Love Transcends All

“Arin was the second one to try out. I think the others would agree when I said neither one of us wanted to be there in the first place,” Brian explained.

“Yeah, it’s weird to see somebody else play the drums where it was supposed to be Jimmy.”

I felt the sadness tugged at my heart. “Anyways, so Arin walked in and I was, like, ‘Dude, are you kidding me?’” Brian said before he laughed. “Because he was so skinny, so tiny and I thought our drum tech guy was pulling a prank on us.”

I heard Matt’s laugh and my attention went to him. “Yeah, and you do know how big Jimmy’s drum set is so we were, like, what is this, a joke?” The whole table laughed and I followed suit. “And when Muffin sat behind the drums, we could barely see him. He was that small.”

“Thank God, I’m not the smaller one now,” Johnny said before he drank his beer.

“But you’re still the shortest one,” Zacky said as he punched Johnny lightly on his arm. I just had to laugh at that.

“Anyways, when Arin started playing, we were blown away. It’s ridiculous,” Brian said.

“Yeah, I’ve never felt that way since Jimmy. It was, like, Jimmy sent this kid down to us or something. When we heard him play, it was a unanimous decision. We wanted this kid,” Zacky said.

I looked over at Arin and he had a blush on his face. I smiled at him and squeezed his hand. “I told you they were going to love you,” I said and he chuckled. “He was such a nervous wreck when he got the call from Mike.”

“Yeah, like how you were nervous when I told you we’re gonna have dinner with the band,” Arin retored. My face flushed red with embarrassment and I poked out my tongue at him as the table burst into laughter.

When all of us were done with dinner, we exited the restaurant and all of us walked towards the parking lot. The boys were walking ahead of the girls as they were talking amongst themselves. The girls caught up to me and gave me a light nudge on the elbow. “So...” Val said and she had the biggest grin on her face. “Show us the rock!”

I laughed and I flashed them my engagement ring. Michelle took my hand and looked over the ring. “Wow,” she breathed. “Beautiful ring. That kid has good taste,” she said before winking at me.

I nodded and smiled. “Yeah. He’s full of surprises,” I said thinking back to the day he proposed to me. He managed to turn a day of hell into a day so beautiful that I don’t think I can ever forget.

“Hey, Melissa. We should all keep in touch with each other,” the blonde girl, Gena spoke. Next to her, Michelle nodded.

“Yeah, I think we need to keep each other’s company when the boys go on tour,” she said. Wait, what? They’re going to go on tour already? “We can do a little get together, like a girls night out or something.”

I felt the smile fading from my face as the new fact settles in. Sensing the change in my mood, I heard Lacey whispered something to Val. “Oh God, he hasn’t told you yet?”

I shook my head. “No,” I said simply. I glanced at Arin who was laughing away with his new companions and I turned around to look at the women in front of me. I felt a tinge of hurt as Arin didn’t tell me anything about the band’s upcoming tour but I decided to keep it cool and not make a scene. “It’s alright, I’m sure he’ll tell me later at home,” I said and flashed them a smile.

We said our goodbyes to the band I was really happy with the fact that I made it through the night unscathed. The band welcomed me into their little family with open arms and I didn’t feel like an outsider. I was also quite proud of myself, to be frank. I didn’t keep quiet the whole time and considering the fact that I’m really shy and quiet insecure about myself, that’s an accomplishment for me.

Our drive home was unsurprisingly quiet. I glanced at Arin’s direction a few times but he kept his eyes on the road, tight lipped. I had so much on my mind at the moment. It really does suck to hear about your fiancée is going to leave you to travel around the world with your favourite band from someone else. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I am very happy for him. Yes, I’m sad that he will have to leave me for a few months, but I am very happy that he will be able to pursue his passion. But I just wished I got the news from him, not from the wives of the band.

That 10 minute drive back home felt like 10 years to me due to the silence. And within that agonizing 10 minutes, so many questions went through my mind. How long will he be gone? How am I going to adapt to coming back to an empty house? Will his absence take its toll on our relationship? Well, I’m sorry for thinking such negative thoughts, but there are only a handful of marriages that survives the rock and roll lifestyle!

Arin parked the car at our porch and I was the first to enter the house. I went straight to our room to change into a more comfortable pieces of clothing. I picked out a loose tank top and a pair of shorts and I went to our bathroom to wash the makeup off. Was I ignoring Arin? No, not really. “Ignoring” is such a strong word. I’m just dreading to get the questions to the answers that I have in my head.

I exited our bathroom just to bump into Arin’s hard chest. I looked up at him and he had this look on his face that I couldn’t quite understand. I closed my eyes for a few seconds and sighed. I can’t keep delaying this. The more I delay, the more anxious I get. “Arin, it’s quite obvious that we need to talk.”

He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. “Then why are you avoiding me?”

I frowned and walked past him to our kitchen and I could hear his footsteps following close behind me. “I was not avoiding you,” I lied. When he didn’t say anything else I turned to look at him and he looked at me with one of his brows arched. “Okay, fine. I was dreading for our talk. But I was not avoiding you.”

I pulled the refrigerator open and poured a glass of cold water into a glass. I went to the counter and stood opposite Arin and waited for him to tell me the news. “We’re going on tour in 3 weeks time.”

I nodded, trying to calm myself. 3 weeks time. “For how long?” Arin looked away when I asked the question. That’s not a good sign, isn’t it?