Burn

"I'm going to murder whoever decided that 5am flights were a good idea." Cori complained for the thousandth time that morning. Drew turned to her friend, a glare permanently etched on her face.

"If you complain one more time, I'm going to have you stored in cargo with the cats and dogs." Drew growled at her. Even though Drew completely agreed with her, she was in no mood to deal with her complaining. She was nervous enough about the trip as it was. Seeing her parents for the first time in a few years, with her friends, was nerve wracking enough to make her want to turn back.

"It will be fine," Skylar reassured her. "I'll keep Cori under control so she doesn't embarrass us too much." He smirked. Cori gasped, hitting her boyfriend's shoulder.

"I do not embarrass you!" She whined, pouting like a five year old. Skylar laughed and took her into his arms, her head gently resting under his chin.

"No darling, of course you don't." He replied, sending a wink to Drew. Drew smiled, glad that someone was there was the comic relief.

"I'm sorry I'm late." Brian called when he walked into the airport. Drew's heart did a small leap when she saw his bed head. She loved it when his hair was down and not all hard with gel. "Overslept after a long night with Michelle." Her leaping heart dropped. Drew nodded swiftly before turning towards the ticket agent.

"Drew Calvin for the flight to Charlotte." She told the woman behind the counter. She started putting the information into the computer. Drew fiddled with her bracelet nervously while she waited for her boarding pass.

"You ready?" Brian asked, coming up beside her. She couldn't look at him. If she did, all she would see was Michelle kissing all over him and that she could never bare.

"No, but what choice do I have?" Brian knew something was wrong with her and it was just her nerves.

"Here you are Miss. Calvin. Have a nice flight." The woman smiled handing her the boarding pass. Drew thanked her softly before looking down to the paper in her hand; studying it. As to what she found, it was slightly confusing. Drew turned back to the woman and put the pass on the counter. "Is there something wrong?"

"Yes. This is a first class ticket. I didn't order one." Brian smiled and put his hand over Drew's, which she quickly pulled away.

"There's no problem." He told the woman before turning to Drew. "I upgraded all of our tickets." He smiled. Drew was shocked. She didn't even expect him to go with him, much less pay to upgrade all of their flights to first class.

"First class?!" Cori exclaimed from behind them. Brian turned to her just in time for her to hug him tightly. "Where have you been all my life?!" Brian laughed, returning the hug.

"You're welcome. I thought that since it was a special trip, why not start it off special?" Brian explained. Cori squealed and hugged him even tighter. Skylar, noticing his girlfriend's death grip on the rock star, quickly detached her from him and attempted to calm her down enough to get her own boarding pass. Brian smiled and turned to Drew who was a mix of emotions. "You alright?" Drew sighed and pushed her hair back.

"You didn't have to do this." Brian smiled and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I wanted to." Drew smiled lightly and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "You need to relax. Hopefully this will help." She looked up into his chocolate eyes, remembering why she had fallen in love with him in the first place.

"Why are you being so nice? A week ago, you wanted nothing to do with me." Brian laughed while adjusting his bag on his shoulder.

"You know me, I could never stay mad at you. No matter how hard I really try." Drew could never be mad at him either, for different reasons than his own.

"Are you slowpokes coming? First class is waiting for us!" Cori smiled, much more chipper than before. Drew nodded, placing her backpack over her shoulders.

"You go on ahead. I have to check in." Brian told them. Drew began to protest but was stopped when Cori grabbed her hand, pulling her towards security. Drew kept her eyes on Brian while being pulled away. She was still having a hard time believing that he was actually with her.

"You are going to marry him, right?" Skylar smirked, placing his arm over her shoulders. Drew snapped out of her daze/fantasy at his question.

"If you haven't noticed, he's married." She reminded him. Skylar shrugged, looking over the crowd to Brian.

