Right Here Waiting

The first week passed with slowness for Eliza. She spent every day and night with either Katie or David. At first, it was awkward that she was spending so much time with David since she hadn’t seen him since she gave the ring back to him, but as the days wore on, it became normal again. She was smiling and laughing more, remembering why she fell for him in the first place. She and Brian talked some, but if David was around, he always found a way to get her off the phone with him.

The second week was almost through when Eliza had finally taken David to the hospital to see her dad. They were back at Eliza’s house when she received the letter.

Miss Grey,
We regret to inform you that you do not meet our requirements for the record label. While you are talented in your own way, there is simply no room here for you. Thank you for your time and the recent auditions. Best wishes for the future.

“Recent audition? I haven’t had one in months!” Eliza exclaimed in the kitchen. David stood up from the island and walked behind her to read over her shoulder.

“What are they talking about? You have amazing talent, Eliza.”

“I don’t understand,” she said, turning to face him. A look of pure anguish was etched on her face. “They all loved the music I played, they even commented on the selection, saying how good I was for nailing all of my pieces.”

“They’re fucking jerks,” he said, hugging her.

She wrapped her arms around him, still not understanding what had happened.

Later on as she lay awake in bed beside Katie, she read the letter for the hundredth time. She had called Brian, but he hadn’t answered. She had tried to text him, but he didn’t reply. She didn’t want to wake Katie up, knowing how much the other girl loved sleep, and texted David. He replied instantly. She got out of bed and slipped on a pair of flip flops and a hoodie. Walking down the stairs, she called him.

“Can I come over?”

“Sure.”



Brian was becoming more and more secluded from the group. Every time he tried to talk to Eliza, she was with David or asleep. The time zones kept messing him up, and whenever she called or text him, he was asleep, and vice versa. He listened to his voicemail and heard how upset she sounded in it, and tried to call her back but her phone was off, and her mailbox was full. At the beginning of April, they were heading back to California, but they were going to San Francisco and Sacramento before heading back to Los Angeles and Huntington Beach. He tried to talk to Val, but it wasn’t the same as talking to Eliza.

Finally at the beginning of the third week, when they were in Sacramento, he got a hold of her long enough to tell her about the club event in Los Angeles that Friday and how he wanted her to be there. He told her that she would be on the list and she could get in easily. She immediately agreed, seeming happy to be able to see all of them again. Suddenly, Brian wanted the week to fly by in a hurry.

Thankfully, it did, and soon it was Friday. As Brian dressed, he tried to call Eliza, but she wasn’t answering her phone. Hopefully, she was still going. He piled into the cars with the rest of the guys, checking his phone every few minutes. They pulled up to the club and he still hadn’t heard anything.

Entering the club, he scanned over every head until he found the bright pink one. She was standing next to the bar with Katie, talking to someone. His stomach dropped when the guy turned and he realized it was David. He watched as the rest of his friends immediately headed in her direction. He also watched as Eliza slipped her arm into David’s, and leaned into him.

Slowly walking toward the group, he saw Katie’s gaze flick to him, and the smile faded from her face. A look of sadness and pity replaced the smile as he overheard Eliza talking to Val.

“David and I got back together this week.”

With those eight words, his stomach fell from his midsection to the middle of the Earth. He was about to turn away when Eliza whirled on him.

“Brian!” she exclaimed, and hugged him. He couldn’t help but hug her back, although he didn’t feel as enthusiastic as she did.

“Hey.”

“How was your trip?”

“It was okay; pretty long, though. I’ll be glad to get home.”

“I understand that,” she said and smiled softly at him.

He was able to get a good look at her, then. The dress she was wearing didn’t look like something she would normally wear. He looked at Val’s strapless blue mini-dress, to Katie’s floral dress that was also short, and back to Eliza. The cream-colored dress fell to her knees and completely covered her chest. The bracelets she normally wore on her wrists were gone, and she was only wearing a pair of feather earrings. Of course, the heels on her feet were reminiscent of something she would wear, but everything else was just wrong. Thankfully, her hair was still that beautiful shade of pink.

He moved away from the group and ordered a drink. When it arrived, he threw it back and ordered another one. He felt a presence by his side and looked to his right to see Katie.

