They Can't Protect Me From Loving You

It was dark when Eloise woke up. Her face felt tight from the tears that he dried while she slept. Her eyes adjusted to the lack of light and she glanced around the room looking for the clock. There wasn’t one in the room so she sat up and reached around on the bedside cabinet for her phone. There were messages and missed calls but she ignored them all. She knew most of them would have been from Brian. She hadn’t looked at her phone since she left the party. The time read 5:37. It was too dark for it to have been the evening so she concluded that she’d slept through and it was nearing morning. She placed the phone back onto the cabinet with a sigh and slid back down onto the bed.

Her mind began to race over the things that had happened in the past thirty hours. Question after question entered her tired mind but she came up with very few answers. Then one question popped into her head that she hadn’t thought about when she decided to leave Huntington. What now?

She couldn’t stay in Hannah’s spare room forever. She would need to get a new job. She’d have to call Billie as well and apologise for leaving him in the lurch. She wondered if she could get a job in the music store, even if it was just a shop assistant job. She’d need to start looking for a flat of her own as well.

And then there was her family. She’d have to talk to them sooner or later and explain why she was back in Sacramento.

She must have drifted back off to sleep as the next time she opened her eyes the sun had risen and the room was light. She could hear the murmuring of Hannah and Craig talking somewhere in the house. She lay there in silence, not wanting to get up just yet. There was a quiet beep from her left, her phone indicating that she had a new message. She reached over and grabbed her phone and opened the message from Jason.

“Sorry. I had to tell him where you were, he’s one of my best friends.”

“Don’t worry about it. He would have found me sooner or later anyway.”

While she had her phone in her hand, she decided to read the other messages that had been sent since she left the party.

They were mainly from Brian wondering where she was. There were a few from the others asking the same question and the others all seamed to be from people wishing her a Happy New Year.

As she lay there deleting them there was a light tapping on the door followed by the door slowly creaking open. She turned to see Hannah’s face peering around the opening door.

“Hey, Han, come in.” she said sitting up in the bed.

“Did you sleep well?” she asked quietly, stepping further into the room.

“Yeah, I guess those pills you gave me did the job they were meant to.” She replied producing a weak smile.

“Good, do you fancy some breakfast? You must be starving.”

“Yeah, I am actually, I haven’t eaten since the few nibbles I had at the party.” Eloise admitted.

“Cool, I’ll go make you something, come down when you’re ready.” She said and disappeared.

Eloise ate breakfast and decided to take a shower before putting on some comfy clothes and settling down on the sofa with Hannah, Abi and Sophie for a day of trashy movies. Over breakfast Hannah had told Eloise that it would be a good idea to have a girlie day to take her mind of everything that had happened. Eloise had only one condition, and that was that they were not going to watch any sappy chick flicks.

They had already watched Resident Evil and 28 Days Later and were half way through The Hills Have Eyes when there was a loud knock at the door. Each of the four girls groaned at the disturbance.

“Who the fuck’s that?” Hannah asked glaring at the front door.

Sophie closed her eyes and placed her fingertips to her forehead. “Nope, god damn it, my power to see through solid objects still ain’t working.” She said causing a glare from Hannah as the other girls laughed.

“You’ve been seeing way too much of JB, you were never this sarcastic.” Eloise stated with a chuckle as Hannah opened the door, her face suddenly becoming serious.

“I thought she’d said it was over?” Hannah muttered causing Eloise's head to snap up to face the door.

“I told her that I wasn’t going to give up easily.” Brian’s voice came from the door step. Hannah turned her head to glance at Eloise who’d gone pale.

“I don’t think she wants to see you.” Hannah replied, seeing the look on Eloise's face.

“I want to hear that from her!” Brian’s voice was stern. Eloise sighed and got up, walking over to the door, preparing herself to tell him to leave, that she hadn’t changed her mind.

“Brian, I told you I….what the fuck are all of you doing here?” she yelled, shocked to see all her friends stood on the doorstep behind Brian.

“It’s not only Brian you’re leaving.” Jimmy spoke up, taking a small step forward. Eloise stared at them all for a brief moment.

“Brian’s told us all what happened. None of us are willing for you to walk away so easily.” Gena said, also stepping forward.

“You think this has been easy for me?” Eloise spat.

“You’re giving into Michelle without a fight though.” Val retorted, shocking Eloise.

“Guys, I think you better come in, this is not the kind of conversation you want to be having on the doorstep.” Hannah said gaining a glare from Eloise.

“Eloise, you need to talk to them, even if it’s just to say a personal good bye to them all.” Hannah reasoned. Eloise nodded silently and walked through to the kitchen. Brian was the first to follow, followed quickly and silently by the others.

“Hannah’s right. I do need to say a proper good bye to you all.” Eloise said as she turned to face them.

“We’re not here for good byes. We’re here to tell you to fight. You can’t let Michelle win.” Matt said, stepping forward so that he was next to Brian.

