Right Here Waiting

The concert was almost over when Eliza finally felt a glimmer of hope. Brian stopped Matt in the middle of him talking and stepped up to the microphone.

“Sorry for the interruption, Shads, but I’ve got to do this.”

Eliza’s breath caught in her throat at his words. Matt Berry smiled as he walked up to her and handed her a cordless microphone.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?” she asked him. He just shrugged, and still smiling, walked away.

Then she heard it. Her head whipped back to the stage to see Brian in the middle of the stage by himself. His fingers were picking at the strings, softly playing a song.

Brian wasn’t sure that she was going to respond, but he hoped she got the message.

He picked at the strings a few more times before he saw the movement.

He looked to his right and his jaw dropped. Eliza had changed. She was wearing a ripped and cut Avenged Sevenfold shirt. Her shoulders and stomach were exposed, and it looked like the shirt was just barely hanging onto her body. Her sunglasses were back on, and he could see a black and white striped sports bra underneath the shirt. The bracelets were still on her arm. Her jean shorts were ripped up, and her black Converses were on her feet. But that’s not what made his jaw drop.

Her hair that had previously been hiding underneath her beanie was free now. The underneath was black, and the top was returned to its hot pink. She looked more like herself now. He couldn't help the smile that formed on his face, and neither could she. He started the song over, and she picked it up immediately.

“I know I’ve been mistaken, but just give me a break and see the changes that I’ve made. I’ve got some imperfections, but how can you collect them all and throw them in my face? But you always find a way, to keep me right here waiting. You always find the words to say to keep me right here waiting… And if you chose to walk away, I’d still be right here waiting... Searching for the things to say to keep you right here waiting…”

”I hope you’re not intending to be so condescending, it’s as much as I can take. And you’re so independent; you just refuse to bend so I keep bending ‘til I break. But you always find a way to keep me right here waiting. You always find the words to say, to keep me right here waiting. And if you chose to walk away, I’d still be right here waiting searching for the things to keep you right here waiting.”

Eliza smiled as she walked closer and closer to Brian during the song. She couldn’t help the tears that fell down her face as he played her favorite song. He was moving towards her as well, and soon they were less than a foot away from each other, Brian playing and Eliza singing to him.

“But you always find a way, to keep me right here waiting. You always find the words to say, that keep me right here waiting. And if I chose to walk away, would you be right here waiting? Searching for the things to say, to keep me right here waiting?”

They finished the song and the crowd cheered the loudest they had all night, but neither of the two on stage heard them.

Eliza leaned into Brian to say something. He held his breath.

“We’re playing ‘The River’ next.”

He laughed out loud at himself for thinking she was going to say something else, but he should’ve known better. The smile stayed on his face as he heard Jimmy start playing the drums. He moved back to his position as Zacky and Johnny came back to theirs.

Eliza hanging out with Joel made so much more sense to him now. She had wanted to sing this song, and she had hung out with him to make sure she had gotten it right. Brian had been so wrong in his thoughts, and if he could, he would’ve punched himself in the face.

He should’ve known all along that Eliza couldn’t do something like that. Hell, she had a guilty conscious just by kissing him when she was dating David. He shook his head at the stupidity of himself, and he moved his fingers across the guitar. He had a lot of ass-kissing to do.

Eliza lifted the microphone to her mouth first.

“As I walk through the shadow of L.A., the footsteps that were next to me have gone their separate ways. I’ve seen enough now to know that beautiful things don’t always stay that way. I’ve done enough now to know that this beautiful place isn’t everything they say.”

Matt and Eliza both simultaneously put their microphones on the stands at the front of the stage.

“They say, evil comes disguised, as a city of angels,”

Brian watched as both Eliza and Matt held up their hands forming the letters L.A. for the song and he laughed.

“I’m walking towards the light…

Baptized in the river, I’ve seen a vision of my life and I want to be delivered. In the city was a sinner, I’ve done a lot of things wrong but I swear I’m a believer. Like the prodigal son, I was out on my own. Now I’m trying to find my way back home, baptized in the river, undelivered, undelivered…”

Matt stepped up to the microphone and Brian heard the familiar part.

“You’re from a small town, you’re gonna grow up fast, underneath the lights. Down in Hollywood, on the boulevard, the dead come back to life. To the praying mother and the worried father, let your children go. If they come back, they’ll come out stronger, and if they don’t, you’ll know…”

Eliza sang the bridge, and again, she and Matt raised their hands to form the letters L.A.

“They say, evil comes disguised as a city of angels. I’m walking toward the light…”

Baptized in the river I’ve seen a vision of my life and I want to be delivered. In the city was a sinner, I’ve done a lot of things wrong but I swear I’m a believer. Like the prodigal son, I was out on my own. Now I’m trying to find my way back home, baptized in the river, undelivered, undelivered…”

In the song with Good Charlotte, Joel sang the next part while Matt screamed, but for the concert they switched it up.

Matt sang “Baptized in the river,”

Eliza screamed “On my own.”

She and Matt were everywhere on the stage as they dueled back and forth. Brian laughed at how at home she seemed on the stage. The song ended, and the crowd went nuts. Eliza hugged Matt again, and she left the stage. Brian watched her go, itching for the concert to be over with.

Twenty minutes later, they were finally done and Brian all but threw his guitar at some guy standing by the stage in his search for Eliza. She wasn’t in the venue, so he walked out the backdoor looking behind the building for her. He even went to the bus, but she wasn’t there. Finally, he went back inside and found Val.

She didn’t say anything, just handed him the ring he remembered he gave to Eliza. He turned it over in his hands, almost afraid of what that meant. He tried to remember the day he gave it to her, but it was almost a fuzzy memory.

“You know, in case you ever need me. You’ll have a piece of me or some shit.”

He looked down at the ring again, and noticed that there was something different about it.

On the inside of the band, Eliza had “right here waiting” engraved.

He looked up to see Val watching him, expectantly.

“I’ve got to go.”