Right Here Waiting

“So you think all of this is your fault?”

“No, I know it’s my fault,” Eliza said, sighing to herself.

She and Joel were sitting in the living room of Jimmy’s house. He had asked her why she was even doing all of this and she explained the entire story to him.

“I wish I had a girl who was like you.”

“I wish I had been a better girl.”

“Eliza, you did what was necessary,” Joel said, making her look him in the eye. “You’re doing the right thing now, I promise.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“The question is, why did you tell me everything? You said you hadn’t even told Val or Katie. Why tell someone you met literally thirty minutes ago?”

“I needed to, really.”

“You needed to tell me?”

“No, I needed to tell someone. It’s been eating me alive since I realize I had feelings for Brian. I know I should’ve told him or Val or Katie… but I just couldn’t bring myself to tell them. They’ll think it’s their problem, too, and it’s not. I need to deal with this on my own.”

“Well, I guess I should thank you for telling me.”

“I just really needed to get it off my chest.”

“Well, now that you’ve said it, why don’t we get down to the music part of it?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Eliza said, wiping a few stray tears away from her eyes.

Joel picked up his guitar and strummed along the lines of the song. Eliza and Joel sang together, making sure she could get his part down just right. She moved on and sang Matt’s verse by herself, smiling as Joel smiled in approval. When the harmony parts came, she nailed them. Joel even clapped for her.

They sat there for what seemed like hours, and more and more people came in to listen to them.

Brian realized people were heading into the house, and curious, he followed a few people inside. They went into the living room where a group of people were surrounding the couches. He couldn’t see what was going on, but he heard the guitar playing. He pushed his way through the people until he was almost at the front. The sight shocked him.

Eliza was sitting there, laughing at something Joel had said, while he played guitar. Still laughing, she started singing the song. Her face was bright red with laughter as she belted out the words to the song. Her eyes were slits in her laughter, and her teeth shone white and bright. Her hair was still its auburn color, and she looked almost angelic in the white dress.

His brows drew together in anger. He should’ve known if Katie was there, Eliza wasn’t too far behind. He looked over her and realized her stomach should be showing now, but it wasn’t. She was still as thin as she was before. He wondered if she lied about being pregnant.

The song was over and she said something about one of her own songs. Someone asked her to play it and she politely declined. He realized it was Benji. He asked her to play again. He spoke up before Eliza could say anything.

“She doesn’t play guitar.”

Eliza’s green eyes were immediately drawn to his, and he saw something in there he hadn’t seen before. It was as if she was complete or something. A smile found its way to her face before realizing what he said and it fell away. He slowly realized everyone was looking at him. Without another word, he turned around and walked outside.

“Brian, wait,” he heard from behind him.

He reached the lounge chair with his stuff on it and pulled the shirt over his head.

“What, Eliza?”

“Hey,” she said as she stood in front of him.

“You don’t look pregnant.”

She blinked a few times before answering. “I lost it.”

“Wow,” he said, a little bit shocked.

“Brian, I’m sorry,” Eliza said.

“For what?”

“Everything. I’m sorry for everything I put you through.”

“It’s whatever, Eliza. It’s not a problem anymore. I’m over it, and I’m over you.”

“You’re…wait, what?”

He could see the confusion on her face. Hell, he’d said it now. He had to continue with the lie.
“I’m over you.”

“You don’t feel anything towards me?”

“No, not anymore. Why are you even here?”

“You seem to be asking me that question a lot,” she said, and he knew she was trying to distract herself.

“Well, you’re around a lot.”

“I’m here for Val and Matt’s engagement party,” Eliza said, fidgeting with the sleeve of her dress.

Brian was taken aback at how young and vulnerable she looked in that moment. Her eyes lifted and met his. He saw sadness in them, and wasn’t sure if it was because of how he was acting. All he knew is he didn’t want things to end up like before, where he got his hopes up and she dashed them away.

“Go home, Eliza,” Brian said, leaning down to collect the rest of his things. “Go back to your fiancée, and your baby, and your life.”

“I told you I lost it, Brian.”

“How’d you lose it?” He asked, genuinely curious.

“I fell.”

Brian barked out laughter. “Wow, that’s kind of cliché, don’t you think? If you didn’t want to keep it, Eliza, you should’ve asked him to push you down a flight of stairs. In fact, you should’ve asked me to that night in New York.”

Brian knew he had pushed the boundaries with that statement, but he wanted to hurt her just like he’d been hurt. He immediately wished he could take it back when he saw the amount of hurt on her face. Her jaw dropped, her eyes were as big as saucers, and tears welled up in the bottoms of her eyelids.

Setting her jaw straight, she looked at him. He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. Finally, she nodded at him and turned around.

He watched as she proudly walked up the stairs, past Joel who had come out on the deck, and into the house.