High School Reunion

I had no idea where I was going. The tears streaming down my face weren't helping. All I knew is that I wanted to be as far away from Mike as possible. There were a hundred different feelings running through me. Hurt, anger, betrayal, sadness, embarrassment just to name a few. Then there were all the questions. How long had this been going on? Who many women were there? How could I have not seen it before now? I thought there may be a reason why Mike always avoided wanting to plan our wedding but I really didn't think it was because he had been off sleeping with other girls.

"Jen wait!"

"Please leave me alone." I said without turning around. I didn't want to face anyone. Even my own friends. I knew they'd comfort me but I just wanted to be left alone.

"I'm not going to do that." He said before gently placing his hand on my arm. He slowly turned me around and pulled me right into his arms. I wasn't sure why but I felt safe now. Like nothing could hurt me. This wasn't the first time he had come to my rescue. It seemed like Brian was always saving me. As he held me I just cried into his chest. It was a cry I think I had been holding in for a while. Maybe even for months. Brian said nothing for the longest time. He just held me in his arms and would occasionally rub my back. Eventually he pulled back enough to look at me and wiped my tears away with his thumbs. "Let's go sit down okay?"

I nodded and let him take my hand. Following him he led me over to a seating area that had firepits centered with four chairs around each one. I was actually thankful for them right now. It had gotten pretty chilly and while my top was long sleeved it wasn't exactly warm. "Thank you."

"You don't need to thank me for anything."

"Yes I do. You've always been there for me and I don't know if I have ever thanked you for it."

"Jimmy would have ran after you had he not went after Shinoda but you are welcome. I would ask how you are but I'm pretty sure I already know the answer."

Looking down at my hand I stared at my engagement ring. A piece of jewelry that had been on my finger for the last two years. A piece of jewelry that meant absolutely nothing to me now. In an instant my entire life had changed. A life I had been building with someone I planned to marry had been taken away from me. A man I had loved. A man that clearly didn't feel the same way about me.

"Well.. I guess it's a good thing that I didn't order those wedding invitations I had been looking at." My eyes were still on the ring as I slowly spun it around my finger with my thumb.

"I know you told me you had picked a date but.. was anything else actually done?"

I shook my head. "No, not really. Nothing concrete anyway. I had ideas of things I wanted. Like where I wanted to have it. Colors. A style of cake. Nicole had offered to be my photographer but that was it really."

"I'm so sorry Jen. I wish there was something more I could do. I mean I have no problem going back in there and beating the holy fuck out of him."

I smiled softly. "Something tells me that Nicole and Tristan are doing that for you."

"Can I be honest with you?" Brian asked as he sat forward in his seat beside mine.

"Of course."

He took a deep breath before starting. "You need to let him go. He isn't good for you and it looks like he never was. He never appreciated what he had. You deserve someone that will listen to you, be your shoulder to cry on. Someone that will make you laugh. Someone you can be yourself with. Someone that won't judge you and most importantly.. someone that will love you like you are the only woman on earth. A guy that will protect you. A guy that will always put you first. A guy that you can actually trust."

"Does a guy like that actually exist?" I asked looking away from my hand to look at him. He nodded with a tiny smile on his lips.

"I know he does."

I couldn't help but smile back. That little smile told me all that I needed to know. Everything was going to be okay. I was going to be okay. After a few more minutes I got up and headed back inside with Brian by my side. Looking around I noticed that both Courtney and Mike were gone. Nicole was sitting in a chair holding ice to her hand and a satisfied look on her face. I didn't know which one of them she hit but she was quite pleased with herself either way.

"Are you okay?" Tristan asked pulling me in for a hug.

"I will be."

Brian ended up driving me back to my dad's that night. I never heard a thing from Mike. No phone calls, no texts, nothing. In a way I was glad. I didn't want to see him again tonight but I knew I would have to face him eventually. Brian and I exchanged phone numbers and he told me if I ever needed to talk to just give him a call. Heading into my dad's house I knew he was going to want to know what all happened at the reunion. He had always liked Mike for the most part and like me thought he was a decent guy. We both had been very wrong about him.

The next day I was set to head home. I spent that morning with my dad just discussing what I was going to do once I got home. It was really going to depend on a couple of things. Mainly what Mike does. No matter what though it's changed things and I can no longer trust him. The one thing I knew for sure is this engagement was off. I could never marry anyone that would do something like this to me. Brian's words kept playing over and over in my head. I knew exactly what he was implying but I wasn't about to jump from one relationship to the next. That wouldn't be fair to Brian and it wouldn't fair to me. I had decided to take the long way home. I just needed time to think even though deep down I knew what I had to do.

