Right Here Waiting

“Who are you texting, short shit?”

“My date for tonight,” Johnny said, not looking up from the phone.

“Your mom doesn’t count as a date,” Jimmy said, launching himself over the couch to sit on Johnny’s legs.

“Asshole! Really? You couldn’t ask me to move?”

“Nope, that would take all the fun out of it. Who is she?”

“You’ll see tonight.”

“You know paying someone doesn’t count, either, right?”

Johnny just rolled his eyes at Jimmy. For some reason all of them were awake early, except for Brian. They all attributed it to Amber, who had kept him on the phone half the night arguing. Johnny and Jimmy were sitting on his couch when all of a sudden, they heard a loud crash, and then Zacky and Matt came running down the steps yelling “Go, go, go!” A few minutes later, Brian, clad in only boxers, dripping wet, hair sticking all over the place came down behind them.

“YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!”

Johnny and Jimmy peeked over the couch in time to watch Zacky trip on the stairs to the living room before hiding behind them. Matt wasn’t so lucky. He headed down the hallway to the kitchen with Brian right on his tail.

Johnny, Jimmy, and Zacky quickly made their way to the door, stacking their heads on top of each other to see what was going on in the kitchen. Matt and Brian pushed out of the deck doors and were wrestling on the deck. The guys made their way to the doors to watch.
The cheering was interrupted by a loud screech from the front of the house.

“BRIAN ELWIN!”

Brian, underneath Matt, froze, along with everyone else. Matt, however, didn’t. His fist slammed into Brian’s jaw, knocking Brian’s head into the wood of the deck. Brian groaned, more from the screech than from the punch. Matt laughed and realized Brian was about to go through more hell than he could give.

“BRIAN!”

Brian shoved Matt off of him and stood up at the same time Amber made her way outside. She rolled her eyes at the guys and narrowed them at Brian. He scratched the back of his head.

“Hey…hun.”

“Why haven’t you answered my phone calls or texts? I’ve been calling you for like an hour.”

“I was asleep.”

“You don’t look asleep to me,” Amber said and crossed her arms over her chest. Her blonde hair was pinpoint straight and served as a cushion for her too-big designer sunglasses. The also designer purse she’d forced Brian to buy for her was sitting on her shoulder, and her shirt had no wrinkles in it. Her skirt was way too short and her shoes were way too high.

“That’s because I was woken up ten minutes ago.”

“So please explain, then, why you couldn’t call me back in those ten minutes.”

“Well Matt…I just…I couldn’t…”

“Whatever. Come on. We have things to do today.”

“I can’t go anywhere, we’re supposed to write songs today,” Brian said signaling towards the guys.

“You promised we’d go find something for me to wear tonight!” Amber said and she stamped her foot. She actually stomped it.

“Look, the band comes before everything. I’ve got to write with them. We’re supposed to come out with an album by October and we have only like two songs so far.”

“Fine, but after I want us to go out. Four, okay?”

“Whatever,” Brian said, but Amber was already in the house. He listened and heard the front door shut. He covered his face with his hands and groaned.

“C’mon, dude. Let’s go for a walk,” Zacky said.

They walked all along the beach, just talking and laughing. It felt good to be back in Huntington. They had been on the road for the past six months, touring and doing signings and other gigs. Now that the tour was over, they were back in Huntington Beach for a break and to work on the new album.

When they started the tour, Matt had been the only person with a significant other. Brian had met Amber when they first started the tour. She followed them around to all of their different locations, and even on a few she helped Val out with merchandise. When Val saw her dedication to the band, she started letting her help more and more, and brought it up to the guys that she should just come with them instead of wasting her own money following them around. Briand had immediately been attracted to her and had gotten close to her. She was a big part of his life. They hardly ever fought, and she was there for him like a lot of people hadn’t been.

