Not Insane

It was the same routine for the five best friends. Unpack, set up, play a show, pack up, meet some fans, and drive to the next city. Monotonous but they couldn't ask for anything better for their lives. They each had each other, and their significant others, as close as any group of friends could be. Chocolate eyes stared at a phone attentively, waiting for a text message. Every time his phone vibrated, his eyes would light up with happiness as he read the message and typed a reply. It didn't take long for him to be attacked by a tall, lanky figure. Just the person he was wanting to talk to too.

“What are you still doing up?” the blue eyed man asked after climbing off his best friend.

“Talking to Jade. She's about to go to bed.”

“How is my evil twin? She been good?”

“Jim, why don't you talk to her and find out yourself?” Brian asked, laughing.

“Because my phone's always dead,” he said, frowning. “I guess I should charge it more often, right?.”

Brian laughed. “She's doing okay. I wanted to talk to you about something, concerning her.”

“Something wrong with you two?”

“Nothing at all. I know you said that I never had to ask you to do something for her, but what I had in mind is bigger than anything.” He met the eyes of his friend who looked back attentively, already knowing what he was about to be asked.

“What is it?” Jimmy asked, already having an idea flashing through his head.

“I wanna ask her to marry me.” Nerves attacked Brian and he started to ramble. “I know that you probably wouldn't oppose, but this is bigger than just asking to date her. This is asking her to take my name, asking her to spend the rest of her life with me, asking her to one day have my children, asking her to grow old with me, asking her to-”

“Brian, Brian! Chill!” Jimmy interrupted with laughter. “Of course you can. You love her right? You're committed to her, and I know that you treat her well. You have every ounce of permission from me to propose to her.”

“Thanks, man.”

“Please though, don't do it in some ridiculously cheesy way,” Jimmy continued laughing. “Don't like bring her to the top of a mountain or have a plane write it in smoke.”

Brian laughed. “Hell no. I was just gonna surprise her with a nice dinner at home and go from there.”

“Wanna know something funny?” He asked, waiting for a nod from Brian, and continuing when he saw it. “I was wondering when you were gonna ask her. You've been dating for almost three years, and I figured it would've come out at least a year into the relationship.”

“I just wanted to wait until I felt it was completely right. And now I can't fucking wait to get back.” He sighed, running his hands over his face and through his feathery black hair. “What? A week and a half to go?”

“Eight more shows, ten days to go.”

“Ugh, fuck.” He groaned and looked at his phone, then back to his friend. “She's sleeping now I guess, so yeah, I guess I'm going to bed too.”

“Same here. Night, Bri.”

The taller man headed out first, stripping his shirt off on the way, then disappearing into his bunk. Brian went to the bathroom first to brush his teeth, and then climbed into his bunk, dozing off while listening to the snores of his four best friends.

Late the next morning, the bus began to come to life as everybody woke up near the same time. The group of six gathered around the kitchenette area of the bus, talking about how they were eager to get some rest at home for a bit, until one quiet moment came where Jimmy felt the need to shout. “Brian's gonna marry my twin sister!”

Brian turned bright red as he punched his friend on the arm. “Really, guy!? You just had to do that didn't you?”

“Yes, yes I did,” Jimmy said as the rest gathered closer.

“Nothing to be embarrassed about,” the raspy voice belonging to Matt said behind him. “I had no problem shouting out when I was getting married.”

“Actually I think I was the one to shout it out,” Valary said from her husband's side. “And you were embarrassed, so you don't have room to talk.” She laughed, jabbing him in the ribs.

“Jimmy, I recall you being just a bit shy when you announced your engagement to Leana,” said the green eyed man standing beside Jimmy.

“Shush, Zacky.”

“Okay, who cares about whoever being embarrassed to announce their marriage or engagements-” the youngest interrupted, patting Brian on the back. “Brian, it's a great thing. Congrats, man.”

“Thanks, Johnny,” Brian said with a smirk towards the rest of his friends.

A round of congratulatory praises rose from the group, and then it became time to play the waiting game. Time to wait till they were done with touring to go and be with their significant other.



Brian spent the remaining days of the tour planning the night he was going to propose to Jayden. He had the perfect plan, but felt bad that he was going to have to lie to Jayden to pull it off. When the homecoming day finally came, the guys were relieved, and happy to be going home. Jayden, Lacey, Leana, and Gena were all going to meet them when they flew back into LAX airport. All four were giddy and eager to see their significant others, and their friends. As the guys stepped off the plane one by one, the girls ran to their significant others. Valary and Matt stepped off first and greeted everybody before heading for the baggage claim. Zack appeared next, and Gena ran to him, jumping into his arms and hugging him tightly. Lacey did the same thing when Johnny showed up, and Leana also followed suit when Jimmy came off the plane. Jayden also ran to her twin brother and hugged him while waiting for Brian.

“Brian's not coming. He had to get on a different flight. Said he was gonna call you, but the airport was crazy," Jimmy said, feeling just slightly bad that he was participating in a lie.

Jayden's face fell. “Oh. When is he supposed to get here?”

“Not sure. He said to bring you home with us so you're not lonely, then he'll call when he's coming.”

“Okay.” The twin continued to frown, but was still happy that her brother was home, and she'd see her boyfriend soon. “I feel bad though. Like I'm intruding on your time with Lea.”

“I don't mind at all,” she said from the front seat of the car. “He and I have all night for that. Brian will be here soon I'm sure anyways.”

