Just Say Yes

A week had come and past rather quickly, though to Erin it felt like a lifetime. The last week of the tour was jam packed with shows so Brian didn't really have much time to talk to her, he spent most of his free time sleeping when he got the chance. She had spent most of her free time working or with Lisa who had dragged her to go shopping for an outfit for the concert, Lisa had ignored her protests that she already had bought something to wear and dragged her along anyway.

It was currently the afternoon of the barbeque, most of the people that had been invited were just arriving. Corinne was playing hostess and showing them through the house and to the backyard where her and Lisa were setting up some of the plastic fold up tables with plastic cutlery and paper plates. Jon wasn't home yet, he was working, Corinne had called his manager last week and asked him to put Jon on the schedule until four so they had enough time to get set up. Erin just prayed that the guys would show up before her brother did, they had just under thirty minutes before Jon would be walking through the front door.

“Are you excited to see Zack?” Erin asked breaking the silence between them, Lisa looked away from Ben kicking a soccer ball around the yard.

“Excited doesn't even begin to describe how I'm feeling.” She answered with a laugh.

“Would ridiculously horny describe how you're feeling?” Erin half smiled and raised an eyebrow at her friend. Lisa had been especially bitchy the last week or so, and Erin had come to the conclusion it was due to her pent up sexual frustration with Zacky being away.

Lisa laughed louder this time. “That about sums it up.”

Erin finished setting up the tables and then planned to go inside and bring out some of the beer she had bought from the grocery store the previous day. That was until she saw a familiar tall dark haired man walking towards her. He was dressed casually, a plain grey t-shirt and black jacket covered his athletically built chest with a pair of simple jeans to finish off his ensemble. Unlike her, he had deep chocolate colored hair with a slightly receding hairline, and a full beard to match. His dark head of hair though brought out the most prominent feature that they both shared, his piercing blue eyes. A smile crossed his lips as she saw her.

“Erin.” He wrapped his arms around her tightly, it had been quite a few months since she had seen him. He held her longer than usual, kissing the top of her head lovingly.

“You look good dad.” She smiled back at him pulling away, he shrugged it off and a ran a hand through his thinning hair bashfully.

“Lisa, right?” He asked, motioning to the darker haired young woman who stood back watching the father and daughter greet each other. Erin reached behind her and grabbed Lisa's hand pulling her over.

“Yeah, nice to see you again Mr. Listel.” Lisa smiled at the older man politely.

“Call me Jack, please.” He insisted to which Lisa nodded. He turned back to his daughter. “I'm gonna go help out your Grandma with some of the food prep, you ready for my amazing grilling skills?”

“Yeah dad, totally ready.” Erin laughed and called after him as Jack made his way back inside. Once Jack was inside the home Lisa turned to Erin, grinning.

“I forgot how sexy your dad was.” Lisa ran her tongue over her bottom lip, to which Erin playfully smacked her arm. “What! He is!” Erin glared at her friend, then went back to what they had been doing previously.

It was then that Lisa noticed Erin wearing a black zip up sweat shirt that looked at least two sizes too big. She watched as the sleeves that Erin had rolled up to her elbows continued to fall back down to her wrists because of the size of the garment. “Why are you wearing that if it's too big for you?”

“Cause, it's Brian's.” She mumbled quietly so Lisa couldn't hear, she smiled politely at some of the people filing out of the house and into the backyard.

“What was that?” Lisa questioned, moving closer so she could hear.

“I said, it's Brian's.” Erin didn't look at her friend but knew that Lisa was sporting an large and approving smile. Lisa bumped her hip with Erin's and laughed.

“You two do anything in Vegas?” Lisa asked wiggling her eyebrows, but before Erin got a chance to answer, not that she really had anything to tell Lisa, loud male voices could be heard coming from behind the backyard fence. Erin watched as a long tattooed arm reached over and unlocked the fence, she immediately knew who it was. Erin saw Jimmy walk into the backyard first, carrying what looked to be the snare part of a drum set.

“Hey, get your ass over here!” He yelled upon seeing Erin, causing some of the guests already in attendance to look at him oddly.

