Wanted

Brian woke up the next morning to an empty bed. Looking across the sheets, he saw Eliza’s bedside table was empty except for a note. Blinking, he slinked across the bed to grab it.

Gone to see mom & dad. Love you.

He smiled and rubbed his eyes. Placing the note on the bed, he rolled off the side and padded his way to the bathroom, grabbing a towel from the back of a chair on his way.

After he’d showered and gotten dressed, Brian plucked his phone from the dresser, pulling the charging cord from the side of it. The screen lit up and he was able to see he had a message from Matt.

“Did you tell her yet?”

Sighing, Brian typed out his reply before he grabbed his things and headed down the steps. He glanced around the house, making sure everything was alright before he went out the front door. Just as he was about to open the SUV door, he heard his phone beep again.
He climbed in before looking at the text from Matt. “You’re just gonna let it be a surprise? How is she gonna feel about it?”

“She’ll love it. Don’t worry.”

Brian sighed, and hoped she really would love it. He didn’t see why she wouldn’t love it, but now he wasn’t sure.



“But Mrs. Bennet, who had calculated on her daughters remaining at Netherfield till the following Tuesday, which would exactly finish Jane’s week, could not bring herself to receive them with pleasure before. Her answer, therefore, was not propitious, at least not to Elizabeth’s wishes, for she was impatient to get home. Mrs. Bennet sent them word that they could not possibly have the carriage before Tuesday, and in her postscript it was add, that if Mr. Bingley and his sister pressed them to stay longer, she could spare them very well. Against staying longer, however, Elizabeth was positively resolved—nor did she much expect it would be asked; and fearful, on the contrary, as being considered as intruding themselves needlessly long, she urged Jane to borrow Mr. Bingley’s carriage immediately and at length it was settled that their original design of leaving Netherfield that morning should be mentioned and the request made.”

Eliza paused in her reading and looked up at the gravestones in front of her. Her eyes teared up as they always did whenever she visited her parents. She’d read a little bit every time she came, the only time she read Pride and Prejudice, and she’d get little bit in before she’d start crying.

“I miss you guys so much,” she said, wiping at her eyes.

“They’d be so proud of you,” a voice said from behind her.

She smiled through the tears as she felt Brian sit down beside her. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she leaned into him. He kissed the top of her head and looked at the gravestones.

“I’m trying my best,” he said, and she listened to him, tears filling her eyes. “To take care of your baby girl. I hope I’m making her happy because she makes me unbelievably happy. I wish you guys could see how beautiful she’s gonna look when she walks down the aisle. I wish you were gonna be there to walk her down the aisle.”

Eliza lifted her head to look at Brian. He was staring intently at the gravestones.

“It’s not fair.”

“What’s not?” she asked, twisting her body so she could look at him.

“That my parents get to be there and yours don’t. I get to celebrate with mine and you—”

“Get to celebrate with yours, too,” Eliza finished, looking into his eyes. “I get to celebrate with your family as they become mine. My parents will be watching, Brian. I know it’s not fair, but that’s how it is. We’ll be just fine.”

Brian looked at Eliza’s eyes and saw the sincere look and he smiled. “Come on, we’ve got someplace to be.”

“Where?” she asked as he helped her stand up.

“Kind of like a band meeting,” he said, dusting off his pants.

It was then that she realized how nicely he was dressed in his business-casual look. She pushed her glasses up higher on her nose and looked down at what she was wearing.

“I guess I better get home and get into something a bit nicer, huh? What’s it about, anyways?”

“We’ve found a replacement for Mike,” he said, running a hand through his hair.

“Really?”

“Yep,” he said and shoved his hands in his pockets. He pulled out his phone with one hand and looked at the time. “We’ve got about three hours until we’re supposed to be there, and we have to go to the record label building.”

“Oh,” Eliza said, as if suddenly realizing what time it was. “Burbank?”

“Yeah,” he said and took her hand.

"Guess it's an important band meeting then," she said, smiling.

They walked silently back to Brian’s car. Eliza was glad because she’d walked to the cemetery, just for some time to think, and she didn’t feel up to walking anymore. Glancing around, she realized where they were and she suddenly veered to the left, pulling Brian with her. Before he could ask where they were going, she’d stopped and was looking down. Her hold on his hand got a bit tighter and he looked down, too.



Unconsciously, Eliza let go of Brian’s hand and wrapped her arms around him. They stood, chest to chest, their arms wrapped around each other as they looked down. Brian bent his head to kiss her temple and she sighed into him. It wasn’t cold, even for January, but she felt a small chill and buried herself into his leather jacket.

“I was gonna ask him to walk me down the aisle.”

Brian heard her whisper as clear as day and an idea formed in his head. Instead, he leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I miss him, too.”

He felt her sigh and she pulled away from him. “Let’s go get ready.”



Two and a half hours later, they walked hand-in-hand into one of the conference rooms in the small building tucked away in Burbank, California. Val, Matt, Katie, Zacky, and a few others sat around the table inside, an open laptop at one end.

Matt immediately went to Brian. "You haven't told her yet, have you?"

"She knows we came here because we have a new drummer, but she doesn't know who."

"She's gonna shit a brick," Matt said with a smile.

After their hellos, Eliza looked around, expecting to see Johnny, but he wasn’t there. She attempted to pull her skirt down as she sat into the chair beside Brian. Katie leaned across him to talk to Eliza.

“I love your outfit!”

As if knowing he was being discussed, Johnny walked in, jeans, a t-shirt, and a blazer adorned, followed by Arin, cutting off their conversation. The girls and Arin seemed to be confused as to what was going on, but Larry, their manager, had walked in at that moment with another guy he introduced, and a stack of papers. Matt pulled the laptop from the head of the table and put it in front of Val. She touched the mousepad and brought it to life as Larry got started.

Eliza listened intently to what he was saying before her eyes fell on Arin and it clicked. Her hand latched onto Brian’s thigh underneath the table and her eyes bugged while fixed on Arin. Brian just smiled as he looked at Eliza, realizing she’d figured out what was going to happen. When she finally tore her eyes from Arin, she smiled brightly back at Brian.

Arin, on the other hand, was completely confused by everything. He realized too late that they’d been talking to him when everyone stopped to stare at him. His eyes widened and he sat back in his chair.

“I’m sorry…What?”

“How do you feel about this?” Larry asked him.

“Feel about what?”

There were some chuckles and Matt leaned forward on the table to look at him. “We want you to be our drummer. We’re prepared to sign you to the band and the label as long as you want to.”

“Holy shit,” he breathed out and looked at each one of them.

From Brian, to Eliza, Katie, Zacky, Val, Matt, Larry, and around to Johnny, each person had a smile on their face as he looked at them. He’d been working with them on and off for months, learning songs, helping them out here and there on new material, because Mike Portnoy hadn’t wanted to continue after they’d gone on a mini-tour, and he’d had so much fun. He never expected to even be considered, but when Brian called him one day, he couldn’t say no. Now, he never expected this; he just thought he was going to be a temporary thing until they found who they were looking for, but apparently they’d wanted him.
“Who the fuck am I to say no?”

Cheers went up, clapping, hugging, and hand shaking ensued, and only after Arin had signed all of his papers, did Zacky speak up.

“We’re getting wasted at Johnny’s tonight!”