Living On A Prayer

Eloise rubbed her nineteen week pregnant belly as she wrote out what they were doing on the white board. She knew her students would get the shock of their lives when they spot the ring her on finger and her belly. Eloise smiled as she thought over the last week of their vacation in the Caribbean. Brian’s family went home early because McKenna couldn’t miss the first week of school and his dad had to go back on tour. Her parents had gone back with them so the last week there it was spent with his band mates. Brian would be leaving in the morning for a three and a half week tour. They decided that when he got back they would do the reception for friends and family. Eloise kept her back to the class as her first period class started filling in. Once the final bell rang, Eloise turned around making her class gasp.

“Whoa Ms. Kent—”

“It’s Mrs. Haner now.” Eloise corrected making the class go quiet then their jaws dropped.

“You married Synyster Gates?” One of her students asked.

“No, I said my last name was Haner, not Gates.” She told them while she opened her planner.

“Wait . . . I thought you were dating Synyster Gates though?” Another student asked.

“She is you moron, but she didn’t marry his alter ego. She married him.” Eloise just chuckled and shook her head. “How far along are you?”

“Nineteen weeks,”

“Boy or girl?” One of the students asked.

“Won’t know for a few more weeks.” She answered. “Okay now that my personal life is out of the way, how about we start the lesson for today. Sound good?” The class let out a laugh and began pulling out their notebooks and text books.

As the day went on, Eloise went through the same thing with each of her classes. McKenna just shook her head when the other kids would look over at her. Eloise had pulled McKenna a side after the class ended to ask if she was alright. McKenna just shrugged it off; she was use to these sorts of things with her brother.

Eloise let out a sigh as she sat down at her desk with her lunch. The one part of pregnancy she wasn’t looking forward to was the swollen ankles and sore back like she had last time. She brought out her laptop and decided to check her email for RSVP’s to the reception. Checking through the things that didn’t matter, she saw an email from her sister. Eloise was confused as to why Sarah was sending her an email with no subject title. She opened the email and frowned seeing the couple lines Sarah wrote.

I found a few recent articles/interviews your husband did recently. You need to read them and talk to him about it.

Instantly becoming confused, Eloise opened the links that Sarah had put into the email for her to read. The first link Eloise shrugged off because she knew about the things Brian was talking about. The second one Eloise didn’t put much thought into because she knew how he was in high school. Eloise clicked on the third link and started reading it. She frowned going through it as Brian talked about drugs. She knew that he use to do them so it didn’t bother her. Then she read one of the last line.

I still do them in moderation.

Quickly looking at the date, Eloise saw it was an article from the previous year and took a deep breath. She was going to give him the benefit of the doubt and prayed that he had stopped once they met. Eloise shook her head and knew that when she got home she had to address this with Brian and be very calm about it with him. Getting through the last two classes of the day was easier said than done. Her mind kept going back to everything that happened over the few weeks and what she just read. As the final bell sounded, Eloise rubbed her stomach, not wanting to face this problem.

When Eloise got home, she set her things on the kitchen table and noted the TV was off. That usually meant that James was down for a nap and Brian was in his studio playing around on his guitar. She decided not to talk to him about it just yet. She wanted to think more so about what she was going to say. Thankful she didn’t have anything to grade, Eloise focused all her attention on making them an early dinner since Brian had to leave early in the morning.

“Smells good in here,” Brian said as he came into the kitchen with James on his hip. Brian walked over and kissed her cheek. “Is everything alright?” He asked setting James in his high chair. Eloise just nodded as she continued to cook the food. Brian didn’t press the matter and decided to set the table for them. “What do you want to drink?”

“Water’s fine,” Eloise said quietly as she turned the stove off and placed the noodles in a bowl for them. Once they sat down and dished everything, they quietly ate their dinner. Brian shifted in his chair uneasily. He was trying to figure out if he had done or said something or if she was just having a mood swing.

“How was work?” Brian asked, deciding that was a safe subject.

“Fine, kids were all shocked and kept asking questions.” She told him shortly. Brian just nodded and continued eating in silence. He watched as she finished eating and took her dishes into the kitchen. She then came back out and cleaned up James. “Has he had a bath today?”

“No,”

“Alright, I’m going to give him a bath then. Can you do the dishes?” Brian just nodded and watched as she walked away up the stairs. He let out a hefty sigh as he got up from the table to take care of the dishes. He rinsed off all the dishes and loaded them. When he got upstairs he saw that the bathroom door was still closed so decided to finish packing for tour.

Throwing the last of his things in the smaller suit case, Brian let his head roll back in frustration. Eloise walked into the closet and Brian watched as she changed into her pajamas. He mentally groaned knowing he wasn’t getting tonight. He watched all her moves as she did her usual nightly routine. Brian changed into his pajama pants and made his way into the bathroom.

“So are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

“Sarah sent me an email today,” Eloise told him as she looked into the mirror. She saw him just nod. “There were links in it to interviews you’ve done and articles about you.”

“Okay . . .”

“Most of them I already knew what was said in them, until I read the last one.” Eloise watched as he scratched the back of his head, clearly confused. “It was when you were talking about Jimmy and his cause of death and how you still do drugs, in moderation.”

“El, that interview is nearly a year old!” Brian told her, realizing which one she was talking about.

“I know that Brian,” She turned around and stared at him. “But what I don’t know is if you still are doing drugs. If you’ve ever done them then watched James or were . . . taking care of him the day after.”

“I’ve never done drugs around James, before I’ve watched him or after.” Brian told her venomously.

“What about on tour?” Eloise asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Brian hesitated then let out a sigh.

“Yeah, we do sometimes. Just between tour dates when we’re bored on the bus.” He admitted to her. “But none of the deadly drugs El.”

“Does that include shrooms, weed, LSD, PCP, Ecstasy, inhalants? Brian I can keep listing things.”

“El, those drugs aren’t bad—”

“Aren’t bad? Brian Elwin Haner Junior, I know you didn’t do the best in high school but I damn well know you know all of the side effects of those drugs!” Eloise hissed at him. “I don’t mind you smoking because you never do it around us and you rarely smoke. I don’t mind you drinking either because you aren’t a drunk. But I draw the line at illegal substances.”

“So we do them on the road El! We’re on the bus with just each other, what could happen?” Brian asked following her into the bedroom. “I don’t see what the problem is!” Eloise glared over at him as she sat on the bed.

“Then I suggest you take the next three and a half weeks to think it over.” Eloise turned off the light, slipping under the covers. Brian groaned and rubbed his face. “You can sleep in the guest room,”

“Are you fucking seriously?” He growled out. “It’s my last night home and I can’t even sleep in my own bed?”

“At this moment I don’t want you anywhere near me. If you want to sleep in this bed then I’ll gladly go into the guest room.” Eloise shot back at him. Brian just rolled his eyes and mumbled a forget it and left the room. He made his way down the hall to the guest room and closed the door behind him. Figuring she wasn’t going to wake him in the morning, Brian set the clock to wake him up.

Lying out on the bed, Brian stared at the ceiling then wiped his hand over his face. “Barely married for two weeks and I’m already sleeping in the guest room.”