“Yeah, true.”

The two girls helped Jimmy unpack and get settled back in before sitting around to talk for a while. Jimmy enlightened them with tour stories for almost an hour until Jayden's phone vibrated with an incoming text message. She flipped open her phone and read the text before getting to her feet and sprinting towards the front door while her brother and Leana watched with arched eyebrows. Jayden opened the front door, seeing her boyfriend standing there, a smile spread across his face. She flung the screen door open and jumped into his arms with a squeal. Just like she would do every time she saw him when he got off tour.

“Hi beautiful,” he said softly as he wrapped his arms around her.

“Hi, baby,” she said, her face buried in his neck as she hugged him.

“Ready to go home? Or do you wanna hang here for a bit more?” He asked when he let her go.

“Let me say bye to my brother, then we'll go.” Jayden and Brian walked into the house to find Jimmy. She gave her twin a hug and said their goodbyes before the couple headed out. “When did you get your car?” Jayden asked.

“I took a cab home to drop my stuff off, then came here,” he said as they both got in the vehicle.

“So what happened anyways? Jimmy said it was crazy and you had to take another flight?”

“Something with one of my bags that caused a delay. I didn't want them to miss the flight, so I told them to go ahead, and I caught the next one. Shit happens when you have so many bags, but it all worked out.”

“Yeah, I'm glad,” she said, taking his hand across the center console. “I missed you.”

"I missed you too, sweetheart."

Darkness was settling in when Brian pulled in the driveway to the house, and both held hands while walking to the front door. Holding hands like they'd never done it before, and like they never wanted to let each other go. Before walking into the house, Jayden turned to Brian, wrapping her arms around his solid frame and hugging him again. She looked up and met his chocolate eyes staring back at her. He grinned lightly. “What?” he asked before kissing her forehead.

She caressed his cheek. “I love you, babe.”

“I love you too. Come on, let's go inside. Tonight is gonna be special. Just you and I, alone. All phones are being turned off, and I'm cooking dinner.” Jayden reached up to touch her lips to Brian's before they walked in the house. “Do me a huge favor babe?” he asked.

“I know the drill, while you do what you gotta do, I'll go through your smelly sweaty laundry.” She laughed.

“Well, I was gonna ask if you'd just not come into the kitchen. I'm cooking a surprise dinner, and...yeah. I want it to be a surprise.”

“Alright. Call me when it's ready then.” She shared one last kiss with him before heading upstairs.

In their room, Brian's bags were neatly stacked in the corner. Jayden began sorting through his clothes, separating them into piles for washing. Once that was done, she flopped onto the bed with Pinkly and watched TV for a while, waiting for Brian to be done with dinner. She was almost asleep when he came in and startled her.

“Dinner's almost ready,” he whispered into her ear as he grabbed her hands to pull her to her feet.

She took note that he had showered and changed, wearing black jeans that weren't torn anywhere, and a white button down dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up just a little bit for a more casual look. “What's with the nice clothes?” she asked, running her fingers along the fabric on his arms, thinking how she was dressed in old jeans and a faded black t-shirt.

“I said tonight was gonna be special, now hurry up, take a shower, and put this on,” he said, holding up a bag.

Jayden snickered. “It better not be some racy lingerie,” she said with a laugh.

“No. That's for later.” He winked. “Go now,” he said almost whining.

Jayden went to take a shower while Brian finished what he was doing in the kitchen. Once out of the shower, she wandered around the room wearing a towel, checking her phone when she heard it jingle. It was a text from Leana. Jimmy's lips are sealed. He isn't saying anything. Jayden didn't reply as she grabbed the bag and pulled out what was inside. It was a simple black strapless dress that one would wear on a nice dinner date, and a pair of simple high heeled shoes. As she got dressed, she began to think about why they were getting dressed up nicer than usual. Nothing was out of the ordinary from any other tour homecoming. She tried her hardest to not think of what kept coming into her mind. “He couldn't be thinking about proposing tonight,” she whispered to herself. As she thought about it more while she was fixing her hair, it was harder to push away, but she didn't want to be disappointed if it didn't happen. She was putting on the shoes when Brian came back in, startling her again by grabbing her hips from behind.

“You need to stop scaring the fuck out of me,” she said turning in his arms. “I'm almost ready, just give me a few more minutes.”

“Jade, you look amazing enough. Come on.”

“So, what's with the nice clothes again?” She asked as she followed him down the stairs.

“I've already said, to make tonight special. Even though we're at home, I figured we'd have a nice dinner date.”

She followed him to the kitchen, seeing nothing set up in the dining room. “Where are we eating?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Allow me to show you to your table?” somebody asked from the sliding patio door.

Jayden couldn't help but giggle when she saw Matt Berry standing there, wearing a tuxedo t-shirt and a busboy apron, motioning for them to step onto the patio. “Haha, wow. Hi Matt,” she greeted, still laughing.

“How are you tonight, Miss Sullivan?”

“Outstanding, but a little confused about what's going on here.”

“Well, let's get seated and get dinner started.”

Jayden started for the open door, but was stopped by Brian. “Wait, just a second.” He stepped up behind her, placing his hands over her eyes. “Okay. Follow my lead,” he whispered into her ear.

She giggled softly but followed along as Brian led her. She felt the mild spring air as she stepped outside. A few steps outside, he stopped them both, and removed his hands from her eyes, hearing her gasp softly.