Wounds

Exactly three weeks later, I was standing at the baggage claim in LAX, waiting for my matching suitcases to make their way around the belt. To say I was nervous as I watched the matching marble cases come into view was a complete understatement. I was utterly mortified to be back home. I had changed so much in the last six years. My hair was back to it’s natural color, my make-up became a lot less dramatic than previously, and my style sense had gone from rebellious teen to late twenties adult. Most of my attire was business clothes for work with a few leisurely outfits and a lot of work from home pajamas.

I carried designer bags and wallets, I didn’t fulfill my dream and tattooing my whole body, and all of the piercings I was still sporting six years ago had been taken out. I liked the way I looked now, I liked hiding the heavy metal-core music taste under wraps. It was always fun to see co-workers come into my car or scroll through my Spotify.

I liked who I turned into, I was just afraid no one else would.

Holding my purse and dragging my two suitcases behind me, I headed for the large revolving doors that lead tot he pick-up area and visitor parking. Knowing Zack and his eagerness he would park and be impatiently waiting outside of the doors. As I grew closer to the glass panes, I tried to spot him. As I walked through the rotating doors, I looked to my right and caught a glimpse of the familiar facial features topped off with a pair of aviators.

The second I started walking toward him, the man pulled his sunglasses off and looked right at me, his pupils a lot more noticeable than they should be in this amount of sun light.

He slowly started to move toward me. “Emerson?” He called out to me, his hands shaking as he caught the smile light up on my lips at the sound of my name. “Emmy? Emmy!” He screamed as he sprinted toward me. Laughing, I dropped my things and braced myself for the impact of his body against my own. Luckily, he managed to softly pull me into a hug and twirl me around a few times before setting me down on my feet and placing a few hundred kisses against my face before holding me out in front of him.

“Look at you Zack, all grown up, no more snake bites?”


“Look at me?” He exclaimed, giving me body a slight shake. “Look… Look at you, Emerson! You’re absolutely stunning. I never knew a little punk like you could be such a goddess.”


“Fuck Zack, calm your dick.” I snapped as a strong blush started to surface on my cheeks.


“There she is!” Zack bellowed as he pulled me into him, pressing his face into my neck as he rocked us back and forth for a minute or two, not taking noticed to the people hurriedly walking around us.

Once the brunette managed to recompose himself, he grabbed my suitcases and quickly started leading me to his car, going on and on about how excited everyone was to see me. It was then, in this five minute walk that he dropped the bomb that both Val and Lacey are pregnant.

Instead of a coherent sentence, I started screaming on the top of my lungs. The high pitched wails caught the attention of a few other people heading to their cars, but no one seemed to be worried when they noticed the smile glowing on my lips. Half way through my hysterics, we reached Zack’s car, a shimmering, brand new BMW.

Zack opened the car and told me to tone down the screams so I didn’t blow his ear drums out on the way home. As he packed the trunk, I slid into the passenger seat and slapped my hands against my cheeks, trying to contain the overwhelming joy rushing through my body.

“Is it safe?” Zack joked as he opened the drivers side door and peered in at me from over the edge of his aviators. Rolling my eyes, the man let out a chuckle and then slipped into the car, shutting the door and quickly pulling his seatbelt across his body. “So, what’s the timeline?”


“I get the keys to the condo Friday, truck with my stuff comes Saturday, car arrives Tuesday.” I huffed as I ran through the mental list in my head when I would officially be ‘moving’ into California. Of course, instead of booking my flight for Friday, Zack insisted that I come a few days early so we can catch up before I get sucked up in putting my condo together, even though he had already dedicated a week to helping me unpack and get situated.

“So on a scale of one to one hundred,” Zack dismissed the list I had read off to him and started driving out to the exit of the parking lot where it met the main road that took us to the highway. “How mad would you be if I had everyone waiting at my house for you?” I watched him wince at the end of his sentence.


My body temperature increased at least ten degrees. My heart started to beat rapidly in my chest, and every nerve in my body started to explode under my skin, “Ninety.”


“Better than I expected.” Zack huffed as he pressed the gas pedal and quickly sped up to the flow of the traffic on the thru-way. “It was Vals idea. She might have missed you more that I did. Michelle has had enough of her fashion-shit, Lacey is all in her nutrition-job shit, you were the only one she could really talk clothes with. To be honest, you guys pretty much have the same style now.”


“Val? Business-y?” I was dumbfounded.


