Brian’s POV

Another country, another day, still feeling all the same…
“Where are we at now again?” I asked no one in particular, just waiting for someone to clue me in.
“France, doing Hellfest later on… A band cancelled and we took their spot, getting some good promo that way… and why the hell don’t you know about that? You were at the meeting we discussed all this?” Zack asked and I groaned, couldn’t someone else be around.

Zack really was one of my best friends, but he began to really piss me off lately.
Whenever we were alone he tried to come back to one topic, one topic, the fucking one topic I didn’t wanna talk about, or hear anything about and especially not hear from her that I, freaking I should be the one calling her back.

I will not take my phone into my hands and dial that number, I swore not to let my heart be broken again, and especially not by the same woman, what now…?! Three fucking times!
Hell no!

“Yeah, calm down… I remember, just didn’t know it was today.” I said and closed my eyes again, waiting for our next stop so I could get out of the bus.
“You really longing for a break, huh?” Zack voice appeared just outside my bunk, the curtain was drawn away and I met the piercing green eyes of Zack.

“Well, who doesn’t… we been on the fucking road for ever… but whatever, just a couple more weeks and we are done, right?” I shrugged and I really liked touring, I just didn’t know what’s wrong with me lately, okay that wasn’t true, I did know what’s wrong with me, but that was beside the point.

“Can I… Can I ask you something?” Zack leaned his back against the opposite bunk and stared at me, and here we go again, this was one of the moments I knew, I didn’t wanna hear the things he would have to say.
“As long as it is not about the topic” I said and met his eyes, Zack at least had the right sense of looking guilty, which still wouldn’t spare me from the outcome.

“What is it, Zack?” I asked finally and sighed, turning on my back, to at least have him not look me in the eye the entire time.
“Why are you not reacting to her calls?” Zack asked and I closed my eyes, here we go again.
“None of your business, Zack.” I replied and for me the conversation was done, but Zack shook his head, not accepting my answer that easily, he never did, asshole that.

“She called me… She sounded… desperate, not knowing what happened that you completely shut down, man… Just think about that, don’t let another misunderstanding rip everything apart, that’s all I am asking.” Zack added and when I opened my mouth to reply, Matt came from the back room, yawning.

“Leave him the fuck alone, Baker. It’s none of your business to stick your nose in what happened. If he doesn’t wanna talk about what happened, it’s his decision, and if he doesn’t wanna hear what Ave has to say, also his choice.” Matt stretched his arms over his head and only hearing Ave’s name made my heart beat a little faster, stupid thing still hadn’t recognized that there was nothing to be excited about anymore.

“I just want him to consider at least, hearing what she has to say… Doesn’t this feel like a déja-vu to you?” Zack kept on bugging and I sighed loudly, not really getting his meaning, so I waited for him to go on.

“She did the same thing to you, not answering calls, not hearing messages, do I have to remind you about how you felt when she completely shut down? And then it was a freaking misguiding… Don’t you at least want to know what happened, after that you can still shut it all down… and say its finished” Zack explained and I looked a little helpless at Matt who shrugged.

“He does have a point, doesn’t he?” Matt said and I closed my eyes, these fuckers were really getting on my nerves.
“That’s all I am asking… and I asked them to work for me, when we are back in Huntington, I think you should know that.” Zack added and turned around to leave.

“You what?” Both Matt and I asked at the same time and Zack turned around “They are awesome designers and I kept in contact with Ave, all the time… She is a friend to me, no matter what she is or will be for you, Brian. The stuff they created is sold out, and since they didn’t know where to go I offered her a job, Maya as well… They haven’t decided yet. But I thought you should know about it.”

That was the moment the bus stopped and Zack turned around, leaving without another word and I stared at Matt, did he know about that? But he wouldn’t have asked, if he did right?
A small smile spread over his face and I sighed.

“You haven’t given up yet, have you?” I asked and he knew exactly what I was talking about.
“Not giving up on her, Brian. She is a handful, and we knew from the start it wouldn’t be easy, but if she considers the offer from Zack… and both Ave and her come home to Huntington… That’s the best head start I can get.” Matt said and I sighed, at least one of us saw it that way.

“And Brian…” Matt turned back towards, me “Read the messages or listen to your voicemail… You know I’m standing behind you, but what if he is right, and you… you give away a chance of something good, you will always blame yourself in the end if you didn’t.”

