Not Insane

“No!” Jayden exclaimed as she sat up in bed, a white knuckle grip on the comforter. She had taken a moment to realize where she was at before starting to breathe again. After catching her breath, she looked to see that she was alone in bed, figuring that Brian was still watching TV. She glanced at the clock and saw it was just after midnight. She wiped the few tears that had built up in her eyes before pushing a hand through her hair and stepping out of bed.

In the living room, Brian was sound asleep on the couch. Without even waking him, she sat next to him and nuzzled into his side. It was the movement that had woken him up and his arm instantly wrapped around her before he noticed that she was trembling. “Baby, what's wrong?” he murmured into her hair.

“I had another dream,” she whispered shakily. After a brief pause, she told him about the short dream. About how everybody was depressed and she couldn't figure out why. How her fiance had barely spoken and looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. How he had taken her to the cemetery, not telling her anything that was going on. Then how she had seen a headstone for her twin brother, telling her that he was buried there. “I don't know what to make of all this, Brian.”

“I'm sure they're just dreams and they don't mean anything.” He held her protectively, stroking her hair in a reassuring and relaxing way.

“Brian, it has to mean something. I mean, I had a dream where I saw my own twin brother's grave.” Her voice raised a bit.

Brian sighed, unsure of how to respond. He wasn't so positive himself that there was no meaning to the dreams, but had kept telling himself that they were just dreams and nothing was going to come out of it. He continued to hold Jayden as she cried softly into his shoulder, just trying to comfort her. “Baby, I can sit here all night and tell you that they're just dreams. I can't change what you believe about it. I just don't want to see you get too stressed over it.”

“Brian, if I lost my brother, I don't know what I'd do.”

He stopped himself before he said the first thing that came to his mind. He could've told her that she'd still have him, but if something had happened to Jimmy, it would affect not only Jayden, but everybody. “Sweetheart, please just try not to think about it right now. Let's go to bed.” Jayden nodded and Brian unwrapped his arms from her, pressing a kiss to her temple. “Get comfortable and I'll be in there in a second.”

Jayden used the bathroom and got back into bed while Brian let the dog out one last time and shut off the TV and lights. He then carried the dog upstairs to their bedroom to find his fiance sitting on the bed, hugging her knees closely. She was clearly still shaken from the dream. Brian let out a soft sigh as he set Pinkly down on the bed. The dog ran straight for Jayden, nuzzling her way into the girl's lap. Jayden smiled just a bit as Brian stripped off his shirt and changed into a pair of basketball shorts before climbing into his side of the bed. The two laid awake for a while, laughing at the dog who then nuzzled her way in between the couple. When Jayden was starting to doze off again, she moved to where her head was resting on Brian's shoulder with the dog against her chest, and soon was fast asleep.



Jayden and Lacey were both finishing their shift at the club early on a Friday night, and going back to Jayden's place after finding out that Johnny, Jimmy, and Leana were there. The two girls were giggling over something that had happened at work as they were walking to the front door. Jayden slid her key into the lock before walking into the darkened foyer. “Hmm, they must be out back or something,” she said.

“I guess.”

The two stepped into the house, heading towards the back yard. As they exited to the deck, and a very loud 'surprise' rang through the yard. “Surprise,” Lacey said into her friend's ear, hugging her from behind.

“Holy shit, is this why you got us off early?” Jayden asked the blonde behind her.

“Yep. This is your surprise engagement party.”

The dark haired girl smiled as she walked off the deck, looking at the group of people around her. All of her friends were there as well as some family. She went into the arms of her brother and her fiance first, hugging both of them tightly. Then she went to greet everybody. Her parents, Brian's parents as well as his brother and little sister, Leana, Johnny, Matt and Valary, Valary's twin sister Michelle, Zack and Gena, then finally, Jason and Matt Berry, who were once again doing the waiter and busboy thing. After all of the greetings, people went into their own groups to converse.

Jayden stayed at Brian's side, conversing with him and his family for a while before she ended up in her own conversation with Brian's little sister, McKenna. Though she was only twelve, she was still a smart, sweet, and funny girl. The positive thing about Jayden's relationship with Brian was that she got along very well with his family. Her soon to be father-in-law was always cracking jokes and making everybody laugh, and then his wife would just go off of it and crack jokes of her own, so Jayden felt like she'd fit right in with his family, and was happy that they had accepted her. Jayden listened to the young girl telling stories from years ago, when she had barely known Brian.

The guys had all been very close friends for the last ten years, but Jayden had gone to college and worked in Chicago for a few years before returning to southern California just as her twin brother's band was starting to gain recognition. She'd known Brian briefly before leaving, and missing her family made her want to move back. Between her working and Jimmy's band touring, she hadn't been able to be around them that much to get to know them. When they finished their touring and came home for a while, Jayden had finally been able to really get to know her twin's friends, and formed an instant connection with Brian which soon formed into a relationship.

