Just Say Yes

“Have you told her about Montreal?” Brian Sr. asked, his eyes lighting up as he questioned his son.

They had just finished the appetizing dinner Suzy had made and were now sitting outside on the deck of the Haner residence. Suzy was inside cleaning up some things while Brian and Erin sat on one side of the table, and Brian Sr. sat across from them with McKenna next to him. Brian Sr. had chosen to bring up all his funny stories involving his son, which Erin happened to find absolutely amusing. Her stomach was beginning to hurt from laughing so hard.

Brian sighed heavily, sinking lower into his chair. “No dad, I haven't but feel free.” He stated sarcastically, he could see Erin smiling out of the corner of his eye. He crossed his arms over his chest, letting his father continue to tease him further. He didn't mind he knew it was to be expected, but it still didn't make the stories any less embarrassing.

“He was alone on stage doing a solo. The show was outdoors, raining pretty heavily, anyway he ran to the first 'ego riser' as they like to call them, and he fell. Hat flew off, flat on his back still trying to play his solo.” Brian Sr. snickered at the memory.

“Awh,” Erin cooed, and looked over at him.

“It's on youtube!” McKenna announced, and Erin reached over to rub his arm all the while laughing softly.

“And with my dignity being torn to shreds I think I'll go help Suzy with cleaning up.” He was met with laughter from all three of them. Brian got up from his seat and collected the remaining plates before heading inside. Suzy stood at the sink with a large pile of pots, pans, and dishes waiting to be washed.

“You want some help?” He offered with a cheesy smile, Suzy laughed and held out the drying cloth for him to take.

“Erin and McKenna seem to be getting along just great.” Suzy commented, watching her daughter and the blonde laugh animatedly at something Brian Sr. had said. Brian took the cloth from her as she began washing some of the messy plates.

“Yeah, Erin's good with kids. Her friend has a kid, the one Zacky's seeing.” Brian watched also, he had never seen Erin laugh so hard until today. She had been a nervous wreck all morning thinking none of his family would like her, he assured her that, that wouldn't be the case. It hadn't taken her all that long to get comfortable either, his dad and Suzy were pretty laid back and friendly people which had helped matters considerably.

“I like her. She's really sweet, great sense of humor and extremely polite.” Suzy said handing him a plate which he took willingly. Suzy had sounded almost stunned that Erin had turned out to be the complete opposite of his past girlfriends.

“Don't sound so surprised, Suzy.” He joked, pretending to sound hurt but in actuality, he wondered how he managed to attain and actually hold onto a girl like Erin.

He'd done his fair share of fucked up things over the years, some of them he'd rather soon forget. But it was when he thought about those things that he felt like she was far too good for him. It scared him to think that maybe one day she'd come to realize that herself and take interstate fifteen right out of his life for good.

“Oh no, I didn't mean it like that at all. I just mean, she's a big change from the last one.” Suzy said, choosing not to use Michelle's name. Brian nodded in agreement and continued to dry the plate in his hand. “You two seem to be serious though, already living together.” Suzy playfully nudged his arm.

“It's just for the summer. We have a tour in the fall that's gonna be at least two months.” Brian explained, recalling Larry, their manager, having told them this a while back but actual meetings and planning dates for the tour wouldn't start for a few weeks.

“So what happens when summer's over and you're gone for two months? You think you'll be able to leave her for that long?” Brian stopped what he was doing when Suzy asked him that. He couldn't really give her answer since he hadn't thought of it much until now. Him and Erin hadn't had that talk yet.

“Uh, we haven't really gotten a chance to talk about that.” Before Suzy could get a word in, Brian Sr.'s, McKenna's and Erin's voices grew closer and within a few seconds they walked into the kitchen.

“Brian guess what?!” McKenna was smiling from ear to ear, he played along with his sister and raised an eyebrow.

“What?” McKenna giggled at the silly face he made.

“I'm gonna come stay with you next weekend when mom and dad go away.” McKenna explained happily. Brian looked from his little sister, to Erin who nodded her head.