“It’s different, isn’t it?”

“Eliza? Yeah, it is.”

“She hasn’t been herself since she got the letter.”

“What letter?” Brian asked after throwing back his second shot. He ordered a stiff drink before looking back at Katie.

“The letter from the company she auditioned for. They said she wasn’t what they were looking for.”

“She said they loved her in the audition, though!”

“I know; I was there. They even felt remorse when I told her about her dad. They said that wouldn’t affect their decision and they were honored to hear her audition.”

“Why wouldn’t she have told me about something like that?”

“She said she tried to call you but you never answered.”

“Fucking time differences killed me.”

“Yeah, I guess she didn’t think of that.”

“So when did she get back with David?” Brian asked, looking over at the couple.

Eliza didn’t seem to be paying attention to what was being said, but David was enraptured by whatever Matt was saying. He looked at Eliza more and realized how sad she looked; her eyes had a faraway look to them. Suddenly, her eyes lifted to his for a few seconds, and she shook her head as if to clear it, and smiled at Matt, paying attention to what he was saying.

“I don’t even want to know. Since he’s been around, she’s completely changed. She did this before when they were together, but I never realized it. It’s like she’s letting him take control again, but this time it’s a complete control of her life. He’s changed almost everything about her. She goes for a run twice a day, she dresses more conservatively, she’s taken her lip ring out, and I heard them discussing dying her hair the other day.”

“That doesn’t sound like Eliza.”

“No, it doesn’t, and I don’t fucking like it,” Katie said, looking at her best friend. “Brian, we need to get her back. We need to fix this. I don’t like what she’s becoming with him. I want my old Eliza back.”

“Yeah, I do, too,” Brian said, and drained the drink in his glass.

As the night wore on, he found himself staring at Eliza more and more. He almost missed Amber walking into the club. What he couldn’t miss, however, was the fight that looked like it was about to take place between Amber and Eliza.

“Hell, she’s not even here five minutes and the bitch is causing problems,” Jimmy said from beside him. They moved closer to hear what was going on.

“David, I don’t understand why you’re here with this slut.”

“No, what I don’t understand,” Eliza started, moving closer to the blonde. “is why you’re here when you’re clearly not wanted. Didn’t Brian dump you? Also, didn’t we have this discussion already about you calling me a slut?”

“What concern is it of yours?” Amber asked, completely ignoring Eliza’s last statement.

“It’s my concern because maybe he doesn’t want you here, bitch,” Eliza said, stepping to Amber’s face.

Brian was about to intervene when David grabbed Eliza’s arm and jerked her back to him.
“Eliza, you can’t talk to her like that.”

“She called me a slut, David. You’re going to let her talk to me like that?”

“I didn’t hear her call you a slut, Eliza; now you’re just making up things.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Eliza said, astonished and tried to pull her arm free of his grip. David wasn’t letting go, though, and his fingers dug into her arm.

“If the name fits,” Amber said, brightly. “If you’re going to be a slut with two different guys, you should get used to the name, honey.”

Eliza struggled against David’s grip and Amber took a step back. Eliza tried to lunge at Amber again, but David’s grip was stronger. She cried out in pain, and looked back at his hand. Brian saw the pain on her face and stepped in.

“Dude, maybe you should let her go.”

David turned his attention to Brian. “Maybe you should butt out of shit that doesn’t involve you.”

“You’re hurting her,” Brian tried again.

“If I was hurting her, asshole, she would’ve said something.”

“Then maybe you should fucking let her go!”

David let go of Eliza’s arm and turned to Brian. “The way my girlfriend and I act to each other is not your fucking business.”

“The abuse of a woman is my fucking business,” Brian said and took a step closer to David.

Suddenly, David swung on Brian, who dodged it, and came back up, his own fist swinging. It connected with David’s jaw and he vaguely heard the crowd around them gasp; Eliza screamed. David stood back up, blood coming out of a cut on the corner of his lip and advanced toward Brian. Eliza tried to step in the middle of them at the same time David went to swing again. His fist connected with her mouth.

Everything stopped at once, and then all hell broke loose.

