Almost Easy

third Person POV

Liz closed the door to Zack’s car with a huff, Matt’s car was nowhere to be seen. Meaning he had gone out somewhere, she was hoping Brian’s for the party. With the thought in the back of her head, Liz slammed the front door closed behind her, kicking off her shoes at the closet door before twisting the bolt lock secure. She ran her hands over her unmade made and groaned.

“Something has to give, right?” She hummed to herself while walking up the stairs to the master bathroom. She shed her clothes on the walk through the bedroom, dropping piece by piece her wardrobe along the hardwood floor.

Liz turned the bath water on and grabbed a few candles from beneath the sink while the hot water filled the extra deep basin. She lined them up along the edge and with a lighter she kept above the vanity mirror lit them all, “Won’t be needing this.” She turned the ringer on her phone off and clicked her music on the stereo speakers that were positioned behind the headrest of the tub. Liz stepped from her underwear as she turned off the lights and paused, “Wine… Wine would make this so much better.”

A smirk settled on Liz’s lips as she wrapped her puffy white robe around her bare body and sprinted her way downstairs, stopping quick in the kitchen as she grabbed a new bottle of white wine off her custom made rack beside the table. She grabbed a glass, a bottle opener, and opened the fridge, snagging a few clusters of grapes to snack on. Bottle and glass in one hand, grapes in the other, she made her way back up to the tub where the water was just high enough. She turned the tap off and stuck her finger in, smiling at the scalding temperature. Liz popped the bottle open and poured herself an over full glass before sliding in to the water.

She took some of the body wash from the tiled edge and added a hefty amount to the water until it was frothing with bubbles. Liz lulled her head back to the sound of her classical music station, letting the escaped hairs from her bun on the nape of her neck dip in to the water along with her skin. Liz began downing the glass of wine in her fingers.

At Brian’s

“I don’t want to turn this in to a drama fest,” Matt laughed as he held his hands up to a very drunk Val, “We can be at the same party and not have an issue, right Michelle?”

“Right, Val come on. Leave him alone.” Michelle tugged at her sisters arm in attempt to break her away from approaching Matt.

“We can talk, right Matt? We can have a normal conversation.” Val slurred her words slightly as she reached out to run her finger down Matt’s chest, he turned away and rolled his eyes, trying to call Liz’s phone once more.

“She’s not answering..” He walked up to Zack who had shown up after dropping Liz home, “Did she say anything about going to bed? It’s early for her…”

“No, she didn’t. But funny idea, you could go home and check on her.” Zack tipped his beer back with a bitter shrug.

“Wow, there’s an attitude.” Matt grabbed his phone tighter.

“She’s my sister, man. There’s only so much I can do before she stops listening to me.” Zack shrugged once more and watched Matt’s expression, “Ok so here’s the thing. We just left our parents in a hospital for the night and she’s home alone. She’s probably sitting in her bed crying and you going home will just make it worse because you couldn’t just be home for her to cry to in the first place so… there that’s my thoughts.”

“So now I just don’t go home?”

“I’ll go check on her, Jesus.” Brian walked over and handed his beer to Matt, “For fuck’s sake, Jimmy said he was going to go but he’s shit tanked and Lord knows that’ll end up in them both crying together eating seven pizzas.”

“It’s fine I’ll go home.” Matt shook his head and offered the beers to Brian, who refused.

“I’ll go check on her, maybe I can coerce her to come over.”

Matt stared across the lawn at Val as she locked eyes with him, smiling and giving a small wave, “Yeah that’d be good.” In his mind having Liz beside him would take his drunk thoughts off of Val, but he hadn’t run through the event of Liz and Val being in the same vicinity again.

Brian said something to Zack and disappeared through the house to his car. He climbed in and sped off towards Liz and Matt’s house, shaking his head at the situation. He knew things between Matt and Liz were rough lately, and he offered his help but Matt always refused and said it was fine. Brian knew Liz had some validity in giving Matt the cold shoulder when they did end up going out together but hopefully he could get her to come out and have some fun with the rest of the group tonight.

Brian parked behind Liz’s car in the driveway and let himself in to the house, “Liz? Lizzy?” He called out, blinking a few times and chuckling under his breath, “Those shots are finally hitting me.” He shook his head to clear his vision and closed the door behind him, beginning the trek up towards the study to see if she was up there since walking through the living room proved she wasn’t downstairs.

“Oh Lizard?” Brian called out as he opened the study door, pausing as a sound caught his ear from the next floor, “Right, this is Liz we’re talking about here. Bath tub.”

Brian took two steps at a time to get up to the master floor, carefully opening the bedroom door to the sound of violins and pianos. He peeked in carefully and noticed the array of Liz’s clothing on the floor, he shook his head and carefully poked the bathroom door open.

Liz was laying in the bathtub with her music playing loudly, three wine bottles empty at the side of the tub and a trail of water across the floor, her robe in a heap on the floor. She had a half empty glass in her hand as she hummed along to the tune. Brian cleared his throat and smirked, “Uh… Elizabeth?”

She turned and smiled, biting her bottom lip. The sight made Brian cock his head, “Oh hey babe, I totally didn’t think you’d be coming home tonight.”

“Liz? How drunk are you?” Brian asked as he kept his feet planted at the doorway, “Matt’s been trying to call you-“

“My phone’s off,” She flung her hand in the air and rested her arms on the edge of the tub, pouting, “Come join me.”

“You’re wasted, I’m not your husband.” Brian pointed at himself as he felt the four shots of Jameson that Jimmy fed him moments prior to leaving hitting him, “You should come back to the party with me, Zack’s there.”

“Of course he is.” She laughed and twirled her hair on her finger, “No one’s going to know babe, if we’re missing for a little bit.”

“I don’t think you’re understanding the part where I’m not Matt… It’s Brian, Lizzy. Brian, your best friend.” He pointed to himself and laughed, “Liz, Matt’s back at my house waiting for you.”

“Will you stop with the failed marriage shit already, hun? I get it. Whatever. But you don’t have to act like we aren’t even married, come over here you hot piece of ass.”

Brian blushed and laughed, “Ok, you need to relax and sober up, get out of the tub-“

Instantly Brian knew his choice of words towards a very intoxicated Liz were wrong. She stood up, water running off each curve of her small body, she held her wine glass up in the air and Brian’s feet began moving forward, “I’m out of the tub, now what?” She stepped on to the tile flooring directly in front of Brian’s body, taking his face in her soaking wet hand.

“Liz you need to get dressed and-“

“Why put clothes on when we’re just going to take them right back off, Matt?” Her head cocked to the side as Brian stumbled in place as his head spun a little more at the scent of her wine, “Kiss me.”