Is This What You Call a Family?

We ended up staying until one thirty-ish and I was surprised I could even stay awake at this point. It was mostly quiet on the short way to Brian’s home, the only sound being the music playing from the local rock station. Well, I guess it’s our home now. Brian had informed me that the people who legally lived at his home were him, his wife Michelle, their dog Pinkly, and the puppy they had recently adopted named Cthulhu, better referred to as Lulu.

I couldn't help the eyebrow rise at such an odd name. He bashfully told me that one of his friends had named it when he had been drinking and it just stuck. I nodded, deciding not to question his sanity. It’s funny because this was how most of his attempts at talking directly to me went; me answering with mostly facial expressions and a few words. Funnier was his face when he realized that he was the only one I did that to. All day I had been fine with talking to Papa, McKenna, and Suzy, but I refused to do the same with Brian. There had been a few times he tried to get us to have a private conversation but I literally shrugged him off each time.

We finally pulled in front of a house so large it almost seemed like a mansion. Or are they called manors? No wait, that’s in the country. I’m going with mansion. With a quick glance around the neighboring houses I could see this house only matched its siblings. All the houses were obnoxiously screaming with money and it made me instantly feel out of place in the middle of it all. How did this guy, who honestly resembled a half assed hipster, own a house this large and nice? Yeah, nobody had decided to tell me what the hell he did for a living still. I guess it would have come up easier if I had asked but I didn't really plan on it.

"So, what do you think?" Brian chirped as he walked around to my side of the car after we had climbed out. I looked at him before glancing at the monument of a house. I guess I had to throw some bones here and actually talk.

"It’s big," I said simply. If he was displeased with my answer he did a really good job of hiding it. He just smiled and ushered me to the front door, both of us holding onto our bags. Once he unlocked it, he pushed the door open and motioned me in first. We stepped into a large entryway with an oak staircase in the center. Branching off on either side of the staircase was a long hallway. Off of the room were multiple doorways. Did they really need this big of a house with only two people and two dogs? I voiced this to Brian and he laughed.

"We have guests a lot. We made sure to have enough room to house everyone comfortably."

"What, do you have thirty people stay at once?" I asked sarcastically.

"No, the highest we've ever had was fifteen." I was waiting for a wink or some way for him to show he was joking but nothing came. How the hell could someone survive having fifteen guests at once? Fuck that noise. He shut the door behind him and called out 'I'm home'. The sound of nails clicking on hardwood floor was heard. Suddenly a white Maltese and a German shepherd ran in. They slid to a stop in front of Brian who kneeled down to pet each of them. "Alright, so Michelle is still at work. Juliet, these are the dogs, Pinkly and Lulu."

I knelt down next to him, holding out a hand so the two could sniff me. Pinkly seemed excited but Lulu was ecstatic. She was trying to jump up in my lap, causing me to laugh and pet her affectionately. As I stood to my full height she sat at my feet, her tail wagging and hitting the floor. "What is she doing?"

"I think she’s chosen her favorite," Brian remarked. I smiled. Lulu really wasn't living up to her full name. Last time I checked Cthulhu was supposed to be a vicious and cruel creature that wanted destruction of all. This puppy probably still cowered to thunder and vacuums. But I couldn't lie, she was adorable and I was kind of glad she took such a liking to me. At least I wouldn't feel so alone here. "Would you like a tour of the house?"

"Uhm, if you don’t mind, I’d rather take a nap," I spoke. I was too tired to even pretend to play good little guest. And it probably was because I hadn't taken my pain pills so the exhaustion was mixing with the soreness of my ribs, but I wasn't going to admit that to anyone. Especially Brian. I didn't want to take a chance of him trying to be a mother hen. I could only handle so much in one day. Again, if he was unhappy by my decision he hid it.

"No problem. Come on, I’ll show you to your room," he chirped. He really needed to stop acting so fucking chipper. It was frustrating to hear. I followed him wordlessly up the staircase, Lulu on my heels. Apparently Pinkly had decided to leave the three of us alone, walking off down the hallway. The top floor was as grand as the floor below. There was a wide foyer with glass windows from the floor to ceiling at the wall opposite from us. There were a few doors branching off from the foyer, but there were two halls stretching either way from us. Brian led me to the second door on the right. "And this is your room."

It was exceptionally big but boring. I would definitely have to fix that with posters. McKenna had given me three she had picked up when she was out with her friends, but I would need plenty more. Soon you wouldn't be able to see any bit of those brown walls. I stepped forward, placing my bag on the window seat and spinning on my heels to get a full view of the room. Lulu instantly jumped onto the bed, curling into a ball like it was her own bed. I looked to see Brian standing in the doorway, smiling.

"How do you like it?" I shrugged. It was neither a good sign nor a bad sign but Brian was obviously not very happy with it. Which made the childish side of me very happy. He quickly hid it and smiled brightly at me. "Well I’ll be downstairs if you need anything."

"Okay." With that he disappeared, shutting the door behind himself. I looked over at Lulu and couldn't help smiling at the already sleeping companion. I kicked off my Converse and placed my beanie on the nightstand before slipping under the comforter. I let my eyes slide shut and listened to the distant sound of music somewhere in the house. It was more than likely Brian unless his home was haunted.

