Blush

Matt POV

"So, when're you guys going on tour?" Amber asked around a carrot, flashing orange when she opened her mouth. "Not like I don't absolutely adore having you guys around, but,"
Johnny groaned. "Oh, we do have the tour soon. I completely forgot." He slapped one hand against his forehead. Zack and Jimmy laughed at him and Brian rubbed his back.
"Couple months, right guys? I mean, it's June, we leave September -- September ninth?" I wondered. I wasn't the best at keeping track of all that stuff.
"Yes, you leave the ninth, and you get back the following July." Val informed efficiently, in the voice she reserved for when she picked up our business slack. Val was our manager when Larry wasn't around.
Amber lazily dipped another carrot into her dish of ranch dressing. "When are you guys coming home? I'll assume you be here for Christmas, but what else?" I didn't bother to answer, just lifted my eyebrows at Val. She sighed and rolled her eyes, but before she could inform me of something I probably should've known, Brian piped up.
"Christmas gets a week and a half home, and we're playing shows nearby for July fourth, so we get a few days off then. Other than that, we don't have enough down time to come home." Amber nodded and dabbed at a ranch stain on her black Sublime shirt.
"You and Val can try cleaning for the first time in your lives, maybe you'll have made a dent by the time we get home." Zack snorted, gesturing to the messy living room.
Val laughed and flipped him off. I rubbed her shoulder. "To be fair, most of this shit is mine."
I looked at the teetering and partially collapsed stack of Playstation and X-Box games, the piles of controllers and twisted cords. Jimmy toed a mixture of my music and gaming magazines and Val's fashion and celebrity news ones. At some point, it'd been on the coffee table, but they'd been shoved to the floor and the table was now occupied by half crumpled napkins, stained coasters, and rumpled papers with scribbled lyrics and chords scrawled on them in Jimmy's jagged scrawl.
Amber had her eyes closed, legs stretched out, hands clasped on her stomach. She looked asleep, but the steady rhythm she was tapping out with a finger against her ribs gave her away. Her eyes flew open and she yawned. "Going home. You're out of carrots. See you losers later." She lifted her sock covered feet out of Brian's lap, but he grabbed them and gave her a heavy look.
"I'll walk you out."
Amber narrowed her eyes almost imperceptibly, but she let him follow her out of the house.
It was silent for a minute, then "how much do you want to bet that if we look out the window, they're making out?" Zack wagered. I scoffed.
"Why does everyone think they're into each other? You're so on. Fifteen bucks if you're right." Smug, I discreetly lifted a blind and glanced out. Brian had an arm braced on either side of Amber, crowding her against the railing, heads bowed together. Silently, I dropped the blind and reached for my wallet, taking a crumpled ten and five out and tossing them at Zack. "I need a drink." I complained, and walked into the kitchen. I could hear the slap of multiple highfives and Zack and Val crowing behind me.

Amber POV

"Brian?" I panted, pulling away from him. He moved his mouth to my jaw, neck, shoulder, humming in response into my collarbone. "What are you doing? Not complaining, just wondering." Almost reluctantly, he moved back, but didnt move his arms.
"Leaving for tour soon. Trying to get as much of this as I can." Brian's voice was low, but in control. His brown eyes zeroed in on mine, flitting minusculely between them. I cleared my throat slightly, feeling my face start to flush and trying to ignore his smirk when he saw it, too.
"Yeah, but, Bri, what is this? Like, us?" I stumbled over the words, trying to eject them as fast as possible before I had a chance to talk myself out of saying them.
His eyes froze, eyebrows furrowing slightly. Brian leaned back slightly and his arms twitched, like he wasn't sure if he should leave them beside me. "I --" He started, "I don't know. But, I like it, and I'd be grateful if we could not fuck it up or make it awkward with labels and shit right now. That okay with you?" His eyes looked pleading, but not desperate. I sighed.
"Okay. Can I go home now?"
Brian laughed. "Can I come with you?"
"No, because I think the people inside might have questions." I said, peering around his chest to look at the slightly raised blind.
"You serious?" He grumbled, exhaling and turning around to glare at the window. "Alright, you go home, I'll deal with them. What do you want me to tell them?"
I shrugged as much as I could in my limited space. "Your call." I ducked my head under his arm and sauntered to my car.

Brian POV

"What the fuck was that?" Matt whined as soon as I stepped inside. I groaned. Zack and Val looked gleeful, and he waved around two crumpled bills. Of course they'd been betting.
"I do not know what you are talking about." I drawled, plopping myself down next to Jimmy.
"Haner, I lost fifteen fuckin' bucks on whatever that was outside, so I feel like I deserve to know."
I snorted. "Oh, I know. Lead singer of a successful band, fifteen bucks'll send you straight to the brink of bankruptcy. It wasn't a big deal, Matt. Can we drop it?"
Matt looked like he was going to say something, but Val shushed him. "Yes, we'll drop it." She said emphatically, glaring at Matt. He groaned and rolled his eyes, looking at the TV. I looked up to see what was playing, and when I saw the nature documentary, I wasn't surprised to see that the remote was in Jimmy's lap.
"That lizard is so fucking cool." Johnny said reverently. "I wish I could lick my eyeball like that, man." That set off a twenty minute competition to see who could lick what body part, and I won by a landslide. My neck hurt from craning it and I really wanted to shower.
"How did you fucking lick your elbow, dude?" Zack inquired, incredulous. I laughed and shrugged, focusing back on the TV.
"I'm gonna head out, alright? You guys try not to get plastered." I said, standing up and yawning. The guys bid me farewell, and Val gave me a knowing look as I walked past.
"You're gonna have to explain it sometime." Matt said, not looking away from the TV.
"Right."

Notes

Wow, I'm sorry this took so long. I know unused to update every day, but school started back up, and AP World History is kicking my ass. I'm trying to get back in the swing of things, though. Bear with me.