“We were discussing it outside. Brent is busy enough with his kids, I figured Kenna took so well to Erin that it wouldn't be a problem.” His dad said, giving him a look that told him he couldn't say no even if he wanted to.

Brian sighed dramatically. “I guess we could find room for the munchkin somewhere. I'm sure there's a crawl space I'm not using.” McKenna threw him a menacing glare then stuck her tongue out at him which made Brian laugh.

“Come on Erin! I'll show you my room.” McKenna excitedly dragged Erin through the kitchen before anyone could get another word in. Erin threw him an amused smile before she disappeared through the doorway and down the hall.

Brian Sr. slapped a hand on his son's shoulder. “She's a keeper.”

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

The following weekend came rather quickly, his dad had dropped McKenna off just after lunch with a purple mediocre sized bag of clothes and other of her necessities. Currently, she sat at the breakfast bar watching Brian and Erin clean up the kitchen. McKenna had been bursting at the seams with excitement up until Brian had told her that Erin was occupying the usual room that she stayed in. Which meant she had to take one of the other guest rooms at the other end of the hallway.

“Yay,” McKenna deadpanned, resting her chin on her hand looking less than enthusiastic. “I get to stay in that ugly guest room of yours.” She frowned slightly, the tone in her voice sounded like a child who had just been told that Santa Claus wasn't real.

“Hey! It's a work in progress Kenna, I haven't had much time to get to the guest rooms yet.” He defended. He had only owned the house for a year and most of that was spent touring and traveling, renovating his guest bedrooms wasn't a priority.

“Excuses, excuses.” She rolled her eyes, and Erin giggled.

“Erin's staying in that room so just deal for a week okay?” McKenna didn't answer, she simply sat in her chair and pouted. Erin felt slightly guilty for taking the younger girls usual room away.

“I have an idea.” Both sets of brown eyes in the room turned to Erin. “How about McKenna and I make one of those rooms our little project? We can liven it up a little with some paint and some new furniture. It can be her room after.” McKenna perked up in her seat at the prospect, her excitement from when she first arrived had returned.

“It'll only take a few days. She can stay in my room while we work on it.” Erin added, to which McKenna nodded vigorously with a large smile on her face.

“Erin, I'm not going to make you share a room with my sister.” McKenna frowned at his words, he ruffled the young girls hair and looked over to Erin who stood across from him with a smile on her face.

“Actually,” Erin began, slowly sauntering towards him. Her eyes held a sparkle he had yet to see until now. “I was thinking I'd just stay in your room.” Brian was left speechless for a moment.

“Yeah, Bri she'll stay in your room.” McKenna echoed with a teasing tone in her voice, he looked away from Erin to glare at his sister. She quickly flashed an innocent smile as Brian mentally pondered the idea. His eyes drifted back to the blue ones in front him, the temptation to oblige was high. He glanced back at McKenna, her eyes pleaded him to say yes, a trick of which she had learned from Jimmy. Before he could give an answer she stuck out her bottom lip into a pout.

Between the tempting blonde standing a mere two feet away and his little sister pouting as if her life depended on it, he was a lost cause.

“I can't say no when you two tag team me like that.” He gave in willingly. McKenna flashed him an excited smile then leaped toward him, wrapping her arms around his waist. She pressed her face into his stomach, muffling her high pitched squeals of happiness.

“Thank you! Thank you!” Brian pat McKenna's back softly as she continued her ecstatic shrieking.

“Go get your shoes on we'll go pick out the paint today.” Erin said and McKenna released Brian's waist and bounced out of the room. Her squeals could still be heard even when she was in the next room. Brian laughed to himself and shook his head, his eyes shifted to the only other person in the room.

“Am I going to regret this?” He felt a wave of nervousness wash over him at the thought of what he was in for. He was now envisioning a brightly painted pink room with other outrageous neon colors gracing the furniture.

Erin gave a sly smirk and ran one hand up his chest but stopped at the base of his neck. His arms on reflex went to wrap themselves around her waist, his hands rested on the small of her back.

“Maybe, but I'll try not to let her go too crazy.” Her fingers inched up his neck and began to play with the short hairs located there.

