Denial

“Honey, please fill the fridge if you are taking stuff out!” Mia shouted at her husband, as he was grabbing 5 beers for him and his friends and also brought a new bottle of wine for the women. He shook his head and smiled, she always asked him and he never did it the first time she asked. She always had to ask another time, usually when everything was already gone.
He walked back out, placing a kiss on the top of his wife’s head and handed her the bottle of wine, as he walked past her and her friends to join his own.

“Z, why is Mia ordering you around, is she playing boss?” Brian asked with a smirk.
Zack looked at Brian with a knowing smile “Don’t act like you make the rules in your house, neither of us is” Zack looked from Brian to Matt, who shook his head slightly while he turned to look at the wives with a smile. Mia, Tammy and Izzie were talking vividly, drinking their wine. Nights like these were precious, all of them together, enjoying each other’s company, drinks, food, great conversations and lovely weather, there were few nights that were better and they cherished it.
“Do you guys already know which songs we need to play? I mean, we should think about a playlist, right?” Matt asked, looking at his friends and bandmates.
“Matt, seriously, we are just hanging out and you want to talk business, we are practicing tomorrow, can’t this wait?” Johnny piped up, the others nodded, sharing Johnny’s opinion.
“Alright, Alright, no business” Matt held up his hands in defense and leaned back in his chair again.

“How are you short shit? Are we heading to a stripclub soon?” Matt joked, clapping the smaller one’s back.
“Fuck off, I’m single and I’m happy, just leave me be, why do I need to have a relationship, I’m fine on my own. Seriously, we are having a concert in a few days, it’s not like I won’t be able to get some then…You don’t have to worry about me getting sexually frustrated any time soon, I’m good”

The married men glanced over to their friend. He could tell them everything he wanted, but they could see him struggling. Johnny had broken up with his long time girlfriend Kat a couple of months ago. His friends had been happy the woman was gone, seeing they never really liked her anyway, but it hurt them to see their friend like that, it wasn’t really worth getting rid of the bitch. They just hoped Johnny would quickly get back to himself again, not that they needed him to find a woman, but they just wanted to see him happy again.
“Maybe us single men should go out some time, I mean, these three assholes are boring as hell now they are married” Arin chuckled “We should just send them the pictures of how a night of partying should look like”
“Hell yeah, that would teach them to keep pushing us” Johnny high fived Arin, satisfied with the plan offered by the youngest one.
“You talk trash about our relationships all you want, but we are the ones with sex whenever we want” Brian stuck out his tongue, but was quickly cut off by his wife
“Haner! Keep bragging all you want, because that will be all you are doing tonight if you continue like that” The other two women laughed loudly at Tammy’s remark, while Brian looked dumbfounded at his friends, making the men roar in laughter.
“Yeah, Yeah, you guys are hilarious” Brian let out, drinking the last bit of his beer.

The women were still laughing over what Tammy said.
“Are you seriously able to resist him if he tries?” Mia whispered at Tammy, who immediately shook her head.
“Nope, what do you think?” she let out smile. Izzie giggled.
“I can’t even try to threaten Matt with anything that’s even remotely sexrelated, I mean, have you seen the guy?”
The women all looked over at the men, receiving a cheeky smile from Matt.
“I’m telling you, he can read my mind, he knows what I’m talking about now. He’s always cheating, he knows exactly how to bring me to my knees…. Even literally sometimes” Izzie winked at her friends.
More giggles surrounded them.
“Iz, it’s not that weird, you and Matt know each other forever, you can hardly have any secrets any more after almost 20 years, right?”

The girls loved the story of Matt and Izzie, even Tammy who always claimed she wasn’t into any lovey dovey shit, couldn’t get enough of it. Izzie had joined freshman year at Huntington High when she was 14, because of her parents moving there. Her father had a demanding job and her mother was hardly ever home either. Izzie had to find her own way to school and with her wobbly legs, she had been an accident waiting to happen. So that’s what happened, Izzie got out of the schoolbus, tripped over the last step and fell into the arms of the tall, 2 year older and mad at the world junior, Matt Sanders. He had caught her, looked into her eyes and had found a reason to be happy with the world again.

If you ask Brian how this all went down, he will tell Matt walked after Izzie like a puppy dog from that moment forward, Matt on the other hand, says he thought Izzie was a bit young and was just being kind to her, trying to get her to know the school and later on, the town.
It wasn’t long before Izzie spend every hour she was alone at Matt’s house, obediently making her homework, while Matt and his friends made music in his parents garage.