Erin smiled, and walked with Lisa at her side, towards him. Matt came into view carrying a symbol as her and Lisa stopped in front of Jimmy, his dark aviators covered his eyes making him look somewhat intimidating until he flashed a friendly, dimpled smile. Emerging from behind the drummer and lead singer was Johnny also carrying a part of the drum set, only his was quite a bit larger. It looked like the kick drum which had the mid-tom and hi-tom attached to it, he looked to be struggling with it but neither Jimmy nor Matt seemed to notice or care.

“Glad you guys could make it.” Erin greeted, then turned to Lisa who hadn't yet met Jimmy, Johnny and Matt. She was about to introduce her to them but before she got the opportunity Lisa squealed loudly and darted past the three men. Erin stood on her tip toes attempting to look past Matt's and Jimmy's large bodies, only to see Lisa pretty much tackle Zacky to the ground, he luckily had put down the symbol he had been carrying before she had made it to him.

Erin giggled watching the two immediately start kissing feverishly, then she spotted a familiar head of spiked black hair and colorful tattooed arms dart around the reunited couple. Her breath caught in her throat as his eyes went from Zacky and Lisa to glance forward and meet hers. A smile crept onto her lips, and he quickened his pace towards her.

“What, no dramatic reunion? I'm hurt.” He smirked sexily, she had missed that smirk.

“I didn't miss you that much.” She joked, reaching out to hug him. Her arms easily slid around his neck and his around her waist, he leaned back lifting her off her feet for a moment. He stole a quick kiss before pulling away and she turned to look at the rest of the guys.

“What's with the drums?” She questioned, looking at the guys then at Brian.

“It's our grad present for Jon.” Brian answered.

Erin's eyes went big. “What? You guys didn't have to. Just showing up was enough.”

“It's no big deal, Jimmy had an extra set sitting around his place.” Matt insisted, shifting the piece he was carrying to the opposite hand.

“I only used it once, I figured if he wants to be a drummer he needs to practice with the best.” Jimmy beamed.

“Better watch out Jim, he might end up better than you.” Johnny laughed, which caused him to struggle with the large piece he had been holding.

“Shut it, short shit.” The bass player pouted slightly at the all too familiar nickname. “You're just jealous I'm his favorite and no one likes bass players.” Johnny was about to protest but Corinne had come out of the house and spotted Brian. She walked over quickly, hugging him as soon as she was close enough, then Brian introduced her to Matt, Jimmy and Johnny.

“It's lovely to meet y’all, you boys make great music.” There was a unanimous chorus of 'thank yous' from the boys. Johnny shifted the piece of the drum set he was holding yet again and Corinne immediately noticed.

“Why don't you boys follow me and I'll show you where to put that?” Johnny looked graciously at Corinne, thankful that someone had taken notice of him having difficulty with the thing. Corinne ushered them towards a corner on the patio for them to set it up.

“You guys really didn't have to bring that.” Erin insisted, feeling slightly bad they had gone to all that trouble where as she hadn't really gotten Jon all that much aside from the concert they'd be attending tomorrow and some money she'd saved up.

“Jimmy and I wanted to.” Brian flashed her a smile, and explained that it was initially Jimmy's idea but Brian agreed to it. They had sent back two of their crew members from tour back to California and got them to pick it up from Jimmy's place and drive it up to meet them.

Then out of the corner of her eye two guys she had never seen before appeared carrying the last parts of the drum set. They looked astonishingly a like; tall, dark hair, cute smiles and facial hair, they had to be twins. However they also had quite a few differences, one had long hair and tattooed arms whereas the other didn't have any visible tattoos but instead a lip piercing and shorter hair. Brian must have noticed her attention was else where because he turned around and looked at the two guys approaching.

He nodded them over as they got closer. “Erin, Matt and Jason Berry, our tech and merch guys.” Erin smiled and shook their hands.

“So you're the chick Brian never shuts up about.” Jason said with a laugh, Brian narrowed his eyes at him.

“Time to move along now.” Brian pushed Jason away.

