Scream

The tour finally ended about a month later, and things had been relatively calm. The guys were unsure about what they were going to do next, and everyone was still getting used to Brian and me. Gena and Lacey had spoken to me about it in private, trying to understand. Bottom line was I was still a minor which still made it illegal. We all agreed to keep it as quiet as we could.

We've been home for a few days, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss being home. I missed my bed and my room and just everything. Brian sent in my real birth certificate to the cyber school company so I was able to continue taking my classes.

I finished up my homework for the day and looked at the clock. 6:03, and I hadn't heard much from the basement. The guys were all over, so I knew silence was odd.

I went all the way downstairs, but stopped halfway down into the basement when I heard what song was beginning.

I rushed over to the computer and hit the pause button as they all looked at me.

"Babe," Brian said.

"No!" I exclaimed. "I don't want anyone hearing that."

"Why not?" Zack asked. "We already heard you sing and you're good, so it's not like you should be embarrassed."

I looked at all of them and stopped my eyes on Brian.

"Please?" he asked. I plopped down into the only other empty chair and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Whatever," I muttered. Brian smirked, knowing I'd give in. He turned it back on and we let the guys hear the entire song we sung together before the tour. Whenever my parts came up I felt Matt look at me, but I stared at the screen. They all looked surprised during the last verse and when it ended, they all seemed to let out a breath.

"Jesus," Johnny said. "That was really good."

"I can see why you didn't show it to us before," Matt said quietly, watching Brian. "When did you write this?"

"While she was gone," Brian answered.

"You were never getting better, were you?"

Brian and I exchanged a glance.

"No," he finally said. No one said anything for a bit until Zack cleared his throat.

"So what did you wanna do with it?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," Brian said. "Obviously it's ours if we want it, but I could always give it to another band."

"It's not very Avengey," Johnny said, sipping his beer. I chuckled at the word choice.

"That's what I figured, but I wanted you guys to hear it before I did anything."

"New album is nowhere near," Matt said. "Table it. If you find someone else, great. If not and we can use it, even better."

Brian nodded. "Sounds good."

"But," Zack said, pointing at me, "either way, we need you on the next album."

"Absolutely not," I said, laughing.

"Why not?" they all asked, groaning and whining.

"Because! If it were up to me, you guys wouldn't know I sang. But someone had to open their mouth." I glared at Brian.

"What?" he asked defensively. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh yeah? Mr. 'hey let's bring Court on stage,' you jackass."

The guys all busted out laughing, even Brian. This felt so normal, I loved every second. I left them to their guy time about an hour later, but the second I sat on my bed someone knocked on my door frame.

"Hey," I said to Matt. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to talk to you for a second," he said. "Can I sit?"

"Of course."

He sat down on my bed across from me and crossed his legs like mine were. Our knees were almost touching.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm happy for you and Brian," he said quietly as his eyes held my gaze. "I know how much this means to him and how much easier it makes things for you."

I slowly shook my head. "It doesn't."

"What do you mean?"

"Matt, you're not happy for us," I whispered. "You love me. This isn't fair for you."

He pursed his lips, but said nothing to deny what I was saying.

"This changes everything," I murmured. "For everyone."

He nodded. "Yeah, it does."

I tore my eyes away from him when I felt my throat grow tight. "Have you told Valary?"

He knew what I meant. "No. I'm not going to."

"There's no point," I agreed.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked. "You know how I feel, and I know how you feel. But you're with Brian."

I sighed, thinking. "Because what I have with Brian can't be matched," I responded. "What we have together is... irreplaceable and it can't be recreated or found anywhere else. That's how it's always been."

"So did you lie to me?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"No, Matt," I whispered. "I do love you. But things with Brian are different, and you have Valary. You can be with Valary and marry her and have kids."

"We could have done those things," he countered.

"We could have, yes. But now..." I looked down as my hands tangled in each other. "Now Brian and I can, too. You know it's all we've wanted."

