When the Day Met the Night

“Tears are words the heart can't express” – Gerard Way
The insistent ringing is what woke me up, and it was coming from Brendon’s phone. I blindly reached for it and answered with a groggy, “Hello?”

“Oh hi, I should have realized you two would still be asleep, I’m assuming you’re Elizabeth? I’m Cadence, his sister.”

“Oh… Yes I’m Elizabeth, but, um, would you like to speak to your brother?” Elizabeth cringed at the sunlight that now attacked her eyes as she rolled over and tried to wake Brendon. “Babe wake up, it’s your sister.”

“Sister? Tell her I’m sleeping.” Brendon replied grumpily as he pulled the sheets over his head.

“She says that your mother knows. I don’t even.” I yawned and threw the phone at him. I didn’t want to think about what his mother knew or didn’t know, all I knew was that I was tired and wanted to sleep. Brendon woke me up about 10 minutes later, a slightly worried look on his face. I quickly sat up, “What’s wrong?” My mind automatically went to the worst of situations, but I forced myself not to panic and to just listen.

“Well, my mom likes to be kept in the dark about a lot of things when it concerns me, mostly because she doesn’t want to die of a heart attack. So while I told my siblings about Sarah and you, my mom had no clue. Someone at her book club was kind enough to fill her in and now she wants us to visit.” Brendon hadn’t taken a breath, freaking singer’s lungs, and took a gasping breath. “I love you and I’m so sorry, but do you mind going to Vegas with me, meeting the family, and very possibly be scrutinized?” Brendon had an apologetic smile on his face and I just kissed it off.

“I love you and I’d be happy to finally see your family, you talk about them enough that I can’t really imagine them being anything but good, besides, they raised you didn’t they?” I grinned and Brendon shook his head at me.

“Flattery will get you everywhere my dear.” Brendon kissed me, but he stopped and started to stare at the ceiling. “You’ll have to brace yourself, my mother has no boundaries when asking questions, in the first five minutes of knowing Sarah she was already asking if she had any STDs. Don’t ask me why, but she did.”

“I’ll be fine, I took on Ryan yesterday, I can handle your mother. How much does she know exactly? Will she ask about, you know?” I started to think of the magnitude of questions she could ask me, and that’s when I actually started to get a bit worried, but I knew I would have to go for Brendon, especially considering I really did love him.

“I don’t think she will, she’s a nice person, probably wouldn’t want to bring any of that up.” Brendon placed his head on my stomach and poked me. “Thank you for coming though, I’ll get the plane tickets, we’ll probably leave tonight if that’s all right, it’s no more than an hour flight.”

“Stop thanking me, it’s not really a sacrifice of any sort, I want to go because I’m your girlfriend, I love you, and it is what is going to happen.” I poked his hairy chin and got out of bed. “You are shaving before we go anywhere though.” Brendon laughed at me as he hugged me and pushed me in the direction of the bathroom.

“I’ll shave just for you hun, but let’s get ready quick so we have time to pack and everything.”

___________________________________

We arrived in Las Vegas at around 6 in the afternoon, Cadence and Boyd were the ones to greet us at the airport, and the rest of the family was at home preparing for dinner. I was glad I had chosen a pretty 50s inspired cream dress, by the looks of Cadence and Jared the dinner was semi-formal. I was glad I had made Brendon wear a button down instead of a t-shirt.

The drive was short to the house Brendon grew up in; I held his hand as we walked in, the overwhelming smell of good food suddenly filling my nostrils. “Okay, if that’s your mom’s cooking, I have a feeling that this dress will no longer be slightly big on me.” I joked as we were led into the dining room where the rest of Brendon’s family was waiting.

“Hello Elizabeth, Brendon!” Brendon’s mother enthusiastically hugged us and introduced us to everyone. Throughout dinner, which was absolutely amazing, everyone was civil, keeping the conversation light. After dinner Mrs. Urie asked me to do the dishes with her and I agreed, knowing that it was the lightning round. Brendon looked at me and mouthed ‘I’m sorry’ as I walked into the kitchen, dishes in hand.

“Don’t be too harsh, she’s nice.” Cadence said quietly before joining everyone else in the living room.

“I know, I’ve seen the video.” She replied as she started the dishes.

“If I may ask, which video have you seen?” I asked, worried and trying to think at the possibilities of viral videos.

“You defending my boy against Ryan. That took guts, and I like you for it, I’m not sure Sarah would have been able to do that. I know the family thinks I’m going to interrogate you, it’s normally my job, but I just have one question for you. Did you mean it? All of the words in the video? Do you love my boy? Because I swear, if you hurt them the way Sarah did hell will be raised on this Earth by Momma Urie.” At the moment she was angrily brushing the dishes, but she stopped and sighed as she gazed at me. “Please don’t hurt my baby boy, he’s always been the stronger willed person in this family, doing whatever he wanted even when everyone else disapproved. His judgment tends to be pretty good, and I just want to make sure he’s as right about you as he was about his passion for music.”

My moth was agape the entire time; it wasn’t at all what I was expecting. I managed to mutter out, “I love him. I love him so much it hurts sometimes.” I grew louder and more confident, “I promise not to break his heart. He is the man I love so much and one day want to marry. He is the man I wish to spend my life with because I honestly can’t see myself spending it with anyone else. I have loved him for so long, even when I really wasn’t supposed to.” I took a deep breath and stopped myself from speeding up my words. “I promise you Mrs. Urie, your son will be loved so deeply by me, and I would never be able to hurt him because that would hurt me even more.”

Mrs. Urie inspected me for a while, her eyes slightly squinted, but I stayed confident in my words. “Alright then, welcome to the family Elizabeth.” She hugged me tightly and I couldn’t help but smile like a little kid. I don’t think anyone could deny the happiness one feels when they are being accepted into something so largely important to one.

Brendon and the rest of the family had apparently been hiding out in a spot so that they could hear us.

“I love you too.” Brendon said as he stepped out of the shadows and embraced me. Cadence had tears in her eyes as she hugged her family members and stared at us. At first I questioned why she was staring, but then Brendon got down on one knee.

“Elizabeth Anne Starr, I love you to the end of the universe. You honestly couldn’t have said it better than when you said hurting me would hurt you more. I could never have the heart to hurt yours because it would kill me. Like I’ve said before, I believe in music because it has been a constant in my life, I want you to be what I believe in. I want to grow old with you and be the grandparents that are rocking out to our old songs and making forts to fill with tapioca pudding. Will you do me the honor of being my wife and spending the rest of our days living in a complete state of love together?” Brendon was holding out a beautiful old-fashioned ring. It had little leaf patterns on the sides that met in the middle at a decent sized diamond, I smiled because Brendon knew that I wasn’t one to go for the big flashy diamonds.

I had tears in my eyes and the words got caught in my throat so instead I furiously nodded and hugged him tightly as his family clapped, the girls having tears in their eyes as well. “I love you.” I finally managed to say as I still held onto Brendon tightly. Once we finally managed to detach ourselves Brendon slid the ring, which was an absolutely perfect fit, onto my finger.

Sometimes the people who feel the most hopeless in life can find the happiness to beat all others.