Too Scared to Love Again

Lynn woke up the next morning, groaning a little underneath her breath, meanwhile she shifted her position, driving the blanket further up her face. Just as Lynn shifted position again, the barking sound of a dog was brought to her attention. Her hazel brown eyes flew open, panic gripping her, as Lynn narrowed her eyes at a white Maltese that was now sweeping its tongue across the side of her face.

“Oh God!” Lynn’s voice cracked, still thick with sleep as she sat up, realizing that she had fallen asleep on Brian’s couch.

The white Maltese barked again, before it started to press itself against Lynn’s side, demanding that her hand brushed through the soft fur.

“You’re awake!” Brian muttered, a cup of coffee between his slender fingers. “And you’ve met Pinkly.” he chuckled.

“She’s yours?” Lynn asked, meanwhile she accepted the dog into her arms.

“No, I just let a random dog enter my house.” Brian dropped dryly, as Lynn frowned at him.

“What time is it?” she muffled, rubbing her hands into her face.

“10:30.”

“WHAT?” Lynn almost choked. “I fell asleep?”

“Yup. You drank some grapefruit vodka, and fell asleep after that.” he chuckled at the memory of her.

A heavy sigh left Lynn’s lips, as she threw the blankets off of her body, and then snatched her Iphone from the coffee table, noticing the messages that had been left on it.

Blair F. Jones to groupchat
01:00 AM
GUYS!!!! I’m officially TAKEN!!!!!!!!
I’m sleeping over at Zee 2 celebrate;);)

Cynthia J. Thompsen to groupchat
01:11 AM
Ew, gross! But OMG that’s so cool!
I’m home now. Where the fuck are u, L?

Cynthia J. Thompsen to groupchat
01:44 AM
Lynn????
Where
The
FUCK
Are
U?
I’m gonna call the police!!!

“Jesus Christ…” Lynn let out, dragging her hand through her hair and noticing how her fingers got tangled around her locks. “I gotta get home.”

The brunette got to her feet, and then collected her belongings. She dumped her phone into her tote, and then watched as the dog ran towards it’s owner. Meanwhile she collected her stuff, her stomach started groaning, which brought a silly smirk unto Brian’s lips.

“I was just about to eat some breakfast. You can join if you want to.” he offered.

“That’s very generous, but I should get home. Cynthia’s probably called the police on me.” Lynn explained, which made Brian chuckled.

“If you stay, I’ll drive you.” Brian suggested.

“Wow, you’re really giving me an offer I can’t resist here, Synystor Games or whatever that name was.” the brunette stated.

“Synyster Gates!” Brian corrected her. “And yes, I can be very convincing.”

“Show me what you have, Gates.” Lynn announced.

The two of them decided to go for waffles, which Brian soon learned happened to be one of Lynn’s specialties, among many other things. The guitarist had never used the waffle iron his stepmother had given him for Christmas almost two years ago, and he was now mesmerized by how Lynn worked her way on it, pretending as though she had used it a numerous of times before.

“I take it that you like to make waffles?” he chuckled, as he started a pot of coffee, and then watched as she freed a fresh waffle from the iron and dumped it on a large plate.

“I worked as a waitress at a diner, and most of my shifts happened to be ridiculously early.” Lynn told him, her attention resting on the waffle iron.

“And that was before you started working at Dreams?” he asked, resting his dark eyes at her.

“Yeah. I’m glad that I found Dreams,” Lynn confessed, this time meeting his gaze and holding it for a brief moment. “I mean, that’s where I met Blair, and she’s like a sister to me now.”

“But you knew Cynthia before Dreams?”

“Are you investigating me?” the brunette cocked her eyebrows at him, her face turning unimpressed again, which made him chuckle.

“No, I’m just curious by nature.” Brian dropped.

“And yes, I’ve known Cynthia and Kath for a long time. I hated Cynthia at first though.”

“You tend to do that a lot before you get to know people.” he mocked.

“You gave me every reason to!” she objected.

“But Cynthia then? What did she do?” Brian asked, his eyebrows rising on his forehead.

“We just didn’t get along. It was mutual hate,” Lynn explained. “But then I learned that she wasn’t a stuck up bitch.”

“Wow, okay.” the guitarist chuckled once again, and then watched as she emptied the bottle of pastry.

“What about you? Have you ever had a job except for making music?” Lynn asked, taking him by surprise, as he definitely didn’t expect her to show any interest in his life.

“Nope,” Brian shrugged, popping the ‘p’ as he answered. “We started touring in 1999, and haven’t exactly stopped since then.”

“Do you sometimes wish you had? Like, do you ever wish you had a boring job at an office?”

“Oh, yes,” Brian chuckled. “I mean, it’s difficult to maintain friendships and relationships when you’re constantly on the road. Not that I’ve tried so hard to maintain a relationship before.” he said, suddenly realizing what he had just confessed to her.

“Yeah, I can imagine.” Lynn decided to ignore the last part of his answer, as she dumped the last waffle on top of the plate.

The two of them settled down at his dinner table, which was now decorated with lots of food and two big mugs of dark coffee.

“This is exactly what I need.” the brunette announced, her long fingers cradling the cup of coffee.

“Coffee and cigarettes are usually the only things one need.” Brian commented, his lips carrying the weight of a cigarette, with the ashtray right behind the hand that was resting on top of the table.

“Marlboro, really?” she cocked her eyebrows at him, and then took a swig from her mug.

“What did you smoke?” Brian retorted, inhaling a long drag before puffing the end of the smoke unto his ashtray.

“Lucky Strike, of course!” Lynn spoke as though she was stating the obvious, meanwhile the smell of fresh cigarette lingered under her nose.

“Are you kidding me? By all the good brands out there, and you chose Lucky? No wonder you stopped smoking!” Brian shook his head in disapproval.

“Did I hit a soft spot or something, Haner?” her eyebrows climbed high on her forehead again, which they always did when she was teasing him.

Brian frowned at the woman next to him, and then grabbed the smoke again. His ex-girlfriend Sophie had been a Lucky-girl, and he had always mocked her for choosing that over Marlboro Gold.

“No. I just think you have bad taste in cigarettes.” he stated.

Lynn only rolled her eyes at him, and then helped herself for a new waffle. Brian watched as she stuffed food into her mouth and then drowned it by a little help from her coffee. The guitarist kept working on his cigarette until he could stump the burned butt. He then poured himself a full cup, refilling Lynn’s mug as well, and then grabbed a new waffle.

The two of them ate for almost an hour, before Brian collected the plates and left them in the sink, convinced that he would take them when he returned. Lynn then grabbed her tote and slung it over her shoulders, waiting for Brian by the porch, as the white Maltese kept beaming around it’s owner, somewhat sad that he was leaving.

“I’ll be back before you know it, baby!” Brian promised, bending down and running his tattooed fingers into Pinkly’s fur.

Lynn stood by the door and saw how the rough guitarist turned into a teddy bear when he was talking to his dog. A soft smile ran along her lips by the sight of him, as Brian soon noticed how the brunette had been looking at him.

“Are you smiling again?” he asked, genuinely surprised.

“Eat shit!” Lynn groaned at him.

“Wow, that’s a way to talk to someone who’s giving you a lift.” Brian chuckled, a new cigarette resting between his lips.