The only downside to Amber is that she was more into the benefits of a band than the band part, meaning she would rather have the rewards without Brian doing the work. Sure, she enjoyed going with him to the different locations and helping Val, but if she had the choice, she’d rather spend time with Brian than him writing songs. She didn’t get that it was a part of the band for him to spend time with them, and now that he and Amber were dating, she was getting more and more pushy about their time together. He didn’t blame her for the most part, he wanted to spend time with her, too…but he needed to be with the band. The most recent fight they were having was because she wanted to move in with him and he wasn’t ready for that. Sure, you can have feelings for someone in six months, but he thought it was too soon for her to move in. Not only that, but living with four other guys was a little cramped. Adding one more would mean another one to feed, not to mention, Brian shared a bathroom with Jimmy. That would not go over well with Amber.

They were only fifteen minutes into their walk when they both heard it: a guitar. Someone had a guitar hooked up to an amp and was playing. They followed the sound to a house right on the beach. They slowly made their way to the back deck, the sounds of Metallica’s “One” becoming more and more clear. Whoever this person was, they were killing the guitar part. Brian listened to the expertly played high notes. He could tell, as an avid Metallica fan that the solo was coming up. They saw someone sitting with their back to them, facing the house in a lounge chair. The music stopped as a hand reached out for a bottle of Jack Daniels sitting on the table. The bottle was turned straight up for a few seconds and placed back on the table. The song continued, and the person ripped right through the difficult solo, hitting all the notes expertly.

Eliza had woken up early to go to the hospital to visit her dad. She wasn’t allowed in. They said he’d had some complications during the night and wasn’t able to have visitors this morning. She’d yelled at them, asking why they hadn’t called her, why she hadn’t been notified before now. She started crying when they escorted her to the waiting room. Frustrated and angry, she left. She got home and immediately opened the first bottle of Jack Daniels she came across. She grabbed her guitar and the old amp from her dad’s study and walked outside. She’d been sitting there for hours.

Brian glanced at Zack and saw he was tapping his fingers on his thigh with the notes and he couldn’t help but nod his head along with the person. They stood right at the steps on the edge of the deck listening. The amp wasn’t turned up too loud, but it was the right level for being outside. They heard sounds of the person singing along with the music. The low voice stopped and the solo continued, going to the heavy metal, high-pitched part of the song.

“They are seriously shredding right now,” Zack whispered and Brian nodded.

Brian invisibly played along with the person, knowing the song by heart. He was surprised someone could even pull of this part without a hitch; they would have had to been playing for years to be able to nail that. He admired the dedication this person had. The song ended and they watched an arm snake out to the bottle again. Brian noticed two things at once: one, the wrist was wearing a series of feminine bracelets and two, the person was upset. They remained silent for a few more minutes, listening to another song being played. This song was soft, a sad song, and she didn’t make it halfway through before stopping. The girl screamed out and threw the guitar in front of her. With a loud bang, it collapsed on the wooden deck.

“C’mon,” Zack whispered to Brian. They backed away from the deck, staying on the sand, but Brian kept his eyes on the girl sitting there.

Finally, the girl stood up, picking up the guitar and placing it against the back of the chair. A black hoodie with a Metallica logo was visible. Her hair was completely hidden underneath a knitted black beanie, but around her neck he could see black hair. As she turned around, Brian was taken aback by how beautiful she was. Her jacked was open to reveal a fit body covered by a grey tank top. Black shorts with some sort of zebra design covered the top half of her never-ending tanned legs. Lifting his eyes back up, he saw the sleeve of her left arm was pushed up, exposing a bunch of hemp, wooden, and plastic bracelets all along her wrist. He followed upward to see her entire face was tanned as well. A lip ring gleamed in the sun on the left side of her lip. Her eyes were rimmed with red and bloodshot, making him raise his eyebrow. She reached up and wiped at her eye and Brian figured he was right about her being upset. She wasn’t wearing any make-up and even if she was crying she didn’t need it. Two dots were underneath her right eye, signaling she had an anti-eyebrow piercing. She was reaching for a box of cigarettes, and as she lit one, a piece of hair escaped the beanie. It was a hot pink color and suited her skin so well. He caught himself wondering if it was just a streak or if her whole head was that color. As she exhaled, piercing hazel-green eyes fell upon Brian.