Brian soon popped up between the two girls, wrapping his arms around both of their shoulders. “So is my sister talking smack about me?” he asked with a smug grin.

“Of course!” McKenna didn't skip a beat in responding. “What kind of sister would I be if I didn't?”

Jayden laughed, looking at Brian. “Yep, she is definitely your sister, and I think I'm going to adopt her,” she said with a laugh before hugging the young girl.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Brian chastised. “Where do you think I get it from?” he asked, pointing over his shoulder where his father was surrounded by a few of the guests, all of whom were laughing.

“Yeah, it's genetic,” the young girl laughed.

“Oh I know about that. I have to deal with that one,” Jayden said, looking around for her twin.

“I'm gonna get off the bus, I'm gonna run into the woods and I'm never gonna come back, and when I come back, I'm gonna be the knife master,” Jimmy rambled from the other side of the yard, surrounded by the remaining guests.

Jayden laughed. “Yep, I'm related to that, but I couldn't love him more.” Her laugh faded to a smile as she ran up behind her brother and hugged him from behind. “Slim Jim! I love you!” She squealed.

“Jimmy laughed and turned to hug his twin. “I love you too, Va-Jay-Jay.”

Everybody who heard had laughed at the nicknames. It was something they'd done their whole lives while growing up. They were always giving each other nicknames, and it was just another way for them to entertain their friends. They conversed for a while until Brian called everybody's attention from the deck, saying that it was time for cheesy speeches.

“I just wanted to thank everybody for being here tonight. Huge thanks to Jimmy, Leana, Valary, and Matt for setting this up and surprising both of us. Yeah, Jade, I forgot to tell you that they surprised me too. I had to go out and run a few errands, and came home to this. Thanks to my best friends in the entire fucking world for everything you've ever done, and for the support for Jayden and myself. Thanks to my family, Suzy, dad, Brent, and Mac. Thanks to the Sullivan family for accepting me as your unofficial son ever since I started hanging out with Jimmy. And Jimmy? My brother. Holy shit, man. I don't think I could ask for a better friend. You're a crazy asshole, but I love the shit out of you. And last but not least, Jayden...would you be so kind as to join me up here, sweetheart?” He motioned for his fiance to come to the deck, and put his arm around her when she joined his side. “I couldn't be happier to have the opportunity to spend the rest of my life with you,” he said before giving her a kiss, hearing the cheers and claps from the guests.

Jayden turned to face the group. “I wanna thank everybody too for this amazing surprise. We wanted to have a get together to celebrate our engagement, but we didn't expect to be surprised like this. I love all of you guys, and I'll try to keep this short so you don't vomit from cheesiness. Of course thanks to my best friends in the world for being there for us. Huge thanks to the Haner family for accepting me, and Mac, I know the most we've ever talked was tonight, but you're the little sister I never had, and I look forward to having you as my sister-in-law. This also goes to my own mom and dad for also accepting Brian. Freaking Jimmy, you're my twin brother, we've grown up side-by-side for nearly the first twenty years of our lives. You're the only person I could possibly love more than Brian.” She paused with a laugh as Brian nudged her. “I honestly don't think Brian and I would be standing here together, in front of all of you guys on the deck of our own home, if it wasn't for you. You mean more to us than you think you do. You're the staple of this group, and I love you to death. I could use curse words like Brian, but there are children present.”

“It's fine!” McKenna spoke up. “My parents know that I won't swear until I'm at least sixteen,” she laughed.

Jayden laughed in response. “Alright. Well, Jimmy, I fucking love you, and a lot of this wouldn't be possible without you. Get the hell up here, slim-Jim!”

Jimmy ran to the deck and squeezed his way in between his twin and best friend, putting his arms around both their shoulders. “Well, I wasn't expecting to have to make a speech, but since I'm apparently so important, I guess I will. First off, congratulations to my sister, and my soon to be brother-in-law. I love both of you to death, and I have the greatest friends and family in the entire fucking world. Secondly, I love all of you guys. Now, these speeches are great and all, but this is getting a bit too cheesy, so can we finish partying and having fun before I get sick from all this?” Jimmy started laughing.

“Alright, alright. Let's get back to the party,” Brian said.

The guests went back to their conversations while Jayden stayed at Brian's side. “This is pretty amazing,” she said, wrapping her arm around his waist. “I think we have the greatest friends in the world.”

“Yep, definitely.” He looked down to her, kissing the top of her head. “I love you, baby. Don't ever forget that.”

“I love you too.”

They observed the party from the deck for a while and began cracking up when Jimmy had burst into some random bout of kung-fu. Everybody's attention had turned to the drummer, laughter filling the air. They could all agree with the couple that Jimmy was pretty much one of the biggest things that held the group together.