Katie and Val were trying to make sure Eliza was alright and Brian and David were yelling at each other. The other guys had moved in closer, and Eliza could hear Jimmy and Johnny yelling at Brian, trying to urge him on to hit David. Brian made a move toward David again, and Eliza pulled away from the girls, putting her hand up in front of Brian.

“Stop it, both of you!” Eliza screamed, looking between the two of them. Both guys were breathing heavily, staring at each other. “That’s enough. David, we’re leaving. I’ll see all of you later.”

Brian’s eyes left David’s face and looked at Eliza as she pulled on David’s arm to leave.

“Wait, Eliza!” he called, but the two were already walking away.

“That was interesting,” Amber said from beside him.

“Go the fuck away,” he muttered and walked to the bar. She followed him.

“It looks like your plan didn’t work out too well.”

“Amber, leave me the fuck alone.”

“Fine,” she shrugged and walked away.



Eliza had David drop her off at her house and she immediately changed clothes. She pulled out her iPod and slipped on her running shoes. Slipping out the back door, she looked to her left in the direction of Brian’s house, and decided against going that way. She took off running to the right. She turned her music up as loud as she could stand it and pushed herself while running. Her lip hurt like hell, and she could feel it starting to swell up already. Fighting off the pain, she ran until her legs were screaming, and then some. After an hour, she turned around and ran back toward her house. Passing it, she saw the deck light was on, signaling that Katie was home. Not wanting to talk, she kept running. She ran for another half an hour before turning around, deciding it was time to go home.

As she got closer to Brian’s house, she noticed someone sitting on the back deck. She cut her iPod off and stopped running. She could tell it was Brian sitting on his back porch. She remained quiet as she got closer to the deck. The first thing she saw was the half-empty bottle of liquor, before hearing him play guitar. He was drunk, she could tell by the way he was playing, missing notes every once in a while. She knew she should say something, maybe apologize for what had happened at the club. She had just wanted to get David away from Brian. She wasn’t afraid of David hurting Brian, she was afraid of Brian hurting David. She was just about to speak up when he started singing.

She instantly recognized the Hinder song that they’d sang together in front of Val and Katie a few weeks ago. He was singing quietly, and it took Eliza until he almost finished the song to realize he was crying. Again, she was about to speak up when he stopped playing that song and went into another one. She recognized “Right Here” by Seether. He wasn’t playing the normal acoustic version; he was playing the version she’d sang the first day they’d seen each other. Eliza listened as he fumbled through the notes and struggled to remember the words. The more she listened, the more depressed she became. Slowly, she made her way up to stand behind him. She saw the knuckles on his right hand were red and swollen and felt even worse.

He got to the last verse, and before she could stop herself, she joined in singing. He nearly dropped his guitar as he turned around. He stood up and just looked at her. She realized she must look dumb, in her shorts and sports bra, standing on his porch at three in the morning. He continued to stare, making her feel more awkward, and she couldn’t stand it.

“Let me see your knuckles,” she said and moved toward him. He moved his hand away from her. She watched him bring it up and wipe his eyes. “Brian, give me your hand.”

“Why?”

“I want to make sure they’re okay.”

“They’re fine.”

“Just give me your fucking hand, Brian.”

“No.”

Finally, she got fed up with arguing and reached out to grab his hand before he could pull away from her. She saw that no skin was broken and they weren’t bleeding, but he’d have some bruising in the morning.

“I’m sorry,” she said, still holding his hand.

“For what?”

“I’m sorry for bringing David to the club. You said I could bring a guest, and I knew he wouldn’t let me go without him. I’m also sorry that everything else happened.”

“You’re apologizing because David hit you?”

“No, I’m not apologizing for that. In fact, he got an earful from me.”

“Then why did you leave?”

“He wouldn’t have left without me.”

“I still don’t understand.”

“I left because he wouldn’t have left without me if I had asked him to leave. I left with him because I didn’t want to hear him bitch and cry when you kicked his ass,” Eliza explained and dropped his hand, looking away.

Brian looked at her to make sure she was serious, but she wasn’t smiling or laughing. He watched her for a few more minutes. Sitting back down, he was able to get a good look at her. She was facing away from him and he was able to see the cut on her lip. The corner of her mouth was blue-ish purple, and the cut had dried. From experience, he knew it would last a good couple of weeks and he was instantly mad all over again. He controlled his rage, though, knowing he couldn’t go around hitting people, especially the guy Eliza was dating, although he knew David deserved it. He smiled at the thought of himself punching David.