"Really? His lack of ring must have confused me." Drew quickly stood on her toes to try and look over the crowd of people to see if Brian really wasn't wearing his wedding ring. However, she was too short and his hands weren't in view of her. Drew made a mental note to look at his hand when he had caught up to them. Cori, Skylar, and Drew painstakingly made their way through security and waited on the other side for Brian.

"It's super nice of him to get us all first class seats." Cori said to her friend. Drew nodded, looking down at her ticket; still not believing that he had really done it. "You do think it's a coincidence that none of the other guys could come?" Cori asked. Drew had called them all and asked in they wanted to go with them. Matt said he wanted to spend time with Val since she had just gotten back. Zacky claimed that she was working on more things for his clothing line. Johnny was the only one with a reasonable excuse; he was still too depressed to go anywhere.

"Cori, lets not talk about that today. She had enough on her mind as it is." Skylar said, wrapping his arms over her shoulder. Cori had obviously told him about the plan. Even though he didn't necessarily agree with it, if it meant getting Drew away from Evan; he was down. Finally, Brian made it through security and joined up with their group.

"Anyone recognize you, yet?" Drew laughed as they made their way toward their gate. Brian scoffed and peeked out from behind his sunglasses.

"Please. I'm a master of disguise." He proudly gloated.

"Synyster Gates!" A few young voices called out. Brian stopped and hung his head low. Cori giggled and patted his shoulder.

"Well, Master, looks like your cover is blown." Brian glared at her before the two girls ran up to him.

"Oh my god, it's really you!" One girl squealed. Brian smiled, taking off his glasses. "You are so much hotter in person!" She squealed. Drew laughed and rolled her eyes.

"That's what I've been told." Brian joked while he signed a magazine that they were holding. The girls laughed as if it were the most hysterical joke they had ever heard.

"Please can we have a picture? My boyfriend won't believe me if I don't have proof." He gave her an odd look, but agreed.

"Odd boyfriend," He muttered while one of the girls shoved their camera into Drew's hands. She watched as they wrapped their arms around him in a tight embrace. Brian looked like he was getting the life squeezed out of him. Drew smirked and held the camera up, zooming in just so the camera could only see Brian.

"Smile," Brian smiled as nicely as he could while the girls beamed. Drew snapped the picture and Brian was released. He took a deep breath as soon as he was out of their clutches. The girls thanked them a million times before running off toward their gate.

"Well, they were...sweet." Cori snickered. Brian rolled his eyes, throwing on his hoodie and sunglasses.

"Come on, Mr. Incognito. We'll miss our flight." Drew laughed, pulling him along. Her heart jumped when his hand clasped around hers. She looked down at his tattooed hand to see that the ring really wasn't there. She tried to hide her smile. Luckily, she had more important thing on her mind as they reached the gate just in time for them to board.

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Cori and first class were a match made in heaven. From the wider chairs with the extra leg room, to the free drinks that were at her disposal. Cori usually wasn't a fan of flying, but with perks like these; she could see herself gathering up her frequent flyer miles.

Drew looked over to her friend in amusement, seeing her reclined with a hot towel over her face. If only she could relax as well as she was.

"I think I've created a monster." Brian laughed.

"Yeah, First Class Frankenstein." Drew smiled, folding her legs under her.

"You look like you could use some relaxation, too." Drew rolled her eyes, bringing out her notebook with all her work things.

"I work better under stress." She muttered as she started sinking into her work. Brian was not going to let her hide in her work. He reached over and pulled the notebook away from her. Drew whined and reached for it like a five year old. "Give it back." Brian shook his head. Drew glared at him and got up, leaning over him to get to it. Brian smirked and held it out into the aisle. "Brian, stop it." She ordered, still trying to grab it.

"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to return it your seat please." The flight attendant said, walking up to them.

"He has my notebook." She grumbled, perched over Brian's lap. Brian looked up to the flight attendant with an innocent look.

"I think she's had a few too many pre-flight cocktails. This is my notebook," Drew gasped at his lie. "Would you mind putting this up with my things please?" She asked, flashing her the smiled that melted thousands of women's hearts all over the world. The woman blushed and took the notebook, putting it in the carry on compartment.

