We've Proven Our Love Over Time So Strong.

-Lisa's POV-

As I knew I would, I woke up wondering when or if Brian would contact me. I wouldn't have been surprised if he didn't, seeing as who he was. After my usual morning business, I went downstairs to fix a quick breakfast. My parents were long gone to work, so I was on my own all day. After a bowl of cereal, I went to get ready for my morning run. With my dog on a leash next to me, I headed down to the boardwalk at a fast paced walk as a warm-up, then turned into a run when I stepped onto the path. After about thirty minutes, I headed back in a slow walk towards home. After I showered, and enjoyed my alone time by walking around in only a towel, I finally looked at my phone. A missed call from a number I didn't recognize, a voice mail, and a text from the same number. My heart skipped a beat in my chest as I opened the text message.

Hey, it's Brian, if you didn't listen to the voice mail first. Hope we can hang out sometime soon.

I smiled at the message before going to listen to the voice mail. “Hey, it's Brian. Umm, I'm not sure what you do during the day, but I wanted to ask if you maybe wanted to go see a movie tonight. We could go to dinner before, or go for a few drinks afterwards...or whatever. Just hit me back and we'll plan.”

With a smile still plastered on my face, I called him back, listening to a few rings before there was an answer that sounded overly excited. “Hey!”

Stifling a laugh, I replied. “Hey, what's up?”

“Just sitting at home, you?”

“Decided to take you up on that offer. I don't do anything the day besides run in the morning when I wake up.”

“Awesome, so what did you have in mind?”

“I was thinking all three. Dinner, movie, and drinks?”

“That sounds good. How about I pick you up around five?”

“That's good. What'd you have in mind for dinner and stuff? I need an idea of what to wear, because my wardrobe can go two ways for going out to eat, and I'm not into overly fancy places.”

“Oh, no, not fancy. I was thinking maybe Chili's, then drinks at the place we were at yesterday.”

“Alright, that's good. I'll see you at five then.”

I could almost hear the smile in his voice as he said bye and hung up. Of course, I had an ear-to-ear grin on my face too as I had a mini-flail attack on my bed. I knew it was early, so I sat downstairs watching movies and surfing the internet like I usually did. Two movies and a nap later, I looked at my phone and saw that it was almost four and I hadn't started getting ready yet. I rushed upstairs, turned on my hair straightener and dug through my closet to find something to wear. Dressing a little more than casual for me meant jeans, a plain colored shirt, and a pair of sneakers, or my platform heeled boots for a special occasion. I was never confident in my looks, but a few of my specialties were straightened hair and cleavage. As I was trying to find my other boot, a piece of paper floated down in front of me. I looked at the theme park admission ticket and teared up just a bit as the significance of it came back into my head. I sighed and ripped it up, tossing it into the trashcan. I finished getting dressed, straightened my hair, and applied a little bit of makeup. Once pleased with my look, I had a moment of self-love and snapped a few pictures, including a perfectly snapped one when my dog barking scared me. I glanced at my phone and saw it was 4:45.

“Shut up!” I shouted. He did, and that was when I heard the doorbell ring. “Fuck-nuts,” I cursed to myself.

Still without the shoes I wanted to wear, I ran downstairs to open the door, holding my dog with one hand. I froze instantly when I saw Brian standing there wearing black jeans, a sleeveless white shirt from his clothing company, and a fedora. It was still a shock to me given who he was, and I couldn't help but gawk just a bit at how he looked.

“Sorry I'm early, but I was really bored,” he said with a smile.

“It's okay. Come on in,” I said, pulling my dog back with me. “He doesn't bite, he's just overly friendly, and he sheds.” I frowned. “Those pants might turn tan...”

“It's fine.” He squatted to greet my dog who sniffed him curiously.

“I'm almost ready, I just need to find shoes. Umm, you can stay here or come upstairs. I do warn you, my room is a mess...” I caught myself rambling nervously.

“I'll wait here.”