I nodded at that and felt like jerk, why did my best friends thought they knew everything better, and why did I have the thought that they might be right?

“Fuck” I punched the side of the bus window, getting more and more frustrated with the situation.

After lying there a for a while longer and I guessed no one was around the bus anymore, I climbed out of the bunk and settled down on the table, but not before grabbing a bottle of whiskey from the fridge.

I didn’t bother with a glass and just opened up taking a nice swig from the bottle, I haven’t really done that since days but now I felt like I needed a good drink, strong one that is, didn’t make a difference that it was just noon.
I looked around the bus “Guys? Hey! Guys!”

Just silence greeted me “Guys? Someone still here?” I yelled again and nothing came back so I pulled my phone out and stared at the messages that I received, not only from Ave but different people, I just didn’t feel like answering any of them and clicking accidentally or not so accidentally on her messages.

“Fuck, let’s check… stupid assholes, making me do this” I muttered to myself before taking another long drink from my bottle and setting it beside me.
I opened one of the messages from Ave, they all seemed very similar, her asking why I am not answering, and what’s going on.

“You know, what’s going on… I gave my heart to you, and you…” I talked to myself, great, this was only getting better and better.
Another long drink, burning… swallow, okay next one.

The last message I received, sounded different then all the other, nothing about why I didn’t answer or what had happened, just that I needed to call her back, urgently.

My fingers began to itch and ask what was really going on, and why suddenly this was urgent, but I refused, maybe my pride was in the way of it, but I couldn’t change that.
The last voicemail was only a couple of minutes ago, right before the last text message.

My whole body was aching, I couldn’t control my fingers from shaking slightly when I pressed the button to hear the voicemail she left, to her hear her voice after the last encounter from us.

“Hey, Bri, it’s Ave again…I-I…” A sigh sounded, her voice sounded shaky, had she cried? I heard a whisper, was that Maya? Then she continued, “I really need to talk to you and it’s kind of an emergency so please call me back when you get this. Thanks…” The message ended and my heart beat so fast, I was afraid it would jump right out of my chest.

“Emergency?” I whispered, listening again, when Zack had talked to her earlier, he didn’t mention an emergency, was this a trick so I would call her?
Sure this was… there wasn’t anything else behind this, she just wanted to know why I broke up the contact, right?
There was nothing else, what emergency could have happened that I had to call her back, come on this was just bullshit and nothing else.

“Nice try…” I shut my phone off and placed it back in my bunk, I nearly fell for that one.
“GATES?! Sound-check?! You coming?” Matt Berry’s voice sounded from the front of the bus and I nodded “Be there in 5, don’t worry” I yelled back and he vanished.

How stupid of me thinking that there was really something happening, Zack would have told me if something was going on, hell even Matt must knew, he was in contract with Maya still as it seemed.

And I… I couldn’t forget how excited I had been for our meeting that morning, I really was all in surrendering my heart to her… and then… she ripped it out, throwing it there on the pavement, without even giving me a glance…

Maybe I was acting stupid right now, and fuck those who thought I did, I wouldn’t let my heart be ripped out again… not going to happen, no matter how hard Zack tried to plant seeds in my head, I had seen what I had seen that morning, and I sadly wouldn’t forget that as it seemed.

Maya’s POV

“Nothing” Ave sobbed and stared at her phone in her hands, after leaving a message on voicemail and writing another message, nothing came back.

“Call Zack” I suggested but Ave shook her head “I talked to him this morning… We talked about different things, he wants to hire us for VU, but he was pretty clear about Brian, and his… His choices, I can’t call Zack again, he… he can’t make Brian call me. I mean… I don’t wanna tell Zack what’s going on before… before Brian knows” Ave said and I pulled her into my embrace, I needed a little time to process everything too, not only that Ave hadn’t told me anything about what happened, but also that she might or might not be pregnant.

But I had to put the hurt of her not confiding in me to the back of my mind, we both had been a little absent, and maybe she was thinking I wouldn’t help her?
God that thought alone freaking hurt… I would always help my little gnome, no matter what!

“What should we do?” Ave asked I heard the tears in her voice and the helplessness, so I brushed the hair from her face and rocked her back and forth in my arms, trying to calm her down.

