Is This What You Call a Family?

Brian’s P.O.V.

Once I finally gave my farewell to Matt and hung up, I leaned back in my chair. It was always a comfort and relief to talk to one of the guys when I was stressed out, especially Matt. Fans were right to think Matt was our leader. Out of the five of us, Arin included, Matt was the most successful in having us keep our heads. I looked to the clock on the wall to see it was 3:30; an hour and a half after Juliet went for her nap. I figured we should really get something to eat since Papa had said Juliet hadn't eaten anything today and not too much yesterday. Besides, I was starving too.

I stood from my chair and headed to the hallway, slipping my cell phone into my pocket as I walked. As I climbed the stairs I could hear the faint sound of music. When I pulled to a stop in front of Juliet's door to knock I noticed it was coming from inside her room. Slipknot if I wasn't mistaken. A 'what?' was the reply to my knock.

As I pushed open the door I saw Juliet on top of her bed. Her back was to me as she slapped a stapler to the wall (where had she found that?), securing the last corner of a BioShock poster. The only other posters up was one for Paramore and the other was an Alice In Wonderland collage. I remember McKenna had given them to her before we left, apologizing about how she hadn't found one for Set It Off, which apparently wasn't the movie? But I couldn't help the little pulse of happiness I got. Her putting up the posters had to be a sign she wasn't just going to hurry and try to leave; she was really going to stay, right?

Juliet turned to face me and raised an eyebrow. "Uhm, Brian? That smile is really creeping me out."

"Huh?" I hadn't even noticed that a shit eating grin had taken over my face. I let it loosen to give an apologetic smile. "Sorry. How was your nap?"

Juliet shrugged and I thought she was going to leave it at that, but she began to talk after a moment. "I didn't. Lulu was the one who really slept. I just put on Spotify and decided to get these up so the walls wouldn't be so bland."

"We could always paint them, too." She just shrugged again as she plopped down on the mattress, her body bouncing a bit before settling. Okay...? "Well are you hungry at all? Thought we could go and find somewhere to eat and talk."

Juliet hesitated. She was beginning to gnaw on her bottom lip as she folded and unfolded the stapler. After a moment she finally came to a decision and nodded softly. "Sure, just give me a minute."

"No problem. I'll meet you downstairs."

As I left her room and shut the door, my humongous grin was back on my face. I was just happy she'd be willing to spend any time with me after how quiet she had been today and how straightforward she was last night about her feelings on me. Or early this morning? Whatever. I couldn't help practically skipping down the steps. Today finally seems to be turning around for me.

"Isn't that a sad sight?" I almost face planted at my surprise of the unexpected voice. I turned to see my familiar, green eyed friend leaning against the doorway of my kitchen. His arms were crossed over his Jack Daniels shirt and a smirk was placed on his recently piercing-freed lips. "The Synyster Gates is skipping. What would the fans say?"

"Dude! This is Juliet’s first day here!"

"I know."

"Then what are you doing here?!"

I had politely asked everyone to stay away from the house for now and I thought I had gotten the message across to them all. I wanted Juliet to get used to the house and Michelle first before bringing in the rest of the guys. I didn't want to overwhelm her with so many new faces so soon of being here. But for some demented, annoying reason, Zacky must have figured he was a special exception. I may have known him the longest out of all of our other friends and he had been a brother to me since we were kids, but he really pissed me off too much for comfort.

"I wanted to meet her."

"Zacky, I"m going to fuck - "

"Hello! You must be Juliet!" Zacky chirped, walking past me. I turned around to see Juliet giving him a strange look as she descended the stairs. "I’m Zacky and - "

"He was just leaving," I interrupted, glaring at Zack to challenge him to argue with me. His mouth drooped down into a frown but he didn't contradict my words. I guess he had finally understood my ‘keep away’ was also directed to him.

"Yeah, I just had to stop by and pick something up. See you around."

"Hey, can't you come with us to lunch? Well, I mean, if Brian doesn't mind," Juliet added sheepishly. Wait, Juliet sheepish? What was this? Zacky quickly turned around on his heels with a wide smile.

"Well, I just so happen to be free today if he doesn't mind." I had a feeling it wasn't just a coincidence his schedule was free. It looked like Zack had won. For whatever reason, Juliet seemed to already have an attraction to the man who was a complete stranger to her until a few moments ago. And yes, I definitely think that bitterly. I hoped this wasn't a crush she was having. That was something I refused to be near.

"Yeah, I guess that’s fine." Zack cast me a small victory smirk before leading the way out the front door, offering to drive. Right as I was about to follow him I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Juliet with an even stare. Instantly I figured I had said or done something wrong, running over the whole conversation that just took place in my head. "Are you okay?"

"Fine. I just changed my mind a bit. I know you really don't want him to come with us. If you want to talk alone with me we can do sometime soon. I know I agreed to listen to your side of this stuff, but I don't want to yet. I have to be in the right mood to deal with that. And I knew that was your plan from the start. It wasn't too hard to figure out. He" - she jutted her head towards the door Zacky had disappeared through - "won't be as straight forward as you or ask me any kind of questions I would be unwilling to answer. So, just wait."

