Right Here Waiting

The following Wednesday, Amber was awake at the crack of dawn. She had barely slept the night before, internally arguing with herself if she should go through with this or not. When the clock said 10:45, she thought of how Brian hadn’t been around the past couple of weeks since Eliza had shown up and her mind was made. Throwing on a beanie, and grabbing the cheap guitar she’d bought, she made her way to Los Angeles.

Sitting in the waiting area of the building, she was still struggling with herself. When the man came in, asking for Eliza Grey, all her thoughts disappeared, and an evil smile replaced her frown.

“Here,” she said, and followed the man into the studio.

Not even thirty minutes later, she was back in her car, smiling wickedly.

“So much for your music career, Eliza,” she said to herself as her phone beeped.

She read the message from Brian, saying they were in Los Angeles doing a signing. She immediately called him and said she’d meet him there, that she wanted to see him. She set the location in her GPS and was off.

Walking into the venue, Zacky pointed her in the direction Brian had gone. She looked around the walls and doors, and hearing his voice, made her way to where she thought he was, then she heard Matt’s voice. Stopping on the other side of a shelf, she listened as they talked.

“You’re really thinking about this?” Matt asked Brian.

“Yeah, I mean, I just can’t see myself with Amber anymore. I’m starting to have more and more feelings toward Eliza and I just don’t see my relationship with Amber going anywhere.”

Amber listened intently, making sure her anger didn’t get in the way. A little voice in the back of her head whispered to her, and she lifted her phone to start recording the conversation. She moved a few things on the shelves so that she could get a clear shot of the two of them as they continued talking.

“I just don’t think she’ll let you,” Matt said.

“We’ll see about that. I’m a sneaky bastard,” Brian replied, smiling.

“You want to bet on this, then?”

“Yeah, let’s bet on it,” Brian said, sticking his hand out.

"I bet you can't do it. I think she'll chew your balls off before you even get up the courage to make a move."

"Whatever. I've got this in the bag," Brian said.

“I win, you owe me fifty bucks. If you win, I’ll owe you.”

“Done,” Brian said, shaking Matt’s hand in confirmation.

They moved to go back to the front to finish the signing and Amber remained stationary. In reality, she was fuming mad, thinking what an asshole Brian was. She calmed herself down and figured out a way to use this to her advantage. She pulled out her phone, dialing as fast as her fingers would let her.

“We need to fix this shit,” she said into the phone.



Eliza, Katie, and Val were sitting in Eliza’s living room for another girl’s day. The guys had gone to Los Angeles for a signing, leaving the trio with nothing to do.

“I want another tattoo,” Eliza said, randomly.

“What do you want?”

“Brian said I should get a death bat somewhere on me.”

“They’d be so pissed if you got one without them, though,” Val said, not taking her eyes from the television.

Eliza glanced at Katie who was busy on her phone. “Who the hell could you possibly be texting?”

“None of your fucking business,” Katie said, sticking her tongue out and looking back down at her phone.

Without warning, Eliza launched herself from her side of the couch and tackled Katie. With a cry, Katie threw her arms out, realized what she did, and immediately tried to bring her phone back in to conceal it. Val glanced over her shoulder to see what was going on, saw Eliza reaching for the phone which was just out of her reach, and lifted her arm. Within seconds, Val had snatched the phone from Katie’s grasp.

“What the fuck!”

Eliza turned around on top of Katie to sit on her, keeping her in place, and breathing heavily she looked at Val. “Who’s she texting?”

“Zacky.”

“What?” Eliza gasped, obviously shocked.

“Shut up!”

Eliza and Val ignored the muffled cry from underneath Eliza, and Val continued to read. “It looks like they’ve been texting for a really long time. This one says Zacky wants to take her out on a date!”

“What!” Eliza and Katie shouted at the same time. Katie’s head poked up from the other side of Eliza’s body and looked at Val’s smiling face. “Are you serious?”

Val turned the phone toward Katie to show her the screen, and with a shove, Katie threw Eliza off of her and off of the couch.

“Holy shit,” Eliza said from the floor.

Katie snatched the phone back from Val and read the message herself. She couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “Oh, my God! He wants to go out tonight!”

Eliza looked at the clock. It was already three in the afternoon.

“I guess that means we need to get you ready,” Val said, smiling.

They all jumped up to head upstairs, but Eliza stayed back as her phone started ringing. She found it on the coffee table and opened the text message. David was asking her to go out to eat with him tonight. He reminded her that he was in town to see her and he hadn’t seen her. She rolled her eyes but replied the okay to him and headed upstairs.

“Looks like we’ve got two dates to get ready for,” she said, entering the room.



Brian was nervous. Amber had been there the entire time they were doing the signing, and he wanted to go ahead and break up with her to get it over with. He was nervous because he was afraid she wasn’t going to take it well; she’d always had a temper when something didn’t go her way.

