Sequel: Milestones: Commitment ›
Milestones: Teenagers
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The semester had finally come to its closure after four long months of homework, studying, and exams, and it was in perfect timing. After the fiasco between Brian and I having sex while Courtney was asleep, she'd done nothing but be a bitch about it. I'd tried to apologize for our action, but she wouldn't hear any of it, and it caused us to not get along even worse than we had before because of the differences we had personality-wise. So, needless to say, despite the fact that I got along perfectly fine with Brianna and Melinda, I needed to get the hell out of that dorm for a month and hope the waters had cleared by the time we all came back in January.
So I had all my things I would need for the winter break packed up and shoved in my car for the very short trek back home to Huntington Beach. It was great getting to see everyone together again and to see my family, and I knew that it was going to be the perfect time to de-stress and unwind and not have to worry about any drama.
"Whatchya doing?" I asked in a sing-song voice to Val, who looked deeply engrossed with the family computer in the spare room.
"Booking the last few venues for the boys," she answered absentmindedly as she clicked a few things and began typing. "Why?"
"Just wondering cuz you've been sitting there quietly for like, an hour. Where's this venue?" I asked of the one she was currently booking.
"Nevada."
"Nevada!? I thought they were staying local?" I asked, thinking that it was quite the drive, just to play a show.
"They've already started playing all the local venues, already got kicked out of one of them, and now we're spreading out. We've also got shows in New Mexico and Arizona."
"So it's going to be like a realtour? Not just a few shows here and there?" I asked as Val continued to absorb herself into the screen and the keyboard.
"Yup," she sighed.
"When do they leave?"
"I think the first show is a couple days after you get back to school in January, now go away and stop questioning me so I can get these done," she said, a hint of annoyance laced into her words.
"Rawr... Drama queen," I joked, and I got a flash of a grin in return, knowing Val wasn't trying to be an insufferable bitch and really needed to get her work done. So I let her be. I wanted to go see Brian anyway.
"Knock knock," I called to Brian who was sat on his bed, fooling around with his guitar, and I pushed the door open further and stepped in.
He looked up and flashed me a small grin as I advanced and took a seat next to him. "What are you doing here?"
"Um, I wanted to come see you? Duh," I chuckled, and he smiled, kissing my cheek.
"You know what I meant."
"Val was busy booking venues for you guys to play at, so I was lonely and had no one to talk to," I pouted dramatically.
"Well that's just tragic, ain't it" he asked sarcastically.
"You're tellingme," I answered, standing up and crossing his room to one of the windows, looking over the back yard. "Bri, how come you never told me you guys werereally touring, and going out of state?" I asked, turning on a serious note, my voice softer.
"Oh... I don't know. Slipped my mind I guess. Why? Are you mad?" he asked cautiously, and I heard him quit strumming lightly before I quickly turned around.
"No! Not at all. I just didn't know this whole touring band thing wasthat serious. I thought it was just going to be a few shows here and there, but you've already done that, from what Val told me," I mumbled, biting my lip as Brian stood and walked over to me, taking my hands in his.
"Well of course we're serious. The guys would have either gone to school or gotten serious jobs - or in Zack's case, tried out for the minor leagues - if they weren't completely serious about this. Hell, I wouldn't have dropped MI if I wasn't serious about this. And if we're going to take this seriously, we've got to spread ourselves out, get as many people to hear our music as we can, you know what I mean?" he asked, and I nodded.
"I just wanted to be sure you were sure about this, is all... I'm just worried that things won't work out," I shrugged, looking down only for Brian to reach out and tip my chin back up.
"Have a little faith on your boys, Chelle," he said quietly with a smile before closing the gap and pressing his lips against mine. I smiled into the kiss, and then sighed when we broke apart.
"You're right. You'll probably turn into some hard-ass rock star overnight," I joked, and then heard a furious pounding coming from the front door downstairs.
"That would be the guys, and probably your sister," Brian said, taking my hand and pulling me out of his room and down the stairs.
"What are they here for?"
"Just cuz; is that a crime?" he asked, but I could hear the smile in his voice though I couldn't see his face.
"No, I just thought maybe it was something important," I replied, shrugging my shoulders as we reached the landing and Brian opened the door.
"Jesus Christ, dude, it took you long enough," Zacky asked, exasperated as he and Matt, Jimmy, and my sister all barged in and headed for the living room, everyone making themselves comfortable. Brian followed them and sat down in the recliner, pulling me sideways onto his lap.
"So are you guys excited for this tour?" I asked casually, and I could see their eyes all light up.
"Hell yeah. There's going to be alcohol, and girls, and music, and girls," Zack began to list, the excitement oozing from his lips.
"Zack, don't you have a girlfriend?" Val questioned from next to Matt on the couch, cutting Zacky off.
"Well... I can still look!" he shot back, sounding almost defeated.
"Which is why it pays off to be single, boys," Jimmy said with a grin as he leaned back into the cushion next to my sister.
"Oh, yeah. I'm sure all the girls are going to swoon and be so excited when you ask them to come back to ourvan," Brian said sarcastically, laughing at the thought.