"I guess I'm not totally surprised," he muttered. "I had hope, though."

"Are you happy?" I asked him. "At all?"

He took my hands in his to still them. "I'm content knowing you are. That's probably the best it'll be for a bit. I'm okay with that."

I nodded and he leaned forward to kiss my forehead. He stood up and walked to the door, but he paused, turning to me.

"I won't lie, though," he said with a small smile. "That was one of the best nights."

I smirked back. "Yeah," I said. He left and I fell back, rubbing my eyes.

That was a lot harder than I thought it would be, but I was glad it happened.

I heard footsteps a little while later followed by my bed shifting.

"You good?" Brian asked.

"Tired," I answered.

He took the guitar he kept in my room off its stand and started strumming. "Matt talked to you?"

"Yeah."

"He said he would."

"You knew what he was going to say?" I asked.

Brian shrugged, keeping his eyes on the frets.

"You can't tell me you're okay with that," I said.

He shrugged again, so I lightly kicked him in the side. He glanced at me. "I mean, I guess it's whatever. I can't do anything about how you two feel, I'm just gonna hope what happened on tour doesn't happen again."

"It won't," I said. "I feel bad enough he's not going to tell Valary."

"You think that'd be a good idea?" he laughed. "She'd be over here knocking down our door if he did."

"I still feel bad."

"I know, babe."

I sighed. "Do you think things will get easier now?"

He shrugged again. "Maybe."

I tilted my head at him. "Are you okay?"

He put the guitar back on its stand and looked at me over his shoulder. "I don't know. Things are normal now, things have never been normal for us. I was so used to hiding shit or always stressed. Now I don't need to be and it feels..."

"Empty?" I asked.

He nodded. "Basically."

I sat up and rested my forehead against his bicep. "It's gonna take a while to get used to."

"Do you wanna go do something? Like the mall?"

"Isn't it closed?"

Brian looked at my clock. "Only 7:30, they close at 10."

I smiled. "Okay."

He grabbed his sunglasses and hat while I fixed my smudged makeup and we were out the door. Thankfully the mall was only ten minutes away and it was pretty empty. We walked in and Brian already looked nervous.

"I can't tell if you think someone's gonna notice you or notice me," I said quietly.

He answered by lacing his fingers with mine. "Just weird."

We walked aimlessly until we came to Victoria's Secret.

"Let's go in," he said, stopping me.

"Are you serious?" I asked, chuckling. "No guy wants to go in there. Ever."

"I wanna buy you something nice," he murmured, looking at me over his glasses.

I smirked and went in with him. "I don't even need anything."

"Every girl needs new underwear like every month," he said nonchalantly. "And bras, too, but mainly underwear. So get some."

He pulled me over to a huge cabinet with underwear all over the top and drawers with sizes labeled on them.

"How did you know where it was?" I asked, going through pairs.

"Michelle dragged me here all the damn time," he muttered.

"Did you ever come with her willingly?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"Never," he said with a smile. I threw a couple in front of him that I liked.

"Do you approve?" I asked.

He pulled his glasses down a little to get a better look at them. "You know I do," he said huskily, holding on to them.

"Do you guys need any help?" a worker asked cheerily. She glanced from me to Brian, and I couldn't tell what she was thinking.

"Nope, we're good," Brian said. "Thank you."

She walked away without a second glance.

"That was easy," I said, showing him a pair that was black and all lace. He gave a thumbs up.

"I was prepared for it."

We looked through hundreds of pairs, I swear, but Brian seemed like he was happy. I could tell this was something he really wanted to do with me for a while.

"All right, I can't deal with undies anymore," I said with a hand on my hip. "What else?"

He looked around and then pointed to the other side of the store: Bras.

"I have enough," I said. "Really."

"Then let me pick one out," he said, taking my hand. "Just for me."

I bit my lip and nodded. "Fine. 34B."

I saw him wink through the shaded plastic as he said, "I know."

