Annabelle’s POV

“Hello” I say as I try to put an earring on.

“Hey, what’s up?” I hear the person on the other side of the phone reply. Gena.

“Getting ready to go out with Justin” I reply walking into my room, searching for my shoes.

“Fancy date, huh?” She asks while I hear some rustling.

“Yeah. Where are you?” I ask, trying to change the subject. See, Justin is a guy I met when I went to a photo shoot & he was modeling. We hit it off & the girls love him, but the guys not that much. The guys think he’s uptight because he has money & is good looking. They think I’ll be just another notch on his bedpost, but he’s different. I know he is. I think they’re just jealous. They’re scared of losing her little sister. Besides, the guys got money too & they’re notthat bad looking, but just because of that, I don’t consider them uptight. Maybe Brian… but just a bit. He can be a real asshole when he’s Synyster Gates.

“Arriving home. Zacky & I are having a small get together & we were wondering if you wanted to come” She says while I hear Ichabod barking. “You can bring Justin if you want” She says.

“Define small” I say knowing that their definition of small is not the same as everybody else.

“The same as always” She replies & I can almost see her shrugging.

“I don’t know. Maybe when we get back from our date, we can make a little stop by. But I don’t promise you anything” I say, checking myself one last time at the full length mirror on the hallway wall, smiling at my reflection, before grabbing my clutch & turning off my bedroom light. Damn, I look great tonight.

“You mean you will stop by if you don’t get lucky tonight” She says with a little laugh. I haven’t even thought of that.

“I don’t think Justin & I are at that stage of our relationship already. I mean, we just started dating a couple of weeks ago. And even though he’s smoking hot & I really want to jump him & ravish his body, we’re trying to go step by step. You know… taking things slow” I reply, walking into the kitchen to make sure everything is turned off. I don’t want another incident with the dishwasher again.

“You never had a problem with skipping a couple of steps before” I hear a different voice say… Jimmy. “I say you should definitely do him & then come over” I hear him say while a chorus of laughter is heard in the back. So everyone is already there. Great.

“Ha. Ha. Really funny, Jim. Where the hell is Gena?” I ask while I sit on the couch waiting for Justin. He must be getting here any minute now. Being a model, he’s so punctual. When you’re in that business, you can’t afford being a second late.

“She was tired of hearing you go on and on about how you want to ‘jump’ Justin” He says. I was about to reply when I heard a knock at my door. Saved by the bell. Well, more like the door, but whatever.

“As much as I would like to keep hearing to your nonsense, my date is here so I’ve gotta go” I say, walking to the door & opening it to find Justin there, looking hotter than ever, and wearing that smirk that drives me crazy. “I might take your advice though” I mutter to Jimmy before walking out of my apartment. I smile at Justin & he just smiles back, melting me. I hate the effect he has on me. I need to control myself.

“Really?” He asks, a little more interested now.

“Yeah. I gotta go” I say. “Bye” I say almost hanging up.

“Just 2 things. Use protection & if you stop by later, make sure you don’t smell like sex. It might get Leana horny all over again & I don’t think Big Jim can handle any more for this day” He says. I laugh out loud, thinking about how Jimmy used to be excited about Leana sex drive now that she’s pregnant, but now it’s starting to wear him down. “Go sex that man up now” He says before hanging up. I place my phone inside my purse & turn to watch Justin. He walks over to me & gives me the sweetest kiss ever.

“Hi” He says, his breath ghosting over my lips. “You look great” He smirks & I just can’t believe how just one kiss from this man can leave me completely breathless. “Who were you talking to?” He says while he laces his fingers with mine & we start walking to out of my apartment complex.

“Well, I started talking with Gena & ended up with Jimmy” I say, watching him open the door of his car for me. And they say chivalry is dead. “They’re having a ‘small’ reunion at Zacky’s place & they wanted us to come” I say when he hops into the driver’s seat while I fasten my seat belt.

“Us?” He asks, turning to look at me, with an eyebrow rose. He kinda senses that the guys have an issue with him. He might be blond, but he isn’t stupid. “There is an us?” He asks, taking my hand in his. I just stare at him & smile. We never really talked about what our status is.

“It could be… if you want to” I say to him, staring into his deep eyes. He places his lips over my hand & caresses it with his thumb. I was never shy to make the first move. & I’m definitely not gonna be shy about making the first move with Justin.

“I would love to” He says, before turning the car on & driving off to whatever place he decided to take me. It didn’t really mattered to me, I just enjoyed being in his company & the way he made me feel. It has been a long time since I’ve had this warm sensation inside me. And it feels good.

Johnny’s POV

“Are you ok?” I ask Syn as I watch him fidgeting with whatever he is holding, moving around, not staying at one place for so long. He almost looks nervous.

“Yeah” He answers after a while. I stare at him.

