All I Ask Is... Why?

When we got back to Huntington Beach later on the next morning, we made our way back to Brian's house and slept the entire morning and afternoon. Pinkly was at Papa Gates' house while we were gone, so it made things a lot easier for us during the day. We woke up near three and I realized that this was becoming a really bad habit of ours. I groaned at the sound of Brian's snoring and I knew that he wasn't going to wake up even if I wanted him to. So with every bit of strength that I have in me, I slowly push Brian without waking him until he completely fell off of the bed. "Ow." He groaned.

I moved to peek down at him, only to see that he looked exactly the same on the floor as he did on the bed. "Oh, hey babe. You're up." I giggled.

"You did that on purpose."

"I did no such thing." I laughed. His cell phone started ringing and I looked at it on the nightstand. "I'll get it. But seriously, you should get up. I don't want to be in bed all day." I looked at the caller ID to see that Shadows was calling. Shadows and I have not really had an opportunity to talk and it made me feel a bit awkward at times, but this time I just answered his call as if we had known each other for a really long time. "Hello?"

"Um, yeah, who is this?" He sounded confused.

"It's Evelyn."

"Oh, hey. Uh, is Brian there?" Okay, he sounded like he really didn't want to talk to me, but oh well. I was going to make him talk to me because if I am going to be Brian's girlfriend, then all of his friends are going to have to get used to me being around and having casual conversations. Zacky, Johnny and Arin had no problem in doing that. I don't see why it's so hard for Shadows to talk to me just because I am going out with his former brother-in-law.

"Yeah he's here. But he's in the shower right now. Why what's up?"

"Oh. Are you guys in Vegas still?"

"No actually. We left last night and we got here this morning. It was pretty cool." I smiled. Brian was sitting up and mouthed 'Who is it?' and I mouthed back. 'It's Shadows.' He nodded and got up to head to the bathroom.

"Oh that's cool. Well, tell him that Val and I are having a cookout at our house and everyone is coming by. We just wanted to know if he wanted to come too." I noticed that he only asked if Brian could come, not really inviting me.

"Okay, I will ask him. Can I come too?" I asked calmly.

"What?" He asked.

"Can I come too?"

"Uh, hold on a second." The line went quiet, but I knew that he didn't hang up. He must be asking Valary for permission, which is okay being that the last time I met Valary, she and I really didn't get along. He finally gets back on the line. "Sure. You can come along too. I know that you, me and Val didn't meet on the best of terms, but we would like to get to know you better."

I smiled. "Great! We will be there. What time?"

"Around six or six-thirty is when everyone should be showing up."

"Okay sounds good to me. We will be there."

"All right. See you guys later."

"Bye." I hung up the phone and walked over to the bathroom that Brian was in. "Hey babe, Shads and Val invited us over to their house for a cookout. Well, technically he invited you, I had to invite myself." I said with a half smile.

"So I heard. I'm glad you did though. I really would like for you to get along with my friends as much as I know you would want me to get along with yours." He smiled at me and pulled out his spare toothbrush to start brushing his teeth.

"Yeah, first it's meeting the friends and then that leads to meeting the family. You can introduce me as the woman you almost married in Las Vegas." I laughed.

He chuckled as he finished brushing and rinsing his mouth. "Yeah, that would make an amazing dinner conversation." He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek and I smiled at him. "I'm sure once this whole divorce gets done with, we should give it another two months and then we can start rearranging the meeting of the families."

"Well, I know I have a lot of your family that I need to meet. You pretty much already met the only family I have."

"I'm sure you have more family that you would want me to meet. You just haven't really thought of them lately." He's right. I haven't really given anymore of my family members the thought, and I'm sure we would all have to meet them sometime, being that if Brian and I get even more serious and if Mercedes and Zacky get even more serious too.



Three hours later...

"Babe! Come on, we got to go!" Brian shouted from the hallway.

"I'm almost ready! I will be out in five seconds." I shot back.

"You said that ten minutes ago." He groaned.

"Well, it takes a lot of work to look great Brian. I don't have natural good looks to where all I can do is slap on eyeliner and go like you do."

"Babe, you're beautiful. You don't need makeup or to dress fancy. It's just a casual cookout with friends."

"Brian, do you know that it's just as hard for a girl to look casual as it is for us to look like we are worth a million bucks. There's a reason why makeup was invented." I finish putting on the finishing touches to my makeup and grab my small purse and head out of the bedroom. I was dressed in a white t-shirt, black ripped skinny jeans and red knee-high Chuck Taylors. My hair was flat down, and my makeup made to look as natural as possible. Brian stared me up and down and smiled. He just had on a t-shirt, jeans, and his black Cortez Nike's. He had his hair slicked back and his black aviators on. He looked so hot, I couldn't resist biting my lip when I saw him. "And you pick on me for trying to look great. You look super sexy."

