Just Say Yes

By the time Saturday rolled around, Brian had gone back home Friday morning for some work related business, but not before stopping in at the diner while she was working to say goodbye. Zacky had decided to stay another two days and was leaving Sunday morning. Erin was now over at Lisa's hanging out with them while Zacky and Ben were making lunch. The girls were outside on Lisa's tiny little balcony that only fit four chairs and a tiny little table and overlooked the one and only park located in Boulder.

Sitting there in her chair, Erin had been thinking a lot since Thursday. She couldn't deny that she was starting to feel something towards Brian, most definietly friendship but whether it would lead to something more or not wasn't her primary concern at the moment. The one thing that was bothering her currently was the fact that Brian still hadn't told her the truth about his profession which is a large part of who he is.

“Lisa, can I ask you something?” Erin squinted her eyes as she looked at her friend, the sun beaming bright that afternoon.

Lisa glanced up from the magazine she was flipping through. “Of course.”

Erin took in a deep breath before speaking. “I think Brian's lying to me about something.”

Lisa perked up at this news, she tossed the magazine to the tiny table in between them. “You think he's lying?”

“Well, he's not exactly lying he's just not telling me the one hundred percent truth cause I know the truth but he doesn't know that I know...”

“...okay. What's it about?”

Erin casually glanced inside making sure was still Zacky busy with Ben in the kitchen and she wasn't in jeopardy of being interrupted. “His job.”

“Wait,” Lisa sat up straighter in her seat. “He didn't tell you about the band?”

“No, did Zack tell you?” Erin perked up, waiting for her answer.

“Yeah, first night we met.”

“What the hell.” Erin cursed under breath, she didn't understand why he wouldn't just tell her already. He couldn't possibly think she was some gold-digger trying to get his money or something. “I can't believe we haven't talked about this yet.”

“Why don't you say something?” Lisa asked her, Erin could feel her stomach twisting into knots, she hated feeling like this but worst of all she hated that another person could make her feel like this.

“Because, obviously there's a reason he's not telling me.” She honestly felt somewhat defeated in the fact that Zacky had told Lisa straight away and Brian had left her in the dark. It made her feel like he was unsure of her and she hated that because she had been nothing but real with him. “He probably thinks I'm some fame whore out to use him for his celebrity status.”

“I highly doubt that.” Lisa reached out to touch Erin's bare knee softly. Before anything else could be said Zack and Ben came out onto the balcony, each of them carrying plates. Zacky had two, and handed one to Lisa, Ben handed one of his plates to Erin with a smile. Erin smiled back, her stomach twisting even more but ignored it for now. She thanked Ben for making her lunch before he went to eat his inside and watch a show, which left Lisa, Erin and Zacky sitting outside in silence.

To be perfectly honest Erin didn't really have an appetite at the moment. She just looked down at the grilled sandwich on her plate, her mind racing.

“So what were you two talking about?” Zacky asked munching on his sandwich eagerly. Lisa shifted in her seat, not sure if Erin wanted her to say anything to Zacky but she really wanted to.

“Just something that's been bothering me.” Erin mumbled, forcing a smile and taking an unwanted bite of her sandwich.

“Alright.” Zacky felt like he should ask if Erin was okay but didn't want to push her in case it was a sensitive subject.

Ten minutes later it was still an awkward silence between the three of them, Lisa and Zacky had finished their lunch and were occasionally glancing at Erin who had taken only a few bites of her sandwich. Lisa then excused herself to check on Ben, but Erin knew Lisa was really leaving so Erin could talk to Zacky about what was on her mind.

“Zacky, can I ask you something?” Erin asked quietly, not sure how she should word what she wanted to say. Zacky smiled and nodded, chewing his food.

“Does Brian really like me? I'm not so sure because he hasn't told me about the band...” Her words trailed off, her mind running out of things to say in the moment.

“Erin, calm down.” Zacky insisted, laughing slightly to which she blushed feeling kind of ridiculous for getting so worked up. “He hasn't told you about the band?” Zacky asked rhetorically, he smirked to himself, then at her. Erin's mind was racing wondering whether that reaction was good or bad. “That's a good thing.” He finished.

Erin couldn't stop the smile from forming on her lips. “Really?”

“Yeah. You can't tell him I'm telling you this, he'll fucking kill me.” Zacky stated seriously to which Erin pretended to zip her mouth shut, then smiled.

“He's been hurt in the past, and I'm not gonna say anymore cause it's his story to tell but I can without a doubt tell you that he really, really does like you. I haven't seen him this way about a girl in a long time. Trust me.” Zacky and Erin both smiled, he stood up and held out his hand for her to take and she did. As soon as she was on her feet she hugged Zacky and thanked him for talking to her. Although she didn't get her full answer, she got confirmation that Brian did like her and that was enough for now. The two of them headed back inside, plates in hand.