“The worlds not going down, Ave… We got two positive tests and one negative, that doesn’t mean anything, just yet. Yes, you are a little late with your girly time, but hell… You had a lot of stress, the whole thing with Brian… James… and well me, with the work thing, I know what that did to you. I’m sorry for that, Ave. And that is a logical reason for you being in stress and being a little late, this doesn’t mean you are pregnant, it’s not bulletproof yet.”

I tried to sooth her, and Ave finally looked up to me “What are we doing now? He won’t call back… Maya, I know he won’t.”
I sighed and maybe she was right, we didn’t have much time to make a decision, so I thought of the one thing that was most logical to me, “Like I said, if he isn’t answering in the next hour, we will go to him.”

“We don’t even know where they are, M. And… And I can’t do that alone, he won’t listen… How am I supposed to-” Tears were streaming down Ave’s face and I pulled her even closer than before.
“Ssshhh… you ain’t going anywhere alone, babe. I will be by your side… Let me call Matt, he will tell us where they are. We book a flight and head there today.” I said confidently, since Matt and I had been in contact the past weeks, I knew he was waiting for me to reply, even visit, if I wanted to.

But I had concentrated on finding out, what it was that Ben and I had together, but it wasn’t that clear to me still. He was amazing, I had to say that, but the thoughts of Matt coming back more and more often…

“But-But, what is with you and staying here? You don’t want to stay with Ben?” Ave asked and I sighed, “God Ave, you think I would let you do something like this on your own? You think I would leave you alone? I won’t be leaving your side, and if Brian refuses to talk to you, let me handle him for a moment, I will get him to talk” I said and Ave chuckled lightly but then more tears were spilling over her lids.

We sat like that for more than an hour and Ave slowly sunk into an exhausted sleep, Brian hadn’t called back and hadn’t written a message, so there was no way around this, Ave and I would be heading to Avenged, no matter where they were.

I walked into my room after putting a blanket over Ave’s sleeping form on the couch and pulled my phone out.

I had to talk to Matt and afterwards I needed to go to Ben, telling him I would be leaving, this would be hard, I knew Ben was trying everything in him to make me feel good with him, but was that really a good thing? He shouldn’t work for it right?
And if I told him where I would be going… He would freak out, shit I had to put that in the right way.

But first things first, I searched for Matt’s number and pushed the dial button, after the fourth ring someone picked up, it was loud but after a moment of rustling I heard a voice “Shads phone”
“Matt?” I asked a little confused.
“Yeah, who is it?” He asked and then I recognized the voice “MB?” I asked and he chuckled.
“Maya, babe.. how are you? The guys just had sound check, I still have his phone… You wanna talk with the real Matt which would be me or the lame excuse for a Matt?” MB chuckled and I heard some voices.

“Shut up, I’m talking to Maya.” I heard MB say “Ouch.. don’t get… Hey, she didn’t decide yet” And then MB was gone and I heard another voice.
“Maya?” Matt asked and sounded out of breath.
“Hey” I replied and I heard a sigh “He wasn’t lying.” Matt said and sounded happy.

“No, he wasn’t… Can I… are you alone?” I asked rethinking my approach.
“Wait a second.” I heard a little more breathing and then silence. “Now. Damn, I’m glad you called, missed your voice. You alright?” Matt asked and I smiled.
“I’m good… I need to ask you for a favor.” I started and Matt chuckled “Alright, what can I do for you?”
“We want to come visit, I mean… Ave and I” I said and there was just silence, shit, didn’t he want me to come… that would make everything more complicated.

“Matt? You still there?” I asked a little uncertain “Yeah, sorry… Sure, I.. I just thought I was dreaming.” He chuckled lightly and then continued “Of course, when? Should I do something? Pick you up? Book a flight?” Matt asked all at once and I had to laugh.

“Actually-” I bit my bottom lip “Tonight?” I asked and waited for his reply.
“Tonight? Fuck, yeah.. That’s awesome, babe. Everyone will be so damn excited. When?” He sounded so hyped that I had to damper his mood a little.

“You can’t tell anyone about it, Matt… Not before we are there, alright? That’s the favor I ask of you, we have… some things to discuss” I added and I heard the uncertainty in Matt’s voice “So this is kind of a business meeting? You wanna talk to Zack? Because of his job offer?”
That was actually a good idea “Yes, as well” I added a little vague, I couldn’t tell Matt anything about the real reason we would be coming, not before we talked to Brian.

