Sequel: Beyond the Sun

The Bird and the Worm

twenty- the second

“You’re cutting it a little close, sister,” Gina said as I walked into the dorm and gave her a short smile before continuing on to my bedroom, where my laptop sat on my bed, plugged in, with my webcam open and the proper messaging system minimized to the taskbar. “You’re welcome, by the way,” she called, and I laughed softly, smiling as I settled onto the bed and pulled the laptop onto my lap.

My eyes flickered to the corner of the screen, checking the time. Jesus. She was right. I only had ten minutes left. Chewing on my lip for a moment, I decided that I would open Solitaire up and play a few games in order to pass the time, my media player playing a random song in the background. I hummed along with the tune, even though I was barely paying attention- I was only focused enough to play the card game on the screen as I waited.

Then, ten minutes later on the dot, a dialog box appeared on the screen. ‘Message from Skype: syn_gates_42 would like to have a video/chat session with you. Accept?’ I bit my lip and clicked ‘OK’, then relaxed a little, tilting the screen so that the camera was on me. A few moments later, I saw Brian’s rough hand doing the same thing, and my heart fluttered a little as his webcam captured his smile. I waved, and he chuckled, getting as comfortable as he could with the rest of the guys around him.

“Interesting screen name,” I commented. “Where did the 42 come from?”

He laughed. “I was having an off day when I made this thing, and it was also a day of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’.” I nodded without bias. “And it was Jimmy’s idea. Him and cans upon cans of Dr. Pepper do not mix well without dangerous side effects.”

“Where’s the eyeliner, mister?” I quirked an eyebrow.

He raised an eyebrow right back, and then he poked the screen. “Don’t judge, alright? I don’t always Goth up for the boys. Even though I would gladly Goth up for you.” He flashed a cunning smile, knowing that this would be enough to make my heart stop for a moment and then make me forget the blunder. “How’d it go with your mom, anyway?”

I smiled. “I think I’m better at spinning bullshit than you are. I brought on a few tears, told her a story about why you even knew I existed…just basically did what you did at the café.”
“And so I have chosen a good woman to be my girlfriend. I taught you well, grasshopper.” I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, sorry, that wasn’t smooth at all.” I shook my head, wrinkling my nose. He laughed at me. “Hey. Is that the fedora I gave you?” I flashed the same cunning smile he’d pulled on me. He smiled appreciatively. “It looks good on you.” Someone punched him in the arm, and he muttered, “Ow, fuck,” before looking back at me. “So I think there was supposed to be a purpose to this session, but the guys weren’t fessing anything up until you were on the screen so…can I have like, one second?”

“Yeah sure, McFly, go for it..”

There was some muttering on his end, and one of the guys whispered something in his ear. His cheeks tinged slightly with red, and I raised both eyebrows, impressed. He gave me a short smile, and then Jimmy tugged at his arm. With a sigh, Brian turned his laptop so that Jimmy was on the screen.

“Hiya, Heather! You’re sitting down, right?” I nodded slowly. “Mmkay, well one, you left a pair of panties in Brian’s bunk, and- wait, was I not supposed to say that yet?” He sighed. “Aw fuck, well, forget I said that. Even though red lace is very nice, Brian hasn’t stopped hearing about it since you left.”

“Poor, poor him,” I said, smiling.

“Yeah, we feel no sympathy. He got to have sex with you, so he’s set. Anyway. You said you were sitting down?” I nodded again. “Well, er, you’re probably not going to like this, since my voice is fuckin’ shot, but…what the hell…” He fussed with the laptop for a second, and somehow, he managed to zoom the camera out. All the guys had their arms around each others’ shoulders, and Jimmy counted off from 4.

Then, they all burst out into a loud chorus of Happy Birthday. My eyes widened. I wanted to know who had told them. Suspiciously, I peeked towards my door, finding Gina standing there, leaning against the doorframe, her arms crossed and a smirk on her lips. I narrowed my eyes at her for a moment before watching the guys as they sang for me. Gina giggled, amused by the spectacle, and I simply sighed.

