Almost Easy

Liz’s POV

No one spoke a word of that night the entire next day, or the trip home, or the days following. It was true, what happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas. My heart just prayed it stayed that way on his end. It had been a few days since we got home and Colton was at Danny’s parents' house for the day. We were sitting quietly on the couch watching TV, in our new house, in the odd new living room that was far too big, watching some HGTV show that I wasn’t paying attention to at all.

“Ok,” I turned to Danny, he was mid-sip of his lemonade, he eyed me with humorous suspicion, “We need to talk about it.”

“I was waiting for when you’d flip the carpet up and release the dust.” He maneuvered himself in to a comfortable position facing me, “You’ve been weird as shit since Vegas I was hoping that was it, and nothing else.”

“So when I was a kid, I don’t even know how young, I got a mad crush on my brothers best friend. We stayed best friends, for ever. Ever. He and my brother started a band in high school, he was dating someone, I was dating someone, it was odd. I uhm... I got pregnant, and had an abortion. He and my brother would sleep outside my door at night to make sure I was ok when I woke up screaming. He had no idea, none at all, what was happening or why I was like that. He didn’t find out for years, but we were still best of friends. Uhm, so his girlfriend and I were friends, for a while. A long time actually, until one night he picked me up from a party my brother would have killed me for being at. I had made out with one of their best friends, Jason, without knowing it, found out a few days later at a barbecue after my brother surprisingly didn’t kill me...” I paused as Danny stared at me, “You following still?”

“Yeah, I am... I just wasn’t prepared for you to actually go this deep, it’s good.”

I nodded and took a drink of water, continuing, “Uhm... She was their merch handler on tour, and she left so they asked me to come and do it, I was eighteen. I went, obviously..” I swallowed hard, “He and I started hooking up, behind everyone's backs. Jason was their driver and he didn’t even know. We got back, and he went right back to his girl. My next move was Colorado, for five years? Something like that. It was so long ago I don’t remember. I worked for a graphics company, and I was dating someone new, and I had stopped talking to everyone from California except Zack. Mistake one. They surprised me one day with a visit, I broke my leg skiing. I had called out of work sick, it sucked. He stayed back to take care of me and managed,” I laughed and shook my head, remembering vividly the day I threatened Matt to leave me alone, “He managed to win me back. My boss was opening a branch in Santa Ana and I took it. I actually took it before I knew where I was going to live, and I went to one of their shows one night, and told him. That’s how I moved back.”

“Shows?” Danny cocked his head.

“We’ll get to that.” I held my hand up, “I moved back, and things went south really fast. Again. As always. He was screwing her behind my back again, and... I moved out in to a house with my coworker who also came out with me. I met a guy, speed dating one night, he was great. On the surface. We got engaged, it was wild. I flipped my car one night, drunk, going from my fiancé's house to his house. Because I was stuck on the feeling of needing him, always needing him. I got really bad memory loss, it was months, months until I remembered. The boys were back on the road and I found out my fiance was cheating on me. I moved in with my brother, he and his girl were living together and had my neice already. That time is really blurry, I don’t remember a ton. But yeah. He and I had been engaged so many times I don’t remember when or where I had taken my ring off so many times. I know it was during tour with them a few times, at home, at bars...” I hesitated a little bit, “Uhm, eight years ago we were supposed to elope to Vegas. I fell asleep in the car one day and he drove us straight through, and flew all our friends, and my brother, to the chapel. He said we needed to pick something up from a promoter and I believed him. Then I walked in on our wedding. I got married in the same hotel we stayed at last weekend.”

“Oh Liz...” Danny shook his head with a sad look in his eyes.

“I’d been up and down the emotional roller coaster with this man, our whole lives. We got married, we thought that was it. Things were going to be perfect... He was fucking her.”

“Babe.” Danny sighed.

“Our marriage lasted three years. I knew, I hated him. It was his birthday three years after, I took his best friend outside and told him. Jimmy, Jimmy was my best friend and one of the guys I could tell anything to. I told him it sucked, it was bad. Uhm, yeah. They all tried talking sense in to him to save our marriage, but... He was at his friend Brian’s house for a party, Brian’s wife and her are twins. She was there. Brian came over drunk to tell me to come, I was wasted. So wasted, we almost fucked. I slept naked in my bed and Brian sobered up enough to crash in the guest room, he hadn’t touched me. I woke up to my husband, naked next to me. I mentioned that we fucked and he assumed it was Brian, when in reality I had just honestly dreamed it up. That brought to light Brian cheating on his wife, multiple times, and the fact my husband had spent that same night with another woman. Her. The same girl since high school. That was the last straw. He moved out, I filed papers and served him the morning I left for Colorado to pick back up work. I came home with the same guy I dated before, but I was already pregnant with Colton. Uhm... Sam, the guy from Colorado, beat the shit out of me just before Christmas and that’s the party when I told Matt I was pregnant. Matt... Matt is Colton’s dad.” I repeated as Danny stared at me, “Matt Sanders... M. Shadows from that band, Avenged Sevenfold. That’s Colton’s dad.”

“Holy shit Liz.” Danny stared at me still, “What?”

“My life is fucked, Danny. My life is confusing. I was eighteen and could outdrink those boys, I was drinking straight whiskey from a solo cup at eighteen, partying with bands that most kids my age had their posters on the wall. And in Vegas this weekend I ran in to Jason. The kid I hooked up with when I was eighteen, their best friend. Their road tech and their old van driver. One of Zack’s best men in his wedding. He saw me at a club, he knew me, he recognized me. He saw me-”

“Relax babe,” Danny took my arm and caressed my skin, “It’s ok, it’s fine. It’s going to be ok. Everythings ok.”

“It’s not... He heard me correct the bartender.” My eyes widened as I looked at Danny, “I gave the bartender my card and last name, I said Heely... I said Heely, Danny... Fuck!”