“Where should we put this?” Matt asked, looking around. Erin pointed to and glanced at the back the corner of the patio to see Jimmy and Johnny play fighting while Matt tried to piece together the drum set, looking slightly annoyed that he was the only one actually trying. The twins then started towards the space where Matt had begun to tell Jimmy and Johnny to knock it off because he was trying to focus to which they laughed and ignored him. Erin and Brian both found it amusing, but Erin's laugh faded slowly as she then spotted her dad walk out onto the patio and glance over at the chaos in the far corner.

“There's something I should warn you about.” Erin started slowly. She glanced over at the patio again to see him turn to look over at her and Brian, her hand linked with his.

“Is it bad?” Brian asked not catching on in the slightest, if Erin hadn't been freaking out internally she would've found it cute.

“My dad is here.” She explained as she noticed her father walking towards the grill with a plate of what she assumed were hamburger patties. He periodically glanced over at them as he put the meat onto the grill.

“Nothing like waiting until the last minute huh?” Brian joked lightly and faked a smile but in reality was beyond nervous. He wasn't the best with meeting parents, most of them tended to not like him very much or judged him before they even got to know him. Even with Michelle's parents it had been hard to get in their good graces and he had known them for years.

“He's coming over here right now.” She mumbled, trying not to make it obvious.

Brian observed the older man as he walked closer, he was tall and well built, which reminded him somewhat of Matt. He had some similarities to Erin, most noticeable were the bright blue eyes. Erin tensed slightly as she could see some fear flash through Brian's eyes but as soon as it appeared, it was gone.

Erin immediately tightened her grip on Brian's hand, Jack didn't even get a chance to stop walking before Erin started the introductions. “Brian, this is my dad, Jack. Dad, this is Brian.”

“Her boyfriend.” Brian answered reaching his free hand out to shake Jack's. Erin looked over at Brian in surprise. They had yet to put labels on their relationship, and she definitely didn't expect it to happen when he met her father for the first time.

Jack shook Brian's hand, casting a glance at his daughter skeptically. “Nice to meet you, how long have you been seeing my daughter?” Jack continued to ask Brian all the fatherly questions, what he did for a living, where he was from and how they met. Normally, Erin would've butt in and stopped him from doing so but her mind was still reeling from Brian calling himself her boyfriend.

“So, sweetheart given any thought of when you're going back to school?” Erin was brought back to reality with that question from her father. It was one he asked everytime they spoke, whether on the phone or in person. Erin sighed heavily, she knew that this topic would come up during his visit but she had hoped that it would come up without Brian being present. Her dad had always been disappointed that she had chosen to stay back in Boulder with Jon and Corinne but he had always figured she'd go back to school eventually. She wasn't sure of that anymore.

“I don't know dad, I haven't been thinking about it lately.” She brushed it off casually, feeling Brian's eyes on her.

“Erin, people your age have already been to school and graduated by now. You can't work at a diner your whole life.” She hated to admit he had a point but she knew that he was only bringing the subject up because he was more than likely worried about her running off with Brian and not making something of herself.

“Can we just talk about this later?” She avoided looking at both men and simply stared off into the distance.

“All I'm saying is Jon is graduated now, you don't have to worry about him anymore.” Jack locked his eyes with hers, she felt eighteen all over again.

Luckily for Erin, loud cheers caused all three of them to look toward the patio door. She breathed a sigh of relief as Jon stepped outside, his eyes wide and his mouth dropped open in awe staring at Jimmy intently. Erin half smiled at his reaction and squeezed Brian's hand.

“You're Jimmy fucking Sullivan.” His voice cracked slightly, which caused laughter to emerge through out the guests.

“Language Jonathon!” Corinne yelled from inside the house, causing some soft chuckles of laughter. He then saw Matt and Johnny standing just behind Jimmy, Erin had never witnessed her brother speechless before. She was glad that inviting the boys had been a success. “Food's ready!”

Erin made a mental note to thank Corinne for her perfect timing.

- - - - - - - - -

After their meal everyone was scattered around the backyard doing their own thing. Zacky and Ben were kicking the soccer ball back and forth, while Lisa and a fellow waitress from the diner were sitting at one of the tables talking and sipping on their glass of wine. Near by Johnny, Matt and the Berry's were having a drunken tournament of bocce ball and Zacky seemed to intervene as the referee from time to time, making sure no one got out of hand and started throwing things at each other. The last thing the band needed was a lead singer with a broken nose or a bass player with a black eye, especially due to a backyard bocce ball game. In the background of everything Jimmy and Jon were taking turns on the drum set playing random beats trying to one up each other, and see who could drum the fastest. Jon came close a few times but Jimmy won in the end, naturally.

