Right Here Waiting

Brian woke up earlier than he’d planned on. He looked over to his clock where the bright red numbers read 8:26. It wasn’t even 8:30. He groaned and rolled over, but knew it was no use; he was awake for good. Getting out of bed, he grabbed his pack of Marlboro’s and made his way downstairs to the back deck where he lit the cigarette and inhaled. Everything was quiet except for the sound of traffic in the distance and the waves in front of him.

Sitting in one of the chairs, he propped his feet on the table, watching the waves. Minutes later, something out of the corner of his eye captured his attention. He turned to his left, realizing someone was running on the beach. Squinting his eyes, he realized it was a female, and as they got closer, he recognized Eliza. Her red hair was pulled into a ponytail at the back of her head. Her long legs looked longer because of the almost non-existent shorts she was wearing. A white tank top made her tan more apparent. She crossed in front of him, and Brian’s head turned to the right, following her to her house, where he assumed she was heading to. She was almost out of his sight before he stood up, wanting to follow her. He stopped as his feet reached the sand, realizing he was only wearing a pair of shorts and he smelled like the club from the night before. Rushing inside, he showered faster than he’d ever had in his entire life and dressed. Not bothering with any eyeliner, he grabbed his wallet, cell phone, keys and sunglasses and headed out his door, down the steps and out the front door.

He pulled up to her house, only to see her walk out the front door. She was wearing a completely different outfit. Now, she had on jean shorts, a blue and black plaid shirt, opened to reveal a black tank top, and low-top Converses. Her hair was loose and hung wildly around her shoulders and back. A huge bag was slung over one shoulder. She locked the front door and dropped the two steps to the sidewalk before noticing her car wasn’t the only one in the driveway. She blocked the sun from her eyes with her hand and saw Brian shutting the engine off of his black SUV.

He walked up to her as she stopped right at the driveway.

“What’re you doin up so early?” She asked, smiling.

“I’m not really sure. I just woke up. I was out on the back deck smoking and I saw you running and figured you might want some company.”

“Actually, I was on my way out…” Eliza said. She reached in her purse, fishing around for a pair of sunglasses.

Brian watched as she pulled out her pair of Aviators, almost exactly like his own and his eyes fell on her wrist. She was wearing more bracelets than she had been yesterday.
“Every time I see you you’re wearing more bracelets.”

“I’ve got a thing for them. Wooden, hemp, leather, string, I love them. I don’t like plastic as much. If I had one, I’d probably wear a metal one. I was going through some of my old boxes this morning and found some more,” she said, smiling, holding her wrist out for him to see.

“Do you want some company on your adventure?” he asked shyly. He could see her close one eye, squinting in the morning sun, even behind her sunglasses. She tilted her head and looked at him.

“I don’t think it would be a good idea,” she said and bit her lip. “Sorry.”

“No worries,” he said, and smiled even though he was a bit bummed. “Just figured you might want the company, but I guess I’ll see you later. Just come over anytime when you get back, okay? I’ll be awake. I’m sure the guys will be waking up soon. I hope they will, at least.”

She watched him give her a small smile and he turned back to his car. His hand had reached the door when she called out. “Brian?”

He turned around and looked at her standing there. “Yeah?”

“You’re driving.”

He smiled and jumped into his SUV, reaching across the front seat to unlock the passenger side door as she reached it. He moved a bunch of the clutter from her seat to the backseat before turning on the engine. He put the car in reverse and was about to push down on the gas when Eliza spoke up.

“Do you mind putting your seatbelt on?”

Brian glanced at Eliza and saw her clutching her own seatbelt. “I’m a good driver, I promise.”

“I wasn’t questioning your driving skills. Will you please put it on?”

“I never wear my seatbelt, Eliza, and I’m not gonna start—”

“Put it on or I’m getting out.”

Her voice had gone hard and Brian looked at her again. Her mouth was set and through her sunglasses he could see her eyes were big. “Fine, if it means that much to you.” He said and reached behind him, sliding the belt across his chest and clicking it into place. “Better?”

“Yes, thank you,” Eliza said, settling into her seat.

Brian released the break and pressed down on the gas, backing out of her driveway.

“Where are we going?” Brian asked, turning out of their road.

“I’ll tell you where to turn.”

Ten minutes later, they were outside of the hospital.

“Are you going into labor?” Brian asked, looking up at the building. He hated hospitals.

“Does it look like I’m pregnant?”

“Are you taking a pregnancy test?”

“I can take one at home, Brian. I don’t have to come to the hospital for that.”

“Are you having a rape kit done? OH MY GOD! Did Johnny rape you?”

Eliza rolled her eyes as she unhooked her seatbelt. “Did you see Johnny come in last night?”

“Yeah, I did,” Brian said, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Then no, he didn’t rape me. I would have killed him. Wait here, okay?” Eliza said and slipped out before Brian could say anything.

Brian watched her walk into the front doors of the building and he pulled away from the curb and found a spot near the front. He turned the radio up and lit a cigarette, wondering what she was doing. From his position, he was able to see the front door.

Thirty minutes later, Brian was almost asleep when the passenger door was jerked open. Eliza didn’t say anything as she got in the car and fastened her seatbelt. Brian looked at her sideways and saw she was frowning. He assumed she didn’t get any good news.

“Visiting someone?” Brian asked.

“Something like that. Ready to go?”

“Where are we going?” Brian asked, confused.

“Your house, I guess. That was my adventure.”

“That was the shortest adventure known to man.”

