Gimme One Reason.

"YESS!!! Now let me welcome everybody to the wild, wild west, a state that's untouchable like Elliot Ness.." I danced around the parking lot as the bus parked, singing California Love as we finally touched home land.

"Finally!" Matt stretched as we got out of the bus. We were here for three days, thank fuck, and had time to go home and sleep.

I spun in circles, feeling the warm sun soak up my skin as the guys began unloading the van. I had on a tank top, cut off shorts, and flip flops. I had my hair washed, one of the few times I got enough time to wash it other than just showering, at our venue yesterday so it felt good to let it down in the sun. I walked around, singing and smiling, my phone ringing taking me from my joy.

"Hello?" I asked, smirking at Matt as he eyed me from the other end of the parking lot.

"Hey slutcake!"

"JER JER!" I smiled, sitting down immediately on the pavement. "What's up love?"

"Oh the sky... and... the fact... YOU'RE BACK HOME!" He shouted "Where are you? Can I come steal you? Where are you?"

"We're in LA right now," I laughed "We don't play till tomorrow so I guess you could come steal me for the da-"

I was cut off by Jeremy screaming in to the phone "I'll be there in fifteen minutes! Text me the address your pretty ass is at!"

"Alright." I laughed as he hung up, I shot him the address of the venue and walked back over to the van where Zack was playing his acoustic.

"You gonna do that freaked up dance from a few weeks ago?" Brian smirked as I walked over, grabbing my purse.

"No thanks." I laughed.

"Where you off to?" Matt asked, walking over and kissing the top of my head. I smiled up at him and pushed my head against his chest.

"Jer is coming to steal me. I'm gonna try to go float away in the ocean." I smiled at Matt.

We had been... messing around successfully without anyone knowing since Philly. It was fun, but I had a gut feeling something would be ruined. But I had to ignore it, Matt always assured me it was fine. I hoped he was right, and he wouldn't cave the minute Val showed up... But then again, they were so perfect, I probably wouldn't even be that mad.

"You gonna be ok?" Matt asked as Zack gave me a hug and kiss goodbye before I walked towards the front of the venue, he was walking me out. The sweetheart.

"Yah, why wouldn't I be?" I laughed "I'm exhausted, I'm gonna go buy a bikini and float away." I smiled as he put his arm around me as we distanced ourselves from the guys.

"I don't know... want me to come with you?" He asked, leaning against the doorway as we stopped at the door.

"Nah, I'm fine Matty." I smiled as he kissed my forehead "I'll see you later tonight ok?"

"Ok, remember we're gonna be at the hotel up the road, right?" He asked, I nodded "See you later Lizzy Vengeance." He smirked as Jer pulled up, honking the horn on his convertible like crazy.

"See you Shads." I mocked his tone and climbed in to Jeremy's car.

"OHMYGOD!" He stared at me "You're so fucking skinny!"

"It's called starving artists for a reason." I smirked as he kissed my cheek, driving off like a bat out of hell down the strip "Where we off to?"

"Anywhere, name it. Coffee first?" He asked, pointing at a Starbucks up the road.

"Yes!" I groaned out "And then bathing suit shopping, I need to be engulfed in salt water." I smiled as he agreed with me. This was going to be such a fucking fabulous day.

~~****~~

Jeremy and I arrived back at the van around ten at night, drunk off our asses. Somehow we managed to get to the van, considering everything was shut up for the night. Only a few bands were sleeping on their buses and vans tonight.

"Oh fuck." I mumbled as we approached the van "We're in a hotel tonight."

"Well you're an idiot." Jeremy laughed as I tossed my soaked bathing suit in to the van. My phone had died earlier in the day and I didn't bring my charger "Wanna go there .... or..."

"Stay here and get wasted!" I laughed and unlocked the van with the spare key Zack gave me. We crawled in and I locked us inside. "There's so much snacks in here, I went shopping yesterday in Seattle."

"Sweet!" Jer laughed as I opened a bag of Cheetos, handing him the bag as I plugged my phone in with the spare cord in the front seat, I had lost mine somewhere last night. I glanced around and noticed something flashing from the cup holder.

