screwed over, I’m immediately beating the both of you up.”

“Thanks, Gina. So much.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She parked the car. “Grab your shit, and get your unfairly scrawny ass out of my car.” She winked over at me, and I slid out of the seat, sighing as I pulled out the suitcase Brian had given me, rolling it along behind me as we walked up to the door.