All or Nothing

She spent the first day without Brian trying to call him. When that didn’t work, she called Val and Katie. She explained what had happened to her and they listened, completely pissed off that Brian would automatically assume that she’d had someone on the side, and decided they were going to kick Hunter’s ass. Unfortunately, they were going back on tour and couldn’t come to New York.

She spent the second day crying some more and watching television. By the eleventh day, she no longer answered her phone for anyone. She couldn’t cry anymore. She couldn’t eat. She didn’t do anything except sit in her bed and blankly stare at the television. She barely moved when her phone rang because none of the calls or texts played Brian’s ringtone. She knew her voicemail was full, and was pretty sure her inbox was about to be.

The only thing she’d eaten had been toast, and even then she threw that up. She kept a bottle of water by her bed, but it remained untouched. If she wasn’t staring at the television, she was staring at the guitar case with everyone’s signatures on it, seeing the big “I LOVE YOU” in Brian’s writing.

She turned her head to the side to keep the tears from falling. A knock sounded on her door and she ignored it, not even bothering to mute the television. She’d heard Dominic and Alex’s voices before, but she didn’t even bother with going to the door.

The knocking soon turned into banging and she finally muted the television. A female voice came through, muffled. “Open the god damn door, Eliza.”

Confused, she unfolded herself from her covers and made her way downstairs to the door. The hollering and banging continued until she pulled the door open.

A girl her height with bright blue eyes and brown hair with highlights. She had two huge bags with her.

“Who the hell are you?” Eliza asked, but her voice was raspy. She cleared her throat.

“I’m Annisa. I’m Dominic’s fiancée, and you’re in dire need of a shower. Come on,” the girl said and pushed her way into the apartment.

Eliza shut the door and turned back to the girl. She was making her way through the apartment and up the stairs. Confused, Eliza followed her and saw she pulled out several different things. She saw brushes, a hair dryer, a curling iron, a huge trunk-like box full of makeup.

“You should be showering now,” Annisa said, turning back to look at Eliza. “Don’t wash your hair, either. We need to put more dye on it and it holds better dirty.”

She just nodded before heading to the bathroom.

Almost an hour later, everything shaved, and completely clean, Eliza emerged from the bathroom. Her bedroom was torn upside down. Her bed was completely stripped, the few food items she had on the tables were removed and her ashtray was cleaned out.

“Alright, I put out some clean clothes for you and when you’re done, sit in the chair.”

Eliza moved back to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were sunken in, her skin wasn’t as tan as it used to be and her eyes looked dull. Her hair was a pale pink and she could see her auburn was starting to show at the roots. She looked like hell and knew it. She pulled the shorts up over her bottom and the shirt over her head and sighed, making her way out of the bathroom.

Sitting down in the chair, Eliza looked at the girl who was behind her.

“Why are you here?”

“Dominic’s worried about you. You haven’t answered his calls or the door when he’s come by. Your friends Eliza and Katie called Dom and were on the verge of flying out here because they thought you were dead. I volunteered to come over, knowing you wouldn’t know my voice and I brought things I knew you’d need. I also have Reese’s, ice cream, and we can go get some pizza or something later if you want.”

“You didn’t happen to bring alcohol, did you?” Eliza asked.

Annisa smiled and moved to one of the bags. She pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels and two glasses. Eliza smiled as she watched the brunette pour two glasses and hand one to her.

“Thank you,” she said as she took a sip. “You said Katie and Val called Dom?”

“Yeah, they did.”

“Why?”

“Are you serious? Your fiancée and Hunter may be dicks, but you still have people that care about you.”

“I still don’t understand why you’re here,” Eliza said as Annisa started to apply a mask to her face.

“I’m here because you gave Dominic a job. You let him into your band and made him the happier than I've seen him in a while just because he can play his bass again. I’m also here because the way he talks about you, it sounds like you could use a friend close by. Your whole life is in California, and I’m trying to give you a slice of life in New York.”

“I could definitely use that about now,” Eliza said, finishing off her drink.

When she set it down, Annisa refilled it immediately. Eliza raised her glass to her newfound friend and tilted it back.



A week later, despite still crying herself to sleep at night, Eliza felt refreshed. She felt more like herself. She had even gone back to the studio with Alex and Dominic. She refused to look at or speak to Hunter and pretended he wasn’t there. He didn’t bother her, and didn’t speak. Dominic and Alex knew what Hunter had done, but they didn’t say anything.

Jocelyn did, however.

“I don’t see why you can’t get past it. He was pulling a prank.”

“His prank ended my relationship, Jocelyn,” Eliza said quietly.

They were all sitting around the studio as Alex remained in the booth with his drum set.

“Obviously the relationship wouldn’t have lasted, then,” Jocelyn said, inspecting her nails.

“The last girl that tried to come between Brian and I almost ended up in jail.”

Jocelyn’s eyes grew wide as they flicked to Eliza.

“You don’t fuck with me, Jocelyn…and Hunter fucked with me. I want him out of the band.”

“Eliza, I think you’re taking things a bit far. I still don’t understand why you’re so upset. It’s not like he fucking cares anyway.”

“Obviously Hunter doesn’t care, Joce. We know he doesn’t.”

“I wasn’t talking about Hunter, dear,” Jocelyn said with a smile that made a shiver go down Eliza’s spine.

“Who are you talking about?”

“Brian, of course.”

Eliza’s heart stopped beating. Unfortunately, at that same time, Annisa burst through the door.

“Eliza, honey, you need to see this,” she said, not even bothering to say anything to Dominic as she threw a magazine on the table in front of Eliza.

Slowly, Eliza reached down to pick it up. On the front cover was Brian’s gorgeous body, mid-stride down the street. Beside him was Kaicey. They weren’t holding hands, but it was obvious they were going somewhere together.

Eliza’s whole world felt like it was shattering. Inside, her heart felt like it was crumbling into a million pieces. She stood up, threw the magazine down, and left. Annisa followed quickly behind her, making sure she was alright.

Annisa followed her all the way to a pharmacy store where Eliza angrily stormed in. She walked around for a few minutes before she finally found the aisle she was looking for. When she turned back to Annisa, there were tears falling down her face.

“I need a change.”

Annisa looked at the box in Eliza’s hands and nodded, knowing there was no changing her mind at this point.