“Are you sure? Cuz you look like you’re about to have a fucking heart attack” I say to him placing my hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him.

“Where is she? Where the fuck is she?” He mutters, almost talking to himself.

“Who? Michelle? She’s inside with Lacey making those disgusting cocktails they like so much” I reply, thinking he is referring to his girl.

“Not Chelle… Belle” I hear him answer me. It kinda confused me for a bit. I mean, he always refers to Michelle as Chelle & Annabelle like Belle, & sometimes it was hard to notice the difference. I don’t know why he refuses to call her Ann, Anna or Annie, like we all do. I think he does it cuz he loves to piss her off. Ann hates to be called Belle. And I know these 2 love to push each other buttons till they explode & stop talking to each other for a couple of days. It’s they’re sick little game. After all these years, I still don’t get it.

“Leana said she had a date with Justin tonight” I reply, taking a sip from my beer. He turns to look at me, his eyes wide & a scare expression on his face.

“What? So she’s not coming?” He asks, before taking the beer from my hand & drinking it, almost every drop. He returns it to me, & starts pacing again. I stare at the almost empty beer bottle & return my gaze to him.

“Uh… she said she was going to drop by after their date. Well, that’s if she decides not to give it out to Justin yet” I say, walking to the fridge for another beer.

“What did you just said?” He asks.

“Yeah. When I arrived, I heard Jimmy talking shit to her about using protection & not stopping by without taking a shower or something” I reply with a shrug. He just looks at the floor, in deep thought. I can see his mind is running a thousand miles an hour, but I don’t understand why. “Why? Are you sure you’re ok?” I ask, walking to him. He’s starting to scare me.

“Yeah, I’m just fine. I just need her here, that’s all” He says, letting out a big sigh before placing his hands on his jeans pockets.

“Why?” I ask intrigued. Brian has never been the jealous type of guy when it came to Anna. That was Matt’s role. He turns to look at me & sighs again.

“You’ll see if she gets here” He says, before grabbing my beer & walking out of the kitchen to where everyone was.

“Next time, get your own beer” I yell at him, walking to the fridge to grab another beer.

Annabelle’s POV

“So… you liked the surprise?” Justin asks me when I decided to take a breather from our kiss.

“I loved it” I say, before locking my lips with his again. Screw taking things slow. We can’t take things slow when his hands roam my sides & my back like that. I run one hand through his hair, making him stay put & deepening the kiss while my other hand caress his chest through his shirt. Hopefully, he won’t be wearing it for long. “You want to get out of here?” I ask him, staring at his lustful eyes. He wants this just as much as I want this… and I’m not going to deny him. He smiles & just nods. Just in time, my phone starts to go off like crazy. I excuse myself before looking at the screen. Michelle’s name is flashing with ‘Crazy Bitch’ filling up the quiet car. I totally forgot about the reunion. I sigh, looking at Justin, with an apologetic smile. “We don’t have to go” I say. But I know that if I don’t go, they won’t stop bugging me. So maybe we can drop by for 5 minutes, & get the rest of the night for us alone. He just laughs & kisses me one last time before taking off to Zacky’s house.

Less than 20 minutes, we’re walking through his big ass driveway. I ring the bell & look at Justin, undressing me with his stare. I can’t say that I didn’t want him to be doing that. I can’t say that I want to be doing that to him. I was about to tell him to screw this, & just head back to my apartment to pick up where we left off. Just as I opened my mouth, the front door opened to reveal Valary standing there with a red cup in her hand. “Annabelle” She screech & jumps, hugging me. I hug her best I can with her being almost glued to me.

“Hi, Val” I say, escaping her breathless hug.

“I missed you” She said, letting out a long breath. “Hey, hottie” She says to Justin. I see Justin politely returning her greeting.

“I think you need to slow down the drinking of whatever venomous poison Lacey & Michelle gave you” I say, walking inside with Justin behind me, his hand never leaving mine, while I grabbed Valary’s drink with the other. “And you should stop calling Justin ‘hottie’. I don’t want Matt beating the shit out of him” I whisper to her.

“OH MY GOD! NO!!!” She screams, startling me a bit. Drunken Val is loud. It’s kinda funny though. “We don’t want that caveman messing up that perfect nose, & those perfect eyes & those perfect lips that Ann can’t shut up talking about and…”

“Ok” I say, stopping her, trying miserably to stop her from embarrassing me even more. “I think he gets the point” I say, pushing her a bit so we can actually walk into the house. I hear Justin laugh a bit & I can’t help the small blush that’s starting to creep to my face.

“So you have a fascination with my lips?” He whispers in my ear, stopping my walking & sending a thousand shiver through my body. I turn to look at him & see him smirking.

“What if I do?” I ask him. 2 can play this game.

