Shattered Secrets

The rest of the ride home we spent in an excited quiet, our nerves on end and our hearts threatening to beat right out of our chests. We listened to early Green Day as the road signs passed and the miles between us and home dwindled. I kept glancing to my phone where I knew that Brian's number was typed in perfectly under his name and it almost shocked me that he was that quick to give his personal number to a fan who had no reason not to sell it to other people. I was glad that he knew I wasn't that kind of person.

"What's with that smile?" Mandi asked as we came into town.

I shrugged and looked at her, not dropping the smile from my lips.

"Oh, come on!" Amanda demanded while throwing her hands into the air, "Admit it, you're stoked that Synyster Gates gave you his number."

I shrugged again, my smile growing wider at her frustration. "A little."

Mandi rolled her eyes and me and continued the trek to my house. The clock on the dashboard read 3:07 AM and I was glad that we were pulling up to the cute two story house that I claimed as my own.

"You can stay the night," I told Amanda, "If you don't feel like driving to the other side of town tonight. The couch is open," I joked, although it was true seeing as I was already sharing my bed with Greg.

"Sure." Mandi shrugged, pulling into my driveway and turning her car off. The two of us got out of the car and made our way to the white front door. I pulled my keys from my pocket and stuck one in the lock. I opened the door quietly after it clicked open and kicked my shoes off.

"I'll get you a blanket," I whispered as Amanda literally dropped onto the couch with a sigh
.
I fished a purple comforter out of the closet by the stairs and threw it at her with a smile. "Night," I stated as I climbed the stairs, peeling my new shirt off of my body as I went.

I wandered over to Bronx's room and cracked the door open slightly. He was sleeping again, laying on his stomach with his face buried in his pillow and his blankets up around his neck. His hair was strewn all over the place and his toes peaked out from the bottom of his blue blanket.

I smiled to myself and pulled the door shut. I walked back over to my own room. Greg was curled up on the right side of the bed, closest to the window that was on the opposite wall of the door. Greg was completely covered up and I could barely make out his shaven head at the top of the bed because of the fact that the blanket was covering his face.

I smiled to myself and made my way over to the closet that was across from the bed. I pushed the sliding door open quietly and grabbed a hanger. I placed my "Nightmare" shirt on the hanger and put it back into the closet, not caring that it wasn't any where near the band shirt's section. I stripped out of my jeans totally ignoring the fact that my cell phone, ticket and keys were still in the pockets. I climbed into bed, groaning happily when the cold sheets touched my bare legs. Greg shuffled as I buried myself in the blankets. He turned my direction and opened his eyes.

"Nissa?" he questioned groggily, rubbing his eyes like a child.

"Mm," I groaned out, too tired to actually form sentences.

I felt Greg turn away from me again. I sighed to myself and attempted to close my eyes. But the incident with Syn kept playing over and over again in my mind, plaguing my thoughts.

"That was so not what I was thinking" he chuckled, "You're the one with the dirty mind."

"You know," He murmured, turning so that his lips were by my ear, "That's not such a bad thing."

"I'll stop by sometime..."

I was woken up in the morning by Greg who claimed Bronx was running wild. I had rolled over, my thoughts from the night seemingly forgotten as I groaned, seeing as the room was baking in the October sun, the temperature for this time of year being way over normal.

I climbed out of bed and pulled a pair of my own boxer shorts on before I wandered to the stairs and yelled, "who turned the fricken air off?" Loudly, catching the attention of Amanda who was watching t.v, Bronx who was racing around the room with a toy airplane, and Greg, who was calling out to Bronx to settled down.

"I did," Greg stated simply, looking up at my disheveled form from where he was standing in the doorway of the kitchen and the living room.

I scowled at him and hopped down the stairs and straight to the thermostat. I pressed a few buttons so that it was at 65 degrees and I sighed happily when I could hear the central air kick on.

"But Nissa," Greg called, "It's October."

I shook my head. "So, it's hot."

Greg sighed in defeat and Amanda snickered to herself, turning her attention back to the t.v in front of her.

"What are you still doing here?" I questioned her, making my way over to the couch. As Bronx ran past me I reached out and pulled the hyper child into my arms. He screeched and then giggled as I tossed him down onto the couch next to Amanda, and then sat down, myself.

Mandi shrugged with a mischievous grin on her face. "I want to be here when you call Syn."

Bronx, who had been trying to squirm his way off the couch, to no avail, froze and stared at me like I had said something amazing and indescribable. I tilted my head to the side at him for a moment before I returned my attention to the woman next to me.

"Who says I'm even doing to call him?" I questioned, a challenge in my voice as Amanda glared at me and Bronx stared.

"You're going to call him," she stated calmly, looking away from me and to the arguing people on the Maury show.

I laughed at her placid attitude. "Yeah," I murmured, "I am."

Bronx knocked into me as he attempted to get further onto the couch, so much that he was pretty much sitting in my lap with his face bobbing in front of my own. "You're going to call Synyster Gates, Mommy?" he asked, his voice astounded and his expression amazed.