“We aren’t shitty twenty-year olds anymore, babe.” Zack sent me a smile and let our conversation end there. He knew me better than anyone still on this earth, so he knew that I needed at least fifteen minutes to mentally prepare myself to be submerged back into this all again.

I tried to come up with a few different scenarios and played them all out in my head. I went through everyone hating me, to getting into a fist fight with Brian, to just having a nice, peaceful party where maybe, just maybe, I had fun. That of course, was the least practiced scenario and the one I believed in the least. If anything, I needed to remember everything Jimmy taught me about throwing punches so I could get Brian before he got me.

Even though in all honesty, the brunette would never lay a finger on me, so that scenario was kind of ridiculous.

“Have you gone through every possible scenario yet?” Zack gave me a smirk as we pulled onto a side road and then made a few more turns deeper into the suburbs.


“You think Brian would be more shocked by a hook or an upper-cut?” I asked as I mimicked the punches, my eyes squinting as I extended my arms.


“Uppercut, for sure.” Zack gave me a cheeky smile as he slowed down and carefully turned into his driveway. Sucking in a deep breath, I noticed the array of fancy cars lined up in the street and couldn’t help but let a small smile appear on my lips. Unfortunately, the brunette besides me also saw my moment of weakness. “Someone’s excited!”


Rolling my eyes, I slowly got out of the car and grabbed my things. Shutting the door, I went to head over to the trunk when I heard a few screams and then the front door swing open. Gasping, I turned to see Val sprinting down the sidewalk, her arms flailing as she screamed a few incoherent words. A second later, Matt was chasing after her, yelling something about the baby that the small woman completely ignored.


“Val!” I screamed as she launched herself into my arms. As she wrapped her legs around my waist, I held her tightly and let her place a few kisses on my cheek as I spun her around. Setting her down, I looked up and watched as the bright hazel eyes from my memory ripped into me, analyzing every inch of my new appearance.

Just as I thought the man would frown, he smiled sadly and walked over to me, pulling me roughly against his chest. “It’s so great to have you back, Em. You look fantastic, you really do.”


“Thanks Matt, and congrats on the baby, you can ask Zacky, I screamed about it for five straight minutes.”


“Felt more like five hours.” Zack snickered as he walked next to me, my suitcases tightly in his arms. “Ready?”


Groaning, I watched as Val sent me a wide smile and then waved her hands in the air. “You’re going to love the presents!”


“Presents!” I screamed.

“Val, mouth shut, now!” Zack snapped as he rolled his eyes and then nudged me along the sidewalk. Shaking my head, I started ranting to Zack about how this was ‘too much’ and how upset I was that this was getting so blown out of proportion. Just as I was about to ramble off a few scenarios I had about being let go or fired within the next two months, Zack pushed the door open and I was greeted with a loud cheer and within seconds I was buried in hugs. My rant was quickly filled with a huge smile and a few chuckles as Johnny and Lacey smothered me in a group hug, babbling on and on about how happy they were that I was back. After Michelle got a good hug in and a few other people I remembered from their small tours and shows, I was left on my own as they all hurriedly talked to Zacky, motioning over to a few boxes that were wrapped up in the corner.

Sighing heavily, I looked up and noticed the doorway that lead to the kitchen. Rubbing the side of my face, I adjusted the glasses on my face and carefully made my way into the kitchen. Heading for the fridge, I pulled it open and grabbed a can of blue moon from the bottom shelf. Popping it open, I started to chug the can when I felt a presence and a pair of eyes drilling into me from the other side of the room.

Pulling the can from my lips, I lowered my head and looked off to the other corner of the room. As my eyes came into contact with his dark orbs, I swallowed hard and sucked in a short breath, not sure which one of my million scenarios was about to play out in front of me.

I honestly was surprised he even showed up in the first place.


“Still drinking the same shitty beer, huh?” A smile played on his lips as he walked over to me and stopped about two feet away. “We aren’t sneaking beers from the fridge anymore, you know,” Brian took a swing from his water and then started to fiddle with the cap. “You can enjoy your beer now. We aren’t going to get in trouble” A smile hung on his lips as he looked at the cap for a moment, the memory fresh in his eyes.

As his eyes rose to meet mine, and he sent me a soft smile, I dropped the can of beer onto the counter and without a second thought, wrapped my arms around Brian and pressed my body into his. Burying my face in his neck, I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding as he tightly wrapped his arms back around me and pressed his face into my neck. Within seconds, I was in hysterics.

“I missed you so much, Emmy.” Brian whispered as his large hand started to rub circles against my back. “I missed you so fucking much.”