Rum and Coke

Brian looked down at his phone, shock and confusion smeared across his face. He was leaning up against the brick wall of the venue. He watched as the light dimmed on his cell phone screen. How could one little piece of technology change my life forever? In fact, how can one conversation lead to this end? he asked himself. Brian clenched his jaw and stormed around backstage, looking for the platinum blonde that deceived him.

“Hey, Uncle Brian, can you-”

“Shut the hell up, Kaylee,” He growled at her, making her physically jump. “Now where the hell is your mother?”

“I-I don’t know…”

Brian growled again before storming inside, slamming doors in my wake. He found her and Matt in a dark room that was almost impossible to get to. She was straddling his waist and making out with him. Brian sneered in disgust before wrenching her off of him and shoving him out of the room before locking it. Matt began pounding on the door and shouted obscenities at the guitarist. Brian turned back to face Val, ignoring the lead singer. There was a slight tinge of fear in Val’s eyes before she set her jaw and blanked her face.

“What the hell, Brian?”

“No, that’s what I should be asking you.”

She rolled her eyes at him and crossed her arms before leaning back against the wall. “I did you two a favor.”

“A favor?! Valary, seriously, that was a favor?” Brian wasn’t ready to let go of his anger…not yet. It was the only thing keeping him from completely falling apart.

Her face softened and she uncrossed her arms. She walked toward him with a look of pity. Somehow, she wound her arms around his shoulders and pulled him close. Brian refused to relax in her grip. He refused to give up my anger.

Growling, he threw her off of him. “No, Valary. No.”

“Brian-”

“Who the hell are you? Who the hell are you to put that thought in her head?!”

“I didn’t, Bri-”

“Bull fucking shit!”

Matt’s shouts outside the door became louder.

Brian growled and banged the door, causing him to shut up for a bit. “How the fucking hell is divorce fixing my marriage?! Valary, you said that you would help me!” He shouted. “You promised,” he added in a barely audible voice that he didn’t even recognize.

She ran her hands up and down his arms in a soothing manner before he engulfed her in a hug. Her arms went immediately to his back, where she began rubbing them up and down his spine in a soothing manner. “Bri, don’t think of it like that. Think of it more like…I’m saving your marriage before it gets any worse. You know, like cutting off an infected limb or something? Damn, that didn’t come out like I meant it…What I’m trying to say is, that I’m saving your marriage by saving the both of you before you two destroy each other. As much as you two want this to work out- hell, as much as all of us want you two to work out- you can’t…You guys can’t because you are not meant to be together.” She pulled out of his arms and smiled at me. “Have you talked to Bri about this?”

“Not about the divorce. He called earlier, telling me that Mich was driving him insane so he was going to Jimmy’s house to hang with David. I think Alex and Christian are going to be there, too, but I don’t know.”

“Poor Leana.”

Brian nodded his head. “Yea. Hey, did you ever mention Danni in your talk with Mich?”

Val tensed up and looked around. “No. Why?”

Brian shrugged his shoulders. “She mentioned something about me calling Danni to say that she’s giving up and that Danni can finally have what she deserves.”

“Oh.”

“Yea…” his face instantly became excited. “I’m going to meet her- for those few days off in New York that we have. Ellie said that she was going to work something out. Isn’t that great?! We can all hang out like we used to! This is going to be so fun.”

Val smiled and patted his arm. “Well, that’s my husband trying to beat down the door and I think we should get to him before he kills himself, don’t you agree?”

Brian had completely forgotten about him. He smirked and pulled her against his body. “I say we forget about him and go back to Vegas. We can get married by Elvis. I know how much you lovethat,” He said with a big smile.

She laughed at him and slapped him across the chest. “As tempting as that sounds, I can’t hurt him like that,” she replied, mirroring her soon to be ex-brother-in-law’s smile as she opened the door. Matt instantly held her close as he inspected her.

Did he think that I would hurt her? She’s practically my sister! Brian thought, enraged.
“Ok, Caveman, me fine.” She giggled. “Brian, think about it.” She winked before dragging her husband away.

Brian sighed and leaned against the door frame.

“Brian, I’m already interviewing for my replacement at SynGates and I’m looking for an apartment. By the time you come home, I’ll already be gone.”

“And Bri?”

“I’ll talk to him and he can decide who he wants to go with.”

“Great, he already hates me enough…”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell him that we came to a mutual agreement…and, well, it’s the only way that we can stop fighting.”

“Are you sure you want to do this? I’m willing to give us another chance.”

“As much as I’d love that, I think we’ve run out of chances. Listen, I’ll fax the papers to you as soon as we draw them up. You can have the house and everything else.”

“Michelle, we can work through this.”

“No…we can’t. I think it’s time to say goodbye…for good. It’s best if we don’t talk to each other for awhile. Goodbye.”

Brian sighed and hit his head against the frame. “When did things get so bad?” He muttered to himself before walking back into civilization.