What a Wicked Game

Brian was sitting up in his roll away bed, thinking. It was almost nine in the morning but no one else was awake, at least not in here. Jimmy and Johnny had their backs to each other on the pull out bed, having been forced to sleep on the same bed much to their dismay. But in their early touring days they were smashed together in a small van, so it couldn’t be that bad. Matt was fast asleep on another smaller couch where his feet were hanging off the edge. Thankfully the cushions were comfortable.

There was a poker table on the other side of the room but he figured that was for guests who liked the game. He doubted that Lindsey played, though for all he knew she may as well. It had been forever since they last saw each other. He shook his head as if the thoughts would leave-he didn’t want to have them in his mind this early in the morning.

Seeing as he was only wearing a pair of silver basketball shorts, he pulled on a black jacket and his favorite beanie. The air outside was cool when he walked down the stairs to head toward the house. Back in California it would already be twenty degrees hotter by now. The weather here was a nice break from the unbearable heat.

He shuffled into the kitchen and stopped immediately. Lindsey was leaning against the counter, reading some magazine, wearing a tight lilac camisole and black sleeping pants. He was hoping she didn’t hear him come in but she turned her head and straightened up, “Oh, hey Brian.”

He gave her a small smile, “Sorry, I didn’t think anyone would be up.”

“No, it’s okay, I was getting some coffee ready for everyone else. Do you want some?” he nodded and she opened one of the cabinets to grab a coffee mug. She poured some of the hot coffee into it and handed it to him to put whatever else he wanted in it.

When he was done he rested his back against the counter across from her. They stared around the room for a while, looking at everything except each other. After being friends for so long, why was it so hard to start a conversation now?

Lindsey’s heart was beating very fast. If she wanted to tell him about Jeremy when they were alone, now would certainly be the best time. Her throat was getting drier by the second.

Brian was the first to speak up, “How are you doing?”

She raised her eyebrows, “Oh, me? I’ve been good ever since I bought this house. It took forever to save up enough money.”

He nodded, “It’s a really nice house. Why didn’t you ask one of us to help you pay for it? By the time you bought it we all had enough money to spare from City of Evil.”

She shook her head, “No, hell no. It was bad enough that Corey paid for the garage outside, I wasn’t going to have anyone else spend money on me.”

He laughed lightly and took a sip from his mug. It was surprisingly easy to talk to her again after so long…especially after what happened between them. He wanted to hate her at first but in the end he couldn’t. All the years apart made that feeling dissipate to be replaced with a dull ache from missing her so much.

“How have you been?”

He had forgotten what they were talking about for a minute, “Huh? Oh yeah, I’ve been fine. Touring, breaking girls’ hearts, the usual.”

Lindsey laughed, “You were always good at breaking hearts in high school.”

Brian shrugged, “None of them mattered much to me.”

Lindsey’s smile faltered. She could guess what he was implying but she didn’t want to say anything. He was staring at her now, a mysterious look on his face.

“Can I ask you something?” Lindsey nodded her head in reply, “Why did you leave California to come all the way over here? Did I ever do something wrong?” He paused, “I mean you stayed maybe a week after that night and then you left without a word.”

Lindsey took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. This was her chance to let everything out, to tell Brian about everything. She would have to be prepared for any reaction, whether it was angry or sad. But when she looked up at him she felt herself chickening out. She couldn’t do it right now. “Brian…” she licked her lips nervously, “I’m sorry that I left. There were some things that I had to do and I couldn’t stay.” She tried smiling at him, “It was nothing personal to you, and if it came off that way, it wasn’t supposed to.”

At that moment, Corey opened the front door and shut it as silently as he could. It didn’t look like anyone was awake yet and he wasn’t going to make a loud entrance. He was about to go down the hallway to Lindsey’s room when he heard her voice in the kitchen along with someone else’s. Intrigued, he crept closer to the wall that blocked the kitchen from view. He could hear what they were saying more clearly.

“I never really did stop loving you.” He heard Brian say. “You’re even more beautiful than you were in high school.”

Lindsey didn’t say anything for a while. He wished he could see her expression right now. “You’re just saying that.”

