Wanted

Brian looked down at the box that had his name on it. He’d purposely not looked inside or even at the box since Eliza left. She’d mentioned to him the last night they spent together that she was considering coming back to Huntington Beach permanently. Immediately, he told her no, and at her confused expression he explained that she couldn’t leave her band. It was the same reaction that she would have if he’d wanted to move to New York. She’d talk him out of it, considering the guys were in California.

He knew she was upset with him but she would understand why he was so adamant on her not moving back. If she did, it would drive a bigger wedge in between them and that was the last thing Brian needed with Eliza. He thought they were finally getting back to the way they had been before until….Jimmy.

He sighed and pulled the box closer to him. He knew it was a Christmas present Jimmy had never wrapped. Jimmy was always bad about that. Opening the box, he pulled out a few sheets of paper, a book, and a small box. Frowning, he looked through the papers. He’d seen them before, he realized as he looked at them, and came to the realization they were the original ideas of “Dear God” that he’d written years prior. His frown deepening, he pulled out the book. Upon opening it, he realized it wasn’t a book but a scrapbook filled with pictures.

Flipping through the pages, tears came to Brian’s eyes as he looked over the pictures of Eliza and everyone he knew. Finally, almost finished with the book, he saw a page that didn’t have any pictures, but a bunch of stickers on top of some paper. The writing said “True Love” and he cautiously turned to the next page.

He covered his mouth with his hand as his bottom lip quivered. Apparently Val had snapped a picture from the window of the day he’d proposed to Eliza. She had her legs wrapped around him and he had her pulled close. The next few pages were all of them in different stages of their relationship. Hell, there was even a picture of them dancing at her release party. He frowned remembering that night. He wished she was there right now.

Closing his eyes, he calmed himself down and continued to flip through the pages. He was about to set it aside, seeing as he was at the last page, until he noticed something on the back cover. Pushing the last page out of the way, he noticed Jimmy’s writing.

“Eliza,

Keeping an eye on the world, from so many thousands of feet off the ground…

Don’t give up now. I promise it’ll get better. Just do whatever the fuck you want, and everyone else can go fuck themselves.

Jimmy.”

Brian realized then that this was supposed to be a present for Eliza from Jimmy. Somehow it had made its’ way into Brian’s box instead of hers. The first line of his note stuck out in Brian’s mind, however, wondering what Jimmy meant. Did he know he was going to die? Had he planned it? No, Brian shook that thought from his head. The words sounded familiar for some reason and he set the photo album to the side as he reached into the box to grab the last item inside of it.

Even more confused, Brian looked at the small box. He frowned until it dawned on him what could be inside. Just as he opened the box to confirm his suspicions, the sentence made sense. It was a lyric! Dropping the small box with a shimmer, he reached for his phone to do some searching.



The Ballroom Blitz Tour days away, and Eliza was more stressed out than ever. The band was busy packing, getting everything together, approving lots of details, and getting used to the rental bus that they had finally been able to afford.

On top of the non-stop meetings between them and the record company and KoЯn, Eliza had barely spoken to Brian. Every once in a while, he’d answer a text or his phone, but more likely than anything, either her messages would go ignored, her calls would go to voicemail, or if by chance the call on Skype went through, it was Katie, Michelle, or one of the guys. Try as she might, she couldn’t get any more than two minutes, if that, out of Brian.

She’d learned from the rest of the band that they’d gone back into the studio back in February with Mike Portnoy as the interim drummer on the album. Eliza had been so proud of them for working through the difficult time and wished with everything in her she was there, but they understood why she wasn’t. Matt had told her Brian was spending all of his time perfecting the songs Jimmy had written out for him. They’d changed the name of the song “Death” to “Fiction”, and he’d confessed that Brian was writing his own song for them.

Eliza made her way down the six blocks it took her to walk from her apartment to Nisa and Dominic’s flat. It still wasn’t exactly warm enough for shorts, but she couldn’t help herself. She’d found her favorite pair and slipped them on, wishing with everything in her that she was back in California so she could wear shorts all the time. She put on a brave face in front of everyone, but alone she was a mess. She wanted to be back in California. Not just for Brian…but for herself.

She was completely torn in the situation and it was eating her up inside.