When they were finished, Brian picked up the laptop, looking over at one of the guys. “Can I have her to myself now, please?” There were a few cleared throats and a few mocking groans, but nonetheless, I watched the expanse of the tour bus pass by as he headed towards his bunk. I waited as he settled in, and then he adjusted the screen so that I could see him. “This is much better,” he said with a smile, pulling the curtain closed. “So what kind of story did you spin for your mother?”

I smiled a little; Gina had disappeared back to the couch.

“Your dorm is effing huge, by the way.”

I bit my lip for a second. “My parents- well, my mom now, since the divorce-…well, there’s money lying around for me to go to school wherever I want. And the dorms here just happened to be nice.” He smiled at me. “Somebody looks jealous.”

“Well I kind of am, actually.” He flashed a smile. “But my house is pretty big, too, so there shouldn’t be a space problem.” I touched my hand to the screen, and so did he. “Hey is that Shinedown I hear, Miss Sociology?” he questioned, and he turned the volume up a little on his laptop- I could distinctly hear ‘Beyond the Sun’, which just so happened to be the song that was playing on my laptop. “It comforts me that I’m with a girl who has such similar taste.” A familiar smile took over his features, and the screen shifted as he adjusted for comfort in his spatially restricting bunk. “So. Now we have privacy. What all did you tell your mother?”

I blushed. “I just told her what I felt about you, and she figured I was being sincere, so she bought it.”

“No way. You guys are cool again, just like that?”

I sighed breathily, brushing a hand through my hair. “She’s my mom. I can’t with good conscience remain angry with her longer than it takes for her to make the best popcorn ever created.” I smiled a little. “I think she was on the verge of tears, actually. She didn’t even technically make me apologize.”

He chewed on his lip, considering this for a moment. Then his eyes flashed up to mine, and he smiled slightly. He looked as though he was caught deep in thought. “You told her you loved me, didn’t you,” he said, and I knew it wasn’t really a question. “So she knows you’re in love with a grimy rock star, and she still thinks you’re marrying me.” I nodded slightly, not really sure where he was going with this. “You know I’m like…really proud of you, right? I mean, you just conquered your major demons.” I smiled slightly. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” I toyed with the chain around my neck. “I just wish…well…no, never mind.”

“No, tell me,” he urged gently, his eyes blazing mildly with curiosity. When I bit my lip and remained quiet, he seemed to understand. “I want these five months to go by quickly, too. All I know about you is what you told me in three days and what I saw in the video. And…well as screwed up as it may be, I love you.” My cheeks tinged slightly with red. “I know. I like hearing it, too.”

I glanced up at the screen and gave him a new sort of smile, one that was warmer and more inviting than the previous ones. Touching my fingers to my lips, I kissed them softly and then pressed them to the screen. He touched his hand to the screen as well, and then he brought it to his lips, closing his eyes for a moment and sighing softly. “I love you too, mister rock star,” I told him when he was looking at me again. His smooth pink lips lifted into a breathtaking smile, and his eyes sparkled in a way I’d never seen before.

We were silent for a moment before something dawned on me.

“Do you have to wear a shirt when talking to me?” He quirked an eyebrow, and I batted my eyes. He rolled his eyes, sighing dramatically, but pulled the shirt over his head anyway, letting it drop to the floor. “Geez...you’d think I’d get used to that,” I muttered to myself, and he laughed. “I can take something off, too, to compensate.” I had his attention. Smirking, I uncrossed my legs and tugged at my sock, pulling it off my foot, dangling it in front of my computer.

“That was mean,” he complained playfully. “Getting me all excited like that…”

“Excited?”