They packed up their things and headed to the back of the store to get into their cars. He brought Amber with her, even though her car was up front, saying he wanted to talk to her. She smiled as she walked beside him. Once they got outside of the store, he turned to her.

“Amber,” he began, but she started talking.

“I was thinking that we should grab dinner tonight. I know this great place like three blocks away and you could ride with me!”

“No, Amber—”

“Or, if you don’t like Japanese, I know a great steak place that’s like ten minutes from here. We could go there, instead.”

“Amber, stop. Look, I’m just going to say this.”

“Say what, Brian?” she asked, smiling. There was no way he was actually going to do this.

“I’m breaking up with you, Amber.”

The smile was still on her face after the words left his mouth. She couldn’t believe he actually had the balls to break up with her. “Excuse me?”

“We’re done, Amber. I don’t want to date you anymore.”

“You’re joking, right?” she asked, the smile falling from her face, being replaced quickly by anger.

“No, I’m not joking. I’m sorry. I can’t be with you anymore,” Brian said, and when Matt honked the horn, he turned around and got into the car, leaving her there.



Eliza had just finished scrunching her hair when Katie entered her bathroom. Katie had complained that she wanted to wear a dress, so they had completely dumped all of Eliza’s clothes onto her bed and found a black strapless dress with red and purple flowers on it. She let Katie borrow a pair of red heels to match.

“Eliza, will you please do my hair?”

“How do you want it done?” Eliza asked, putting her blow dryer away.

“Curled, but not scrunched-curled. I want it curling iron curled.”

“Alright. Do you want big curls or small curls?” Eliza pulled the curling iron from underneath the sink and plugged it up, letting it warm up.

“Smaller ones, I think,” Katie said, and sat down on the toilet seat with her back to Eliza. Val came in then, and pulled herself up onto the counter.

“What the hell am I supposed to do without you guys tonight?”

“Tell Matt to take you out,” Katie said, smiling.

“That’s a good fucking idea. We haven’t been on a date in months. I think it’s high time he does, too,” Val said and pulled out her phone. “Mind if I rummage through your clothes, Eliza?”

“Not at all,” Eliza said, smiling at Val. She ran her fingers through Katie’s hair. “I’ve got the perfect idea for your hair, Kate.”

“What are you wearing tonight?” Katie asked as Eliza sectioned off her hair to curl it.

“This,” Eliza said, looking down at her khaki shorts, grey tank top and blue cardigan sweater.

“Eliza, it’s a date. You should look nice. You should also definitely not wear your glasses.”

“David has seen me naked. I don’t have to impress him. I’m wearing my glasses because I’m waiting for my new contacts to come in. Plus, it’s not a date; we’re just going for dinner. He never called it a date,” Eliza said, moving through different sections of Katie’s hair.

“What does this look like?” Val asked, coming into the bathroom again. She was wearing a pair of black dress pants, a white tube top with a black cardigan over it. A pair of black pumps adorned her feet and a series of black chains was wrapped around her neck. “Too much black?”

“No! You look amazing, Val!” Eliza said.

“Definitely! You look killer in black,” Katie said, turning around to smile.

“Okay, good. I told Matt to look nice. He better fucking look nice.”

“I’m sure he will,” Eliza said, rolling her eyes and she turned back to Katie’s hair.

Once she was done curling Katie’s hair, she took a section from each side and braided the pieces back and clipped them in the middle of the back of Katie’s head.

“There you, go, doll face; all done!”

Katie stood up and looked in the mirror. “Oh my gosh, Eliza, I love it! Thanks!”

An hour later, Val had already left with Matt and David had text Eliza to say he was a minute away.

“Are you going to be alright here by yourself until Zacky comes?”

“Yes, mother, I will be fine. He said he’s almost ready, so it shouldn’t be too much longer,” Katie said, rolling her eyes.

Eliza heard a car enter the driveway, looked out the front window and saw David’s car sitting there; he was walking up the sidewalk to the door.

“Alright, well I love you and I’ll see you later, okay?” Eliza said, walking to the front door as David rang the doorbell.

“Love you, have fun!”

Eliza smiled at David as she opened the door, and walked out with him.

Katie sat down on the couch and looked at her phone. She turned on the television to waste time while waiting. She had just gotten into a television show when there was a knock on the door. She looked behind her, out the window and didn’t see a car. Just as she got up to go look out the front door, she saw a movement by the back door. Peaking around the wall, she saw Brian standing on the back deck. She walked through the kitchen and opened the door.
“Wow, you look amazing,” Brian said, seeing Katie in her dress.

“Thank you,” she said and smiled, twirling around for him. “Zacky’s taking me out tonight.

“So that’s why he spent the last hour in the bathroom,” Brian said, nodding in understanding.

“I guess so. Matt took Val out, too.”