In the midst of all the entertainment unfolding, Erin and Brian were comfortably positioned in a hammock off to the side of the bocce tournament. Erin was laying down on one end with her legs draped over Brian's lap as he sat upright at the other end, smoking a cigarette. Brian's legs hung over the edge of the hammock rocking them back and forth slowly.

Even though there was plenty going on around her, Erin's eyes seemed to be set on Brian, watching him inhale then exhale the smoke from his lungs.

Brian looked away from his friends to gaze down at the blonde next to him. The zipper of the hoodie she was wearing was zipped up to just under her chin, it hadn't gone unnoticed by him that it was the one he gave to her. She peered at him with a half smile on her face. “I'm really trying to stop I swear!” He insisted referring to the cigarette that was being held between his thumb and pointer finger, she laughed.

Her blue eyes rolled playfully. “Yeah, it really looks like it.”

“It's hard when I'm on tour, there's nothing else to do. I can only watch Matt play Call of Duty and listen to Zacky blabbing on the phone for so long.”

“You could call me?”

“At three in the morning?” He quirked an eyebrow.

“Never mind.” She laughed lightly then shifted her eyes to Jon and Jimmy playing together, a smile forming on her lips. She had never seen her brother so genuinely happy.

“That's what I thought.” He laughed softly and dropped his cigarette into his beer bottle extinguishing itself in the last remnants of the liquid. He glanced over at his friends quickly, his hands rested on one of her bare calves then moved his eyes back at her.

“So I know you said to your dad you didn't want to talk about it but,” he paused, watching her reaction, hoping it wouldn't be an annoyed or angry one. She seemed fine so he continued. “But what was your plan after high school before you decided to stay here?”

Erin smiled to herself, “It's okay if you ask just as long as you won't lecture me about it.” Brian pretended to zip his mouth shut, then gave her a tight lipped smile. “I want to be an interior decorator.” It had been a while since someone other than her dad had sat down with her and asked what she wanted to do with her life. No judgments or lectures, just someone listening to her.

“That's why I was apart of student council in high school, I loved decorating the gym for all those events.” She smiled remembering all the dance themes she had a hand in creating, her prom, ironically enough, had been her favorite of all. She hadn't attended but she went in the day of to help out and stayed until just before it started to see it in all its glory. “My grandma even let me decorate the master bedroom here. She let me keep it as my room, she said I deserved it since I saved up two whole pay checks to be able to do it.”

Erin shifted her eyes back to Brian, he seemed surprisingly interested. “Can I see it?”

“You want to see my bedroom?” She asked seriously, narrowing her eyes.

“It's not a line I swear.” He held up his hands in mock surrender with a devilish smile which made her question other wise. She bit her bottom lip thinking it over then mumbled a soft 'fine' as she swung her legs off him and onto the grass beneath the hammock. Brian braced himself as she lifted her weight off the flimsy fabric, then got up himself following her towards the house.

They casually passed through the kitchen where Jon and Jimmy, who had since moved inside, were removing beers from the fridge. Jimmy didn't hesitate to comment as they passed through.

“Where ya goin' Gates?” Jimmy wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, Erin ignored it and Brian flipped him off as he walked by. “He's getting lucky.” Jimmy popped open the beer in his hand and took a swig.

“Dude, that's my sister.” Jon protested, Jimmy casually shrugged putting an arm around Jon's shoulders, leading him back outside.

- - - - - - - - -

The second he stepped into Erin's bedroom he was impressed, it was nicely decorated and put together. He wasn't expert on interior design by any means, but Michelle had pestered him about decorating his current home that he purchased last year. In an effort to give him a hint that she wanted to redecorate she had not so subtly left random interior design magazines all over the house, he looked at a few but never did let her do what she had wanted. Brian was fairly positive with Erin's hard work ethic, from what he had seen from watching her at the diner, she could easily decorate for a career. He stood in the middle of the room just looking at the use of the bright green color mixed with the white and dark brown of the bedding and furniture. Erin sat perched on the end of her bed watching him, waiting for him to say what he thought. Good. Bad. Anything.

