Life On The Road

"Come on in boys, I bet you're all exhausted. Get yourself sat down and relax, dinner will be ready soon."

The band had arrived at the home of Brian's parents for their traditional Welcome Home Dinner. They made their way inside first, followed by the roadies, who Brian's father had insisted they come inside too. As they all passed the kitchen, they got a glimpse of the huge dining table they would be seated at within the hour, and the delicious scent of the food they would be enjoying.

In the living room, the guys took up all the couches. Matt, Brian and Jason were sat on one couch together, smiles on their faces. On another smaller couch were Jimmy and Johnny, the drummer's hand resting on the bassist's leg, the latter resting against his love. On the third couch sat Zacky and Dan. Zacky's face was blank as he played on his phone and he occasionally peeked over at Matt and Brian. He couldn't believe his eyes. They were smiling at one another, joking around, giving each other a playful nudge now and again. It wasn't just Zacky that had noticed; Jimmy had noticed their change in behaviour, and the drummer was over the moon. His best friends weren't screaming at each other. To him, it was like a miracle had taken place.

Soon arose the general conversation between them all. Jason had asked what the group would do now with their extra time off.

"Well, firstly we need to fix the relations within the band." Jimmy replied first. "I mean, look at us, guys. We've had a lot of fights, we've had a lot of arguments and the band is torn. That needs urgent attention."

Everyone nodded their heads. "Agreed." They all murmured.

"Yeah, we've had enough broken bones lately." Syn added, pointing to Matt's jaw and Zacky's ribs and hand.

"It was a unnecessary, that fight..." Jason said, looking over at the vocalist beside him. "Shads, I may be your best friend, but part of that is callin' you out when necessary. You've got problems with your anger, and it shows. I've been observing your body language lately and I've noticed a lot of things pointing to a lot of built up anger and stress. You explode over the littlest of things, for example, accidentally tripping up or losing at a game. Also, your recovery for your jaw was and is hindering slightly. That comes from long term anger, buddy... And Zacky, you're no better. You've let jealousy, lust and desire for Brian cloud your head and turn you into something you're not. You get angry too, not as much as Matt, but you get angry. Your utter need for him has sent you mad, pal..."

The two bandmates lowered their heads. Matt swallowed hard and nodded, accepting the truth. Zacky just stared at the floor.

"I just... I became desperate for him... I had no idea what it was doin' to me." The younger guitarist admitted softly.

"And I let everything build up rather than gettin' help or my problem... I got defensive over Bri and yet enraged because of what happened."

Jason nodded, giving Matt a firm pat on the shoulder. "I'm glad you're both accepting where you're goin' wrong here."

The roadie stood up and positioned himself in the centre of the large living room. All eyes were aimed at him. He examined the room and all it's guests that surrounded him for a moment, and then pranced off into the hallway with no explanation. Everyone exchanged confused looks with one another.

"Okay it's official - Jason's crazy." Johnny announced.

"Dude, he's my best friend. Of course he's nuts!" Snorted Matt from the other side of the room. Brian couldn't help but giggle.

"You're nuts!"

"You came from nuts! That makes you nuts!"

Brian paused. "Well, so did you, dipshit!" Then his eyes widened. "Wait! Matt, you can't say that here! This is my parents' house!"

The other bandmates roared with laughter while Brian's face flushed to a rose red colour. He lightly slapped the vocalist's shoulder and gave him a shove, sending him rolling onto his side while he wheezed between howls.

"You motherfucker!" Brian exclaimed, lightly punching at Matt's arm. "You can't say that here!"

Then Brian's father reappeared, his head poking around the door to the living room. He looked over at his son with eyebrows raised and an otherwise straight face. "Sorry, you called?"

It took his son a moment, but he soon realised what he was referring to, and he buried his head into his hands.

"Oh my god, Dad! That was terrible!" The howls and cackles of laughter only grew. Papa Gates had a wild grin on his face, and even Brian's step-mum was laughing from the kitchen. The guitarist rose his head up and faced his vocalist, giving him a look and shaking his head. "You sir, are an evil bastard!" He joked.

"Oh come on, that was funny!" Matt whined in response. His arms suddenly slipped around Brian's torso and he was playfully pulled into Matt's lap. The guitarist squirmed in surprise and let out a squeal, but he soon relaxed in his arms. "But it's okay, I've got loads more!"

"No! Nope! No you don't!" Brian grinned, wriggling out of Matt's grip and fetching a roll of duct tape from the other side of the room. Then he returned, ripped a strip of tape off and slapped it right on Matt's mouth with a giggle, shutting him up. Matt rolled his eyes playfully and leaned back against the couch. "Now gimme your hands, Sandy. You don't get to talk until dinner!"

"Jesus, the things he does for you, huh Brian?" Dan laughed, watching as Matt willingly allowed Brian to tape his hands together so he couldn't remove the tape on his mouth.

"We did shit like this all the time! Right Shads?" The vocalist gave a nod in reply. Brian beamed. He looked over across the room and spotted drummer The Rev bouncing up and down in his seat. "What's up with you, Rev? Got ants in your pan- See, I'm turnin' into him now!" He said, pointing to Matt behind him. Everyone laughed.