She still wouldn’t look at him and he’d had enough of it. He reached for her hand and pulled her down on his lap. As if it was a normal occurrence, she pulled her legs up and placed them on the other side of his legs and curled into him, resting her head in the crook of his neck. His right arm was draped over her legs, resting on her hip, and his left hand was playing with her hair out of habit.

“Care if I go with you to see your dad tomorrow?”

Eliza smiled, glad they had gotten passed the awkwardness. “Of course.”

“Still think I’m pitying you?”

“No, I don’t,” Eliza said, lifting her head to smile at him. “I just didn’t want you to. For a year after mom died, everywhere I went people were telling me how sorry they were to hear about my mom, what a good person she was, and how it was such a tragedy. Now, I’m getting people talking about my dad like he’s dead. He’s not dead.”

“So when do you think you’ll pick up a guitar again?”

“When he wakes up.”

“What if he doesn’t wake up, Eliza?” Brian asked quietly.

“When he wakes up, I’ll start playing my guitar again,” Eliza replied firmly. When he nodded, she laid her head back on his shoulder.

They were quiet for a long time, letting Eliza think. She thought about the past couple of months and how whenever she’d had one bad thing happen to her, something good always came out of it. She thought about her situation with her dad, and sent a prayer up in thanks for Brian. She didn’t know what she would do if she didn’t have him. From day one back in Huntington, he’d been there for her, listening to her, never judging her, and always making her smile. He knew her background, and how important things were to her, such as her guitar. David didn’t know that much about her. He didn’t understand why she had such a huge need to be in the music industry; he always thought she should do something different with her life. With Brian…he just got it. He understood why music was so important to her because it was as equally important to him. He never pressured her to do anything she didn’t want to, whereas David was trying to get her to quit smoking, wanted her to dye her hair back to a normal color, and was repulsed by her piercings.

She lifted her head to ask Brian a question about the band and saw his eyes were on hers, as if he’d been thinking, too. Suddenly, his head leaned forward and his lips were on her. He tasted like liquor and cigarettes and the combination had never appealed to her as much as it did right then. Her eyes closed in bliss, and once Brian realized he wasn’t going to be slapped, he deepened the kiss. He felt her grab onto his shirt and leaned into him even more. He could still taste the fruitiness of the drink she’d had at the club on her lips, and his hand snaked around her neck, holding her head in place.

As if on cue, a wave of thought rushed over her brain and she immediately pulled back. She was cheating on David. She never cheated, and now what had she done?

“I’m sorry,” she said, scrambling to her feet, looking anywhere but Brian’s gorgeous face. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”

“I kissed you, Eliza.”

“I know, but I kissed back and I’m dating someone. I’m so sorry. I have to go.”

She started to walk off of his patio, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her back. She still couldn’t look at him.

“Hey. Come on, now. It was a kiss. Don’t leave, please?”

Finally, she lifted her eyes to his. The emotion she saw in his eyes was almost her undoing, and she felt her heart do this weird twist thing inside her chest. There was no way she could say no to him.

“Okay.”



Sunlight was blazing on her face and it was pissing her off. Eliza rolled away from the light, and finding shade on her other side, she got more comfortable. That is, until she realized she was on top of someone. She opened her eyes and realized it was Brian. He had his shirt off and they were facing each other. Mentally feeling herself, she realized her clothes were still on, minus her shoes, and last night flooded through her mind. While she and Brian hadn’t had sex, she’d still kissed him and in her book that was considered cheating. She felt dirty all of a sudden. She lifted her head up over his body to look at the clock on his bedside table. It was almost noon and she panicked. Immediately, she pulled herself from his arms and out of his bed, frantically searching for her shoes.

Brian woke up to Eliza throwing his clothes all over his room. He rolled over to look at his clock and groaned. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I’ve got to find my fucking shoes. I’m so fucking late. Oh, my God, I’m so fucking dead.”

“Chill out, why are you late? Who’s going to kill you?”