I nodded and ran upstairs. It took a few minutes, but I found my other boot. Once I pulled them on, I added a light mist of a body spray, gathered a few things into my purse, and I was ready to go. Butterflies began fluttering around my stomach as I headed downstairs. The whole time I was asking myself what I was doing. He was playing with my dog and didn't see me until I cleared my throat. “I'm ready,” I said.

He froze for a second as he appeared to be checking me out. “You look nice,” he said.

My cheeks burned. “Thanks, you do too.”

I turned out the lights and locked up the house before following him outside. For some reason, I'd figured him to have an overly pricey car, but he just had a black SUV. We took off towards the restaurant, consumed by a few minutes of awkward silence. I didn't know what to talk about with him.

“So did you make it to bed okay last night?” he asked.

“Yeah. I wasn't wasted, I'm normally a bit off balanced even when I'm sober.” I noticed my voice was a bit shaky, and I was trying not to ramble nervously. I wanted to have a conversation with him, but I didn't know him well enough to start anything too personal. “You made it home okay I take it?”

“Yeah, I actually don't live too far from you. Maybe a forty-five minute walk at a regular pace. And uhh...you really think anyone's gonna mess with me?” He asked with a chuckle.

“Yeah...no. Tatted up, muscular, nobody's gonna fuck with you.” I laughed back. “Though I don't think you'd be able to escape a creepy fan-girl attack.”

“Ah, on the contrary, I have been able to escape those. Sign a few autographs, talk to a few, then say I have something important I have to attend to, which usually isn't a lie. Most of the time we're out though, people don't really bother us. The guys are usually out with their girls, or all of us are together, so yeah, it's pretty chill if you believe it.”

“I can't speak for many others, but I've seen you guys around, like yesterday. And the times I have, I just minded my own business, except for when you had that collision with me.”

“I'm just glad it wasn't as bad as it could've been. One of us could've gotten really hurt, and yeah, that wouldn't have been good.”

“Nope, especially since you're going overseas next month right?”

“Yeah. Can't really play guitar with a broken arm,” he said, laughing again.

At the restaurant, I was enlightened and entertained with more tour stories. It seemed that he had stories that could go on forever, and I was always interested in hearing them. Deep inside I was starting to hurt though. I had been one to become emotionally attached to people too quickly, and if there was a spark, I always fell hard and fast. I somehow could sense a connection between us, and I was scared. I had to keep repeating to myself that if he and I did hang out more, it would be just as friends. I had to tell myself that I couldn't fall for him, and that I was leaving soon and probably wouldn't see him ever again after this. It would just turn into me maybe sending a text when I could, and he would ask who I was, or it would be somebody different because he changed his number. In the meantime though, I listened attentively to his stories because they kept making me laugh, and I'd forget about all the pain I was feeling from my past.

After the movie we headed to the same place we were at the night before. A few drinks down, and both of us were feeling buzzed. I knew I was, because I was laughing a lot more at his stories. It didn't take long for the alcohol to start bring out confidence to turn the conversation a bit more personal.

“I never knew anybody that was so entertained by tour stories. I guess because most of my friends are in the crew and have heard them all before.”

“Well I think they're entertaining. I never really knew anybody that could make me laugh like this. It's funny because I knew that you're famous, and it's not often I get to hang out with famous people. A lot of them come across as conceited assholes.”

“Well, I'm clearly not an asshole, or you would've bolted already, right?” He asked with a laugh. “I can understand why you think that though, because a lot of people let their money and fame get to their heads. My band, and our crew, and any band we've toured with, we're all human. We love what we do, and while we do use the money to maybe have a nice car, we don't let it get to our heads.”

“That's a good thing. It's why I love the music that I do. Hanging with you like this though, it's nice. I put it aside that you're famous, and you're really cool to be around.”

“I just hope it doesn't seem to be moving too fast for you. I'd like us to hang out more-”

I cut him off before I chickened out on the question. “Sorry, I don't wanna sound like a stupid fan-girl, but aren't you...umm...taken?” I asked, breaking eye contact with him.

I felt his eyes leave me. “I was...” he trailed off.