“Is Eliza here?” he asked, looking through the door into the house.

“No, she went out with David a few minutes ago.”

“Like on a date?” Brian asked, bringing his eyes back to her.

“Yeah, pretty much,” she said and watched his face fall. “Well, she didn't call it that and got mad at me when I called it a date. She wasn’t very dressed up, but he was.”

“Oh.”

“She should be back in a few hours, though, if you want to come back then.”

“No, that’s okay. We’re leaving tomorrow to go to New York and I just wanted to hang out with her.”

“You’re going to New York?” Katie asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Yeah, we’ve got a few promotions to do out there. We’ll be heading a few other places after next week and then we’ll come back home.”

“Does Eliza know that?”

“Well, no, that’s why I was coming over. I was also going to tell her I broke up with Amber.”

“Isn’t that interesting,” Katie said, a smile forming on her face.

“Why is that interesting?”

“Brian you can’t tell me you don’t have feelings for Eliza,” Katie said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I mean, you can’t not like her, and I haven’t really thought about it before. I’m definitely attracted to her,” Brian thought out loud.

Suddenly, the doorbell chimed from inside the house.

“Well, that’s gonna be Zacky. I better go,” Katie said, pointing her thumb to the door.

“Yeah, you need to go. Have fun tonight,” Brian said and waved. He jogged down to the beach and walked back toward the house.

Matt and Val were going out tonight, Zacky and Katie were going out, Johnny had found some girl he wanted to take out, and now Eliza was out with David. Brian only hoped Jimmy was still at the house.

He walked in to hear the television blaring, loudly. Jimmy was parked on the couch, cans of beer in front of him, and a Playstation controller in his hand.

“What’s up, fucker,” Jimmy said, not tearing his eyes from the screen in front of him.

“You’re not going out tonight?”

“Hell no, I’ve got better shit to do.”

“Like getting drunk and playing fucking video games?” Brian asked, sitting down beside him.

“Like keeping your sorry ass company, getting drunk, and playing fucking video games,” Jimmy corrected and smiled. “Eliza not home?”

“No, she’s out with David.”

“That guy’s such a fucking creep.”

“Tell me about it,” Brian said, opening one of the cans of beer and taking a few gulps.

“You really like her, don’t you?”

“Why is everyone asking me that fucking question lately?”

Jimmy paused his game and looked at Brian. “You’re really that fucking stupid? For an entire month, if you weren’t with us at the studio, you were at Eliza’s house. You never slept here, you always slept there. At the beginning of tour, you were all about Amber and today you break up with her.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

“There’s no fucking guessing to it, dude. You’re in deep for this chick,” Jimmy said, took a sip of his beer, and went back to his game.

“Yeah,” Brian said, taking another sip of his beer.



By the time Eliza got home, Katie was already asleep. She sat on the couch until three in the morning, waiting for Brian to come over. She’d called his phone, but there was no answer. Finally, after the millionth yawn, she climbed the stairs and went to bed.

She woke up with two missed calls and a text from him. His text said he stopped by last night, but she was already gone and that he was sorry he didn’t get to see her before he left, but he was heading to the East coast for some band stuff.

She pulled her phone off the charger and walked downstairs to see Katie sitting on the couch watching television. She set her phone on the coffee table and walked into the kitchen to get some orange juice. Her phone started ringing, and she sprinted back to the living room.
Not even bothering to look at the caller I.D., she pressed the green button. “Brian?”

“Hey, no, it’s David. I was wondering if you wanted to go to Los Angeles with me today. I’ve got some errands to run up there and was hoping you’d keep me company.”

“Oh, hey. Uh, well I don’t really have any plans, so I guess I could.”

“Awesome. I’ll pick you up in an hour, okay?”

“Sure, see you then,” Eliza said dejectedly, and pressed the red button.

“Was it Brian?” Katie asked her.

“No, it was David,” Eliza replied, collapsing onto the couch. She laid her head on Katie’s shoulder and stared at the television. “He wants me to go to Los Angeles with him today.”
“That sounds fun.”

“What about you, though?”

“Oh, I’ll be fine. I’ll probably steal the Mustang and go get my nails done and do some shopping or something.”

“Why don’t you call Val? She loves to shop.”

“Val went with the guys to New York,” Katie said.

“She did?” Eliza asked, lifting her head up. “I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, she goes almost everywhere with them, or so Zacky told me.”

“How long are they supposed to be gone?”

“Didn’t you talk to Brian?”

“He text me this morning and told me he was sorry he didn’t say goodbye, but he didn’t say anything about how long they’d be gone.”

“Three weeks is what Zacky told me.”

“That blows.”

“Do you want to go see your dad before you go?”

“Yeah, I really need to. I haven’t been in a couple of days. I feel horrible for not going.”

“Trust me, you’re not horrible.”