Right Here Waiting

Eliza sat on the chair on the porch of Val’s house. She had immediately wanted to move into a hotel after Val’s engagement party, but Val wouldn’t let her. The boys were due to go back on tour in four days, and Eliza couldn’t have been happier. She was ready to have all of them go away for a while and have some peace and quiet.

She had put a temporary hold on her plan to get Brian back. After his comments, she wasn’t sure she wanted him back. Of course, she knew it was her fault he’d been angry with her and said those things, but that didn’t make them okay for him to say.

She stood up and walked back into her room. She glanced around the extra room and her eyes fell on the guitar case sitting beside her desk. One of the first things she had done when she got back to Huntington was buy a guitar that she knew Brian had his eye on. Jimmy had told her about Brian smashing his own guitar and she wanted to make it up to him. She smiled in memory of him giving her the copy of Pride and Prejudice for her birthday, and hoped this would work.

Even though she wasn’t happy with him and he said he didn’t have feelings for her, it was almost killing her not giving the guitar to him. Before she could chicken out, she stood up, closed the case, and walked out of the house. She placed the case into her passenger seat and drove the familiar route to Matt’s house.

She happened to pass her father’s house, and saw the For Sale sign now had “SOLD” over top of it. She sighed to herself, thinking about how she needed to return her real estate agent’s phone calls.

She pulled up to the house and saw that both SUVs were in the driveway. She stood the case beside the door and rang the doorbell. Brian answered.

“Eliza…”

“Hey, Bri,” she said, but she didn’t smile.

“What are you doing here?”

“I had a birthday present that I forgot to give you.”

Brian’s face relaxed and if she hadn’t looked away, she would’ve sworn he smiled. She reached for the case and lifted it up. Brian opened the door more and she walked inside. She placed the case on the back of the couch in the living room. Brian couldn’t keep his eyes off of Eliza. She was somber, reserved even. It was as if he was asking her about her father all over again.

She looked as if she was ready for summer and it wasn’t even March yet. Her hair was getting longer, her skin was darkening again. She looked like her old self, but he knew she’d changed…and it was because of him. His eyes focused on the guitar case, then, and he couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face.

“For me?” he asked.

At her nod, he moved closer to the case. He ran his hands over the leather outside.

“I figured I owed you one,” she said, quietly.

He opened the case and found the handcrafted acoustic guitar he’d been eyeing for almost a year. He had meant to go get the guitar a long time ago but it had slipped his mind. He hadn’t thought about the guitar since he first saw it. He smiled as he ran his hands over the wood, black and shining. He lifted it up and set it on his hip to strum a few notes.

Tuning it, he played a few more. Almost unconsciously, he played the first few notes of “Right Here” and he smiled. He played a few more lines from a couple of different songs before he turned around to thank Eliza.

She was gone.

He set the guitar down and looked into the hallway; she wasn’t there. Opening the front door, he saw her car heading down the road. Shaking his head, he went back into the living room to pick up his guitar.

He sat down on the couch and strummed a few more lines, just thinking. He felt even worse now than he did when he actually said those cruel things to Eliza. She had taken those insults and then brought him a guitar.

“God, I’m an ass,” he said to himself.



Eliza drove away from Matt’s house after seeing Brian with a sense of calmness. She weaved her way through traffic, really wanting to talk to someone. She knew Zacky and Katie and Matt and Val were together, so her second choice was Jimmy. Thankfully, his car was in the driveway when she pulled up.

He opened the door wide for her and without a hello, he moved aside for her to come in.

“Am I being dumb, Jim?”

“Depends on what we’re talking about,” Jimmy said, as they moved to the kitchen.

Jimmy was in the middle of making himself lunch, and he handed Eliza a bottle of beer which she gladly opened and took a swig of.

“I gave Brian the guitar.”

“After what he said to you?”

Eliza nodded.

“No, I don’t think so. You love him, right?”

“Yeah, but those were some fucked up things he said to me. He said that he didn’t have feelings for me anymore.”

“He knows that. He also found out right after you left how you really lost the baby. I saw him. He looked like he felt like shit. If he said he didn’t have feelings he’s a horrible fucking liar.”

“Good, he should feel like shit.”

“He does. I promise you, he feels like shit.”

“He said he doesn’t have feelings for me anymore,” Eliza repeated, still shocked by the statement.

“He lied, Eliza.”

“He didn’t seem like he lied,” she said, taking a long swig of her beer.

“I think he did, Eliza. That boy doesn't know his asshole from his mouth right now. He's so torn up and confused he doesn't even know what he's saying. Honestly, what he wants is for you to come running back to him, say you're not with David, that you've been a fool all along, you should've been with him, and you love him. That's really what he wants. Then, if he doesn't say he's sorry, you can punch him in the fucking face."

"Jimmy, I need to tell you something," Eliza started. She'd told Val and Katie the day before, and they'd been pissed off. Now, it was time to tell the guys.

"I don't like how that sounds," Jimmy said as he finished his sandwich and sat down beside her.

"I was with David because he was paying my dad's mortgage."

"Whoa."

"When I was in Boston while David and I were dating the first time, he overheard a conversation from my dad and I. My dad paid off all my student loans from school without me knowing, and that put him in a huge hole. He started having problems financially, and David sent checks to him. At first, I was mad. Then I was thankful because my dad was getting help. When dad went to the hospital and David came, that's when all the bills started coming. I argued with my dad's lawyer and the doctors, but David saved me. He also paid for the funeral. I stayed with him because I owed him. It wasn't really love... it was a type of love, but I was never in love with him."

"That's a lot to process," Jimmy said after a minute of quietness. "I knew you were a strong person, but that's going through a lot of shit. Honestly, I don't see how the fuck you're still standing here, Eliza."

"Sheer willpower, I promise you."

"How much do you owe him?"

"I've got it, Jimmy. Don't worry about it."

"No, I'm curious, Eliza. How much do you owe him?"

"About twenty thousand total. Most of my paycheck when I was his secretary went to him. He paid all the bills except my phone and car insurance. I paid those, and gave the rest to him."

Jimmy stood up and walked outside to smoke. Eliza followed. When Jimmy handed her a cigarette, she took it. She hadn't smoked in almost a year. Flicking the lighter and inhaling, she felt the fullness in her lungs and closed her eyes. Slowly but surely she was getting back to herself again.

"That's a lot of money," Jimmy said finally.

"Yeah, I know," she said and looked out over Jimmy's backyard.

She wished she were at her dad's house with Brian, looking over the beach. She wished she was wrapped in his arms or listening to him play guitar. She wished things were back to how they should be...