“Unless you can think of something better, I’ve got nothing,” Eliza said, shrugging.

“Are you hungry? We can grab a burger.”

“It’s only ten in the morning. Not even McDonald’s sells burgers this early,” she said, rolling her eyes at him. She watched as he buckled his seatbelt before pulling out of the parking lot. She smiled to herself.

“What about pancakes?”

“Pancakes I can do.”

They sat across from each other, Eliza staring out the window to her right, and Brian looking over the menu even though they’d already ordered.

Brian didn’t want to ask her about the hospital, he knew she wouldn’t talk about it, but damn if he didn’t want to find out what she was doing. Maybe she had just been applying for a job or something. If she’d applied for a job, why didn’t she look happy when she got back to the car? He suddenly realized he didn’t know what she did. He hadn’t seen her in Huntington in years, and knew she went to college, but where?

“Where did you go to school?”

“Berklee. It’s in Boston.”

“What did you study?” Brian asked, not looking away from the menu.

“Huh?” Eliza said, shaking herself out of her thoughts.

“At college. What did you study?”

“Oh, Electronic Production and Design was my major, but I minored in Composition,” Eliza said with a smile. When Brian pulled his eyes away from the menu, she could tell he didn’t understand. “I can produce music, basically. I can write it, also.”

“So you’re perfect to help us!” Brian perked up.

Eliza was just about to say something when the waitress came back, setting down Eliza’s plate of a few pancakes and Brian’s plate that had more pancakes than she could count. She almost couldn’t see his face anymore. She watched in silent amusement as he smothered as much butter on them as possible, took the syrup bottle and just held it over the stack. Eliza’s head cocked to the side in amazement as she watched Brian pour more and more syrup onto the stack; it was almost running over the side of the plate.

“Really, Brian?”

“Pancakes soak this shit up. You need more to keep them moist or it sucks trying to eat them.”

“You just said moist,” Eliza said, snickering.

“You just sounded like Jimmy,” Brian said before shoving a forkful into his mouth. She watched him close his eyes in bliss and chew.

Eliza laughed as she prepared her own pancakes. She took a bite and watched as Brian literally destroyed his stack.

“You were going to say something,” Brian said around the mouthful of pancake. Eliza looked at him before she remembered the conversation they were having.

“Oh! I just don’t see how I’m perfect to help you guys. You’ve got a producer, you’ve got five amazing brains…at least some of you do… and I just don’t understand why you’d need me.”

“You’re a girl, for one.”

“Thank you, when I take a shower I couldn’t tell if I was a guy or girl. I’m so glad you cleared that up for me.”

Brian made a face. “What I meant is that you’re a female, and a lot of our fans are females. We need something that will appeal to them.”

“Get naked.”

“Seriously, Eliza.”

“I was being serious,” Eliza said, smiling. “What about Val? She’s there, isn’t she?”

“Val already has enough on her plate. We ask her for too much already.”

“I’m sure she wouldn’t mind giving you her opinion.”

“She gives that enough as it is,” Brian rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.

“What about Amber? She’s a female, right? Get her opinion.”

Brian’s smile faded instantly as he nodded. Eliza noticed the difference before he spoke up. “Amber’s more into the profits of the music. She’s not really into the music aspect of it.”

“What do you mean?” Eliza asked, taking the last bite of her pancakes and setting her fork down. She took a sip of her coffee.

“She cares more about the paycheck I get than the lyrics I write down. I could write a song about her and she wouldn’t care.”

“Oh,” was all Eliza said. She didn’t realize bringing up Amber would be that awkward. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring it up.”

“It’s okay. It’s nice to talk to someone about it. If I try to talk to the guys they just tell me to break up with her, but I really have feelings for her.”

“How long have you two been together?”

“We’re going on seven months.”

“That’s a long time. Do you love her?” Eliza hadn’t meant to ask that question out loud. She’d been thinking it, and it slipped out before she could stop it.

Brian chewed for a minute, thinking. He swallowed before answering. “I love her. You know, she was there for me through a lot of the last tour. She was there on day one, and she’s still there today…”

“But?”

Brian looked at Eliza. How was someone he hadn’t seen since high school able to tell there had been a ‘but’ there? She said herself she didn’t really know him, yet she was able to read him like a book. “But I’m not in love with her.”

“I know what you mean,” Eliza said, taking another sip of her coffee.

Brian could tell there was more to that sentence, but the waitress came at that moment and interrupted them. Eliza insisted on paying for the breakfast, and once she did, they left.

“Are you sure you want me to help out?” Eliza asked.

“We wouldn’t have asked you if we didn’t need you,” Brian said, smiling at her from the driver’s seat.

“Is it okay if we stop back by my house so I can shower?”

“Yeah, that’s cool. I need the guitars, anyway.”

“Oh! I love this song!” Eliza exclaimed, turning up the radio. “Lips of an Angel” by Hinder was playing. Brian smiled as he listened to Eliza sing.

She started getting more animated, clutching onto his sleeve, changing the words in the song to make it seem like she was singing to Brian. When it got to the chorus, they were both singing at the top of their lungs, almost off-key. Brian laughed at Eliza as she threw her hands around, lowering her voice to match the song.

Eliza was trying to lighten the mood a little and the song helped a lot. She watched Brian become as silly as she was trying to be, but once the song slowed down near the end, she couldn’t help but notice he got serious. At one point, she could’ve sworn he was singing right to her, but she brushed it off as they arrived to her house. He had a girlfriend that he loved. Eliza was kidding herself.