The Love of My Life

Brian was very surprised to see Zacky’s name flash on the screen of his currently ringing phone, especially since Zacky had been at his house for the past few hours. Although he hadn’t seen him for a while. Strange…

”Hey dude, where-”

”Bri, that crazy bitch you call your girlfriend has crossed the fuckin line.”

Brian looked around the backyard, watching all his friends have a good time. All his friends except for one; the one that was currently calling his girlfriend a crazy bitch. He looked around once more, settling his gaze on her. She was sitting by herself, talking on the phone, drinking a glass of wine and with a look on her face that Brian knew wasn’t good.

He sighed. ”What did she do?”

Zacky paced around his living room. ”She fucking attacked Mia!”

”What?” Brian replied, not sure he had heard him right.

”Yeah, she just happened to be waiting for Mia outside the bathroom and then proceeded to tell her that she was pretty much nothing but a gold digger and that she should enjoy this while it lasts because I’m going to leave her and go back to Gena.”

”Oh, fuck…” Brian rubbed his face with his free hand.

”And that’s not even the worst part. She insulted her clothes! That’s so fucking uncalled for, Bri. Mia didn’t do shit to her. You know her, she’s like the sweetest girl ever. She didn’t deserve that.”

”Of course she didn’t! Mia is great and Michelle is… well, she’s Michelle.”

There was silence on both ends. Zacky was filled with rage but knew that taking it out on Brian wasn’t the right thing because he wasn’t the one who had done something wrong. Brian too, felt angry, but more than that, he felt tired. He was tired of dealing with this. He wasn’t sure when exactly his relationship with Michelle had changed, but right now, it was obvious that it had.

”Is she okay?” he asked after a while.

”Well, she obviously doesn’t want to work for you anymore.”

”She- No, of course not. I completely understand. Look, I’ll come over and apologize for all of this tomorrow, if that’s okay with you. I think that right now, it’s time for me to finally have the conversation that I’ve been avoiding for months.”

”Yeah, sure. Good luck, dude. See you tomorrow,” Zacky responded before they ended the call.

Brian wasn’t sure what he was going to do now. He needed to talk to Michelle, he knew that. He just had no idea what to say, nor did he know how he wanted that particular conversation to go. As he looked at her, he saw so much of the woman he fell in love with. At the same time, he saw someone he didn’t recognize. That was a person who had just been cruel to someone who had done absolutely nothing to deserve it. He didn’t love that part of Michelle, he loved the old Michelle. The one who would light up a room with nothing but her presence and who had the most infectious laughter. The one who was kind to everyone and who always put other people before herself. Now he saw someone else when he looked at her, but every now and then, the old Michelle would turn up again and he wasn’t sure if he was ready to let that part of her go. That was the part that he loved and had loved for years now.

”Are you okay?” Matt asked, having seen the troubled look on his best friend’s face and knowing right away that something had happened. Probably something concerning Mia and Michelle, judging by how Mia and Zacky had disappeared and Michelle was currently looking all too pleased with herself.

”I don’t know. Zacky called. Apparently Michelle said some pretty shitty things to Mia which made her take off. Now she doesn’t want to work for House of Syn anymore, Zacky is fucking pissed and it’s all just… Fuck, I don’t know what to do.” He looked at Matt. ”What do I do, man?”

”That’s a tough one. Is Mia okay?” Brian nodded in response. ”That’s good. You should probably start off by talking to miss Boozy over there.” Matt put his hand on Brian’s shoulder. ”Look, as much as I wish I could help you, I can’t tell you what to do. Your relationship hasn’t been the best for a while. Maybe you two should take a break?”

”Yeah, maybe. I just don’t know where we went wrong, you know. We used to be so fucking happy and now it’s just constant fighting and-”

”And cheating,” Matt added. Brian gave him a look. ”I’m not trying to judge you, but the cheating doesn’t help, Bri. Do you think she trusts you after everything she knows? And that’s probably not even half of everything you’ve done. Did you ever think that maybe the reason for why she’s changed, why she’s angrier and why she drinks more, is because she thinks that you’ve already checked out of your relationship?”

”So you think that this is all my fault?”

Matt shook his head. ”No, but do I think that both of you have some fault in what’s happened between the two of you? Yes. I know you’ve avoided it until now, but don’t you think it’s time for you to just talk to her?”

The guys looked at Michelle who had been joined by her twin.

