Right Here Waiting

For late February in California, the weather seemed to be in their favor. Thankfully, it was low 70s and they could actually make use of Jimmy’s pool.

When Eliza and Katie arrived, tons of people were already there. Eliza hung back to watch Katie go and make her rounds. She could see Val and Matt coming to hug her as Zacky got out of the pool. Val was wearing a gorgeous black strapless dress that looked like it had pictures on the skirt. From underneath, her swimsuit could be seen. Matt wasn’t wearing a shirt, just his swim trunks and looked like he’d gotten out of the water recently. She chuckled as Katie pushed Zacky’s wet body away after giving him a quick kiss.

Her eyes glanced around the rest of the back yard to see Jimmy near the grill, and Johnny and Matt Berry were near the diving board pointing and laughing at something. She followed their fingers and saw Brian’s head emerge from the water. Her heart squeezed as he flipped his head, getting the wet hair out of his face. He half-turned and she could see a smile on his face.

Thankfully, just as she was about to walk out, Matt Berry jumped in beside Brian and pushed him under water. Eliza made her way to Val, hugging her. She pulled away, and immediately commented on her dress.

“Thank you, honey. I love yours, too!”

“I think it makes me look like a virgin,” Eliza said, glancing down at the white frilly dress she was wearing.

“I still think it looks great. It would be even better if you had your pink hair.”

“Yeah, that’ll be back soon.”

“Not soon enough,” Val said with a wink, and moved out of the way as Matt came forward to hug Eliza.

“I thought about your one idea,” Matt started, pulling her away from Val. He took her to the opposite side of the yard, behind where Brian was in the pool. A guy with short black hair was sitting on a lounge chair smiling as Matt and Eliza approached him.

“Holy shit,” Eliza whispered. She was standing in front of the lead singer of Good Charlotte.

“Eliza, this is Joel,” Matt said, and the guy stood up.

“Eliza,” she said, shaking Joel’s hand. “I’m such a huge fan of yours.”

“Thanks, that means a lot,” Joel said, smiling.

Matt explained that he had told Joel about Eliza wanting to sing the song “The River” and said that he had asked Joel if it was alright.

“Honestly, I can’t wait to hear it. I think it would sound amazing with a female vocalist,” Joel said. “You’ll have to videotape it or something.”

“Why don’t you guys go work on it now? Eliza said she was having trouble with some of it.”

“The vocal ranges, really,” Eliza clarified.

“Not a problem. Where are we going?”

“I’ll show you,” Eliza said, and they walked to the house.

Val walked up to Matt and watched the two of them head to the house.

“Don’t you think that’s going to make Brian jealous?”

“Brian doesn’t know shit about Eliza right now. He doesn’t even know she’s here. Maybe it’ll keep the drama away for a little while.”

Val’s eyes drifted to Brian who was pulling himself out of the pool. He grabbed a towel by one of the chairs and ran it over his head. His eyes looked around the backyard and landed on Katie. Val watched as recognition passed over his feature, and his eyes darted all around the backyard looking for someone. When he obviously didn’t find them, his shoulders slumped, but a look of irritation stayed on his face.

“I hope so, Matty.”