"Oh, Matt left his phone." I mumbled and grabbed it, looking at the screen as it unlocked.

Forty-seven missed calls fromValary.

I huffed and opened it.

Sixty-five texts fromValary

And he had nineteen voicemails. I laughed and listened to one, his voicemail code was Val's birthday, how original.

"Hey, baby... What time did you want me to come tomorrow? Michelle and I are gonna drive separate. I know you said around two, but I wanted to be sure."

The message beeped, my blood went cold as I listened to the next.

"Hey Matt, babe. I'll be there at one tomorrow, I'm packing a small bag. I know you mentioned something about staying the night at the hotel tomorrow night, also I made reservations for that restaurant you like downtown for tomorrow night. Love you babe, see you tomorrow."

I grabbed a duffel bag and emptied the contents of my stomach, feeling tears rise to my eyes. "What was that?" Jer asked, holding my hair.

"Nothing." I hissed, staring at the phone in my hands. I threw it at the windshield and grabbed a bottle of Jack from my bag, I never lacked at least three bottles at a time. "Let's get fucking smashed." I smiled, noticing my phone turning on once the battery charged enough. I saw multiple calls from Zack and Brian were missed, but I quickly turned it over and looked at Jer.

"Smashed?" He smirked, the only time we had gotten that drunk, we had ended up fooling around for shits and giggles.

"Yes, smashed." I tipped back the whiskey in my hand and opened my laptop, putting on some dumb movie as we began talking about tour. Tour.

Matt's POV

"She's not answering." Zack threw his phone on to the floor of the hotel room "Why the fuck did you leave your phone in the van?!" He shouted at me.

"If she's not answering you two, I don't feel she'll answer for me." I shrugged "Can you GPS her phone?" I asked.

"If it was on!" Zack shouted "It's dead or she turned it off."

"I vote dead." Jimmy walked out, holding a phone cord in his hand "Her charger was in my bag."

"Fuckin cool." Zack sat down, groaning "Whatever... It's LA, she's probably fine."

"Probably." Brian laid down, answering his phone quickly "Hello?!... Oh, hey." He rolled his eyes "No, I'm not sad it's you babe. Sorry, just no one can get a hold of Liz and I thought maybe she finally called... No, not since like ten." He shrugged "Ok, well yah... Tell her two is early enough, no, not one." He looked at me, his eyes stern "Ok I'll let him know... no he lost his phone earlier. Yah, tell her to get her panties out of her ass... Oh cool, no, I'm not comfortable telling him that.. yup love you bye." He hung up and stared at me "Val's coming tomorrow at one, she's been returning your calls all afternoon with no response. She also said, to my panty comment, Matt can do that for her and just tear them." He shivered.

"Thanks." I rolled my eyes.

Val had called me to talk, so I agreed she could come with Michelle tomorrow to the show and we could once and for all end this. That piece she didn't know, and apparently she was trying to come earlier. Lovely. The less time she would be here around Liz the better. I was really hoping this became something off of tour too, I absolutely felt so great holding her and kissing her.

"OH!" Zack shouted, his phone to his ear once again "It rang.... and voicemail.." He stopped, leaving a less than brotherly voicemail, and hung up "That means she's charging it..."

"Where?" Johnny asked, gesturing around "She's not here."

Zack groaned and rolled his eyes "She's probably drunk, and back at the van... OH!" He clicked around on his phone and laughed "Yah, she's on the van."

He held up his phone and I shook my head "So creepy that you can GPS her phone." I laughed as he shrugged "Creep."

"Hey, she's on my phone plan. I'm her big brother. I do what I want. At least she's safe, we'll go early tomorrow morning and wake her up."

"Sounds good, let's get the fuck to sleep. I'm beat." I groaned, stretching out. We had played a bunch of drinking games and raced the other bands around the venue all day.

"Sounds good." Brian laid back on the couch and shut his eyes.

~***~
The next morning

We arrived at the venue early, around eleven, ok not that early but still, and immedately ran to the van. The door was locked still and there was a weird voice coming from inside. I shrugged towards Zack and unlocked the door.

