Diamonds in the Rough

“Come on,” He urged into the phone, pacing back and forth in his living room, “Come on, come on come on!”

He had figured out from Valary and Matt that Jasey had flown out to Maryland. First thing on his mind when he heard that was that she had run out there to be with Jack, but Brian couldn’t picture Jasey dating someone who had the maturity level of a stuffed dinosaur.

He knew that Jack liked Jasey and that she had a thing for him, because Jasey would always run over to their merch tent on warped tour and spend a good hour or two just having a good time with the band.

Jealously burned in Brian’s eyes as he remembered that.

“Hey, you’ve reached Jasey Rae, the official babysitter for Avenged Sevenfold. I can’t get to the phone right now, so leave me a message and when I find a quiet place, I’ll call you back!”

He let out a frustrated and heavy breath.

“Please leave you message after the tone,” The prerecorded voice instructed.

She glanced down at her phone again and saw that the call had ended. She put her phone back into her hoodie pocket and stood up from the swing.

“Thanks for trying to help,” She whispered out loud and started walking back to Alex’s house.

She was just turning the corner when she felt her phone vibrate again in her pocket. She pulled it out and looked at the screen and brightly displayed: One New Voicemail!

She closed out of the little window and shoved it back in her pocket.

“Damnit,” He cursed under his breath, putting his phone down on the coffee table. He sat down on the couch and jamming his elbows on his thighs and resting his forehead in the palm of his hands.

He thought that maybe giving her a few days to cool off and calm down in Maryland would be good for her, just so she could come to her senses a little more.

For all he knew now, she was off messing around with Jack and getting over his sorry ass. Something that would be quite possible in Jasey’s case.

After he heard her message she left a couple days ago, he had become a little more paranoid about losing her. He remembered feeling like this before when he was with Michelle. But he wasn’t paranoid about her leaving him. He was paranoid about Jasey finding someone else while he was with Michelle.

Both Zacky and Johnny had tried to help Brian cope when Jasey started going out with a man named Nathan, but there wasn’t a moment that passed where Brian didn’t want to beat the shit out of him.

Nathan was your stereo-typical California beach boy. He had the tanned skin and the sun kissed blonde hair. He had the blue eyes that reminded you of the ocean and had the voice that could make you swoon so easily. He loved to surf and he loved to drive a fast car.

The first time Jasey had brought Nathan over to introduce him to everyone, he and Brian almost got into a full on fist fight. After that, Jasey thought it would be best not to bring Nathan around anymore.

That relationship continued its course for five months, before Jasey realized that Nathan was never going to replace Brian.

She rang the bell to Alex’s house and waited for it to be answered. She saw Lisa make her way to the door and watched her swing it open.

“I was going to call the cops if you didn’t come home soon!” She said in a very motherly tone. Jasey shrugged and stepped inside the house, heading straight for the guest bed room without saying another word to anyone.

She flopped down on the bed on her back, staring up at the ceiling for a little while. A heavy sigh escaped past her lips before she closed her eyes and just laid there in silence.

Brian checked the time on the clock on the stove, refusing to even touch his phone. He gave up and decided to stretch out on the couch. He let out a sigh and allowed his eye lids to shut.

“Jasey?”

She picked her head up from the bed and saw Jack standing in the doorway.

“Feel better after your run?” He smiled, making his way over to her and sitting down beside her on the edge of the bed.

“I’m really sorry about that,” She apologized with her cheeks turning a little pink, hoping he wouldn’t notice in the darkness of the room.

“Out of all the reactions I’ve gotten from kissing a girl, yours was definitely the weirdest,” He remarked.

“I wasn’t planning on doing that!” She defended.
“Neither was I,” He shrugged, turning his head to look at her, “I thought the moment was right.”

“It was right,” She agreed, rolling her head over to look at him as well.

A comfortable silence fell between them as he stared at her lips, subconsciously wetting his own. Without even realizing it, she mimicked his actions. Before she knew it, his lips were being connected to hers once again.

Just like before, her mind was else where. Jack’s kiss was nothing nearly compared to Brian’s but with the way her mind had been thinking lately, she swore she was kissing him.

She allowed herself to get so lost in her own imagination, that when she finally came to her senses, she pulled away in a panic.

He looked confused at her.

“Jack… I’m so sorry.”

He facial expression softened and he touched her cheek with the back of his palm, “It’s okay Jasey. We haven’t done that in a while. I understand.”

She shook her head and bit her lip, “It’s not that.”

He gave her another puzzled look.

She drew in a deep breath and prepared herself for what she was about to tell him, “I really do like you Jack, but …… my heart’s been stolen by someone else.”

He looked at her dumbfounded.

“Oh.”

He didn’t say another word, but instead stood up from the bed and headed out of her room, quietly shutting the door behind him.