Always Had Your Way

Brighten sat on Josh’s bed as she listened to her fiancé ramble about his day on set of his current movie, and how George Clooney was a pretty nice guy. Brighten giggled when needed, laughed when she found it was the right moment, and put her input in when he asked for it.

That was the kind of relationship Brighten had with Ryan, the one where either could go on for ages and the other truly listened, well at least that’s how Brighten saw it, now Ryan, not so sure. If you were around him when he was on the phone with Brighten, the first five minutes he had the hugest smile on his face, and then he was focused on other things, like the TV or his nails.

“So, I’m thinking maybe in a few weeks I’ll fly out so I can see you do a few shows on tour, I mean that is if you want me too, Bri?” Brighten smiled super big and told Ryan how great of an idea that was, how she couldn’t wait to jump in his arms even though it has only been 56 hours since he last saw him.

It was long after that Ryan bid goodbye and reminded Brighten that he loved her very much, and that he would let her know how work was going. After she hung up she started to make her way into the living room where she had last seen the group. Walking down the hall she stopped every so often to stare at the many pictures that covered the wall, coming up with what was happening at the moment the picture was taken.

Before she could turn the corner she overheard Josh and Dan talking, she didn’t want to interrupt so she pushed her back up against the wall, trying to quite her breathing so they wouldn’t be able to see her as her heart started to beat a little bit faster.

“You really need to stop hurtin’ her the way you are right now.” Josh spoke as he took a sip from his beer, staring into his best friends blue, green tinted eyes, and sighed. He could understand Dan was in a bad place, hell he’d be to if his wife, if he had had a wife, just up and left him, but at the same time he could see what his little sister Anais was going through right now and it was slowly killing her.

Dan had been looking down at jean jacket either pulling at a loss thread or playing with the hole that had mad it way into it, either way he was now glaring at his best friend, the brother of his wife, with such hurt or perhaps it was anger, if anything it could have been a mixture of both.

“What are you trying to say Josh, that I no longer love Anais? I gave an oath, Josh, I said I do and I promised till death do us part, which honestly, it doesn’t look like she takes those words seriously, be she up and left me! In the middle of the night Josh, she left me, no me leaving her!” Brighten jumped back at the sudden loudness in Dan’s voice, but she covered her mouth and nose, still trying to keep herself hidden, which you’d think she’d be ace at since she had spent most of her childhood hiding, but that is another story for another time.
Josh watched his friend’s eyes get more anger then sadness that he had seen before, he was sort of taken back by Dan’s outburst, but pushed it aside, because he wanted to see both his sister and his best friend happy again.

“For Anais; Dan she felt like you stopped loving her after the honeymoon was over and done with, but you never stopped to ask her if she was okay, so you can’t pin this all on my sister. You need to open your eyes Dan and realize you played a pretty big part in this. Stop making it out to be her fault.” Josh gulped the rest of his beer down and walked away from his best friend, shaking his head. Dan just simply hit his fist on the wall, as Brighten decided to make her way from her spot in the hall.

Dan noticed Brighten as she started to make her way past him, he had noticed her before he had gone off on Josh, but didn’t say anything. He wasn’t going to let her get away with ease dropping, so quickly as he could he caught her by her wrist and pulled out the front door that was maybe 10 feet from where they had been.

Brighten was taken by surprise as she suddenly was taken by the wrist and found herself in the chilly night air making the hair on her neck and arms stand straight up and goose bumps to start to form. She was suddenly wishing she had thrown on a jacket or sweatshirt when she was on the phone with Ryan getting changed in to pajama’s but now was not time for regrets, she had been caught by Dan listening in on a conversation she probably shouldn't have been.

“Brighten, I don’t know where you come from, but you of all people.-“

“I’m from Detroit Michigan, on the 8 mile side of town.” Dan quickly shot her a look, for interrupting him from his speech that he was about to give her. What, she thought she would try and lighten the mood, but obviously that wasn’t going to happen.

“What I was trying to say before you interrupted me, I don’t really care where you are from because obviously you don’t like me, but really you of all people should know eavesdropping isn’t okay.” Dan grumbled as he glared at Brighten, who had a look of confusion on her face clearly lost in what this was going to lead to.

“I never said I hated you or disliked you, I only know one side of the story clearly which, before you go off on me anymore, I think her therapist was right, clearly if you love Anais as much as you much as you clam and say you do, you should have gone after.” Dan was getting ready to speak but Brighten quickly placed her hand over his mouth to stop him. “If you love her, you’ll do one of two things, which is one, you’ll fight for her, or do what she wants, sign the papers and start to re build your own lives, because clearly this one you both are on is very destructive, for both of you.”

Dan didn’t even get a chance to say anything because Brighten got up quickly and briskly walked back in the house letting both the screen door and the house door close behind her. Dan did the only think his body would let him do at that very moment, sigh, sit back and look up at the stars. Not sure what he was looking out for but maybe he was looking for some sort of sign that would guide him in the right direction, because clearly he needed some kind of guidance, that didn’t involve his Mum, or his friends and band mates.