”I guess you’re right. Damn… Why didn’t I end up with the drama free one instead?” Brian said, a smirk on his lips at the last part.

Matt hit him on the back of his head. ”Don’t even think about thinking about Val that way. Now go, talk to Michelle and who knows, maybe you can work it out without any bloodshed.”

”Such a funny guy,” Brian muttered as he walked over to the girls. ”Hey Val, think I could talk to your sis for a minute?”

”Of course, Bri.” Val didn’t mind at all, not when she saw Matt with a worried look on his face which meant that there was obviously something he needed to tell her. Unfortunately, Val had a feeling that she knew exactly who it all concerned. She gave Michelle a look as she walked inside with Brian.

”What’s wrong, babe?” Michelle asked as she followed Brian, who wanted to have this conversation away from everyone else, into the kitchen.

He leaned against the kitchen counter and gave her a hard look. ”You tell me.”

”I would if I knew, but I obviously don’t since I just asked you.” She glared at him.

”Seriously, stop it. I know what you said to Mia and it was a fucked up thing to do.”

She rolled her eyes in response. ”Why am I not surprised that you are upset about some other girl being upset… It’s always the same bullshit with you. Do you even care about me? How I’m doing? What she might have said to me first to make me go off on her?”

”She didn’t say anything to you. I know her and she wouldn’t do that.”

”You know her? You know her, Bri?! Has it even been a month since she somehow happened to find her way backstage and onto Zacky’s lap and into his home? Huh? You don’t know shit about her.”

”I know that she’s a good person. Like you used to be. Remember that, Michelle? When you were the kind of person who would never say anything bad to anyone?”

It didn’t take long for him to feel the sting of a hand being slapped across his right cheek. There were tears in her eyes when she started speaking. ”Don’t you dare. You did this to me. You turned me into this. Do you think I enjoy being miserable? Do you think I want to feel like I need to drink in order to deal with the fact that you’re probably out there fucking some new girl every day? Do you think this is what I wanted out of my life? What I wanted for us? Don’t you dare, Brian…”

She turned to walk away from him, but he grabbed her arm, pulling her close.

”I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, baby…” He had been so mad at her, so angry because of the person she had become. It hadn’t dawned on him how much of that had been his fault. That’s not to say that he felt like he should take all the blame, obviously there were two people with issues here, but he couldn’t help but feel that perhaps there wouldn’t have been any at all if he hadn’t started fucking up. And fucking around.

What she had done to Mia wasn’t right, but neither was everything that he had done during the past year.

”I’ll apologize to her, okay? And- and I’ll try to be different, better, like I used to be.” Michelle looked up at him, hoping that they could still make things better; hoping that it wasn’t too late for the two of them. About two years into their relationship, Brian had started changing. That was also the time that he had first cheated on her, as far as she knew. She forgave him back then, and several times after that, because she wasn’t ready to give up on the guy that she had been in love with since she was a teenager. She didn’t love every part of the Brian that she knew now, but she did love every part of the Brian that he used to be. Her hope was that maybe they could both try to go back and be more like their old selves.

Brian hesitated. He didn’t know how he should respond. He appreciated her saying what she did, he just wasn’t sure if it was possible for either of them to become what they once were. Maybe too much had happened, but maybe there was still a chance that they could start loving each other like they used to. ”We could give it a shot. But we need to change things, both of us. I’m sorry for everything I’ve done to you, for the cheating, for not being around enough, for… treating you so badly.”

”I’m sorry too, Brian. For the drinking and for being so angry and for, well, for treating you so badly.”

He kissed her forehead and smiled down at her. ”I guess we both have things to be sorry for, huh? I still love you, you know. Despite everything that has happened, that has to count for something.”

”It does. I still love you too. So much. So, are we okay?” she questioned, hoping with everything in her that his answer would be a positive one.

”We are, at least for now. We just need to talk to Mia. She was really upset tonight.”

”Yeah… I don’t know why I went off on her like that. I mean, I guess I kind of do…” Instead of meeting his gaze, she looked down at the floor.

He put his fingers under her chin, lifting her head up so that he could look her in the eye. ”Why?”

”Because of the way she met Zacky. She met him backstage at one of your shows, not unlike how you’ve probably met most of the girls you’ve… you know,” her voice got lower, ”cheated on me with.”

He pulled her closer to him. ”I’m sorry. But if you tell her that, I’m sure she’ll have no trouble forgetting what happened tonight. She’ll understand why you acted that way, I’m sure of it.”

