Life Unexpected

Sundays were the best days, Brian usually didn’t want to do much work on Sundays which let me catch up on sleep and anything else that needed to be done. Mainly laundry and some grocery shopping. I stretched my body out in my king size bed, feeling my fat cat at my feet. I sat up as he gave my a disgusted look as I woke him from his slumber. “Sorry Louie.” I chuckled. I watched as he stretched and jumped off the bed. I climbed out of bed and made my way for a shower.

A few loads of laundry later my phone started dinging, signaling I had gotten a text message. ‘Will you go to the store with me?’ It was Lacey, She was my best female friend and Johnny’s fiancé.

‘Absolutely(:’ I replied, when applicable we did almost everything together.

‘Be there in 20.’ I set my phone down as I pulled my curly hair into a messy bun, I made sure I had my cards and keys in my bag before slipping on my flip flops. Before I knew it Lacey was honking her horn letting me know she was here.

“So how has Brian been?” Lacey asked me as we wondered around the isles of the local grocery store.

“What do you mean?” I asked, adding a bag of chips to our cart. “Like with Michelle or the school?”

“Both?” I knew what she was getting at. She knew I had a crush on Brian.

“He’s excited about the school, a lot of kids are going to benefit from it. We should be having a launch party soon.” I didn’t want to talk about Brian and Michelle. I hated seeing him hurting over someone he loved and talking about it was no better. “I really don’t want to talk about Brian and Michelle. Do you remember that guy at the coffee shop, Jay?” I asked her changing the subject.

“Yeah, the cute one.” She smiled. “Why?”

“Well I see him almost every day when I get coffee for Brian and his dad. But anyways he asked for my number a while ago and finally got the courage to ask me out on a date.” I glanced over to see her reaction. I hadn’t been one to really date people. I threw myself into my work so I could bring out the best in Brian. When I slacked it seemed he did too. I learned that early on with him so I had always focused my time on him and my job.

“Seriously. You don’t date.” She laughed. “Besides what do you think Brian will think of it.”

“I don’t know, He’ll probably pull the big brother thing.” I shrugged. Before she was about to say anything both of us herd the ding to our phones, the simple text read ‘Bonfire at Matt and Vals.’

“This should be interesting.” Lacey said, sliding her phone back into her back pocket. “Do you think Michelle will be there?”

“Probably. Val is her sister.” I chuckled. “Maybe I should invite Jay?” Laceys smile said it all. I mean what would it hurt. I wasn’t with anybody and I’m sure it would make Michelle feel more comfortable with Brian being around me so much, to see me with someone. I quickly sent Jay a message asking if he’d be down for it.

“Lets get going, I probably have enough stuff for a month now.” Lacey laughed.

***BRIAN POV***

I was bored. Slightly pissed off. Mostly with myself. I shouldn’t be feeling like a jealous boyfriend. Claire and Lacey were dancing in front of the fire a beer in her hands and that man, what was his name? Jay. Was staring at her. I can’t blame him though, she was gorgeous. She had shoulder length brown hair with highlights thrown into the mix, she usually always had it up in a bun, but tonight her hair was down. I loved it when she wore her hair down. The way the fire hit all the colors would make her eyes pop. I took another swig of my beer as she laughed and grabbed Jay by the hands making him dance with her.

“Dude!” I snapped out of my thoughts as Zacky jabbed me in the gut. “You better knock it off before you have bigger issues.” Zacky nodded over towards Michelle who was sitting with Val. Michelle had her eyes on me.

“Shit man.” I shook my head ridding my thoughts. Zacky and I were close. He knew how I felt about Claire, he knew what was going on with Michelle. “I’m just going to head out.” I muttered, tossing my half empty beer into a near by trash can.

“Alright.” Zacky said. “I’ll call you tomorrow.” I nodded as I headed into Matt and Vals house where my truck keys laid on their counter tops.

“You know, if you stared at me like you did her, we wouldn’t be having issues.” I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t in the mood to argue with Michelle.

“Don’t start. I’m leaving.” I said, I knew she’d follow me. All she had been wanting to do was argue lately.

“No Brian!” She was raising her voice as she grabbed my arm. “You don’t ever talk to me! You always just leave. You’re never home, always with her!”

“You make it seem like Claire is our issue!” It was my turn to raise my voice. “You always try and push this back on me, you act like I don’t know!” By now I knew everyone could probably hear us. “I know what you do when I’m on tour! I know what you do when I stay late working on my DREAM!” Michelle clenched her jaw as the tears threatened to fall. “You of all people should be supporting me in this, helping me. Instead all you do is bitch at me and spend my money!”

Michelle didn’t say anything, I honestly was done caring if I hurt her feelings. She clearly didn’t care about mine. Truth was, I had my lawyers working on a divorce case already. “I’m done with this Michelle.” I was done yelling, I didn’t have the energy for it anymore. I shook my head as I left Matt and Vals house.

I sighed sitting in my truck. Looking back I probably shouldn’t have married Michelle. Matt said it’d be funny dating twins, I mean sure, it was great in the beginning but then Matt proposed to Val and I felt obligated to marry Michelle. It’s like it was expected of me because of Matt and Valery. I let my mind wonder back to Claire. She was great, we’d been friends since middle school, she was two years younger than me, but we always seemed to click. We became fast friends and were inseparable. She was always eager to help me in any way she could, I’ll never forget the day I told her about the guitar school I wanted to start. She was ecstatic, so excited to jump right into things with me. Michelle just looked at it as another thing to take my time away from her. “Fuck!” I yelled, hitting my steering wheel. It didn’t really dawn on me until just then that I might have just lost the one woman who would do anything for me.