"Is there anything else I can get you, sir?" She asked, sticking her chest out a little farther and bending over slightly. Drew watched, appalled as this woman flirted with him. Brian briefly looked to her chest before politely shaking his head.

"No thank you...Cassandra." He smiled, looking to the name tag that was now practically shoved in his face. She smiled brightly before walking towards the front of the plane. Drew scoffed, slumping back down in her seat and glared out of the window. Brian looked to her with a smirk. "Now you can relax."

"No, I can't." She spat. Brian smiled and placed his hand on her knee, only to have her smack it away. "Don't fucking touch me." She replied with venom dripping from each word.

"Whoa, What's wrong?" Drew continued to glare out the window. "The cloud give you a dirty look or something?" He joked. She ignored him, not finding his 'joke' funny. "Come on, talk to me." He sighed leaning towards her.

"I don't want to talk to you. That's why I'm ignoring you." Drew huffed as she continued to glare out the window. Brian shrugged, leaning his head back against the back of the seat.

"Whatever. You'll have to talk to me eventually." Drew rolled her eyes. If he wanted to play that game, she was the master.

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Two hours later; they were still playing Drew was actually very good at this particular game. Especially when she had fallen fast asleep. One thing that lost her points, however, was that she had fallen asleep on Brian's shoulder. A rumble of turbulence shook Brian awake. He looked around for a moment, remembering where he was. When he held his arms over his head and stretched, Drew groaned in her subconscious from his movements. Brian froze and looked down at the sleeping woman. A sly smirk spread over his thin lips. He had forgotten how beautiful she was when she was asleep. He could only imagine that she was what angels looked like when they slept. He didn't dare mover her. One, because she looked so peaceful. Two, she probably would have punched him in the face.

"I knew she would knock out early." Cori commented from across the aisle. Brian nodded and ran a hand gently over her hair. "So. Your wife wasn't upset about you coming with us?" She asked turning to face him more. At the moment, Michelle was a very sore subject for Brian. She really wasn't happy that he was on this trip. He did need some time away from her. He need to see if what he was feeling was real or not; He couldn't do that with Michelle around.

"She felt better about it when I told her that you and Skylar were coming." Cori smiled, a knowing twinkle in her eye.

"Trust issues?" Brian sighed, shifting a bit but not too much to disturb Drew. "You really can tell me anything. I won't tell."

"I'll remember that." He quietly replied, looking down at Drew. Cori took that as he cue to leave him alone for now. She would talk to him more when they got to her parents house. She was sure he'd have a lot to say there. Soon after, Brian laid his head down on top of Drew's and fell asleep for the rest of the flight.

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Drew stirred awake when she felt strong arms being wrapped around her. She opened her eyes to see Brian smiling down at her.

"You weren't supposed to wake up." He laughed. Drew squirmed herself out of his arms quickly. Even at the slightest touch from him was enough to get her heart beating faster. She gathered up her things and stood up, waiting for people to get off of the plane. "You were really tired." Drew rolled her eyes. He grabbed hold of her hand gently. "You're seriously still mad at me?" She looked into his eyes, seeing the genuine hurt. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to piss you off. I was trying to calm you down." His apology seemed sincere enough.

"I'm sorry, I'm just so stressed out. I haven't seen my parents since I left for school and I don't know how this is all going to go." Brian laughed musically, calming a few of her nerves.

"You're over-reacting. They're your parents. They are probably really happy to have you home." He was right, he was always right. Drew needed to remember that this weekend was really important to her parents. 30 years together was a huge accomplishment these days. Drew hoped that one day she'd hit that milestone with someone.

"Get me off this plane," Cori complained as she bee-lined it for the door. Again, Drew was happy that she didn't have to do this alone.

"After you." Brian smiled with a wave of his hand towards the exit. Drew took a deep breath as she walked off the plane and onto the ground of where she grew up.