She made eye contact with Brian, and he was stunned at the instant connection. Zacky elbowed him in his side, drawing his attention away from the girl. Where had he seen her before?

She looked at the guy in front of her. He was wearing black boots with dark-washed ripped jeans. A t-shirt clung to his body, the arms ripped, showing off his muscles and tattoos. The t-shirt looked like it was worn all the time. Lifting her eyes from the shirt, she looked at the tattoos visible around his neck and to his face. Hair stuck out from underneath a bandana and Fedora hat. Eyeliner lined his hazel eyes and Eliza froze. Brian Haner. Of course she would see one of them here. He kept looking at her like he wanted to come up to the house, but he didn’t make any move to come closer. She watched as he and his friend walked along the beach. She glanced at the guy beside him and realized it was Zacky.

With one last glance behind him, it finally hit Brian where he knew her from.

She went to high school with him. Of course, she’d had dark auburn hair then. Eliza Grey, he thought with a smile. He remembered her being shy. She wasn’t like a lot of the girls at high school. She had friends, but she wasn’t part of the popular crowd. She listened to Metallica just like him, but she didn’t really hang out with his group. There was one memory that flashed through his mind, of a fight he’d gotten into in ninth grade. They were in between classes outside in the grass area when he’d been hit by some guy he didn’t remember now. He did remember the guy threw him into Eliza who was sitting there studying. He ended up ripping a bunch of pages out of her book. She glared at Brian before turning her eyes towards his attacker. Slamming her book down, she stood up and went off on the guy before punching him in the face. She turned around, helped Brian up, gathered her stuff and walked off. Brian had never been more impressed in his life. Of course, she wouldn’t speak to him after that incident. He’d desperately wanted to ask her out, but when the band started practicing more, he didn’t have time.

Another memory took over his mind. Her dad was one of his favorite teachers at school. He taught music and it was Brian’s favorite class. He assumed that’s how Eliza got her musical influence. He remembered his sophomore year and how the whole school had gone quiet one day. He found out later that Eliza’s mom had died. The school had held a memorial for her, wanting to recognize a teacher and student’s family member. Eliza had sat at the front, not crying, not doing anything. When she got up in front of the school, she didn’t cry, shed a tear or even stumble over her words. He didn’t know how she composed herself like that. If it had been his own mom, he would’ve been a nervous wreck.

Eliza was an amazing guitar player; nailing that solo had really impressed him. She’d been really good at the piano when they were younger, Brian remembered, and she’d picked the clarinet to play in band. He wanted to hear her play more but didn’t know how to bring it up, much less introduce himself.

Suddenly he turned around and looked back at her. An idea struck him.

Eliza watched Brian’s form twist back to look in her direction. He paused in his stride, and she thought he was going to come back for a second. With a sinking heart, she watched as he ran in the opposite direction.

“There’s an ego booster for ya,” she mumbled and sat back down.

She took another giant swig of the bottle and pulled her knees underneath her. She set the bottle back on the table and reached for her guitar pick. She flipped it around in her hands, thinking. She should never have picked up the guitar again. She rested her head against the back of the chair and exhaled. She knew she shouldn’t be thinking about herself in a time like this…her dad was in the hospital, after all. He was lying in a bed, maybe never to wake up and she was sitting here getting drunk, depressed because some guy had literally run away from her.

With a shake of her head, she reached for the bottle again. She finished the bottle within minutes, not caring that the effects were finally starting to hit her. She felt her eyes start to puff up. The more drunk she got, the more she thought about her dad and before she knew it she was tearing up. She wouldn’t let herself cry, though. She couldn’t cry. She stood up, swaying a bit, and grabbed the guitar from the floor of the deck where she’d thrown it. She made her way into the kitchen and went immediately to the cabinet over the sink where the rest of the alcohol was sitting. Another bottle of Jack Daniels was staring at her. Just as she opened the bottle, the doorbell rang.

She carefully and slowly made her way to the front door. Upon opening it, she was extremely shocked to see Brian standing there with two guitar cases.