"Oh God, don't remind me about the van, or I'm bailing. I'm going to be cramped in that thing with you guys, and it's going to suck," my sister groaned, leaning her head against Matt's shoulder.
"Oh, we're notthat bad," Zacky rebutted, and I looked at Val in confusion.
"Wait... you're going with them?"
"Well yeah, who else is going to be in charge of these morons?" she joked.
"Hey!" the guys all cried out indignantly.
"But I'm basically more or less their 'manager' as they like to call it, so of course I'm going with them," she finished, and I slowly nodded my head in understanding, listening idly as the guys continued to talk about their excitement. I heard Brian sigh as he shifted his weight below me, and I glanced at him to see his eyes downcast, and a thoughtful yet confused expression on his face.
"Hey... you okay?" I asked, my eyebrows knit together in concern. Brian distractedly lifted his gaze to mine upon hearing my voice, and he nodded his head, though he still gave off a vibe of uncertainty.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, trying to force a smile as he continued back into his thoughts.
Over the next week or so, Brian began to act strange. He seemed normal for the most part, but he was always lost in his thoughts, almost as if he were having a verbal battle back and forth inside his mind. He was distant at times and then perfectly fine at others, and I couldn't help but wonder what it was that had gotten him so quiet. I barely got to see him over Christmas, and I wondered if maybe he'd gotten a bit used to me being gone that he wasn't used to me being around again. I had asked Val about that one, and she had just laughed and told me I was being ridiculous and irrational, and that there was nothing wrong with him.
She couldn't have been more wrong.
New Years had passed, and Brian seemed to be more distant the more the days carried on. I figured I'd just back up, give him some time to himself, and let him come to me when he wanted, and it seemed to work alright.
I caught my cell ringing just as I was heading into my room in a towel, my hair dripping s I had just gotten out of the shower.
"Hello?" I asked, knowing it was Brian from the caller ID.
"Hey... Michelle, do you think you could stop by my place?" he asked.
"Uh, sure... Is everything alright?"
"...We need to talk," was all he said before the line went dead, and my stomach dropped. Whatever it was, it couldn't really be that good.
Quickly I got dressed and pulled my hair up, hurrying to Brian's. I knocked on the door and he immediately answered it, ushering me inside without saying a word.
"What's up Brian? You've been acting awfully strange lately," I said, crossing my arms and turning to face him once we were in the living room.
"Something Zacky said the other day about touring really got me thinking..." Brian said hesitantly, reaching up and rubbing the back of his neck.
"What? What did he say?"
"Girls."
"...Okay. What about girls?" I pressed, dreading where this was headed.
"Well, they're going to be all over the place and it's going to be hard..." he said, sighing as he rubbed his hands over his face. "We're going to be away from each other, and it's going to be hard."
"...Hold up. Weren't you the one who said that same day Zack made that comment, the girls would never come back to avan" I asked, looking at him like he had grown an extra head.
"Yeah."
"And weren't you also the one who said that we weren't going to see each other a lot when we were both at college, but you wanted to make it work with us?" I pressed further, starting to feel my temper rise. Ireally wanted to know what he was getting at.
"Well, yeah, but-"
"Butwhat, Brian?"
"That was different... Girls could throw themselves at me while we're on the road," he said, trying to defend himself but looking more like a dog who'd just got beaten and sent to the kennel.
"And girls didn't throw themselves at you in LA?" I asked pointedly, knowing that they had but that he'd done nothing.
"Well, they did, but it's not the same. We're going to see each other less than we do when you're at school."
"Are you trying to tell me that the whole 'rock star' ego is already getting to you, and you want to whore yourself out on tour just to see what it's like?" I spat angrily, and he paused a moment, taking a deep breath before looking me in the eyes.
"No, what I'm trying to say is I don't trust myself," he mumbled.
"You can't, huh? Well I guess if you can't even trust yourself, that I can't really trust you either," I said rudely, turning away from him and walking slowly to the other side of the room.
"Michelle-"
"I think what you'rereally trying to say," I cut him off, my voice bitter, "is that you don't want to be with me so that you can go fuck around with girls who you claim will be 'all over the place' without feeling guilty about it." I turned back to him, glaring hard because I knew I was right, and I knew he wouldn't admit it.
"Baby," he started, and I just snorted in irony at how he tried to throw that at me. "I don't want to break up with you. I just think maybe it'd be best if we took a little break while I'm on tour," Brian said taking a few steps closer to me.
"A break? There's no such thing as taking a break, Brian. We either break up, or we stay together and you suck it up and be a man while you're on tour," I said sternly, looking up at him with hard eyes, hoping he knew that I meant every word I had said.
"Michelle, I don't want to hurt you-"
"Oh really? Cuz just the idea that you want to 'take a break'," I mocked, "so you can be with other girls has already done that. And I think that if that's the way you feel about this whole situation, maybe I should just go ahead and break up with you."
"Michelle, please just listen to me," Brian tried to get out, reaching out his hand to my cheek, but I stepped back and shook my head.
"Save it, Bri. We're done." And with that, I walked past him and out the door, slamming it behind me and feeling the tears start to form.
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Wewt, off to go do the next one.. These ones were both pretty long... 6-7pages typed up >.< dang hah