“And how am I supposed to do that?” Eloise replied flatly.

“Report her to the police, tell them she’s threatening to reveal that you’re in Witness Protection.” Leana suggested from beside Jimmy.

“And what then? Firstly it’s only my word against hers and secondly, what if they tell me I’ve got to move again, have yet another identity, but this time I’d be on my own, no family or friends in with me.” Eloise replied.

“I’d be with you.” Brian said taking a small step towards her, his voice soft.

“Yeah I could see that happening, they’d have a whale of a time putting Synyster Gates in WP! And anyway, I wouldn’t let you join, be dragged away from your family and friends. I couldn’t do that to you.” Eloise replied, her tone softening.

“Baby, I would do all of that, the band could find a new guitarist, I’d give up everything if it meant I could be with you. You’re the only thing I need in my life.” Brian pleaded. Eloise was silent for a moment, contemplating his reply.

“You managed ok for four years.” She spat harshly. She didn’t mean to be so harsh. Being like this was slowly killing her, but she had to stay strong. If the words were killing her slowly, they’d just shot Brian through the heart.

“Those were the hardest four years of my life.” Brian choked.

“Bet Michelle made it easier for you.” Eloise spat, instantly regretting the words as she saw the hurt flash across his face. He sighed deeply before answering.

“I know what you’re trying to do. You think that fighting with me is going to make this easier for you. You think it’s going to make it easier for me to walk away and leave you.” Brian said in almost a whisper, closing the gap between them.

“I’m trying to be realistic Brian; it hasn’t been an easy decision to make. I don’t want to leave you and all my friends again, but there isn’t another feasible option.” She replied, tears brimming her eyes.

“Wow, I was totally fucking wrong about you!” Johnny said from where he was leaning up against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest. Everyone turned to face him, most with confused, shocked looks on their faces.

“Pardon?” Eloise said, eyebrows raised; eyes wide.

“Well, ever since I’ve known these guys they talked about their friend Katie who was put into Witness Protection. From what they said, I imagined her being this confident, outspoken, girl. Someone who wouldn’t take shit from anyone, would stand up for herself, never back down from a fight.” He explained.

“I mean, either the guys were bigging you up a hell of a lot or Witness Protection really knocked the confidence out of you. You’re defiantly not the girl I imagined you being.” He concluded with a shrug. Eloise stood staring at him in shock. She hated to admit it but he was right.

“Fuck short shit, you’ve made a good point!” Jimmy yelled congratulating Johnny with a slap on the back.

“He’s fucking right! Katie would never have allowed Michelle, or anyone else get to her like this. Katie would have stood up to Michelle. Katie never ran from her problems.” He added the others in the group nodded.

“Katie would have stayed to fight.” Matt said as Jimmy stepped forward.

“Where’s that girl gone?” he said standing in front of Eloise, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips as their eyes locked.

“We want her back.” He added as silent tears spilled out onto her cheeks.

“I’m still here.” She said in a whisper as she gazed into Jimmy’s pale blue eyes that were also shining with tears.

“Then don’t give up. Don’t let Michelle win!” Jimmy said softly. They continued to gaze at each other for a long moment as Eloise contemplated all that had been said. They were right. All of them. Katie would have stood up for herself, why was Eloise so different? Was it because her confidence had been knocked through her experiences in WP? She let out another deep sigh before pulling Jimmy into a hug.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered quietly before pulling away.

“Um, Val? You’re not going to be pissed at me if I report your sister to the cops though right?” she asked with a small smile as she turned to face her. Smiles spread across everyone’s faces as they realised what she was saying. It was only then that she realised that Brian had been sat at the kitchen table, his head in his hands, covering his tear soaked face. At the sound of her words though, he sat up, pulling his hands away from his face and looked up at her, their eyes locking once again.

“Does that mean….?” He stared as she nodded at him with a smile. He was up out of the chair in a heartbeat. Jimmy stepped to the side so that he could stand in front of her. Slowly, his hands reached up and cupped her face. Then, just as slowly his lips reached out to meet hers. Their lips moved together slowly, as if savouring every second they were together. She felt a smile work its way across her lips as her fingers tangled themselves in his long black hair. They both let out a content sigh as they pulled away, with Brian bowing his forehead against hers.

“Don’t fucking do that to me again.” he whispered.

“Sorry babe, I was scared.” She whispered her reply.

“You don’t have to be. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. And never think that I could be happy without you in my life.” He said before placing a lingering kiss on her lips.

“I can’t believe that it was fucking Johnny Christ who got you to listen to us!” Brian said, manoeuvring around Eloise so that he was stood behind her, his arms wrapped securely around her waist, his chin on her shoulder.

“All in a day’s work!” Johnny said smugly.

“Well, thanks dude.” Brian replied with a broad smile.

“Happy New Year baby.” He whispered kissing her cheek.