“You know I’m not. I just wish we could have had more time with each other.” Corey didn’t stay to hear the rest of their conversation. There was an odd, sickly feeling in the pit of his stomach and he felt like he was about to throw up. He left just as silently as he came in but as soon as the door was closed he stomped out to his car so that he could get away from here. Maybe he was overreacting or maybe Lindsey felt the same way about Brian. If she really did, he wouldn’t know what to do. He had to be away from here.

***

Instead of going out and about today, everyone hung out in the backyard drinking a few beers. Jimmy was happily playing hide and seek with Jeremy and Céline, looking for them in bushes or behind trees. He wasn’t winning so far. Pantera could be heard from the stereo they had set up outside and the guys were tapping their feet along with the drums.

Lindsey was sitting on the porch and she had just hung up her phone for the eighth time. Corey told her that he’d be here later in the morning, so why wasn’t he here by now? She tried sending him a few texts at first, and when he didn’t answer those she tried calling him eight times. If he didn’t call back within the next ten minutes she would call him again. It just wasn’t like him to ignore her.

Paige came over and sat down next to her, “Is everything okay?”

Lindsey laughed sarcastically, “Yeah, just peachy. I’ve called and texted Corey a bunch of times and he won’t answer, but I’m calm.”

“Wasn’t he supposed to be here a few hours ago?”

“He was supposed to. If something came up I wouldn’t mind as long as he called me. That’s common courtesy!”

Paige frowned, “Maybe he lost his phone?”

Lindsey shook her head and shrugged, “I don’t know, that’s possible. If he lost his phone, you think he’d at least drive over here and tell me.”

“I’m sure he’s fine and that there’s a logical explanation to this. Why don’t you come and hang out with everyone to get your mind off it?”

Lindsey agreed and Paige handed her a beer from the cooler. She was always the cool-headed one who could calm anyone down, even in high school. Still, as the sun began to set, Lindsey’s worries rose. It had gotten so bad that the rest of the guys were trying to calm her down, offering different explanations that weren’t even making sense anymore. What if he was hurt or in danger? How would she find out?

Johnny suggested that she could use someone else’s phone to call him, but that idea was shot down. If Corey was at home he could just use his house phone to call her. There was something else going on but they had no possible idea what. “It’s okay, guys, I didn’t want to ruin your night. Stay out here, I’ll just go back inside.”

She made to go back inside when Brian touched her shoulder, “Are you gonna be okay?”

“Don’t worry, just go and have fun.” She smiled though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. If it turned out that Corey was okay and he was just ignoring her, he wouldn’t be fine by the time she was done with him. She went to her bedroom and crawled on the bed, keeping her phone close at hand in case he ever did call back. She couldn’t think of anything that may have upset him last night, so what else could it have been? This was just too confusing.

Corey opened the front door of Lindsey’s house at eleven o’ clock that night. He expected to be barraged by Lindsey but instead he received a warm welcome from Jeremy. “Hey, Corey!” he said loudly.

Corey put a finger to his lips to show Jeremy that he wanted him to be quiet, “Hey, buddy, how are you?”

“I’m good…but I don’t think mom is. Did something happen?” he tilted his head to the side a little bit.

“Yeah, did something happen?” Zacky appeared in the foyer behind Jeremy. He didn’t look mad, but he sure did look confused.

“No, of course not. Jeremy, shouldn’t you be in bed in a few minutes?”

Jeremy sighed, “Is this stuff that I can’t know about?”

Corey smiled, “Sorry buddy. Do it for me, please?”

“You owe me.” He said goodnight to his uncle and Corey and walked back to his room. Zacky’s arms were swaying back and forth as he looked at Corey expectantly. He could tell that he said there was nothing wrong because Jeremy was in the room. Now that he was gone, Zacky wanted to know what the hell was up earlier. That big brother protectiveness made him feel more powerful than he really was.

“I know you’re probably upset with me too, man, but I can only talk to Lindsey about it. I’m not even sure if I’m ready to talk.”

“You’re here already, you might as well. That is if she’s still awake. She went to her room a few hours ago and hasn’t come out since.” He moved a few inches closer to Corey, “I’m not mad at you, I just hope you know that she was really worried.”

“I know, and I’m sorry for making you-” there were loud footsteps and soon Lindsey was staring at him from her spot right outside of the hallway. She must have heard his voice. Her hair was slightly tousled and there was a hint of red puffiness to her eyes. There was a prominent glare in her eyes. Corey stuck his hands in his pockets and looked down at the floor.