”Yeah, maybe. I doubt we’ll be friends though. What a horrible first impression to make.” She got quiet before she spoke again, this time with a very serious tone of voice. ”Bri, can you promise me something?”

”Yeah.”

”Can you just… just promise me that you won’t cheat on me again? Promise? I don’t think I can forgive it one more time.”

”Promise. Want to get back out to the party?”

She nodded and smiled. ”It’s our party after all. They probably think that we disappeared to have sex.”

He smiled. ”Yeah, probably.” He watched her walk back outside and knew that it wasn’t what people would have been thinking at all. If anything, they were more likely to expect a break-up taking place inside. At least the guys who all knew how things had been between the couple lately.

If he was completely honest, he wasn’t sure how things would go from here. He wasn’t sure if he had already broken his promise not to cheat by not confessing about his latest mistake. The one that had been unlike his usual hook-ups because this time he had actually spent several days with the girl in question and he hadn’t been wasted for any of it. Part of him felt like he should confess so that they could start off with a clean slate. Another part of him heard her warning of not being able to forgive more cheating loud and clear and wasn’t willing to risk it. And so, he decided to keep quiet. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time.

***

After Zacky ended his call with Brian, he was still upset. Actually, upset was one of the nicer ways to put it. He was fucking pissed off. Who the hell did Michelle think she was? She had no right, absolutely no right at all, to talk to Mia that way. And even less so did she have any right to ruin his life. If Mia had decided to go back to San Francisco after this disaster, previously known as a barbecue, he would never have forgiven Michelle. He wasn’t even sure if he would be able to forgive her for this. She could be miserable with her life all she wanted, but that was no reason to bring someone else down.

In his opinion, one of the reasons as to why Brian was still together with her was because breaking up would eventually create some kind of conflict with Matt and Val. Well, he was going to find out that not breaking up with Michelle would create conflict right now and that was going to be between him and Zacky. There was no way the group could all hang out after this because he would not put Mia through having to deal with Michelle again. No way. Zacky considered himself lucky to have managed to find her in the first place and he was going to do everything he could to make sure that she stayed here with him.

He walked back upstairs and into his bedroom, expecting to find a sleeping girlfriend. Instead he found her sitting on his bed, no longer crying, but still looking pretty upset.

”Hey…” he said quietly as he sat down so that he was facing her.

She gave him a sad smile. ”Who did you call?”

”Huh? I didn’t-”

Now her smile seemed more genuine. ”Yeah, I think you did. Brian? Matt?”

He nodded. ”Brian. Had to give him a piece of my mind and I did, you better believe that I told him exactly how I feel about… her.”

”Thank you, but I don’t want this to create any problems between you guys, okay? This is my issue, not yours. I don’t want to be responsible for ruining the band or anything. I’ll deal with it. I’ll just not see her; that can’t be too hard, can it?”

”You aren’t responsible for anything, she is. And no, you definitely won’t have to see her, I’ll make sure of that.”

She leaned forward and gave him a hug. ”You are the best, you know that? I’m so happy that I met you.”

He squeezed her tightly before he pulled away a bit so that he could give her a kiss. ”Right back at you,” he said, happy to see her looking a lot more relaxed than she had just a minute ago. ”It’s still pretty early, do you want to watch a movie or something?”

She leaned back against the headboard. ”Only if we can do it without me having to leave this bed.”

”Babe, as far as I’m concerned, we can stay in this bed forever.” She laughed at that and every part of him rejoiced. He never wanted her to be anything but happy.

”Well, show me what you’ve got.” As he raised his eyebrows, she shook her head and added, ”In the movie department. What movies have you got?”

He knew she hadn’t meant it the way it sounded, but he couldn’t help but tease her a bit. He loved these little comments that were thrown back and forth and he loved the fact that she was the one he was doing it with. ”You name one and I’ll find it.”

”Hm… How about Pulp Fiction?” she suggested. ”Old school, but it never goes out of style.”

”Good choice,” he replied as he got out of bed to get the movie.

She looked at him and couldn’t remember a time when she had felt happier. Despite everything that had taken place that day, she was happy right now.

”Hey Zacky,” she said just as he was about to leave the room. He turned around to look at her. ”I don’t think I could have left even if I had wanted to. I can’t just walk out on a guy that I think I’m falling in love with.”

Zacky’s face broke into a wide grin, matching the one on hers. He couldn’t remember a time when he had felt happier than he did right now.