Like Walking Into a Dream

I messed around with the phone in my hand feeling like I shouldn’t call Brian after all. What if he’s stubborn and doesn’t want to leave it in the past? Or worse… What if he wants to tell Eric?! Technically nothing happened so there’s nothing to tell.

And Brian isn’t the kind of guy to do that. Well I think he isn’t. I don’t even know him all that well. I met him what? Like 3 or 4 days ago. Something like that.

I groaned and convinced myself to dial his number. He picked up after 2 rings sounding surprised that I called.

“Peyton, I thought you weren’t ever going to speak to me again,” he rushed. A small smile graced my lips.

“I'm sad you have so little expectations of me. I’m actually calling to talk about the magazine article. I'm guessing you’ve already seen it.” I said holding up the article. Eric was out now and back at the hospital.

“Oh yeah. Michelle showed me it this morning,” he said.

“How did she take it? There was a lot of lies in there and it wasn’t even true,” I grumbled.

“Not so good. I told her that, but she wouldn’t listen…”

“Bri, what happened?” I asked feeling guilty all of a sudden.

“I don’t feel like talking about it on the phone. Can we meet up somewhere and talk about this?” he asked. I bit my lip in hesitation, but agreed.

“Sure, where and when?”

“How about the corner of Ocean Ave. now?” he asked.

“That’s fine, see you in a little bit,” I hung up and grabbed my shoes. I had a bad feeling that something bad happened between Brian and Michelle and it was because of the article. I know he was going to call it off with her, but a mistake that sounds like he cheated on her is even worse.

I made it to the street corner in a few minutes and saw Brian already standing there. His tattoos stood out amongst the other people.

“Hey Bri,”

“Hey, let’s walk,” I nodded and walked beside him along the street. People didn’t seem to notice us and I didn’t see paparazzi hiding behind bushes.

“What happened?” I asked after a moment of silence.

“She woke me up this morning by throwing the magazine at me. Then she started screaming that I was cheating on her with you and then I finally told her to pack her stuff and leave,” he whispered.

“I'm sorry—“

“No, it’s for the better. I didn’t want to marry her anyway, remember?” he asked glancing at me. I nodded and looked down at the sidewalk.

“I didn’t tell Eric. There’s no point in telling him if nothing happened and I don’t want to put any more stress on our relationship. The wedding is so close and there is still so much to do for it,” I mumbled.

“I see. Matt and Val are getting married in 9 months and he’s excited to see your wedding so he won’t go in blind as a bat for his,” I laughed and nodded.

“Hey, Brian? I don’t want what happened yesterday to affect us. I like our friendship and I don’t want it to be ruined over that. Can we just leave it behind us and move on?” I asked softly.

“I was thinking the same thing. You’re too good of a friend to screw it up over mixed feelings.” My heart pounded. He said feelings, mixed feelings. That means he feels a little something for me. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Those feelings mean nothing. He just called it off with Michelle so he’s probably confused right now.

A soft ringing came from Brian’s pocket and he pulled out his phone and answered it. I glanced around while he talked on the phone with whoever it was. Something about the studio.

Brian hung up and stopped walking. I did too and faced him.

“That was Matt. They need me at the studio… I’ll see you later?” he asked. I nodded with a smile.

“Have fun,” he waved goodbye and I started walking back home. A millions thoughts were racing through my head and most were about Brian. I forced them away and unlocked the front door which oddly was already unlocked. I know I locked it on the way out.

I walked inside slowly.

“Eric?” I called.

“I’m in the living room,” he called. I thought he was working late tonight. Guess he got lucky with a night off. I shut the door and walked into the living room.

“Did you get the night off?” I asked with a smile. He nodded not looking at me, but the object in his hands. I glanced over his shoulder and saw him reading the magazine article about me and Brian. I groaned and sat down next to him on the couch.

“Where did you get that?” I asked. He finally glanced at me from the corner of his eye.

“Some nurses were reading it and showed me. They said you were cheating on me,” he explained. I groaned again and ran a hand through my hair.

“I just finished talking to Brian about this. It’s all lies and rumors. His girlfriend got pissed at him too,” I forced girlfriend out considering they were no longer together.

“Oh really? Then what happened?” he asked setting it down.

“You had just left after getting paged and Brian showed up at the café and had lunch with me. I didn’t want to eat alone. Then we walked around and talked. He’s just a friend, Eric. Nothing more.” I said.

“There’s nothing else? You really expect me to believe that. He’s liked you since you became his nurse. I could tell!” Eric stood up angry.

“That’s right! There was nothing else and I didn’t even know he liked me!”

“Keep telling yourself that! You know you wanted something more to happen!” he yelled at me. My heart hurt. I never knew Eric could be this mean to me. I held back tears and shook my head.

“You know what?! Screw you. I’m not staying here tonight!” I grabbed my keys and headed to the door.

“Don’t you dare walk out on me when I'm talking to you!” he screamed.

“Just fucking watch me!” I slammed the door behind me and started jogging to the first place that came to mind: Jimmy’s. I got to his house and saw his car gone. I groaned and wiped away a few tears that had fallen.

He’s probably at the studio with Matt and Brian and the others. I started walking to the studio and tried to stop crying. Why did he freak out so bad? I was just hanging out with Brian. There was nothing more to it.

I walked into the studio and went to where the band usually practiced. I remembered Jimmy mentioning the room number a few times. I walked in and saw Jimmy lounging with Leana, Matt, and Johnny while Brian and Zacky did guitar stuff. Jimmy jumped up when he saw me.

“Peyton! What brings you here?” he asked happily, but frowned when he saw my red eyes. He didn’t say anything, but pulled me into a hug. I grabbed onto his shirt and sniffled. Leana came over and rubbed my back.

“You okay, hun?” she asked. I shook my head and buried my face into Jimmy’s shirt. Brian and Zacky came out of the booth and were asking what was going on.

“Jimmy, I just need to talk to you,” I mumbled into his shirt.

“Guys, Peyton needs me. I’m leaving,” they all nodded in understanding the Jimmy led me out with Leana. They drove me to their house and once we were inside, we sat down at the couch and they waited for me to talk.

“You know the article about me and Brian hanging out at the beach?” I asked.

“The stupid one saying you two were dating? Yeah we saw it,” Leana answered.

“Brian and I already talked about it and we’re over it, but when I got home, Eric was reading it and he flipped. I explained what happened and that it was nothing, but he wouldn’t listen to me and insulted me and screamed. I walked out and you were the first person I could think of going to,” I said.

Jimmy wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer.

“Eric’s just being an ass. Don’t listen to what he says because he’s just ranting because he’s pissed that another guy could like you. It’s like male instincts,” jimmy tried to joke. I offered a small smile and nodded.

“Stay here tonight. We can have a big sleepover again,”

“Thanks guys. I don’t know what I would do without you two,” they smiled and were started setting up the big palet.