Just Say Yes

Erin held the phone tightly to her ear as the phone kept ringing, and as it kept ringing she was feeling more and more defeated. Soon enough she heard Brian's voice but only on his voice mail message telling whoever was calling to leave a message and he'd get back to them. Erin wasn't sure whether she should so she quickly hung up the phone before the beep. Erin was about to get up from her seat when she heard the phone ring loudly. She eagerly picked it up, hoping it was Brian.

“Brian?” She said, trying to sound calm and cool.

“Uh, no.” The male voice said, “It's David.” Erin's stomach dropped, and her smile turned down into a frown. “You and the guy from the bar still talking?” He asked, trying his best to not sound jealous but failing, Erin knew him too well to fall for that.

“Yeah, actually.” Erin was getting slightly annoyed. “Is that why you called?”

Erin had seen David earlier that day. He had come in with a few of his fellow officers but instead of sitting with them at a table in the corner, he had chosen to sit at the counter. She was the one working the counter and didn't have many customers so she didn't mind that he was talking to her the whole time. For a while it was fine, he was asking about Jon and her grandmother, then he told her about his parents, even though she saw them almost twice a week at the grocery store. To Erin it felt like old friends catching up on each others lives, but to David it obviously meant something else. After he had finished eating and she came over to take away his plate, he leaned over the counter and kissed her.

She was completely taken by surprise, she put her hands on his chest and pushed him away almost immediately. She didn't really say much to him, she handed him the bill and made herself busy until he decided to leave. Erin didn't know what to say or do, she didn't want to get involved with David again. The feelings she once had for him had diminished the second she found him with her best friend all those years ago.

David sighed. “No,” He paused, he was so quiet she thought he might have hung up not knowing what to say. “Erin I liked being with you today.”

“David...” Erin struggled to find the words she needed to say.

“I miss you. I'm sorry about everything. I am. You don't know many sleepless nights I had thinking of how I screwed up the best thing that ever happened to me.” He pleaded, but Erin wasn't falling for it. She could feel the anger inside her building, ready to explode any minute.

“It only took you five years to apologize.” She snapped, why did he have to reappear just as soon as she was finally getting things back on track. He just had to come back and bring back all that hurt she felt way back then. “You have no idea how much you hurt me, David and how long that screwed me up for. I can't talk to you right now.” She finished then promptly hung up the phone, not even letting him get a word in.

She dropped the phone softly onto the table, and she could feel the anger in the pit of her stomach and tears sting her eyes. She tried to blink the tears away and take deep breaths to calm her body down. Just as she was feeling somewhat better the phone rang again, she cursed under her breath and picked it up angrily.

“David, I don't want to talk to you!” She practically yelled into the phone, after that all she heard was silence until there was laughter coming from the other end.

“So I'm not the only one with ex problems today.” Brian said, laughing again. Erin sighed, her anger almost completely diminishing and being replaced with a different feeling in the pit of her stomach. Erin rubbed her forehead with her free hand.

“I should really stop doing that.” She answered somewhat embarrassed that he had to hear her yelling at him because she thought he was her idiot ex-boyfriend.

“Doing what?” He inquired.

“Answering the phone like I know who it is. I never get it right.” She laughed at herself. “Sorry.”

“It's okay, if you've had as bad of a day as I did, which from the way you were yelling into the phone,” Erin sunk lower into her seat, embarrassed but a smile still on her face. “I'm assuming you did, then I understand completely.”

“What happened?” She asked, curiously. She heard Brian sigh heavily.

“Michelle had to pick up some of her stuff that she had left here.” He explained, trying not to get worked up too much, he didn't want Erin to see that side of him. “Saying she was a bitch would be putting it nicely.”

“Oh, that sucks.”

“What about you? What happened?” He asked, concerned, she sounded really angry when she answered the phone. He had hoped that big jackass that had obviously hurt her in the past wasn't trying anything, the thought of that made Brian angry, and a little jealous.

“David just doesn't understand that I don't wanna get back together.” Erin explained but wasn't sure if she should tell Brian that David had kissed her earlier. It might make things weird, and she didn't want that. “I hope he gets it now.”

Brian laughed, “He doesn't seem like the brightest. You might have to give him an earful like you gave me.” He teased, and luckily he heard her laugh.