Sighing, she took a sip of her coffee and pulled at the hem of her shorts as she pushed the button to be buzzed in. A loud sound followed by the unlocking of the door followed and she pulled it open. She shook her bracelets down on her arm and jogged up the few flights of stairs to their door, knocking on it.

When Nisa opened it, Eliza was taken aback by first, how excited Nisa looked, and secondly by how sweaty she was.

“Did I interrupt something gross?” she asked.

“No! Come in!”

Eliza stepped inside the apartment, and apparently into a war zone. Boxes and bubble wrap and crap were everywhere.

“What the hell are you guys doin?”

“I can see your bra,” Nisa said, grabbing onto the strap and pulling as she walked by Eliza. There was a resounding snap that followed.

“Ow,” she said, reaching over her shoulder to her back. “At least I’m fucking wearing one.”

“This is true! Thanks for that!”

“Seriously, what the fuck are you guys doing?”

Nisa stopped working and glanced at Dominic who’d just walked into the room as Eliza asked the question. They shared a look.

“Dom told me what was in the manila envelope…”

Eliza furrowed her eyebrows. “The one Jimmy left me? It was a song. You could’ve just asked. He wrote me a song. He left tapes and music and tabs and everything.”

“I know. Dominic told me that you had a rough couple of days trying to learn it.”

Eliza frowned. She’d tried to block out the memory of opening the manila envelope with her name on it in Jimmy’s chicken scratch. She’d cried then as she realized what it was, and as she put the CD in, she watched as he played the guitar parts as well as the drum part on the screen in front of her. Hearing the music being played by her band really sent her over the edge, making her lock herself in her apartment for a full day.

“Okay? What does that have to do with you guys packing your shit up?”

“We found a house,” Nisa said with a smile.

“But I thought you guys liked your apartment.”

“We do! We just…”

“We found this really nice house. Great view and the neighborhood is amazing,” Dominic interjected.

“That’s good! I’m happy for you guys,” Eliza said with a smile. “What about your stuff for the tour?”

“All packed and ready to go for tomorrow. A moving company is coming to help Nisa with the finishing stuff. I just wanted to get a lot done tonight.”

“Have you guys talked to Thomas?” Eliza asked as they moved back to pack things up.

“Not in a while,” Dominic said, frowning. “I thought you had?”

“I haven’t talked to him in like two weeks,” Eliza replied.

Her phone started going off at that exact moment and she looked down to see Thomas’ name flash across the screen.

“Speak of the devil,” she mumbled and lifted the phone to her ear. “I hope your ears are burning because I was just talking about you.”

“I need you guys to come over. I’ve got some big news!”

“Uh, Nisa and Dom are in the middle of packing up their shit.”

“Oh, right, uh…” Thomas said and she could hear him moving things around. “Okay, I’m gonna call everyone else and I’ll meet you guys there.”



When Thomas finally got to Dominic and Nisa’s apartment, everyone else was already there. Eliza had a sweat starting on her brow from helping them pack their things up while Wiki and Hunter were sitting on a couch still in place. He frowned at them for their whispering while staring at Eliza, but once they’d caught sight of Thomas, they stopped.

“Does she know?” he asked.

“No,” they both said immediately.

“Good, now come on! I’ve got some good news,” he said, immediately changing his attitude.

Brows furrowing, Wiki and Hunter followed him into the hallway where they could hear Eliza and Dominic laughing. Nisa was chastising them for something. When they all spotted Thomas, they said their hellos and moved to the living room.

“So what is this huge news, Tom?”

He looked like a little kid at Christmas whose parents had just told him to go ahead and open presents and he wasn’t sure where to start.

“Yeah,” Wiki said. “Where the hell have you been these last few weeks?”

“I’m about to tell you,” he said, smiling broadly.

“Then spit it out!” Hunter said.

“If you guys would shut the fuck up, I would!” he chastised. Clearing his throat, he began again. “I have been training with Unlimited Industries for the past couple of weeks. Chris called me a while back, offered me a job, so I’ve been working with them.”

“That’s incredible!” Dominic said, enthusiastically. “What are you gonna be doing?”

“You are looking at your new tour manager,” Thomas said, proudly.

Everyone seemed to lose their shit at the same time, flipping out and screaming. Thomas moved around hugging everyone.

“Can we leave like right now?” Wiki asked, excitedly.

“Less than twenty-four hours,” Dominic said with a sigh.