Months gone by and Izzie had become one of the guys, always around, but she had really started to develop womanly shapes, and that hadn’t gone unnoticed with the guys. Matt was still denying everything he was feeling for her, telling the guys they were just friends, so Brian decided to wake him up, asking Izzie to prom. That was Matt’s wake-up call and Brian’s umpteenth black eye, caused by Matt’s fist. They ended up going to prom all together, but Matt took Izzie home and under the streetlight in front of Izzie’s house, they kissed for the first time.

Matt and the guys recorded the first album and went touring, and Izzie finished high school and later art school, but joining the guys every moment she could. Matt strayed only once, causing not only Izzie, but himself so much heartache, that he was quick to ask her to marry him, the minute they got signed with a large record company.
After a long night of talking, Izzie said yes and the rest is history. Izzie and Matt got married, having almost 10 years of marriage on their account, and still happily counting.

“Tams, you ready to go?”
The women got up from their seats and headed over to the men.
“Yes, we can go if you want” Tammy stood behind Brian, letting her hand go through his hair.
Izzie had closed in on Matt too and he pulled her on his lap, making her squeal in surprise.
“What time are you gathering at the rehearsal studio tomorrow?” She asked her husband.
“I thought we agreed on 11? But I’m not sure? Zack? Brian?” Matt looked at his bandmates and got a confirming answer
“Yeah, 11 sounds about right, better head in then, or I won’t be at all able to produce any of those solos” Brian groaned, getting up from his chair.
“Don’t be such a pussy, it will only be 1 concert before we have a little while off” Zack pushed his friend away playfully.
“I know, just have to get started”

The 10 of them headed to the door, Zack wrapping his arm around Mia after they said goodbye to everyone and waved as they looked after them walking away. Only Arin came by car, he is still living on the other side of town, but with the other four living in a 4 block radius, it probably wouldn’t be long before Arin would join the neighborhood.

Johnny was the last to leave and kissed Mia’s cheek to say goodbye.
“Are you going to be okay?” Mia looked at him with narrowed eyes. She was the most caring of all of them and she could see something was bothering him. Even though Johnny appreciated her concern, it wasn’t making things easier on him. He was still hurt, but he didn’t want his friends to worry too much, and the guys were only solution orientated. If he would tell them about his mending heart, they would take him out, finding him another girl, and that was the last thing he was thinking about right now.
“I will be, Mia, thank you.” She hugged him one last time and whispered in his ear “You know, Zack isn’t always home, I’m here if you want to talk”
He nodded curtly and walked off the driveway, over to his own house.

The house was dark and quiet when he put the key in the lock. No one to greet him, no one to ask him how his day was. He flipped the switch, turning on the light in the kitchen as he poured himself a glass of water. The sound of the empty glass put down on the counter sounded too loud. He had always been a positive person, someone who didn’t let hard times weigh too much on him, he could always find something to continue on with his life with a smile, but he was taking this break up harder than any breakup before.
Kat had practically lived with him, but never wanted to make it official. He should have seen the signs, the coming home late, the never wanting to go on tour with him, the secret phone calls, but he just had been too much in love with her to even register anything that happened around him.
The fights he had with his friends over her, the times he got mad at them for questioning the things she did. But in the end, they were right.

He looked into the empty living room, nothing to sit on, because of the couch he had thrown out after that night he had come home from tour a day early and he had found her on that same couch, with another man. Not just another man, a man she called her fiancé. A man she had apparently had been seeing behind her back for almost their full relationship. His heart squeezed painfully in his chest over the thought. He couldn’t understand why she had stayed with him, he couldn’t understand what she would get out of it, especially because the guy had seem to know about him and didn’t even had the courtesy to say sorry or feel embarrassed when Johnny had walked in on them.

Johnny took one more look at the empty living room, before he turned down the light and headed upstairs. He should get new furniture, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. The empty room was a constant reminder of how stupid he had been and how stupid he would never ever be again. But it was a little inconvenient, he hadn’t had the guys over in months, and every time they came to pick him up, he made sure he was ready and waiting at the door. He knew Matt and Arin had noticed something, but they just let him. That’s how he and his friends handled things like this, they waited for him to ask for help, they waited for him to give the sign that he needed help. And he wasn’t asking, not now, he needed more time, more time to process.

He took off his clothes and found the cold and empty sheets as he slipped in, in only his boxers. He definitely would need to find some nameless, meaningless girl after the concert. Why be a rockstar if you couldn’t use a groupie?

Notes

Note from the author... well me!
I'm writing this story for my dear friend Nessa.Christ, because a promise is a promise.
BUT! I'm doing this story a little differently than I'm used to, because I don't have a story at the ready to publish, but I'm writing chapters and sharing it with you guys immediately... I will try to update at least two times a week! :-) Oh, one last thing.. this is going to be a little story, so not too long, but I still hope you enjoy it!