After the incident when Brian and I slept in the same bed he treated me very carefully, he was still nice to me, but when we sat next to each other he would always make sure we weren’t any closer than considered friendly, and he didn’t joke with me like he used to. I knew it was weird for him, and he was trying to avoid me.

After a week of it, I decided to confront him about it, but as per usual I never got the time alone with him to ask him about it.

I decided to go over to his house and ask him about it. So I got out of bed and took a shower, pulling on a half decent outfit and left. Zacky was still sleeping so I scrawled that I’d gone out on a post it note and stuck it on his forehead before leaving the flat. Gena stayed over last night so I got a bit of an eyeful when I walked in there. But it was nothing that I couldn’t handle.

I rang the doorbell and waited, after a few moments a sleepy looking Brian appeared in the doorway.

“Riley” He said, he sounded surprised to see me.

“Hi Brian… I was… wondering if I could talk to you”

“Oh um… sure come on in” He said rubbing his face and stepping aside and letting me inside. His house was the same as I remembered it; I hadn’t been here in a while.

“Is uh… is Michelle home?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, but she’s sleeping” He mumbled.

“Oh okay” He lead me through into the kitchen “Do you want a drink?” I nodded and he poured me some coffee and then doing the same thing for himself. “So what’s up Riles?”

“It’ll probably sound a bit weird”

“Shoot”

“Why’re you avoiding me?”

“What?”

“This past week, you’ve been avoiding me, this past week, ever since you slept in my bed you’ve been avoiding me”

“I’m not avoiding you, I just didn’t want it to be weird for you, and we’ve never had that kind of relationship before”

“Well I’m sorry, but Zacky wasn’t there, he’s always the one who’s there when I’m scared of have nightmares, and I was scared, and you were the next best thing to him okay?”

“It’s fine Riley, you don’t need to apologise” He smiled

“But isn’t Michelle pissed at you?”

“I figured what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her”

“That’s deceptive”

“Please, it’s nothing that I’ll get into serious trouble for, but still, I don’t need to cause any more arguments”

“You have arguments?”

“No… forget I said that”

“You can tell me y’know Brian, both Zacky and Gena use me as a fucking agony aunt when their relationship is on the rocks”

“I don’t want to burden you, it’s nothing really”

“Well something’s bugging you”

“It’s just… I can tell that she’s not happy” He said

“Michelle?”

“Yeah, she’s hardly ever here, and when she is she’s just… distant”

“Have you talked to her about it?” I asked taking a sip of my coffee.

“No, she doesn’t ever want to talk to me about anything”

“Well actually try Brian, I’m guessing you’ve only tried once, just sit her down and ask her what’s wrong”

“I don’t know how to talk to her”

“Well there’s your first problem, you two evidently don’t communicate which is why she’s getting pissy”

why are you helping him with his relationship problems Riley? If they stay together then you’ll never be able to have Brian to yourself I knew my subconscious was right, but I didn’t like seeing him sad, Jesus this is messed up.

“Who’s pissy?” Michelle asked walking into the kitchen in a shirt that I guessed was Brian’s and a pair of sweat pants, I must say she didn’t look like her usual self, in fact she looked like crap.

“No one honey” He said looking down, she threw him a dirty look as she went to the fridge. She pulled out a smoothie and walked out of the kitchen without another word.

“Talk about cutting the tension with a knife”

“I know” He sighed and rested his chin in his palm. “I don’t know what to say to her though!”

“Just start with asking her why she’s pissed at you, the worst she can do is yell at you Brian”
“Hmm”

“Good luck with that” I said standing up “I have to go, good luck with… that” I motioned to the door.

“She’d be pissed if she knew you were referring to her as a ‘that’”

“You know what I meant” I said pulling him into a hug, I squeezed him tight and breathed in his scent before letting go, the hug probably went on for a little bit longer than what was considered friendly, but right then I didn’t really care.

I left Brian’s house after that, going back to the apartment, Zacky was still fast asleep in bed but Gena was nowhere in sight. Upon entering the kitchen I saw that she’d written Zack a note on the white board on the fridge.

It was just telling him that she’d gone to work and she’d call him later. I went into Zacky’s room and jumped on his bed, yelling at him to get up, in other words scaring the living shit out of him and almost giving him a heart attack in the process of waking him up.

“Jesus fuck what in the hell Riley?!” He yelled propping himself up on his elbows.

“You have to get up”

“It’s only half one” He said lying back on the pillows.

“Late night?” I asked sarcastically.

“You could say that” He grinned up at me.

“Don’t need to know” I said “Are you naked under there?” I asked him.

“Maybe” He was still grinning

“Keep the sheets on Baker”

“Yes Ma’am, wouldn’t need you knowing about my morning glory”

“Ugh Zacky! That’s gross! I’m leaving!” I yelled scrambling off his bed and scampering out of
the room.

“You love it”

“No” I said from outside the door. “Go take a shower you pig, we have to buy paint”

“For what?” He asked appearing in the doorway, now wearing a pair of boxers.

“My room, duh, you promised you’d help me decorate my room when we got back from tour, I
don’t like the purple anymore”

“You only painted it like a year ago”

“Yeah well I want red now”

“You’re so fussy”

“I’m not, now go take a shower, you smell like sex and sweat”

“Sexy”

“No, I can assure it is most certainly not”

“You love it” He grinned “You love it when I’m all sweaty and not wearing a shirt”

“You’re a pig” I said putting my hands on my hips. “Go you child”

“Yes Mommy” He lisped, as he walked past me I kicked him in the butt.

Notes

Title credit: Loverboy - You me at Six.