“I said I was sorry about that.” She protested.

“I don't think I'll be able to hear out of this ear for about a week thanks to you.” He continued on dramatically while she giggled and rolled her eyes even though he couldn't see her.

“Alright, alright. I get it.” She smiled to herself, amazed at how easily Brian made her forget about all her problems and worries. Usually it took her grandma, Jon, Lisa and maybe even a pep talk call from her dad in Oregon to get her to forget about whatever was bothering her. However this time, all it took was Brian to make her feel better. She was grateful for that.

“I'm sorry it took me a bit to call back.” He really felt bad that he didn't call earlier, he wanted to call her as soon as he got home on Sunday night but he figured that would've looked too eager on his part. He had planned to call on Monday but the guys had wanted to get a practice in before an interview, which was too early for his liking. Then later on in the afternoon after a late lunch they had a meeting about an upcoming tour that lasted way too long. By the time he got home he was completely exhausted and he wasn't sure if she had an early shift the next morning so he didn't want to disturb her if she were already sleeping.

“It's okay, I'm sorry I wasn't here when you did.”

“It's fine! You're grandma and I had an awesome conversation. She's fucking hilarious.” Brian informed her excitedly, they didn't really talk about anything too important. They just got to know each other a bit and she had asked him when he was coming to see Erin again to which he wasn't sure.

Erin laughed then bit her lip. “Do I even wanna know?” She asked, holding her breath expecting Brian to tell her about some crazily inappropriate story her grandma had probably shared with him.

“It was good, she just got to know me a bit.” He said honestly remembering back to her asking him his birthday, about his family, where he lived and his whole childhood. “I can see where you got your curiosity from.” They both laughed. “So what are you doing?”

“Talking to you?” Erin wasn't sure what else he thought she would be doing while on the phone.

“Obviously,” He laughed, she could just picture him with that smug smirk on his face. “other than that though.”

Erin shrugged to herself, “Nothing just sitting in the kitchen by myself. You?”

Brian was walking around his living room, Pinkly chewed on a bone just underneath the coffee table. “Walking around my place. It seems so empty with just me here.”

Erin couldn't help but wonder if he was missing Michelle or just missing someone being there all the time. She hoped it was the latter. “Not used to it?”

“Not yet.” He stood in front of a window that looked out onto the city and beach, he loved Huntington but right now it's not where he wanted to be. “I miss having someone around.”

“You can always call me.” She said without even thinking, she held her breath waiting for his response, hoping he wasn't put off by it.

“I will, you'll get sick of me.” He joked, but really hoped she wouldn't.

“I'll survive.” She assured him, a soft smile gracing her lips.

“Did you hear that Zacky and Lisa are talking? He's always on his phone now.” Brian laughed, remembering back to yesterday when all through out their interviews and tour meetings Zacky was busy texting and not really paying attention to his surroundings. The interviewer had called him out but Brian was there to save him and told Brian later on that he was texting Lisa and planning his next trip to Nevada already.

“Yeah, I heard.” Erin smirked remembering back to Lisa's phone sex comment, she wasn't sure if Lisa was really joking or not. “Is he coming back soon?”

“Apparently.” Brian said, he wasn't sure if this was Erin's way of asking if he was coming back soon or not so he took it upon himself to let her know. “I don't know when I'm coming back. I have some work stuff to do.”

Erin was somewhat disappointed, “Work is important.”

Brian could tell from her tone of voice that she was effected by the fact that he didn't know when he was coming back, but what she didn't know was that he had a plan. “Yeah unfortunately I have some paperwork to do tonight so I better go, but I'll call you tomorrow okay?”

“Sure,” She said trying to sound as perky as possible.

Brian smirked, “Goodnight, Erin.” he said even though it was still only the evening.

“Goodnight, Brian.” She said softly and hung up the phone. Brian did the same, and sat down on the couch which made Pinkly swiftly jump up on the couch, placing herself in his lap.

His thoughts were on Erin, they had been since he left Nevada on Sunday. The only time he wasn't thinking of her was when he was listening to Michelle bitch. He was surprised at how easy Erin was to talk to, and how easily he had forgotten about his bad day when talking to her. He was already counting down the hours til Thursday, it seemed too far away.