“I think I should go. I promised Jon I'd watch the hockey game with him tonight.” Erin said seeing Lisa already busy at the sink, washing dishes.

“Call me later?” Lisa said, her eyes begging Erin to, to which Erin simply nodded with a smile then hurried home.

- - - - - - - - -

Later that night, Erin was stuck on her couch, with Jon watching television. She couldn’t help but wonder how Jon, a seventeen year old guy didn't have plans or a party to go to on a Saturday night but instead spent it sitting on the couch watching hockey with his sister. Now that she thought about it, it was kind of troublesome that she, a twenty-three year old who lived a half hour outside of Vegas was the one sitting at home on a Saturday night...

Though spending time with Jon always helped her keep her mind off the things that were bothering her, so her spirits and somewhat lifted but every now and then she'd think about it.

“Are you thinking about how pathetic it is that neither of us have plans tonight?” Jon asked, looking away from the television as the game had taken a commercial break. Erin smiled, her brother knew her too well.

“Pathetic is so harsh, Jon.” Jon rolled his eyes, and Erin just continued to smirk. “I was thinking more along the lines of melancholy.”

Jon looked at her oddly as if she had used a word that confused him. “Who even says melancholy anymore? You sound like Grandma.” He laughed, Erin gasped and stretched across the couch to slap her brother playfully on the arm in mostly mock offense. Jon didn't flinch, he just continued laughing.

“Rude.” She pouted, looking back to the television as the referee was about to drop the puck at the face off and resume play again.

“Okay, granny.” He mumbled as the puck was dropped and the voices of the announcers filled the room. They continued watching in silence until the first intermission when Erin felt the need to get up from the comfortable pillows beneath her and slowly make her way to the kitchen. She wondered for a few minutes, opening random cupboards and looking through every few drawers mainly due to boredom, a little bit of curiosity.

After searching through every cupboard and drawer in the kitchen she then took on the task of the refrigerator to which she had found an unopened bottle of coke and placed it on the kitchen counter. She then opened the freezer, moved a few things around until she spotted the large glass bottle of vodka that was waiting to be ingested, she pulled out the ice cube tray as well and began making herself a drink. After feeling the way she felt, she definitely needed one.

“You can make one for me too granny.” Erin almost had a heart attack and dropped the glass had pulled out of the cupboard for herself as Jon had creeped up on her out of no where. She could hear him chuckling to himself.

“You don't need a drink.” Erin said ignoring him and continued to make her drink. Before she knew it, Jon was standing beside her, basically hovering and waiting for her to give in and let him have some.

“Come on, Erin. We need something to liven this night up. What's better than hockey and alcohol?” He finished with a large grin on his face, Erin heavily sighed and pulled out another glass from the cupboard, and Jon smiled proudly to himself.

“We're only having one.” She said seriously, pouring one shot each into the glasses and Jon threw in three ice cubes into each cup.

By the end of the hockey game, their team was winning and they were a good four drinks in. Erin hadn't planned to have more than just one drink but somehow her cunning little brother had talked her into it and she stupidly let him make the third and fourth round of drinks. She was pretty sure he made both rounds doubles, and now she was sitting on the couch with her seventeen year old brother laughing for no apparent reason.

Her head was slightly fuzzy, she couldn't walk completely straight, and she was slightly sleepy. Her eyelids felt like they could close any minute and not open for a long, long time but before she got the chance to see if that were true, the phone rung loudly through out the house. She knew she was better off answering the phone, she could hide her slight tipsy-ness better than Jon could, especially if it were her grandma calling.

Erin pushed herself up from the couch as Jon was eagerly searching through the TV channels for something to watch. She picked up the phone, then cleared her throat before pressing 'talk'

“Hello?” She said cheerily, trying to sound semi-normal.

“Hey.” A deep voice said from the other end, Erin could feel her stomach flutter and then drop. It was Brian, of course he would call her after she had been drinking and was slightly mad at him. If he were to ask she would tell him her and Lisa had gone out to the bar for some drinks after dinner. There was no way she was going to tell him that she polished off a bottle of vodka with her underage little brother... “Erin, you there?”

Erin realized she hadn't said anything since answering the phone as her mind was racing. “Oh, yeah.” She laughed uncomfortably and ran a hand through her hair. She was so glad this was over the phone and not in person, she'd be a total give away otherwise. “Sorry, just...I don't know actually.”

“You sound...different.” He smiled, noticing she seemed a little more out there than usual with a little bit of an edge. She softly laughed then realized that might have given herself away, she cleared her throat and tried to sound semi-serious.

“How so?” She questioned, as she paced across the kitchen and twirled a piece of hair with her left index finger.