“Outside, right now.” There was no joking around in her voice. She was way beyond angry at this point. Corey didn’t even wait a second to walk outside, taking out a lighter and a cigarette from his pocket as he stepped out into the cool night air. Hell, he had a right to be mad too. He inhaled the sweet smoke, held it in for a moment, and then exhaled with a huge sigh.

Lindsey slammed the screen door shut behind her, “Is your phone broken?” she looked up at him, eyebrows furrowed in anger.

He shook his head and brought the cigarette back to his lips, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You told me yesterday that you would come over today. Now, if something had come up I wouldn’t have given a shit, but when you don’t answer the phone I get really paranoid. You know that. You could have been in a car accident for all I knew.”

“I’m sure you would have been too preoccupied to even notice if I was in one.” Every time the cigarette came to his lips he would inhale a larger amount of smoke. He didn’t really mean what he just said; it was the jealousy sneaking back up on him.

She looked confused, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He flicked his finished cigarette to the ground and stomped it out so that it wouldn’t cause a fire. Both of his hands were clutching the railing on the porch. “Did you tell Brian about Jeremy yet?”

“Not yet, no…why?”

“But you were talking to him this morning.”

She looked surprised, “You were listening to us talk?”

“I didn’t mean to, but I caught some of the conversation.” He started pacing back and forth a few feet in front of her. “And what I gathered is that you didn’t even tell him the truth about why you left. Oh yeah, and he still loves you too. Did I miss anything?”

“I didn’t tell him the truth because I got choked up. I just wanted to have a nice talk with him before I have to do that.”

“A nice conversation? The guy told you, someone already in a relationship, that he loves you.” He stopped in front of her, shoulder slumped in disappointment, “I left after he said it so I didn’t really hear what you said back.” He paused, “Do you love him too?”

“I honestly can’t believe you’re asking me this. Do you want the truth? Will that make you happy? Yes, I do love him and I always will but not for the same reason that I love you.” She shrugged, “He has a part of me that no one else has and there’s nothing I can do about it. Just because I love him doesn’t mean I’m going to do anything about it. Is that what you were so upset about? That I’d leave you? You know you can trust me more than that, Corey.”

“I know that I can, but it’s hard for me to trust and you know that. I can’t help it. I’m trying to work on it but it’s something that has always stuck to me like some disease.”

“Corey, I love you more than I have ever loved anyone. If I ever even considered leaving you, which would not be anytime soon at all, it would not be like that.” She stepped closer to him until they were only inches apart. His arms were crossed and he was looking off to the side but his eyes glanced into hers every now and again.

“I don’t think that I could handle losing you to another guy.” He admitted, “After everything you’ve done for me…I can’t just lose that. I’m sorry that I got jealous and I’m sorry that I didn’t answer my phone, but you have no idea what that did to me when I heard him say he loved you.”

“I wasn’t expecting him to say it. It caught me off guard just as much as it did to you. But please, believe me when I say that I would never do anything like that to hurt you.” She touched the side of his face and gently pushed his head up so that he was looking in her eyes. There were tears in his but they weren’t falling over just yet.

His hand came up and covered hers, “Will you marry me?”

Lindsey had to think before the question actually registered in her mind. She blinked a couple of times, eyes wide and completely shocked. “What did you say?” she did hear him but she wanted him to say it again. She may have been imagining things.

He smiled, and took her hand that was on his cheek into both of his hands, “I said I didn’t want to lose you, so will you marry me?”

Tears sprang to her eyes and there was a big smile on her face, “You’re not kidding with me, are you? If you are I will be so upset.”

“Lindsey Baker, will you marry me?” he repeated with a smile.

“Yes, yes I will.”

“I hope you don’t mind that I don’t have a ring yet...the stores were closed when I decided to ask you and I didn’t want to wait until tomorrow, so-” she cut him off with a passionate kiss. His arms wrapped automatically around her, one hand at the back of her neck to bring her deeper into their kiss. They stayed like that for what seemed like an eternity.

“I love you so much, Lindsey.” He pulled not even a centimeter away from her lips.

“I love you too, and I will every day for the rest of my life.”