"Gates, come outside for a cigarette with me, will ya?" Jimmy then asked. Accepting his offer, Brian fished out a pack of Marlboros, his lighter and the pair disappeared outside. They sat down on the doorstep, lit the sticks and each took a puff. Then the guitarist turned on him.

"So, why you hoppin' about like you've got ants in your pants, huh?" He asked with a chuckle.

"Because! Please tell me you and Shads are gettin' back together?"

"We're tryin'. He said if tonight goes without a hitch, he'll take me back."

The drummer began to bounce again, excitement flowing through his body like electricity. "Dude! I so hope nothin' happens! I want you two back like old times!"

"We'll have to see, buddy boy." Brian smiled. They sat there until they finished off their smokes before heaving their asses from the step and re-entering the house. They walked into the living room to find Jason removing the tape from Matt. His hands had been freed, and Jason was slowly tugging away at the strip covering his mouth. Brian frowned.

"Dinner's almost ready, Gates. Besides, we still need to talk a bit more. I thought we could do that before dinner." Jason explained himself. "So sit down, we're gonna talk everything out like we agreed. No jokes, no violence, alright? We need to be serious about this."

Brian and Jimmy nodded. They sat down in their original seats. Jason was sat in the centre of the room on a small chair, observing everyone around him. Zacky slumped in his seat, Johnny leaning against Jimmy, Brian on Matt's lap. Dan got up and stood beside Jason. Things could possibly get nasty; it was his job to stop that.

"Let's start off, right from the beginning." Jason suggested. "1999. Brian and Matt got together, correct?"

"Bingo. Halfway through the school year. Started in a music class." Matt confirmed. "I remember I threatened him several times that day." Brian gave a slight nod.

"Bit of a violent start but okay. Fair enough. Anyway, we'll skip the stuff after that, we'll skip to two years later. That's important. Tell me what happened."

Matt glanced down in guilt. "I got carried away."

"You cheated."

"I had too many drinks in that bar and I made a mistake. I let you down and I knew it." The vocalist said.

"It took four years to fix it, right?" Jason asked.

Brian nodded. "I didn't trust him."

Zacky shifted uncomfortably and then cleared his throat. "And then you and I hooked up for a night. "

"Yeah, we did. I needed the company, but I couldn't trust him, like I said." Brian added.

"You guys seem to have trust issues." Jason noted. "Anyway, following that night, Matt begged for you to come back and you did because you cared about him, right? Right. You fixed your issues and moved on. Skip to now, four years later. Brian makes up to Zacky because he felt bad for leading him on previously. Cue Brian cheating and all the fighting. Now we're here."

Suddenly, Johnny's phone buzzed, disrupting the meeting.The bassist excused himself politely and left the room. A few moments later, he dashed back into the living room in a blind panic. "Jimmy! Jason! Zacky! Matt! I need you now!"

The three gave each other puzzled looks before swiftly getting to their feet and following Johnny out the room. Brian and Dan eyed each other with raised brows. "I wonder what that's about.." The guitarist murmured.

"Well, it must be serious.. Johnny looked like he'd just seen a ghost." Dan said. "I wonder why he didn't call us though."

"Hmm... You reckon it's somethin' to do with me?"

"Sounds most likely."

They fell silent. They could make out a faint murmur of voices overlapping one another. There was a sudden crash, a sudden thud and a roar of anger. A roaring voice declaring, "I'm done!" followed by the front door opening, then being slammed shut. Jimmy rushed into the living room.

"Brian!"

"What? What's going on?" The guitarist questioned.

"I think you better ask Johnny." The drummer advised.

"Where's Matt?"

"Gone." Jimmy answered. "Don't know where, but go see Johnny. Now."

Without a moment of hesitation, Syn fled into the hallway to meet Johnny. Johnny handed his phone to his bandmate. "I got sent this by one of the crew. I had to show the others. Matt's gone."

Wide eyes stared down at the image. "Why didn't you call me?! I-!"

"I had to ask Jason first before I showed them all, he told me not to. Matt turned hostile and attacked him upstairs before he stormed off... The others are upstairs taking care of him."

"Oh shit..." Syn gasped. At that moment, Papa Gates hurried over. Johnny quickly explained the situation, and the elder man sighed.

"Son, who is that woman there, at the bar? The one you're kissing on the cheek?"

Brian was silent, racking his brain to remember the night. He couldn't recall it well, for he had surely consumed too much alcohol.

But then...



"Shit! That was lil' sis! I need to find Matt. He needs to know!"

Jimmy then ran to join them. "Guys, bad news. Matt's booking himself a flight to leave the country!"

"When does it leave?!"


"Tonight."
Now it was a race against time. to tell Matt the truth about the woman at the bar.

Notes

Hey guys! Hope you liked this chapter.
So, off Matt goes! Will Brian be able to catch up to him and convince him to stay? Let me know your thoughts!

The next chapter should be the last one, and I plan to make it a good one (Hopefully, lol). I really hope you'll like it! I won't be writing a sequel to this story however, so that will be the end. From there, I plan to focus on my "Until The End" re-write and my other story, "Stranded", so I highly recommend you check them out. I'm really looking forward to writing more chapters to them!

Anyway, your feedback is really appreciated! Thank you for reading and for your support!