"HOLY FUCK!" Zack shouted, staring at what was in front of us.

Liz, and Jeremy... we're both naked, laying literally on top of eachother, an empty bottle of Jack at their feet.

"What... What the fuck?" Liz looked up, her eyes growing wide as she registered our precense "Oh fuck... Jer... Jeremy!" She shoved him awake, throwing a blanket across the two of them as he sat up.

"What... Oh shit.. Hey boys." He smirked "Sorry, didn't know you were coming back so early we would have been decent."

"ELIZABETH JANE BAKER!" Zack shouted at her, shielding his eyes. I couldn't help the pit that formed in my stomach as she covered up more, staring at me with... anger?

"Well you could have knocked!" She shouted, pulling a shirt on over her head.

"What... what the actual fuck?" Brian asked, eyeing the situation at hand.

"I don't even want to know. Get dressed." Zack waved behind him as he walked away.

"Oh, Matt, here." Liz pulled her pants on and moved to the front of the bus "Val called you like nine hundred times, she left you a ton of messages. I was drunk, and listened to one. She's gonna be here at one..." She tapped her chin, my stomach knocking at my throat "Oh, and made reservations for tonight at your favorite restaurant for you, she also said love you babe bye." Her eyes burnt in to mine as I took my phone from her.

"I... You..." I stammered.

"I told you so." She smirked, but underlying was my death sentence "I knew you guys would fix it... now I gotta go find coffee with this beautiful human."

"Coffee sounds so good." Jeremy smiled, glaring at me.

"Oh also, I'll be back to pack up my things, I texted her back for you and told her to pack enough for the last leg of tour, she's gonna merch for you guys."

"Liz!" I shouted, throwing my hands up as she walked out of the van "Come on," I tried grabbing her arm but she caught up with Zack quickly.

"Big brother," She pouted at him, my heart sank and my organs stopped "I don't feel good... You guys only have a few more shows right?"

"Yah, a couple mid country, are you ok?" He asked staring at her eyes.

"Yah, I just think I need a head start on job searching and stuff... Val's gonna finish the booth out for me ok?"

He looked from me, to Liz, and back again "Ok...? Are you sure that's what this is?" He asked.

"Yah," She nodded "She's so excited about it. It's fine. I'll hang with you guys today though. Then Jeremy is taking me home."

"Ok... I think we can survive a few shows without you.." He hugged her tight.

"Love you Zacky Bear." She smiled as Zack laughed, kissing her cheek.

"Love you too Lizzy Vengeance." He began leading them away towards the venue doors so her and Jeremy could go get coffee.

I sat down on a chair and groaned to myself, what the fuck Matthew? What the fuck. Just... Just say goodbye now. Cuz you're a dead man.. I took my phone out and texted her .

Please come back and talk to me about this, I can explain. I never asked her for more than to talk.

Matt, I don't even want to look at you right now

Her response killed me, my heart broke. Liz please, please let me explain this... You need to stay, we need you... I need you..

All of a sudden my phone rang, I picked up "What, we're driving, Matt."

"Please, Liz.." I begged, standing and walking around, tears threatening my eyes.

"What, Matt? Please what? Let you fuck me on tour? Whatever, shit happens. I knew you two would get back together-"

"That's not even what's happening, Liz!" I groaned "I told her to come with Michelle so we could talk, that's it. I was going to tell her it was over face to face. So she would hopefully stop bothering me... Please, Liz, you have to stay... you can't do this... Please stay.."

"I wish I could Matt..." I could hear her shaking her head against the phone "I'm just not dealing with that shit." She mumbled.

"Please, Liz, I can't watch you go. You have to stay." I grasped at anything, anything at all.

"Give me one reason, Matt. One. One reason to stay here and I'll have Jeremy turn this fucking car around and come back." She hissed.

"Because... Because I love you, Elizabeth... I fucking love you." I sat down on a wall behind all the buses and vans "I fucking love you, and I need you."

"Too bad love isn't a good enough reason, Matt." She mumbled and hung up, the dead tone sounding like my heart. It was done. I wasn't sure what I was going to do. Val would be here soon, I'd have to face her, deal with her... Fuck.