“She's stubborn like me, good luck.” He joked, and she rolled her eyes with a smile on her lips. The way she was smiling made him realize just how hard it would be to leave her when summer came to an end. He wasn't sure he could bare not seeing that smile for two excruciating months.

“Can I ask you something?” He got a little more serious for a moment, she didn't seem to notice but opened her mouth to answer.

“Erin I'm ready!” McKenna called from the front door.

“Can it wait until later?” She flashed him a sympathetic smile. He nodded, her sympathetic smile transformed into happy one. Her hand tightened on the back of his neck and brought his head down so she could kiss him quickly before she turned to leave with his car keys in her hand.

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

Erin spent most of the day driving around Huntington with McKenna sitting passenger side. They had stopped by an antique store where the girls both agreed on a small dresser for the room. Choosing the dresser was the easy task, the harder one seemed to be choosing a paint color.

They were currently walking around the third of three Home Depot's located in the area, the first two didn't have a large enough selection for McKenna's liking. Erin grabbed an orange cart in the parking lot and started towards the entrance, McKenna walking next to her.

“So Bri says your friends with Zacky's chick?”

Erin laughed, she had realized through out their day together that McKenna was almost a spitting image of her older brother. “You sound a lot like your brother you know that?” McKenna shrugged, with a smile.

“But yeah, she's my best friend. We work together.” They walked through the automatic doors, and people wearing orange aprons were in every direction. “So what color were you looking for? Brian told me you like Hannah Montana so I was thinking that--”

“I'm twelve, Hannah Montana was so last year.” Erin laughed at McKenna's sass. “It's not your fault though, with his busy schedule Brian tends to lose track of time. Last year he thought I was turning ten.” McKenna explained, and as both girls stopped in front of the large showcase of paint colors. Erin immediately began looking through the swatches whereas McKenna paced back and forth examining the colors from afar. As her eyes skimmed the colors near the end of the showcase, in the far distance she saw a familiar head of blonde hair heading her way.

McKenna craned her neck to get a better look, and quickly turned away when the blonde saw her as well and began walking in her direction. McKenna dashed back towards Erin who was comparing several different swatches against one another.

“Crazy ex-girlfriend, three o'clock.” McKenna muttered, Erin's brow furrowed then her head snapped up at the sound of heels clicking against the cement floor. She looked over the showcase and spotted Michelle quickly walking towards them, luckily Michelle hadn't seen her.

“McKenna be nice.” Erin scolded, she wasn't one to speak ill of anyone even though at this point Michelle probably deserved it. She hadn't seen Michelle since the night at Johnny's two weeks ago, she was hoping to go a little longer.

“McKenna I thought that was you!” McKenna had her back to Michelle, Erin watched McKenna's annoyed expression turn into a fake happy one before she turned around to face the woman.

“Hi Michelle.” Erin could hear the fake politeness dripping from the younger girls words.

“You're so cute. You can still call me Auntie Michelle like you used to.” Michelle said, as if she were talking to a toddler. Her eyes then shifted behind McKenna and set them on Erin. “Oh I didn't see you there.”

Erin scoffed to herself, why did Michelle feel the need to corner her whenever Brian wasn't around? It was like she planned them almost.

“So what are you guys doing here?” Michelle acknowledged them both, but spoke only to McKenna.

“Erin's helping me design one of Brian's bedrooms into one for me when I stay over.” McKenna bragged happily, Erin watched a glint of jealousy flash through Michelle's brown eyes.

“Really?” Michelle almost sounded mad at the idea, “I couldn't even tell you how many times I bugged him to do that.” She laughed bitterly.

“McKenna we should go. It's getting late.” Erin said, not wanting to waste anymore time with Michelle than she had to. “I have a bunch of swatches we can come back when you decide on a color.”

“Okay. Bye, Michelle.” McKenna added a faux sweetness to her voice before turning away from her brother's ex-girlfriend and her expression turned to one of irritation. Erin stole one last look at Michelle, who stood with her jaw clenched and her arms crossed over her chest.

As they walked way, both girls looked at one another and rolled their eyes. Erin leaned closer to McKenna and mumbled. “Crazy ex-girlfriend is right.”