“I don't know, I can't put it into words but you sound different.” There was a pause on the line for a moment and Erin was so busy pacing around the kitchen and talking to Brian that she didn't watch where she was going. It all happened really fast, one second she was pacing the kitchen with the phone to her ear the next she crashed loudly into one of the chairs which caused a loud noise from the legs of the chair sliding against the old tile flooring. She stumbled slightly but caught herself from falling by reaching for the table, however she didn't get away without an injury. There was a large throbbing red bump on her right shin, a bruise slowly forming and would definitely be purple by tomorrow. She hissed slightly, trying not to make a big deal of it and sat down on the said chair. “Are you alright?” Brian asked seeming very worried at the moment.

“Yeah, just stubbed my toe.” She lied, hoping he didn't question it. “Totally fine though.”

“If you say so,” He laughed, then sighed heavily. “How was your day?” He hoped she had a better one that he did, he had run into Michelle while visiting Matt and needless to say it was a tiny bit awkward.

“How was my day?” She questioned a little surprised and thought about earlier with Lisa and Zacky and he had told her Brian really liked her. A smile formed on her lips instantly.

“Yeah, come on. I'm trying to be formal here.”

“What do you really want to ask me?” She said somewhat seductively. Erin wasn't sure where exactly she was going with this but she had alcohol in her system and she was trying to avoid the question at hand. She was almost positive if she actually told him about her day she'd let it slip about her talk with Zacky and she had made a promise not to.

“I genuinely want to know how your day was. Honest.”

“Somehow I don't fully believe that. Just so you know, I've been drinking vodka so I probably won't remember what you ask me anyway.” She was basically asking him to say something sexual.

“That's tempting.” He bit his tongue on giving into what she was trying to get him to do, he wasn't going to do anything along those lines when she was drunk and on the phone.

“How tempting?” She asked softly, she didn't know what was coming over her but she couldn't seem to control herself or bring herself to end to the conversation for her own well being. He was trying to be good but she was making it increasingly difficult.

“You're entertaining when drunk.” He literally had to bit on his fist to stop himself from saying anything further.

“Not drunk really, just tipsy.” She assured but it didn't make Brian feel any better, he knew even if she was the drunkest she'd ever been in her life she wouldn't admit to it.

“Alright, if you say so.” Brian settled himself down on his couch, waiting for Erin to say something and hoped it wouldn't be anything outrageous.

“So what are you doing home alone on a Saturday night?”

He breathed a sigh of relief before answering. “I could ask you the same.”

“Yeah but I live in a small town, you live in California I'm sure there’s a million things you could be doing right now.” She had a point but he'd rather sit on his couch and talk to her.

“Not much fun to do most of them by yourself.” He answered somewhat defeatedly, looking around his empty living room. He really wished that she didn't live over 4 hours away or else he would definitely have something to do.

“Well I was hanging out with my little brother watching hockey and drinking vodka. Never letting him make the drinks again...” This is why she should've hung up the phone a long time ago cause she just made herself seem completely ridiculous.

“I was playing with my dog. You win. So you're brother got you drunk?” He asked with a soft chuckle, he already liked this kid with being a musician and playing the drums and now he got his sister drunk for the hell of it. He really wanted to meet him.

“I think so, he's probably trying to build up his tolerance cause his prom is in two weeks.”

“Ugh, prom?” He scoffed, thinking back the time of dressing up in a suit and taking some girl with a really expensive overly poofy dress he didn't really want to take in the first place and being forced to dance. Not exactly his favorite memory. “Dumbest tradition ever.”

Erin caught the distaste in his voice. “Did you get stood up or something?”

“Nah, I got the head cheerleader in my backseat but it's just dumb and costs too much money for a night you probably won't remember anyway.” He shrugged, he remembered meeting up with Jimmy and Matt in the boys bathroom and getting hammered, it made the night bareable.

“I never went to mine, I wouldn't know.” Her mind wandered for a second to her prom dress that was still sitting in her closet after all these years, she just didn't have the heart to throw it away without it ever being worn.

“Why didn't you go?” It was weird to hear that a girl didn't go to her prom, they usually lived for that kind of stuff.

“Cause my boyfriend fucked my best friend, it was kind of a mood killer plus I didn't want to be whispered about so I stayed home.”

“Did I just hear you say fuck?” He pondered, he was pretty sure this was the first time he's heard her swear before and he liked it.

“Yes, fuck, fuck, fuck. I can swear you know.”

“Obviously but only when drunk.”

“Hey! I'm not drunk!” She half yelled, half pleaded him to believe her. He softly chuckled then sighed.

“I think you should go to bed, and I'm going to do the same.” He said, glancing at the clock on his wall which told it was getting late and he had an early morning tomorrow. He wished her goodnight and she did the same. She hung up the phone and put it back on the charger and left the kitchen. Erin couldn't wipe the smile from her lips as she walked up stairs to her room and got under her blankets. The last thing on her mind before she drifted off to sleep? What Brian really wanted to ask her on the phone and if it had anything to do with what she had been stressing over earlier in the day.