He smiled at me. "So do you, beautiful." He leaned down and gave me a small kiss on the lips. "Can we go now? I'm starving."

"Yes, we can go now." I giggled. We both linked arms and walked out of the house. Tonight was going to be the last night that we would spend together before he and the band leave for the tour tomorrow. I was bummed out about it, but after everything we've been through so far while we've been together, especially the Vegas trip, I know deep in my heart that Brian loves me and he wouldn't do anything to hurt me. I'm trusting him with pretty much everything I have while he is away, and I am just hoping that he will not take my love and trust for him to his advantage.



We arrive at Matt and Valary's house, and it looks like pretty much everyone is already here. I'm a little nervous because I know that Val still has a little bit of anger towards me, and I'm pretty sure that Michelle told Valary about the fight she and I had at Brian's house and about the divorce. So I don't know if Val and I are going to get the chance to talk things out like mature women, or if she's going to be a bitchy brat just like her twin sister. I sighed silently before Brian escorted me out of the car and into the mansion that is Matt and Val's home. "Hello?" Brian called out.

Val peeked around the corner and she smiled as soon as she looked at Brian. "Hey! It's about time you guys got here. We were starting to worry." She walked over to us and greeted both Brian and I in a small hug. "Come in, you guys must be starving. Food is in the back and everyone else is back there getting their plate."

"Cool." I responded and made my way to the back in front of Brian. When everyone saw me, all I heard was a loud "Hey!" Everyone came to greet me one by one in a hug. Lacey and Kimberly gave me the tightest hugs.

"Oh my gosh, I haven't seen you in like forever! How are you?" Kimberly asked.

"I'm great! How are you?" I smiled at her.

"I'm great. Glad you could make it. Lacey and I were just talking about you."


After greeting everyone, I looked to see Mercedes sitting right next to Zacky at the table. She smiled at me and gave me a hug. It sort of shocked me that she was here, but it sure did shock the hell out of Brian that she was here. And I know this because as we made our way to sit down, Brian whispered to me, "I'm surprised Zacky brought Mercedes. The last time he brought a girl to a cookout this early was after he got secretly married to Gena."

It didn't click to me until we sat down, maybe there was a reason why she was here. I knew that things were getting serious between her and Zacky, but it was all moving so fast. It feels like just yesterday when they remembered the one time they met backstage during the tour of the band's first album. But then again, I'm one to talk. Brian and I did get pretty serious really fast, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect, but also it couldn't have been more wrong.

The rest of the evening played out pretty well, we all talked and laughed about nothing but bullshit. Val would pick up here and there on a few conversations that I would have with either Lacey, Mercedes or Kimberly, but didn't really take the time to have an actual sit down conversation with me. She and Mercedes did get along pretty famously though, and why wouldn't they? Mercedes and Valary were very likable girls once you got to know them. But I know it's still hard for Valary to even attempt to find a reason to like me just a little bit, after all, Brian is divorcing her twin to be with me. Which I'm sure he would've done regardless if he met me or not.

Matt started playing music on a small portable speaker and their song Warmness on the Soul started playing. Zacky gently pulled Mercedes in for a dance and held her as close to him as he possibly could. It was so sweet and cute, they looked so in love with each other that if they got married tomorrow, I don't think anyone would've mind. Matt and Val, Johnny and Lacey, Arin and Kimberly all joined in their own dancing not long after and Brian tried to get me up there. "Brian I can't dance." I whispered. "At least not like that."

"When you're sober." He chuckled. "I will guide you." He took my hand in his and walked me to where everyone else was to dance. He wrapped one arm around my waist and held one of my hands in his. We swayed from side to side, taking a step here and there but it was nice. I looked over his shoulder to see the couples dancing around us. Everyone looked so happy, it made me smile to see all of their smiles on their faces, including Valary's. Near the end of the song, Brian placed my hand on his shoulder and pulled away enough to stare into my eyes. His warm, chocolate brown eyes filled with love and happiness, pure bliss and it made me melt. 'I love you.' He mouthed to me. 'I love you too.' I mouthed back. He the gives me a dip and kisses me passionately as he's pulling me back up. And then I realize that this was the very first time that he's kissed me in front of everyone.