Walking into my penthouse I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Mike sitting on my couch with his head in his hands. He jumped when he heard the door shut. It looked like he hadn't slept. I said nothing to him as I made my way towards my bedroom with my belongings. I had a feeling he was going to be here waiting for me though I hoped he wouldn't be. I wasn't ready to face him yet.

"Please talk to me." I heard Mike say softly from behind me.

"'Why should I?" I asked as I set my duffle bag down onto my bed. Unzipping it I began taking everything out of it, including my travel jewelry case that my engagement ring was currently in. Opening it I took the ring out and held it out to him. "I think this belongs to you."

"Jenna please.." He took a step towards me but I quickly backed away. Only then did I finally face him. "'I am so sorry."

"You're sorry? You're sorry?! The only thing you are sorry about is getting caught. No, you do not get to speak. I believe your actions have already done that for you." He sighed and nodded before slowly holding out his hand. I dropped the ring into it. "We are over. You have not only cheated on me with god knows how many people but lied to me about where you've been and who you've been with. I knew something was going on with you but this was the last thing I expected. You asked me to marry you two years ago. Why I will never know. You don't propose to someone then go around and fuck everything in sight."

"It wasn't like that."

"Oh then how was it Mike?" I crossed my arms over my chest. "Please, I'm all ears."

"I never wanted to hurt you. You have to know that. I got scared Jen. Scared that I wouldn't be a good enough husband to you. I was worried that I wouldn't be around enough. That while I was on tour you would meet someone else, fall in love and leave me."

"Oh yeah? So tell me.. we have been together four years and how many tours have you been on where I've ran off with someone else? Zero. If I wasn't working on a set I was on that tour with you. I never once looked at another guy. Never thought about being with another guy. But you.. who else Mike? how many others have there been?"

He hung his head and I braced myself for what he was about to say. He wouldn't have acted this way had it just been Courtney. "Three others... over the last year and a half but they didn't mean anything to me I swear."

"Who? I want names." I asked for two reasons. To see if he would actually tell me and if I actually knew who they were. He gave me two of the names but hesitated on the last. I felt my throat tighten. If he slept with one of my friends...

"Anna."

"Anna? As in your ex Anna?"

He nodded. "There's more."

"What else could there possibly be?" I had slowly started to pace. I was trying to be calm but there was so much I had to take in and I felt like I was going to lose it at any moment.

"I... she.. we have..a son."

I stopped and slowly turned to face him. "You have a what?"' My voice was low and cracking. There was no way he had just told me that while he was cheating on me he got his ex girlfriend pregnant.

"His name is Otis. He's five months old." Handing me his phone I could see a picture of him holding a baby. A little boy that looked just like him. I could only stare at the picture as the tears began to fall from my eyes. He had been hiding so much from me. He claimed that none of these women meant anything to him yet he got one of them pregnant. He'd had a child with someone that wasn't me. I was already having a hard time processing that he'd cheated on me but I didn't know how to process this. "He's the reason I've been cancelling things. Why I wanted to find us a house closer to Agoura Hills."

"Were you ever going to tell me?"

He finally put his phone away and nodded. "'Eventually yes. I never knew how to bring it up without you hating me. This isn't how I wanted you to find out."

"You seem as though the only regret you have is not telling me about your son because last night you had no trouble feeling up Courtney and trying to feel up Autumn."

"I know and I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done it. Any of it but I did and I can only hope that you can find it in your beautiful heart to forgive me."

I closed my eyes as more tears fell. I felt Mike step closer to me. His hands making contact with my waist as they slipped around to my back. His lips on my cheek and making their way towards my lips. As soon as his lips touched mine I pushed him off of me and moved away from him. I didn't want him to touch me.

"You can't kiss me and think everything will be okay. Nothing you say or do is going to fix this. If you were having second thoughts you should have come to me. You should have talked to me but no your solution was to go off and fuck other women one of which ended up pregnant with your child. I want you to leave and don't come back."

"Jen, baby please." Mike ran after me as I made my way towards the door. "I love you please don't do this."

"You did this Mike. You threw me away the second you slept with Anna. There is no going back. There is no fixing this. You lied to me and you cheated on me. Both of which I never would have known about had I not heard you and Courtney last night. It's over Mike. Now I want you to leave."

Mike stared at me with tears in his eyes for a minute before slowly making his way towards the door. He looked back at me and told me he loved me before walking out closing the door behind him. I broke down as the door shut. I couldn't stop the tears that were falling from my eyes. My heart was broken into a million pieces. My entire life had changed and I had no idea how to fix it.



The last year of my life had drastically changed. I hadn't heard from Mike since he walked out my door. Part of me had hoped he would call. Hoped that he would fight for us. He didn't. Brad and Chester had reached out to me and they were the only ones I had kept in touch with. Mike had been lying to them as well. I'm pretty sure he had been lying to everyone at this point. I held no hard feelings towards any of his bandmates. I was just closer to some more than others.