“I’m supposed to have lunch with David at 12:30 to talk about last night. He’s leaving for Boston for a week to do a couple of things, and this is the last chance I’ll be able to talk to him in person before he leaves. Where the fuck are my goddamn shoes?”

“They’re by the door,” Brian said, and watched her stop in her action and look up at the door. She ran over to the door and was slipping them on. “Wait, I thought we were going to go see your dad?”

“We are,” she said, pulling the second shoe on her foot and picking her iPod up off of his bedside table. “I’ll call you after I finish lunch!”

She sprinted out of his room, down the stairs, and out the back door. As soon as her feet hit the sand, she ran full force toward her house. Katie was standing at the counter when she opened the door.

“Where the FUCK have you been?” Katie burst out as soon as Eliza stepped through the back door.

“I was running,” Eliza said, holding up her iPod.

“For five hours?”

“What do you mean?”

“David has been blowing up your phone since seven this morning wanting to talk to you,” Katie said, following her up the stairs.

Eliza peeled out of her clothes in her room and ran water for a shower. “What did you tell him?”

“I told him that you were busy and that you would talk to him at lunch. He called a few minutes ago to say he was on his way to pick you up.”

“Have I told you lately that I love you?” Eliza asked as she stepped into the shower.

“Oh, my God, you were at Brian’s house, weren’t you?”

“How did you know?”

“The only time you sleep past ten is when you’re sleeping with Brian, usually because you guys are up all hours of the night.”

Eliza stuck her head out of the shower and made a face. “That’s so weird that you know that.”

“I’m your best friend, Liz. It’s imperative that I know these things.”

The doorbell rang, and Eliza’s face twisted up in horror. “FUCK! I’m so not ready!”

Within minutes, she was out of the shower and rushing around her room. Katie had gone downstairs to let David in, and Eliza followed shortly after. David took a look at her and suppressed a groan. Her hair was still wet, she didn’t have makeup on, and all of her piercings were in. This was not the girl he wanted to be dating. He’d tried several times to convince her to change her appearance, but she fought him at every turn.

He smiled as she approached and they made their way to the car before leaving.

They sat in silence during the entire meal, and David knew she was still pissed off. Her lip was swollen huge and he felt regret.

“Look, I’m sorry about last night, Eliza.”

“It’s fine.”

“Obviously, it’s not fine. You haven’t spoken to me since last night.”

“It’s really fine, David.”

“I just don’t like you being around them. They bring out the worst in people.”

“You don’t know anything about them, David.”

“I know that since you’ve started hanging out with them your attitude has changed drastically, Eliza. You didn’t have these piercings before, your hair wasn’t an obscene color, you never spoke ill towards people.”

Eliza was fully pissed off, now. “My hair was this color before I left Boston, David, and my piercings were there, too. My physical appearance hasn’t fucking changed, nor has my attitude. If someone calls you an asshole, you’re going to respond to them. The same goes for when your stuck-up bitchy cousin calls me a slut. I’m not a slut, and until the day I am, I’m not going to allow anyone to call me that.”

“All I’m saying is those guys are trouble. While I’m gone, I don’t want you to be around them. That one is a drunk and does nothing but drink and do drugs; he’s not a good influence. The other, that Brian guy, looks at you too damn much. He needs to learn that you’re not single. I should’ve hit him last night. He’s lucky I don’t press charges for the hit he landed on me.”

That sent her over the edge. She stood up and threw her napkin on the table. “You don’t know them. If you knew them, you’d know that Jimmy is a genius and the world’s best drummer. He does not have a problem with drugs. Also, if you knew them, you’d know that each of them are as sweet as they could be and amazingly talented musicians.”

“Which is another reason I don’t want you to hang out with them, Eliza. You’re getting your hopes up with this music thing; you’ve already been turned down by one company. I think it’s time you went in a different direction. Eliza…sit down.”

Fuming, she stared at him. “If you think I’m going to do any of what you just told me, you’re seriously mental. You obviously don’t know me at all, David. If you did know me, you’d realize friends, music, and family mean everything to me.”

She reached for her purse and walked away from him and out of the restaurant. She walked along the sidewalk and pulled out her phone, dialing.

“Hello?” Brian’s voice came over the speaker.

“Can you come pick me up?” Eliza said, looking at the traffic before crossing the street.