After twenty minutes – I knew only because of the clock on the wall – I finally gave up on my attempt at sleep. I felt tired, I knew I needed to sleep, but my mind refused to let me sleep. I just wasn't used to this new place yet and I felt like I never would be. I slipped back out of bed and made sure to not move too much as to not wake up Lulu. I padded out of my room in my black socks, peeking either way in the hallway. I could still hear the music, though it was just as distant as it was inside of my room.

I decided to first look at the only room in this side of the hallway. It was pretty large and had desks skewed around the room, each with a table lamp and sketch pads. On one desk was littered with designs for a thing called "Vengeance University". The even more unorganized desk had more designs and paperwork but this time for "Synyster Gates". I raised an eyebrow, leafing through it. There were cool drawings but what the hell for?

I left the room, shutting the door back. Then I continued to the opposite side of the hallway. One room had two couches in right angles from each other. On the wall was a flat screen TV and multiple game consoles. I could only assume this was the 'game room' McKenna had been talking about. It was quite a let down from the one at Papa’s which was kind of disappointing. He has this much money and can’t afford to make it amazing? Next door to that was a room with a sewing machine and multiple different fabrics and patterns. I could only assume this was his wife’s hobby room or something. I left it all the same, shutting the door and heading to the stairs since I couldn't imagine anything else being too interesting. Once I was on the ground floor I decided to follow the sound of the music.

I came to a stop in front of a door with a strong bass line heard behind it. I thought about knocking and chose against it. I didn't really want to talk to Brian right now. I heard the music abruptly cut off, causing me to jump a little. Had he heard me? I didn't think I made any sound. Besides, he couldn't possibly hear anything over the sound of his music. I quickly looked both ways, trying to think over my options of where I could hide. That’s when I heard his voice cut through the now silent air.

"Hey Matt. Thanks for calling me back, man."

Who the hell was Matt? Wait, I think McKenna mentioned that name before but I couldn't remember anything specific through my tired haze. Was he the short one? My nosey personality got in the way of my common sense and I carefully twisted the door knob, lightly pushing the door open. The room was rather large with nearly every instrument I could picture a person being able to play. Brian sat in chair with his back facing me and holding a pinstriped guitar - a guitar that looked a lot like McKenna's - in his left hand with a phone in his right. He didn't seem to notice I had opened the door since he hadn't turned around.

"Nah, we got back not too long ago. She's taking a nap right now." He paused, listening to the Matt man on the other end of the line. "Well she's not too happy with it. She told me she doesn't like me and I doubt she will until we can talk about stuff. I'm not going to rush her, I don't need her to hate me anymore, y'know?... No, Dad said he was arranging it for next week. Gonna give some time to see if Ally's mom will want to show, though I doubt it....Yeah, so how was the flight home?"

I then began to get bored. He started asking about some woman named Val and talking about his own wife. I was curious how his wife acted. Hopefully nothing like the pompous boyfriends Mom had around. I had a flick of interest flash in my eyes at the mention of a band, but they began to talk about shit I couldn't keep up with. Just as I was about to leave they begun to speak about me again.

"I don't know what I’m going to do with Juliet, man. I really do want to get to know her personally. I missed out on so much of her life; I just want her to not hate me…. Of course I'm trying! I don't think she likes her room at all though and she didn't seem thrilled at the size of the house." Brian began to listen again as he finally placed the guitar on the stand next to his chair. He sighed at something said on the other end of the line, covering his eyes with his hands. "I don't know. Man, I wish Jimmy was here. He'd definitely know how to get through to her."

As he began to chuckle to himself I decided to leave. I silently shut the door and crept away. I headed upstairs, deciding to research some stuff about Brian Haner Jr. Maybe I should learn a little about this guy before I deal with him head on. I slipped into the bedroom again, Lulu now stretch out on her back, still sleeping. I smiled softly and grabbed the tablet from my backpack. Papa and Suzy had given it to me as, what they had called, a very late birthday and Christmas present. McKenna had helped me set it up and figure out how to use it. I settled onto the window seat as I unlocked the screen with the four digit pin I had chosen.

Once it finally unlocked and I set up the Wifi (McKenna just told me the password since she figured I wouldn't wanna ask), I tapped to open Google Chrome. I typed in his name, instantly being directed to his Wiki. I skipped over that, not really interested in his personal life. I clicked on the second link which led me to a band page for an "Avenged Sevenfold". Further reading told me that it was actually Brian and his friends' band, that Matt guy included. Reading through their old posts I found out Brian and the rhythm guitarist had their own clothing brands, they just released an album last year, and they were still mourning over their old drummer's death.

Why didn't I have this idea before when I couldn't sleep the last two nights?

I chose to look into this 'Jimmy Sullivan'. From what I read he was a pretty interesting guy. He passed away in 2009 and their old album Nightmare was the last he had any help with. I watched a few videos and decided if he was still alive I would probably get along with him very well. I was disappointed when I found out he had no children. That would have been interesting to see, the offspring of this guy. I finally opted to put down my tablet and let all the information soak in.

This was definitely one interesting group of people.