“I'm sorry. I got out of a bad one myself recently...” I also trailed off, and in curiosity to see if he would talk about his situation, I decided to go into mine. “He cheated on me twice. The first time I hated him for it, because he lied to me about it. He said they had dated, and were now friends. The red flag should've been when he was all 'out of an agreement to stay friends, I let her call me babe or baby.'” I paused, letting out a sigh.

“Yeah, no offense, but that's just not right.”

“I know. It was little things that made me suspicious, but I stuck with him. Eventually I had it confirmed, and that was still two months before I ended it. I finally did, and was trying to forget about him, but I couldn't. I was naïve, and I was in love. Somehow we started talking again, and he was dating someone else. I helped him out of that one, we hung out, and I agreed to start dating him again. Well, he had another girlfriend that I found out about. He was leaving soon for college in engineering, so I stuck with him until he left. After he did, well, I sent him an email saying I knew everything. The second time I wasn't even mad at him, I was mad at myself for falling for it again. I was blinded by love though, and the fact that I didn't want to be alone. That weekend I locked myself in my room. I couldn't face anybody, because they were right and I was wrong.”

“Well, he didn't deserve you then, if he hurt you like that. I was gonna propose to her, but she came clean to cheating on me. I told her to get the hell out of my house. I'm in the process of getting her name off the lease and everything. She's staying with her sister...”

“Val...” I cut in, but quickly grew embarrassed, and felt like an idiot. “I'm sorry. I mean, well...us as fans...you know, we know things, and through DVDs and stuff...and...fuck,” I groaned.

He laughed. “Nah, it's okay. It's not like it was meant to stay private. We're used to this. But yeah. Valary being Matt's soon to be wife, it's a little hard to get away from her.”

“I'm sorry. I guess I could say she didn't deserve you, but I don't think it's my place to really say that.”

“It's fine. She knows that I'm done with her.” We tried to lighten the conversation, but a few drinks later we somehow got back into the relationship talk, and he caught me completely off guard to where I almost choked on my drink. “I probably shouldn't be saying this, but I do think you're cool from what I can tell already. I'd definitely like for us to hang out more, and you know you can come hang with the guys too. They were the ones that actually told me to come after you.”

“Really?” I arched an eyebrow at him.

“Yeah. Well they think I already need a new girl, but they don't get that I'm not falling for this love at first sight shit.”

“Same here. We both have had similar experiences with it. You think you know a person, but then something just blows up. Try to cheer up though, and I will too.” I tried to give my best heartwarming smile.

“You're right,” he said, smiling back.

I noted that his eyes were slightly glazed over, and I wondered how I was going to get home. I also wondered how we both were going to get home, safely and legally. A few more drinks came with our conversation turning back to the entertaining side. Time was lost for a while until I happened to glance at my watch and notice that it was almost one-thirty. “Shit. I should get home,” I said as I stood up. “Whoa...” I stumbled and ended up back in my seat.

“I don't see this working that well,” Brian said. “If you want, we can take a cab back to my place.”

“I'll make it home if I just get some time and water.”

A half hour, and a few glasses of water later, I felt more coordinated. I was confident that I could make it home on foot regardless if he walked with me or not. The tab was paid for, and we both made it outside. I was still stumbling, and groaned when I started feeling dizzy. Brian had noticed and guided me to a nearby bench before saying he was gonna get it settled. I watched him talk to someone standing by the door, exchange a few words, then he handed his keys over to the guy before coming back and waving for a cab.

“I didn't expect us to drink this much. He's a friend of mine, and is gonna drop my car off tomorrow. We'll take a cab to my place, you can crash on my couch, and I'll take you home tomorrow.”

“I'm fine. I can make it home,” I protested, ignoring the slur in my voice. He helped me into the cab where I interrupted him giving his address to the driver. I gave him my address and leaned back to get comfortable. As soon as I got comfortable, a wave of fatigue swept over me, and I was fighting to keep my eyes open. “Is everything supposed to be spinning?” I asked.

Brian laughed next to me as I felt my body being pulled. “You're still pretty new to drinking aren't you?”

“Naaaahhhhh...sorta...” I laughed before realizing that he was holding me close to him. I figured he was just doing it to keep me sitting up. I leaned my head back as my eyelids finally won the battle, and everything went black for me.