I hated practically being blocked and ordered, but I nodded. Juliet's a smart girl; she knew what would have come up in conversation if we had eaten alone. In a way I couldn't really blame her. She was still annoyed with me and I would just have to wait until she was ready to listen. The fact that she was even willing to listen was much more than I could have asked for, so of course I was going to take what I could get from her. "Okay Juliet, I'll hold you to that. But if Zack annoys you at all, tell me and he'll be gone so quick he wouldn't know what hit him."

"I'll keep that in mind," Juliet said. After I locked the front door we walked over to Zack’s black, 2013 Dodge Charger. As soon as I opened the door the sound of Metallica blared out at such a level I figured everyone on the block could hear it perfectly. I rolled my eyes and climbed into the front seat silently. How did I not hear him when he pulled into the driveway? Was I that absorbed in Matt and I's conversation? Zack, thankfully, turned the radio down to a level that didn't assault my eardrums and let me actually hear my thoughts.

"What do you guys have a craving for?" He was speaking to both of us but we were both looking at Juliet in the rear view mirror. Once she shrugged I turned my head to look back out the windshield again.

"I don't care. I could go for anything you guys are willing to pay for."

"Works for me," Zack spoke as he put the car in gear and took off down my street. I didn't even have to ask him where he was going. He was going to Rick's Pizza. It was a pizza parlor that we had been going to since high school and he frequently reminded us that it was "his favorite place to eat in the whole world". If people could marry a building, he would marry Rick's.

"So Juliet, what grade are you going to be in this year?" Zack questioned, breaking the silence that had settled over the car. I had preferred the comfortable silence than this topic. I mean seriously, he would be the one to talk about stuff no care cared to talk about. Who wants to talk about school at her age? I had graduated umpteen years ago and I still hate talking about it. Apparently school wasn't something Juliet cared to talk about either.

"I'm, uh, taking my freshman year again," Juliet murmured bashfully, glaring out her window. I sent Zack a look and he quickly caught on, deciding to flip the conversation around.

"What kind of music do you like?"

She perked up, obviously happier with this topic. "I listen to a bit of everything, mostly all types of rock though. But I am a sucker for pop songs."

"That's common for all of us. If you start singing ‘Barbie Girl’ though, I quit."

I groaned, letting my head fall back against the headrest of my chair. "Don't even bring that up you dick."

"What are you guys talking about?" Juliet whined, obviously unhappy she didn't know our inside joke. I was about to tell Juliet it was nothing when Zack decided to spill out the whole story.

"Our friend Matt used to listen to that song all the time in high school. He even made a mix CD with only that song and it kept going on repeat. He played it so much that our friend broke the disc and threw it out the window on Pacific Coast Highway,” Zacky laughed. I couldn't help myself from smiling at the memory of Matt yelling at Jimmy while the rest of us cheered.

"Why did he become so obsessed with that song? It’s not that great."

"I have no fucking clue and he still won't tell us," Zack sighed. Just at that moment is when we pulled into the parking lot of the pizza place. We all climbed out, Zacky leading us to the entrance. Our usual waitress, Elaine, smiled at us and led us to our normal seat in the back. Elaine knew our career, even though she didn't care for it much (not being quite the rock fan), and knew the booth in the far back was the best place for us to not be noticed and recognized. I loved her for it.

As we settled into the circular booth – Juliet, myself, then Zack – Elaine smiled to us. "So I know Brian wants a Dr. Pepper and Zack wants a Cherry Coke, what would you have ma'am?"

"Juliet, please. And I'll take a sweet tea."

"Coming right up," Elaine chirped, walking off to fetch the drinks. We came to an agreement with one medium Supreme for Zack and I to split while Juliet would get a small cheese, assuring us it would probably be her dinner also. She really wasn't one to eat much, was she? That was when I decided to break the silence so Zacky wouldn't bring up another bad conversation.

"Can you play any instruments?"

"Actually, I can't. I've always wanted to learn bass guitar but there was no money for that. People in middle school told me I could sing but I don’t think so," Juliet replied, shrugging. A look crossed her face for a split second - making me think she hadn't intended to actually say any of that - but it was gone as soon as it had appeared.

"Aww. Johnny has a friend now," Zack cooed. I kicked him in the shin, causing him to groan.

"Johnny…" We both turned to look at her as she slowly trailed off, staring at the surface of the brown table. She seemed to have wheels turning in her head at the familiar name. "Doesn't he have the short hair?"

"Actually he changed it. He has a brown Mohawk now," I informed, kind of surprised. How the hell did she remember him? The last time he saw her was when she was two, the same time any of us had last seen her.

"I feel kind of cheated. You remember him but not me?" Zack asked. Juliet gave a slight shrug and Zack playfully sighed as Elaine came back. After she placed down our drinks she took our order. She left us alone again and a comfortable silence filled us.

"Brian?" I looked up when Juliet called my name. She was giving me a wide, determined smile. "Can I meet the rest of your friends? Maybe tomorrow? I want to know the people who I will start seeing around a lot. And don't worry, I'm a big girl. I can handle it."

I studied her for a little bit, unsure if she really was ready and a little taken back by her warm attitude towards me suddenly. The guys were a lot to handle. Well, minus Arin. Out of all of us he was the most relaxed. He stood on the fence no matter what the argument was, not taking sides. I was especially worried with Matt. He wasn't exactly the most welcoming looking man, even though he was a giant softie. "Are you sure?"

"I am definitely sure, Brian. I mean, they can't be any worse than Zack," Juliet joked.

"Hey!"