“How long will you stay?” Matt asked and I shrugged “As long as it takes, we haven’t thought about that yet. We didn’t even book our flights… which brings me to the point? Where are you guys? We have no idea, where we have to go to?!” I asked and nearly forgot about that little detail.

“Oh, let me send you the address. We are in France right now, we are filling in the spot of a band that cancelled, but we are up pretty early, so if you get a flight I could maybe pick you up…” Matt trailed off and I nodded “That would be great”

“MATT! You coming?!” I heard Brian’s voice calling in the background and Matt sighed “I’ll send you the address, let me know the time you land and I’ll pick you up, or I’ll send someone. Damn… I can’t wait to see you again, M.” Matt said and I couldn’t really reply.
“I can’t wait either, thanks, and please… don’t tell anyone. If you send someone to pick us up, please don’t let him know too much…” I reminded and Matt replied right away “I will, I promise.”

We hung up and I began searching for flights online, I booked one for Ave and me for this evening, and send the dates to Matt, afterwards I threw different clothes in my bag and set it beside the door.

I softly woke Ave and told her to pack her bag as well, and showed her our flight dates, when I was sure she was okay for the next couple of hours I made my way over to Ben’s house, dreading the talk that was about to come.

When I walked into the house I heard guitar strumming and walked quietly into the living room, Ben sat with his back to me, papers all over the table and couch, with his notes and lyric pieces, I walked further inside and looked at him from the side, his eyes were closed and a small smile on his lips while he played, he was a great sight to take in, but…

What but?!

“Hey love… You are back” His eyes were opened now, staring back at me, he put the guitar aside and pulled me onto his lap.
“Been way too long that you were gone” He whispered and placed small kisses along my throat and I pushed away.

“We need to talk, Ben.” I said and his head immediately snapped up, his eyes looking confused, searching in mine.
“Sure, about what?” He pulled me against him and I closed my eyes “I will be going with Ave to meet with Zack in France. He offered us a job, and we need to get our business moving, I postponed everything for a while now… I let Ave hanging, and she needs me now.”
Truth, a little stretched in the beginning, but all the truth.

“No” Ben shook his head “We can’t leave, love. I mean… The lads and I just started writing the album, I cannot come with you… That’s not working” Ben’s voice raised a little and I shook my head.

“I am not asking you to come with me, Ben. It’s a thing for me and Ave. We would have left anyway, starting our business in the US… It’s just a little earlier… Zack’s collection sold out, and we were part of it, he made the offer but we need to go now.” I explained but Ben stood up, setting me on my feet on the process, he paced before me, his hands running through his hair.

“You cannot leave, Maya. You cannot leave and be with them… Be with him! What about us? You can’t leave me just like that, Maya!” Ben nearly shouted and I knew this was what’s going to happen, if I would have left now, or in two weeks, not making a difference.
“You doing that because of Shadows, right? Did he coax you back? What is this shit about, be honest with me!” Ben demanded, his eyes burning with fire again and I closed mine.

“No, he didn’t coax me back, this is a thing between me and Ave and… our job.” I said and softened my tone “You knew I had to leave eventually… I was just putting it to the back of my mind, and so were you…” I put my hand on his cheek and he closed his eyes.

“Fuck, just a little more time… I could join you after our album is done” Ben said and I shook my head.
“No, that’s not the point.” I told him and Ben’s eyes narrowed down “You want to be with him, right? That’s what this is about, since the time you guys “talked” you behave differently. I feel it… I freaking see it. You are distant, your eyes are travelling away, as if your thoughts are somewhere else… Is that it?” Ben asked and his voice was harsh and I stepped back.

“I’m going to leave tonight, with or without your approval, Ben. I just wanted to let you know, as my boyfriend, but if you just want to pick another fight, this might not make sense at all.” I said the words that were making it more real and Ben looked at me as if I slapped him.

“Wh–What?!” He took another step back “You won’t even consider it? You just say you will leave no matter what?!” Ben asked and I nodded.

“The flight is booked, my bag is packed… Ave and I will leave, if you decide to tell me goodbye, you should be at our apartment around 5, if not… I know what that means” I told him and turned around to leave, Ben kept quiet and I didn’t turn around again, this seemed to be the end of us, just like that…

Notes

OHO!!
So is that the end of Maya and Ben?

And did Brian really close the chapter between him and Ave for good?!

What do u guys think?!
Let us know!