Therapy

Zacky paced the floor of his living room, nervously rubbing his hands together. He frowned when he realised how clammy they were, another sign that he wan’t looking forward to what lie ahead. After Val had announced that she was going to tell both Brian and Erin just what their friends had done, she had decided that it should be down to Zacky, Matt and Johnny to confess to Brian their part in it all, while she would take care of speaking to Erin. Matt had figured they had the easier option, which Zack was inclined to agree. He would rather deal with Brian than a pissed off Erin, not that it made the idea of it all any more pleasant. They all knew he would be pissed once they admitted what they had done, but he would probably take it better than Erin.

“Vengeance, just sit the fuck down!” Matt growled. “If you’re doing that shit when Brian gets here, he’s gonna know you’re guilty of something straight away.”

“Well he is,” Johnny pointed out.

“Fuck you, Christ!” Zacky spat. “I didn’t hear you saying no when we spoke about it.”

Matt groaned as the pair began to bicker back and forth, making him wonder why they had ever believed that they would be able to get away with the plan they had come up with.

“Will you both just shut the fuck up,” he grumbled. “He’s gonna be here any minute, and we need to be united in this so he can see we thought we were doing the right thing. You two bitching at each other really isn’t going to help with that.”

Zacky opened his mouth to answer, only to shut it quickly as they heard the front door open. Brian, whistling a nameless tune to himself walked into the living room. He flashed his three friends a grin that for the first time in months was genuine, the relaxed demeanour about him not something they expected to see from a man who had spent the best part of a year looking tense and on edge.

“You seem surprisingly upbeat for someone who’s marriage ended last week,” Zacky stated with a hint of surprise.

“Ever thought that might be why I’m in a good mood?” Brian put to him, the smile never faltering. “So, what’s going on? Matt made it sound like a matter of urgency we had this little meeting.”

Glancing up from where he sat on the couch, Matt sighed deeply.

“You may wanna sit down,” he suggested, his voice monotone as inside he fought to find the best way to even begin the conversation he had been dreading.

With a shrug, Brian settled himself in one of the chairs, looking at each of his friends expectantly, waiting for one of them to actually say something. Matt ran a hand over his face, letting out a low breath as he prepared himself.

“Before we get into this, please just remember we did what we had to because you’re our brother and we hated seeing you so fucking miserable,” he began. “The marriage counsellor you and Chelle were seeing…we know it was Rin.”

“You do?” Brian answered, evidently confused by this little revelation. He had never mentioned once who it had been, so how they had discovered it was Erin was something of a puzzle.

“How?” he questioned, the happy-go-lucky mood he had been eminating moments earlier slipping away.

“Because we were the ones who set it up,” Matt admitted.

Brian laughed, almost as if he believed this was some kind of joke. Sure, he was very aware that all of them had tried to make him see sense when he was insistant on going through with a wedding that was nothing more than him trying to prove a non-sensical point. They had even grown frustrated with him when he had refused to back down and admit that he had been mistaken and had strived to make his marriage work when everyone, including himself, knew that he was fighting a losing battle. But there was no way that any of them would have gone to the lengths of actually setting up an appointment with the woman they all knew he should actually be with,of that he was sure.

“Of course you did,” Brian finally replied with a laugh. “Seriously,how did you find out?”

Zacky tugged nervously on one of his liprings, knowing he was going to have to own up.

“Remember the night we all got together here to toast Jimmy’s birthday, just the guys, and someone wasn’t happy about it?”

“Who could forget,” Brian mumbled, rolling his eyes and recalling the memory of that night.

He had argued with Michelle most of the day over his plans to spend the evening remembering his best friend on what would have been his thirtieth birthday. She had been under the impression that she had the right to be there too, despite the rest of the girls understanding that it was something the guys had wanted to do by themselves. Brian had walked out on her mid-argument, wanting to get away before he ended up saying something he would no doubt feel guilty for. Unfortunately, he had made the mistake of keeping his phone switched on, the evening then marred by a barrage of texts and calls from his very pissed off spouse wanting to continue the fight. Eventually Brian caved and went home, his friends yelling at him to grow some balls and stand up to her for once.

“All we could think about was that had you have been with Rin, then you would have been left alone, that she would have never questioned your need to be there without her,” Zacky continued. “Neither of you have out rightly said that you regret breaking up or making the pact to never contact each other again, but it’s definitely been hinted at more than once. And that’s when we decided we had to step in.”

Brian listened whilst Zacky went into detail of how they could go about getting Erin and himself back together. They had known that just arranging for them to be in the same place at the same time was going to prove impossible,due to Erin’s insistance that it was best that she never attended any of their get togethers. Johnny had joked that maybe Brian and Michelle should attend marriage counselling with Erin, and that’s when the plan had began to formulate.

They all knew that if any of them suggested such an idea to either party of the unhappy couple, they would no doubt be shot down in flames. Discussions on just how to make it a possibility continued well into the night. Gena had arrived home from an evening with friends, and found herself drawn in, all too happy help. Knowing that even she wouldn’t have been welcomed by Michelle if she approached her, Gena had it all worked out in a matter of minutes just how they could make it happen.

The following day, armed with one of Erin’s business cards, she had gone to work at the salon. Michelle’s friend Calista was due in that morning for an appointment, and that was all the opportunity Gena needed to ensure that the card got to Michelle and the wheels were set in motion. Each of them had believed that they had executed the perfect plan, until Val had seen the card, and her curiosity got the better of her.

“I don’t fucking believe this,” Brian murmured in disbelief. “Have you any fucking idea what you’ve even done?”

“Gates, you were fucking unhappy but you were just being too stubborn to admit defeat and call it quits,” Zacky argued. “So don’t even consider sitting there and try to edge the blame onto us for the fact that all of this finally gave you the balls to admit that you still love Rin and that what you had with Michelle was a sham.”

“That’s not what I’m pissed off about, it’s the fact that you used Rin the way you did to make it happen!” Brian yelled, jumping up from where he sat, pacing the floor.

“She sat there week after week trying her hardest to make me and Michelle work, all the while completely fucking oblivious that she’d been set up by her friends to blow everything apart!” he continued to rant.

There was a part of him that wanted to tell them that their plan had had the desired effect, but right now his main concern was Erin and how she was going to take the news. She had become an innocent pawn in their game, and once she found out, Brian was very much aware that not only would she be pissed off, but that it could have an unwelcome affect on what they had just managed to get back again. He had been without her once, he didn’t plan on letting it happen again.

“I guess we never saw it that we were using her,” Matt piped up, his face riddled with guilt.

“Clearly,” Brian replied. “You know she’s gonna be pissed when you come clean about this, which you need to do fast, before others find out and start accusing Rin of being in on it, because you know that’s gonna happen.”

“That’s kinda out of our control,” Johnny mumbled. “Val’s going to tell Rin today.”

“Oh this just gets fucking better and better!” Brian growled, taking his keys from his pocket and making for the front door.

“Gates! Where the fuck are you going?! Zacky yelled after him.

“To hopefully do some damage limitation!”

Pulling out his phone, Brian quickly dialled the number of Erin’s office as he got into his car, gunning the engine into life whilst waiting for Jude to answer.

”Good afternoon, Erin Bennett’s office, this is Jude, how may I help you?”

“Jude, it’s Brian. Is Rin busy, I need to warn her about something.”

”If you mean Val turning up, you’re too late. Rin took her in the office about ten minutes ago.”

“Fuck!” Brian yelled. “I’m on my way,” he added before ending the call, not even sure if his presence would make the situation better or worse.