“Then you would love what they can do… besides kissing” He says, standing close to me & breathing those words over my lips. I close my eyes for a second, before reacting again.

“I’m sure I will” I say to him, kissing him, lingering just a bit. “And I sure as hell want to find out” I say, grabbing the front of his shirt & smashing our lips together. We were getting really into it, when we heard someone clear their throat. We turned to see Zacky, with a small devious smile on his face & one eyebrow raised.

“I’m not sure if I’m sorry I interrupted you, but now that you’re here, Brian wants for all of us to go into the living room” He says before, eyeing us one last time & turning around, going towards the living room, shaking his head a bit. I bit my lips before turning to see Justin smirking at me.

“Let’s get this over with so we can get the hell out of here” I say to him, walking towards the same direction Zacky went. We arrived there & I can see everyone sitting & only Brian standing. I wave everyone hello, before Brian started talking.

“Now that everyone is here, there is something I wanted to tell you” He says, eyeing us all. He was so serious. I could see he wasn’t drunk & he looked almost agitated. “After a long time of thinking things over, I came to the conclusion that a major changed is needed in my life, & although I’m scared of it, I couldn’t be happier with my decision” He says, pausing, looking at our reaction. I saw confusion in every face that was staring at him & at each other. My heart was pounding in my chest & I didn’t even know why. He opened his mouth, but Johnny jumped from his seat, almost dropping Lacey that was sitting on his lap. He opened his mouth, but closed it & pointed a finger at Brian.

“You… you…” He stammered & everyone turned their attention to him. What the hell did I miss? “You can’t” He said after a while.

“What are you talking about?” I ask him. “Brian, what’s going on?” I ask him. I see him about to reply to me but Johnny beat him.

“I’ll tell you what’s up. He’s going to quit the band” He stated & every jaw in the room literally fell to the floor. I look from Johnny to Brian & see him looking at the floor.

“Is that true?” Jimmy asks from his place beside Leana & Lacey.

“Guys…” Brian started, but Johnny interrupted him again.

“That’s why you were so nervous & pacing around before. You were trying to find a way to tell us, didn’t you? How can you do this, Syn? After everything we’ve been together…” Johnny started rambling about & I could see him almost at the brink of a meltdown. The guys started to talk all at once, Johnny’s anxiety making them anxious too.

“EVERYONE SHUT UP” I heard Brian scream, sending the whole room into a dead silence. “I’m not quitting the band. God” He says frustrated, running a hand through his face.

“If you’re not quitting the band, what is it then?” Matt asked, taking a seat next to Val again. “You better have a fucking good reason for scaring the shit out of Johnny” He says, and I look at Johnny being calmed down by his girlfriend. Out of all the couples here, Johnny & Lacey are my favorite. They’re just so fit for each other.

“I was getting to that before that short shit interrupted me” Brian said, glaring at Johnny. I had to suppress a laugh. Johnny hates being teased because of his height. “Anyway… I think it time for me to take the next step” He said. He turned his attention to Michelle and walked to her, kneeling in front of her, taking her hand in his. “Chelle, all this time I’ve tried to overlook what we have & since I was happy with how things were between us, I completely forgot about how you felt” He said & I could see everyone confused. “Sometimes in life you do crazy things. How we got together…” He lets out a sigh before he continues. “I don’t know what led us there, or how it happened… but it did. I can’t say I remember exactly everything that happened those nights, but I don’t regret any of it. You could’ve left in the morning but you stayed & I know, in my heart, you will always be my Michelle… always” He says the last word in a whisper & that’s when something clicked in my head. Oh my God… he can’t possibly be… I see him reach for his pocket, taking out a small black box. I see Michelle’s mouth gape open, while her eyes started filling with tears. “Michelle, would you marry me?” He asked while he opened the box to unravel a beautiful engagement ring. Everyone gasped & held their breath, waiting for her answer. I let go of Justin’s hand, not believing what’s going on.

“YES” She screams, hugging & kissing Brian, letting him take the ring out of the case & placing it on her ring finger. I think it took us all a minute to process what just happened.

“OH MY GOD” Val screamed, startling us. “MY SISTER IS GETTING MARRIED” She said. I could see that she had sobered up. She went to hug her sister while everyone stood up, congratulating at the newly engaged couple. Even Justin went over to the mass of people that was around the couple. I stood still a second too longer, when I felt Brian’s eyes on me. He managed to get out of the sea of people surrounding him, walking towards me.

“Aren’t you gonna congratulate me?” He said a small smile on his face. That’s when it finally settled. My best friend was getting married.

“Of course” I say, hugging him tightly. “I just… I can’t believe it” I say honestly. I mean, he was just a couple of days ago at my place telling me he wasn’t ready to get married.

“Well… believe it” He said, hugging me again.

Notes

Thanks to Synlvr85 for her lovely comment!!!

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