Just Say Yes

Later that evening Brian sat on his couch playing around on his guitar, preparing himself for the short tour him and the guys would be leaving for in a few days. They hadn't played a show in a while so he was excited to get back on the road and see the fans. Jimmy had since come and gone, the drummer had spent hours in the living room after his confession, retuning all of the guitars to Brian's high standards. Brian eventually felt bad for his friend who was nursing a slight hangover and was still sore from his shoulder blade forcefully meeting the hardwood floor, so he let him go home.

However, Jimmy didn't hesitate to remind him to call Erin and talk things out with her before he made his exit. Brian insisted that he would and shut the door on his friend before he had been able to get another word in.

Brian was halfway through playing 'Beast and The Harlot' when he noticed his phone vibrating on the coffee table in front of him. He let his fingers relax as he went to grab the phone, when he saw the name on the call display he smiled and pressed the green button.

“I was thinking about calling you.” He moved his guitar from his lap and placed it gently back on it its stand.

“Hello to you too.” She laughed, “what are you up to?”

“I was just practicing a song on my guitar.” He answered honestly, wishing he could've seen her reaction when he had said that. “And yeah, I play guitar.” He laughed, fully expecting her to play along and pretend that she had no idea.

“Are you any good?” He just pictured her looking at him with that all too familiar curious look in her blue eyes.

“I don't know, you tell me.” He said flatly, deliberately excluding any and all emotion just to see her reaction. He hadn't intended to come off harsh or angry but given her silence he could only assume that's what was going through her mind at the moment. If she had been in front of him she could've seen him smirk all the while saying it, doing it over the phone however neither one of them had that luxury.

He cleared his throat. “There's something I need to tell you.” He tried to sound a less emotionless this time.

“Alright.”

“Fuck, I wish I could do this in person.” He snapped in frustration and rubbed the back of his neck while he paced his living room.

“Brian you're scaring me...” He could hear the uneasy tone in her voice, and he mentally kicked himself for making her think he was mad at her.

“Sorry, I'm not trying to.” He apologized quickly. “I just wanted to tell you that the other night when Jimmy and I were hanging out, he got kinda drunk.” Brian took a deep breath, not intentionally doing it for a dramatic effect but for Erin it was the longest five seconds ever.“Jimmy tends to go off on tangents when he drinks and he said some stuff about you.”

“What did he say?” He could tell that Erin was unsure of what exactly that meant, good or bad.

“He told me you know about what I really do for a living.” He finished, relieved to have gotten that out finally. He felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, he hoped that she felt the same.

“Yeah, are you mad?” He could tell that she was still unsure of whether or not he was upset with her.

Brian laughed softly. “No, I'm just fucking glad its out in the open!” He stated excitedly, and heard Erin laugh.

“Do you realize how many times I baited you to tell me? You never took it.” She remembered at least five separate occasions where she had baited him to tell her and all of which had been skillfully avoided.

“I do now!” He laughed, feeling slightly embarrassed he hadn't caught on that she had known sooner.

“Why didn't you want me to know? Did you think I would think differently of you?” She asked curiously.

“It's not that, I just...” Brian wracked his brain for the right words to use, he didn't want to make her think that he was worried about her being some kind of fame whore, he knew she wasn't that kind of person. “I don't know. I wanted to just be me and not Synyster Gates, though he is kinda awesome.” He added with a laugh and showed no modesty whatsoever.

Erin smiled to herself, she enjoyed his confidence and the fact that he wasn't afraid to show it. “For what it's worth Brian, I like you regardless of who you are on stage.”

Brian felt like a little kid on his way to Disneyland when he heard her say that. “Hopefully you'll get to see me on stage one day, then we'll see about that. You might even like me more.”

“You're so modest.” She giggled softly. “Now that everything's out in the open, I have to thank you for something.”

“What's that?”

“My grandma and I were driving the other day, we were listening to Bat Country,” Erin paused reliving the moment in her head briefly with a smile on her face. “and she started head banging. Funniest thing of my life so I have to thank you for that. I don't think it'll ever be erased from my mind.”

She heard Brian laughing wildly. “That's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time.” He told her, and tried to imagine it in his head which only caused him to laugh more.

“So what are your plans for the rest of this week?” As soon as she asked him that he was brought back to reality and reminded of what he needed to tell her.

“There's something else I should tell you.” He said uneasily.

Erin felt her stomach twist in knots at his words, but tried to remain lighthearted despite his uneasy demeanor. “When you say that it scares me!”

“Sorry! Not intentional.” He said with a nervous chuckle. “I wanted to tell you that I'm going to be touring for two or three weeks on the east coast. We leave Friday.” He finished and hoped that his lifestyle wasn't already making her second guess herself.

“Oh, well I'm glad you told me.”

“I can still call you when you're not at work, I'll just be more busy than usual.” He assured. He didn't want her to think that just because he was touring that it meant he wouldn't have any time for her. He'd make time if he had to.

“That's fine. Jon's prom is coming up, I volunteered to help out decorating the gym. Never went to my prom but apparently they like my decorating skills so...I'll be busy too.”

“At least it'll make the time go by faster.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

By the time Friday rolled around Erin was stuck working a long and grueling ten hour shift and it didn't help that she was running low on sleep. Her and Brian had stayed up til the wee hours of the morning talking the past two nights, trying to make up for the time they'd lose once he left for the east coast. She felt stupid for being so upset about not seeing him for a few weeks, and it wasn't like he was going to the other side of the world, he was only across the country. She'd have to keep herself preoccupied until the small tour was over and luckily for her she had picked up extra shifts along with the volunteer work she was doing for Jon's prom.

Since Lisa would also be alone with only Ben to keep her busy in the evenings, Erin had convinced her to also volunteer to plan and decorate so she at least had a friend to talk to and wasn't forced to converse with the moms or their young daughters.

Erin walked out of the bathroom and back into the dining area, it had died down a little and the next rush wasn't expected for another hour or two. Lisa was clearing down the bar area after having it full of a group of truckers ten minutes prior. Lisa glanced up at her as she walked over.

“Something came for you while you were in the bathroom.” Lisa smiled brightly and nodded her head towards the far right of the bar, Erin looked at her friend questioningly before glancing over herself.

In the corner of the bar there was a matte white glass vase and sitting inside of it were twelve beautiful purple roses. She had never seen purple roses before but they were beautiful, the vividness of the purple stood out against the lush green leaves. As she stepped closer she saw there was a small card leaning against the vase with her name written on it. She smiled to herself as she opened the small envelope and her stomach felt like it was doing somersaults as she read what was written on the card.

'Seize the day or die regretting the time you lost.'

You'll know what that means soon enough. ;)

- Brian