“It's good. Really fucking good.” Erin wasn't the type to take a compliment seriously if it contained the word fuck but it was Brian and he liked to swear. She could also tell by the look on his face that he was being honest and wasn't just saying it to be nice.

“Thanks.” She blushed slightly. His wandering eyes stopped when they locked with hers.

“Come here.” He said softly. Erin was about to question him why but the look in his eyes told her not to. She slowly got up from the bed and moved closer to him until she was less than an arms length away.

“Closer” His voice was low, and she could feel her stomach fill with butterflies like always. Once she was close enough she felt his arms slide around her waist, pulling their bodies closer. Erin's hands rested on either of his biceps, his forehead almost touching hers.

“I thought that asking to come up here wasn't a line.” She replied smartly, he simply chuckled.

“It wasn't, I want to ask you something but I need to make sure you can't go anywhere.” He said tightening his hold, his hands rested dangerously low on the small of her back.

“Ask away.”

“Remember how before I left last week you joked that thirty-six hours was the longest we've spent together?” He spoke softly, Erin nodded hesitantly unsure of where exactly he planned to go with this. “Well, why don't we break that record?”

“What are you--”

“Come stay with me in California for the summer.” His eyes searched hers for a clue of what her answer might be.

“Are you serious?” She was slightly taken aback at the request but at the same time intrigued.

“I miraculously have this whole summer free and that never happens. I've been thinking about it all week. Just say yes.” The smirk that made it hard to say no to him crept onto his lips, she inhaled a shaky breath then bit down faintly on her bottom lip. Brian laughed softly, then took advantage of the fact that she had chosen to pull her hair up into a ponytail that day and brought his lips down to her neck. She felt his lips press against her sensitive skin, igniting it instantly as he lay slow kisses all around her neck.

“Is this a persuasion tactic?” She managed to breathe out, but just barely as he found her sensitive spot just below her ear. He could feel her pulse quicken as his lips and tongue tenderly caressed her neck. He removed his lips from her neck for a moment, which released a soft whimper from her throat.

“Maybe.” He whispered in her ear, and brought his lips back down in the form of a smile. One of his hands left the small of her back and found its way in between their bodies, he slowly tugged down on the zipper of the hoodie she was wearing. Her eyes lazily slid shut as she sucked in a jagged breath focusing only on the sensation his lips and hand had caused to pulsate through her body.

That was until someone standing in the doorway loudly cleared their throat causing Brian to immediately stop and Erin's eyes to snap open. Erin felt her cheeks get hot and words had momentarily escaped her. Jack stood in the doorway with his brow furrowed, clearly not amused, and arms crossed over his broad chest. Brian let go of Erin and rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding direct eye contact with the large man standing four feet away.

“I was just looking for the first aid kit, your grandma told me it was in your bathroom.” He answered, his voice was flat and stripped of any emotion.

“Is someone hurt?” Erin asked, worried.

Jack nodded, his thick arms still crossed over his chest. “Your friend,” He said looking at Brian. “the one with the mohawk, split his lip trying to catch a ball with his face.” The way Jack had said it caused Brian to hold back a chuckle, he figured now wouldn't be the best time to break out into fits of laughter.

Erin ran to her bathroom quickly to retrieve the first aid kit and held it out to her dad. He kept his arms crossed over his chest, then jutted his chin towards Brian.

“You mind takin' it down? I'd like to talk to my daughter for a minute.” Brian nodded taking the first aid kit from Erin's hand and warily brushed past Jack, making sure not to get too close. Erin shifted on her feet, and wrung her hands. She felt like she was sixteen years old and had gotten caught with a boy in her room as opposed to being a twenty-three year old woman who was old enough to do as she pleased. As soon as Brian left the room Jack uncrossed his arms, taking a few steps closer to his daughter.

Erin peeked up at her father, trying to muster the best wide eyed innocent look she could. “Do you like him?” She asked softly, and was met with a deep chuckle.

“I liked him a lot more before I found him in your bedroom.” He answered with a dead serious face.