Star Crossed

He groaned loudly as he walked into my kitchen, and it was enough to make me think twice about where I was standing. I strategically moved so that I had the counter between my best friend and I. Luck appeared to be on my side today, however; Brian was too busy rubbing his aching head to notice anything that I was doing.

"Shoot me."

Instead, I pushed a glass of water and a couple of Tylenol towards him. He grabbed the pills without a second thought and swallowed them dry. I couldn't help but chuckle as he let his head fall against the counter, deciding that I would be merciful and do whatever I could to ease the aching in his head. God knew that Michelle wasn't about to.

It was almost a relief that Gena had decided to spend the night at her parents' place. Almost. If she had been around, there would have been a slight chance of me explaining the bulge in my jeans without earning myself the equivilant to a black eye. On the other hand, her being away meant that it was just us guys - Brian could bitch about Michelle all he wanted without having to suffer having his head bitten off.

I moved about the kitchen with practiced ease, pulling out everything that I was going to need. That was one thing I could always rely on - nothing in this house ever changed while I was away. If Gena had been the constantly re-organising type, I felt sure that I would have gone insane. As it was, I was able to find everything and have breakfast cooking in a matter of minutes.

Because everybody wants a home-cooked meal when they haven't been home in months.

I set down a full plate of bacon and scrambled eggs in front of him. He looked up and gave a hopeful little sniff at the air, giving me a wide grin as I sat down with my own plate directly opposite him.

"Now here's something I've missed..."

He took the cutlery set that I offered him and dug in at once. In all honesty, this was something that I had missed as well - days when just us guys would all crash at one house, without the girls. This was usually how those days would begin - with me making breakfast for everybody. I wasn't born Italian for no reason at all.

I ate my own breakfast in silence, savouring the taste of a meal that hadn't come out of a can or been zapped in the microwave. Nothing would ever beat this - except, perhaps, a home-cooked meal from Mom.

"Have I ever told you your food is fucking amazing?" Brian asked through a mouthful of bacon. "'Cause it is." He swallowed, then shovelled a heap of egg into his mouth. "Gena's a lucky fucking girl."

I didn't comment on this last part, neither wanting to contradict him nor get into the topic of girls. I was glad to see that Brian didn't appear to have any intention of continuing the line of conversation.

"So what's on the agenda for today?"

"Gotta go visit Dad," he replied after a moment of thought. "Think he's only home for about a week, then he's off again."

I couldn't unnderstand how the father and son duo didn't let their conflicting schedules get on their nerves. They were lucky if they saw each other anymore than three or four times a year as it was - I couldn't imagine being away from my family so much. Just me being on tour was bad enough.

"Sucks. I guess you've gotta make the most of it, though."

"Yeah. I'll probably end up staying there a few days. Hopefully Michelle will get the picture and get the hell outta my house."

I highly doubted that she would, but I wasn't about to tell him that. I took my time gathering the now empty dishes and placing them neatly in the dishwasher. I could feel Brian's eyes on my back, and had to hope against all odds that he hadn't been playing too close attention when I had stood up.

"So what about you? Any plans for the day?"

I shrugged absently, sitting across from him again. I gave his question a moments more thought and made up my mind.

"Might make like you and go see the family. I've gotta pick up Icky, anyway. He's probably driven my parents crazy by now."

"Cool. I guess I'll see you later then." I nodded, watching as he stood up. "Party Saturday night, yeah? My place. To celebrate the end of another successful tour."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Damn right it does. Think you could give me a lift back to the bar? My car's still there."

*
I indulged a little as he climbed out of my car, openly admiring his backside for the split few seconds that I could before he turned around to say goodbye and shut the door. I gave a short nod, my gesture of farewell, and watched as he jogged across the street to where his car was parked. I didn't leave until he was safely inside of it, hidden from my view by those ridiculously dark windows. Of course, those same dark windows on my own car would hide the fact that I had never stopped staring at him.

It was an absolute blessing that all of our families lived right there in Huntington with us. It meant that when we were home from tour, we didn't have too far to go. We weren't constantly travelling back and forth to all different cities, and everybody was always close by in case of emergency. In the case of when I needed to go on tour, I was glad to have my parents so close by so that I didn't have far to drive my dog.

Said dog jumped on me the second that I entered the house, yipping excitedly and getting hair all over my not-so-clean jeans. Much to my delight, Ichabod's cries attracted the attention of my nephew and I soon had him jumping on me, too.

"Uncle Zacky, Uncle Zacky, you're home!"

"Sure am, Gav," I chuckled, ruffling his hair. "Did I miss anything?"

I listened to Gavin chatter away as he dragged me off to see the rest of my family, Ichabod following closely at my heels. I would have been content just spending the day with those two, messing around at a park close to the house, but my mother (of course) wouldn't have it. And I had to admit, it was great to see her after so long.

"Looking famished as ever," she remarked as she released me from a long embrace. "Honestly, don't they feed you boys properly when you're on the road?"

As always, I felt sure that the truth would not go down well with her - so I didn't say anything on the subject. I simply smiled and watched as she did what she did best - cooked.