I rolled my eyes as he led me over and he started going through different designs as I watched. I noticed a couple women look at us, but not like they were suspicious. They were amused that he was okay with being in here. I guess it's not often they see that.

"This one," he said, finally holding one up to me.

I took it from him and turned it over in my hands. "Seriously?"

It was all black and lace, but it was unlined and simple.

"It's perfect," he said quietly, watching my reaction.

I smiled and nodded. "It is."

He put his arm around me as we walked to the check out, which wasn't nearly as awkward as I thought it would be. When the price popped up on the screen, he moved it so I couldn't see it.

"Not for your eyes, babe," he said, putting in whatever he had to. The cashier just smiled.

Like Brian said, this was weird and it would take a bit to get used to.

We made our way home after grabbing McDonald's and he shoved the bag into my hand.

"So here's what you're gonna do," he said, leading me to the stairs. "You're gonna go upstairs and you're gonna change into that bra and the matching panties. Then you'll come back down for me to see and then we'll eat."

"That's so much walking, Brian!" I exclaimed.

"It's one flight of stairs," he said monotonously.

"Times four," I said.

"No," he chuckled. "No, no, no. You're eating in the bra and panties. One trip."

My mouth opened a little at him and he just kept his smirk. "Seriously?"

"Never been seriouser."

"Jesus," I muttered, going upstairs. I heard him laugh behind me.

I didn't bother shutting my door, not like it mattered anymore. I took everything off and ripped the tags off everything. I pulled the underwear on and was surprised by how comfortable they were. They didn't feel like lace, which was nice. I pulled the bra on, adjusting the straps and looked in my full length mirror.

He was going to freak.

I slowly walked back downstairs as quietly as I could and saw him setting up plates and whatnot. He didn't hear me.

"Ahem," I said.

He spun around and dropped the rest of the napkins on the table.

"Holy shit," he said breathlessly.

I winked and made my way over past him. He reached out to grab me but I stepped away.

"Nope," I said, holding out a hand. "You said we would eat. So we'll do that first."

"Karma's a bitch," he murmured, but he was smiling. He sat down and as I went to sit also.

"Don't you wanna sit with me?"

I kept my eyes on him as I had an idea.

"No, I'm actually going to sit here." I jumped on the table and sat right next to where he was.

"Don't do this to me, Courtney," he said.

I shrugged, popping a fry into my mouth. "You did it to yourself."

We ate in tension, but it was a good tension because he just stared at me as he ate. Once he finished up, he said, "Whenever you're done, I'm going to fuck the shit out of you on this table."

"Okay," I said, hiding the smile I felt threatening its way onto my face.

He pulled me across so I was sitting in front of him. I continued eating.

"Can you hurry up?" he said, looking me over for the fiftieth time.

"You made me wait, so I can make you wait."

"Courtney, I'm going to explode, I swear," he laughed, running his hand up and down my thigh.

I set my food down and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Even if things are weird," I started, "and hard and complicated, promise me something."

"Anything," he whispered.

I almost lost my train of thought as he stared into my eyes like he did. I loved him even more for it.

"Promise me," I said, "that things will always be like this. Right now. We will always be more in love with each other than anyone else. We will always lust after each other and always want each other no matter what happens."

He pulled me onto his lap with my legs on either side of him and kissed me in a way I didn't need to hear him say it, but he did anyway.

"Forever."

Notes

Chapter title credit: Green Day
The end. That's it. I'm serious. I might cry in a little bit, but this story means the world to me. Thank you everyone that has ever commented, subscribed, voted, or given this story the slightest bit of attention. I don't know what I'd be doing if I didn't have this story or you guys. Seriously, I am forever grateful.
YES THERE IS A SEQUEL. The first chapter will be posted hopefully sometime in the next few days, I will post a little author's note type chapter here once I do. I'm excited to see where Courtney and Brian takes us next.
Once again, huge thank you to everyone. Please still comment letting me know what you guys think of this cute ass ending and what you think the future holds for them.
Much love.