As the night passed on, everyone eventually parted into their own little groups to talk. I was talking with the girls, and the guys were talking amongst themselves about the leave for the tour tomorrow afternoon. After a while, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Matt smiling at me a little. "Hey Evelyn. You mind if we talk for a minute?" He asked politely.

It came as a surprise to me, but I nodded. "Sure." I smiled at him. We both walked to the kitchen and kept the door open just in case. I could feel Valary's gaze just burning down my body. After we walked in, Matt and I sat down on the island table in the middle of the kitchen. "So what's up?" The nervous feeling started building up inside of me.

"I couldn't help but notice that you and Brian seem to be getting really... Close." He hesitated on the last word. "I will admit that when I first started hearing about you, I didn't really approve of it because I knew that Brian was starting to cheat behind my sister-in-law's back. And after seeing how young you are, I didn't like you and I felt that if he was cheating on Michelle with you, then there had to be others out there. But after tonight, my opinion started to change about you. I noticed how happy Brian is and when he kissed you, that's when I knew that he was serious about you. I just hope that you are as serious about him as you look."

I nodded. "I know what Brian has been through with your sister-in-law, I even witnessed it for myself at least twice. I love Brian with everything I have and more. With The Rev passing away, and now his problems with Michelle, I know he's hurting and it's probably scaring the shit out of all of you. I would never do anything to hurt him and bring him down even lower. I've been through some rough shit in my life and I wouldn't want anyone toying with my heart either. And as far as ages go, I don't want our age difference to be a big problem because I am much more mature for my age than I seem. I am serious about Brian as he is about me. I do hope that we can all get along and hang out more, but even if that is going to be a problem I'm going to keep trying because I'm not going anywhere."

"I have respect for you on that. I want us all to get along too, and as far as I can tell, you're alright kid. I know that Brian and Michelle are getting a divorce because she came over the other day with a skinny Asian kid around your age. She was beat up and he was knocked out in the car. But she told us what happened and she told us all about the problems she and Brian have been going through. Val and I both agreed that what she did and has been doing was a new low even for her. She stopped talking to us after that and there is no telling where she is now. But I like you, and I hope you and Val can see eye to eye with each other one day. She's like a sister to Brian and he looks to her of approval on almost anything he does." He smiled.

"I really do want Val and I to break the ice somehow, and I know that it's not going to be easy. But I am willing to try and hope for the best. But, are we okay?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, we are okay." He stood up and extended his arms out to give me a hug.
I stood up and hugged him for two seconds, until another female voice entered the room.

"What's going on?" It was Valary.

Matt and I let go of each other and faced Valary as she made her way over and wrapped her arms around Matt. "Nothing babe. Evelyn and I were just having a little talk about her and Brian." Matt kissed her on the lips and she kissed him back and smiled.

"Cool." She then looked at me, the smile never left her face. "So Evelyn, the girls and I were planning to go out tonight for a girls night out. Would you like to come? We'll leave in about an hour."

There's a shock. "Yeah that sounds great. Who's all going?" I had to ask because the last thing I need is to be ambushed when I'm all alone with only her friends.

"Me, Lacey, Kimberly, my good friends Leana and Gena, and your sister Mercedes." She responded.

Gena? As in Zacky's ex-wife Gena? If that's the one she's talking about then I needed to go. I wasn't going to let Gena ambush my sister all alone. Even though she's old enough to take care of herself. I smiled a little and nodded. "Okay. Sounds like fun."

We all went back outside with everyone and I took my place on Brian's lap at the table. Zacky and Mercedes were talking amongst themselves by the pool, and it seemed pretty serious, and then I saw the biggest smile appear on Zacky's face. He embraced her really tight and kissed her like as if he's never going to get a chance to kiss her again. I was the only one who witnessed it. They walked back together side by side and everyone was carrying on in their own conversations until Zacky started talking. "Hey guys." Nobody looked. "Guys." He said a little louder and everyone continued to talk. "Would everyone shut the fuck up for a minute?!" He said louder and this caught everyone's attention. "Thanks. Now, if you don't mind, Mercedes and I have some wonderful news." He smiled at her. This had everyone on their toes.

Mercedes sighed and smiled back at him before focusing her attention on all of us. "We're having a baby!" She said with a big smile. It took a second for everyone to take it in that this was serious. Then we all cheered and congratulated both of them by embracing them both one at a time. Wow, Zacky Vengeance is going to be a daddy.

Notes

Whaaaaat? Lol hope you guys like it! I will be working on more chapters, but I do want this story to come to an end soon. <3 you all!