Once the lease was up on my penthouse I decided to let it go. My dad didn't try to talk me out of it and took the money he would have used towards the lease to help me purchase my first house. Even though I told him it wasn't necessary he insisted. It helped me out a lot because my house was paid off and I wouldn't have a mortgage payment every month. I could use that money to furnish my home which is exactly what I did. I now had a four bedroom two and a half bath home in my hometown of Huntington Beach. I didn't need to live in Los Angeles and I could easily go there if I need to.

Even though Matt's proposal had pissed a lot of people off that night I did end up taking the job. The contract was reworked in a way that worked for all of us. Jimmy may have been happier about it than I was. As for Brian.. he never made a single move on me. He left the ball in my court and said he wouldn't even hug me unless I said it was okay. He never pressured me into anything and always made me feel comfortable. Every single one of them always made sure I was okay. Matt and I were even good friends now. A lot of guys had asked me out over the last year. Most were crew members just hoping to get lucky. I never went out with any of them. I wasn't that kind of girl and the guys made sure they knew that.

I was currently sitting at a table at a local cafe. Across from me was Brian who was sipping on his coffee. I sat there just taking him in. He really was beautiful and I don't know why it took me so long to see it. This man who I had known since I was thirteen had been nothing short of amazing. He had kept his promise to me of always being there for me. He was there at senior prom. He was there at my high school reunion and he was there now. He had helped move me out of my penthouse and into my new home. Jimmy was a bit jealous of the time we were spending together but he told me that Brian always stuck to his word. That he would always be there and he would never hurt me. Jimmy trusted Brian with his life. I was beginning to think that I could too.

"What are you staring at?" Brian smirked as he looked at me.

"You."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Do you see something that you like or do I have something on my face?"

"I see something that I like."

"Well I see something that I've always liked." Brian's hand slowly slid across the table and I met his hand halfway. I gave it a squeeze and watched him smile.

"So B.. there's this guy.. he's sort of my boyfriend and I maybe sort of really like him. Do you think he feels the same way about me?"

Brian locked our hands and squeezed mine before licking over his lips. "'I know for a fact he does. I know him so well we might as well be the same person. I can tell you that he's absolutely crazy about you. You're the first thing he thinks about when he gets up and the last thing he thinks about when he goes to bed."

"Is that right? Do you think he's thinking about me right now?" I asked as he softly rubbed his thumb over my skin.

He smiled. "Mmmhmm. Even being able to hold your hand and see you right across from him he's thinking about you."

Brian always knew what to say to make me melt. At times I felt like a giddy little teenager. His touch was gentle yet he was very protective. We could laugh at the dumbest things and we knew when we needed to be serious. Even though we had only been together a few months it was like a breath of fresh air. Fresh air I never knew that I needed. After breakfast we headed back to my place. Settling on the couch Brian took off my shoes before pulling me into his arms for a kiss.

"So I have a confession to make." Brian said as he pulled away.

"What's that?"

"My feelings for you may be just a teeny bit stronger than I let on."

I smirked at him. "And just how much is a teeny bit?" I couldn't help but tease him a little. Brian was such a private person when it came to his feelings. He only told them to those he fully trusted.

"I may or may not be falling in love with you. I hope that doesn't scare you away from me."

Considering what I have been told by several people Brian had been secretly in love with me since high school so hearing this from him wasn't that much of a surprise. I was glad I decided to give him a chance. A real chance. The only regret that I have is that I didn't do it sooner.

"It doesn't scare me Brian. I know we haven't been together that long but I have known you since we were thirteen... and we may have lost touch for a while but the second you came back into my life it changed.. for the better."

He smiled. "You don't know how happy I am to hear that. I do however have another confession to make.."

"What is it?" I was almost afraid to know the answer. What else could he have to tell me?

"The day we met.. I told Jimmy I wanted to marry you. He laughed at me."

"That does sound like something he would do. So tell me Haner.. do you still want to marry me?"

He sat up a little before pulling me even more into his arms. "I would marry you right now if you let me."

We didn't get married that day but he did ask me to marry him six months later. I didn't need a huge wedding. Just close friends and family. I didn't think it was possible to find love after Mike but Brian changed all that for me. Maybe even sooner than I had realized. I may have had a crush on Matt back in high school but that crush was nothing compared to how Brian makes me feel now. He made me feel alive. He made me feel safe but most of all.... he made me feel loved. He showed me more love than I ever thought possible. I watched him with our children and that love only grew. My love for this man only grew every day I was with him and when he was on tour I missed him terribly but the one thing I knew for sure is that I never had to worry about him. He never hurt me. If anything he did everything he could to make sure I never got hurt. I thought that Mike had been the one but I couldn't have been more wrong. The one for me had been right under my nose the entire time and that man was my Brian.