I nodded. "In a bit, I don't think he wants to be woken up at 9:30 in the morning," I told him, suppressing a yawn as well.

He murmured, "Oh." Then he climbed down from the couch and raced off towards the stairs. I heard Greg sighed from behind me as he walked over and sat down next to me promptly. "Bronx sure is hyper," he murmured, smiling at me. I nodded and smiled back slightly, the exhaustion from the night before still not satisfied by the amount of sleep I'd gotten. The room was quiet as the three of us watched the t.v intently. But as I glanced over at Greg he seemed to be mauling over something in his mind. He ran his tongue over his lips as Judge Judy screamed and yelled and claimed that the people who were standing there in front of her.

"Do you really have his number?" Greg asked suddenly, his voice low and questioning as looked at me.

"Hell yes she does!" Amanda shouted eagerly, "He gave it straight to her, she didn't even have to ask. Syn just flat out gave it to her. You should've seen the look on Michelle's face!"

I shook my head at the excited woman, my eyes rolling in my head. "He did it for Bronx."

Amanda scoffed loudly and shifted excitedly in her seat, pulling the blanket up around her as she ran through the latest gossip in her mind, "Synyster Gates didn't care that your son wanted to meet him," she claimed, completely oblivious to the glare I was sending her.

"Hey!" I shouted, "He's a nice guy!"

Amanda held her hands out in defeat as she said, "I meant, when there's a gorgeous woman in the situation, then Bronx isn't the first thing on a rockstar's mind," she said simply, trying to put that in a way that didn't seem like she was saying that my son wasn't important.

I sighed in defeat as Greg sat next to us in a shocked stupor, watching us like but not actually seeing us as his mind took in this new information. "Don't worry about it," I vocalized, already crossing out the theory that Brian Haner Jr would look at me while he had Michelle DiBenedetto right in front of him, willing to give him everything she has.

I shook those thoughts from my mind and took Greg's warm hand in my own. I caught his attention and he looked to me. I smiled at him and rolled my eyes in Amanda's direction so that he knew that I thought Mandi was going crazy.

He nodded at me slightly, his expression only changing from sour to solemn as he stood up, "It's alright if I head home?" He asked, though he was already walking towards the door.

I nodded and followed after him, shooting Mandi a glare as I did so. She simply shrugged and I groaned silently. "You don't have to go," I claimed, taking his hands in my own, not expecting him to pull away so quickly.

He shook his head as a disagreement. "I do," he stated, "I have work to do."

"It's Sunday," I sighed, knowing that he was making excuses to leave.

Greg shrugged. "A lawyer's job is never done."

"Then go," I urged, my temper flaring up as he pulled his shoes on and began to tie the laces.

He stood up, coming face to face with me. His eyes scanned over me, taking in my frigid posture. My arms were folded over my chest and my jaw was squared as he stood in front of me. "Why are you getting mad?" he interrogated, his own tone sound exasperated.

"Because you're upset that some rockstar gave me his phone number," I exclaimed, my hands flying out into the air and then falling to my sides only to be crossed again as he spoke.

"No, I'm upset because you took his number knowing that I want to marry you!"

I screeched in frustration, "Do you expect me not to take my favorite musicians number, Greg? I've only been a fan since before I could drive!"

"Oh!" Greg yelled, "So he goes from being some rockstar to your favorite musician of all time!" Greg turned away from me and sighed, knowing that I wouldn't back down if he wanted to fight with me, if he wanted to argue.

"Yes, Greg," I deadpanned, "He's both. I'm not looking for a relationship with Brian, because I have you. In that case, he's just some rockstar with nice hair, who's a nice guy with a cocky persona. But as for the fact that he's been the lead guitarist of my favorite band since 1996, I'm going to take his number because it's what I've wanted since I was 14 years old and drooling over the band - Music industry connections," I told him pointedly, knowing that he would either had to accept that or... I really couldn't see another option on the horizon, not with Greg at least.

I didn't think that having my favorite guitarist's phone number would be a reason for my recent fiancee to walk out with out another word, but that's just what the brunette man did. I stood there dumbfounded as he opened the front door, looked me straight in my dull brown eyes and closed the door behind him. My jaw hit the floor and my tongue lolled out, licking up dust on the hard wood. My anger, my temper, my 'try me' attitude kicked in and I ran up stairs, ignoring comfort calls from Amanda that he was just mad, upset, and jealous. I raced into my bedroom and to the jeans that were sprawled out on the floor where I had discarded them the night before. I plucked my cell phone from the back pocket, smiling when I noticed that it stayed charged over night. I rushed back down the stairs and threw myself down onto the couch next to Amanda, a smirk on my face.

The phone rang from where I held it out in front of me, on speaker phone so that my best friend could hear as well. Amanda's gaze questioned me, scrutinized, but she didn't say anything as a man cut the ringing and spoke.

"Hello?"

"Brian? It's Nissa."