“Yeah. I think you have a beautiful body.” I smiled. “I mean it.” Just this once, I tugged at the shirt that I wore over my tank top, and I pulled it off. Now, I was in a tank top that clung to my skin and a pair of jeans. That was his payment for being shirtless for me. “Jesus,” he breathed. “And how did I convince you to wait for me?” I held up my left hand, and he smiled. “There is that.” I placed my hand over my heart, curling my fingers against my skin. “That too.” I bit my lip, my gaze shifting towards something that wasn’t my laptop.

If this were a game in The Sims 2 that we’d been playing, it would have been at this point that I would have hit the ‘pause’ button and saved my progress. At this point, I knew that Brian had wormed his way into my life, and I wasn’t exactly going anywhere if I had his ring as collateral. If this had been The Sims, during our first time, there would have been a gentle caress of my thigh, and a soft look in his eyes as the blankets were pulled up to cover us up. By now, we would have been engaged, married, and I might possibly be pregnant, considering Sims impregnated like clockwork until the second they reached the ‘Elder’ stage of their lives.

If this were The Sims, we would have said ‘I Do’ a long time ago.

I wished that I could pause this moment and savor it, but in spite of me, time continued on.

“Heather,” he said softly, brushing his roughened fingertips along the edge of the screen, and my eyes flickered back up to respond to his impossibly smooth voice. The look in his eyes was impossible to duplicate, and the smile on his lips was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, convincing me to let him hold my gaze. I quirked an eyebrow slightly, just to see if there was something behind that tempting yet anticlimactic murmur of my name. “Jeez…you can never be fair to a guy, can you,” he sighed, and I offered a small yet significant smile of my own.

“How have I been unfair, mister rock star?” I said, pulling my laptop up so that it rested on top of my now crossed legs.

“Well first, you haven’t adjusted the screen yet, and I’m not complaining, I mean, the view is great…” I adjusted the screen, snickering and flushing a slight shade of red. “Well you kind of tied me down here. I mean…you’re an awfully great kisser, and the…well. You know. Well, I have no complaints about that.” I flicked the screen. “Alright alright. To the point. I got it.” I smiled. “You made me fall in love with you.”

“Looks like we both committed the same crime, then.”

“In three days?”

My smile remained, and I brushed a hand through my hair. “You know…a guy in this sleazy rock band I hung around with once told me that sometimes, one second is all it takes.” I watched his reaction, my heart fluttering as he checked his surroundings. “Jimmy is a very intelligent man.”

“What was your one second?”

My answer was easy. “My one second was backstage, the first time you kissed me. Yours?”
He bit his lip. He looked…slightly vulnerable…and it was oddly appealing. “My one second was in the café with your mother. When you looked over at me, just before you reminded me about that ring…there was a twinkle in your eye that just…snagged me.” Odd choice of words, right? Sappy conversation, right? Of course, a badass rock star like Brian Haner wasn’t capable of feeling vulnerable to his own emotions for a few minutes while talking to his girlfriend that was literally all the way across the country. At least that is what anyone else that didn’t know the Brian I’d just spent three days with would think about him. “Why that kiss, though?”

I blushed, biting my lip, failing to avoid his gaze. “Because. Your lips are, for one, really soft, and the way you kissed me made me feel like I meant something to you.” Be my Edward Cullen, please, Brian. You have no idea how much I need this. Think angry, super hot, altruistic vampire, and we’re set. “You owe me a kiss like that when you get back.”

“I promise,” he whispered, and I saw something slide from his eye- was that a tear? Don’t break down on me now, I need you. Maybe there was just too much emotion filling this moment. Maybe that tear had fallen because he felt like emotions had been pressing down on him for the last few months and he was finally free. Maybe that tear had fallen because he really did love me and this distance was already killing him. Or maybe, just maybe, there hadn’t been a tear at all, and I’d just been romanticizing a hardened rock star in my head while I stared into those endless chocolate eyes. “You fixed me, Heather. Whatever Michelle broke, I think you fixed somehow, and I…well, I need you.”