Almost Easy

We had our first few consecutive days off—free from driving, free from playing. We were completely and undeniably free of all responsibilities. So, for most of our little group, that meant getting buck wild. We were set to play a venue of 13,500 which meant Avenged was set to reunite with us.
That said, Jimmy had whined and bitched until the boys had agreed to fly down early to spend the days off with their bored drummer. We all reminded him that he could go home at any time, but he reminded us that he’d just have to fly back.
Funny how he swindled his way onto our tour without us ever really noticing.
“Come with me,” Brian said, his head peaking around the curtain to my bunk.
He startled me—he laughed, I did not.
“Where?” I asked curiously, setting my notebook aside.
Chris and I had been working tirelessly on new material; determined to get it right before we showed it to anyone else. It was a slow process, slower than it had ever been before—but then, Chris and I had never written solely together. I’d always written with Ty. It was an adjustment, that was for sure.
“Come on Peterson,” he smirked. “Live a little.”
I squinted at him, “I can live a little and still ask where it is I’ll be…living…”
“You’re really fucking weird,” he laughed. “Come on.”
With a dramatic sigh, I climbed out of my bunk to find that Brian had already disappeared. He was standing by the door, waving at me like an idiot to follow. I stepped over the incapacitated corpse of someone who looked a lot like Jimmy and then a few steps forward to climb over a sprawled out Justin. They’d been up drinking well after the sun had set and risen again. Looking at their disheveled bodies made me a little thankful I still wasn’t able to drink.
Once Brian and I were in the humid heat of Louisiana, he grabbed me by the hand and took off in a sprint. My chest nearly seized from the activity; I didn’t run anywhere, ever.
“Brian,” I cough-laughed. “Why are we running?”
He stopped only once we’d made it to the gated exit of the parking lot our bus had taken up residence in.
“Ready?” he asked me excitedly.
I gave up, “Sure.”
He walked us to a little black car and wiggled his eyebrows at me as he unlocked the doors. I tilted my head.
“I may or may not have rented us a car,” he grinned from ear to ear.
I looked back at the bus and then to Brian, “Where are we going? The others—”
“Will be passed out until next week,” Brian cut me off. “Get in the fucking car, Peterson.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“Get in the car,” I reiterated, trying to look serious.
I sighed really dramatically this time as I climbed into the passenger seat. We sped off right away, the built-in GPS system giving Brian rather vague directions to our mystery destination.
“When did you do this?” I asked curiously, surveying the interior.
He looked at me quickly and then back at the road, “Does it matter?”
“No,” I grunted. “I was just curious…”
“You’ve been having such a rough go,” he started but stopped.
And didn’t continue. At all.
I looked from side to side, waiting for Brian to finish his thought.
“And?” I finally encouraged.
“And nothing.”
“Just…I’ve been having a rough go?” I smirked. “That’s it? That’s your thought of the day?”
He looked at me again, shaking his head with a laugh, “I wanted to cheer you up. So, I’m…going to cheer you up.”
“I am cheered up,” I shrugged.
He raised his eyebrows at me before turning his attention back to the road. If he wanted to do some cutesy gesture bullshit, who was I to object? It felt like eons since Brian and I’d had the chance to spend any real time together. There was always someone else around; it grew a little tiresome after a while. So, I shut my trap and let Brian take me away.
I was still confused as we pulled up to what appeared to be some sort of lake…maybe. There were boats around—It was some sort of water something. I was so confused.
“Where are we?” I asked, though I knew Brian wouldn’t tell me.
He winked at me before jumping out of the car and racing around to my side to let me out. He grabbed my hand and led me down. I didn’t argue; I let him pull me away.
He exchanged a few words with some man who looked pleased to make our acquaintance. I tried to look like I knew what I was doing there.
“Have a great time!” the man smiled to us as he walked away from us.
“What are we doing?” I asked seriously. “What kind of great time are we having?”
“Peterson,” Brian warned.
I kicked at the ground, grumbling, “Don’t call me that…”
As it turns out, Brian had arranged for a little kayak venture through a lake.
Maybe the most romantic thing I’d ever experienced.
As we paddled away from the launch in respective yellow kayaks, Brian looked so thrilled with himself that I couldn’t help but giggle a little.
“Normally they’re guided tours,” he told me, his paddles splashing quietly against the surface. “But I thought it would be more fun if it was just us. Or we’ll die out here. It’s really up in the air.”
“That’s great,” I groaned sarcastically. “I’ve always wanted to die at sea—wait…at…lake?”
“Can you get washed away to lake?” Brian encouraged me.
I smirked, “Why is to sea reasonable in the English language but washed away to lake sounds ridiculous?”
“Because the English language is ridiculous, Blair,” Brian grinned.
We paddled through giant trees—they were like nothing I’d ever seen before. Their beauty was shadowed only by their age. There were birds of all sorts scattered everywhere—I felt like I was in a fucking Disney movie.
The air was still and the water was quiet, save for tiny splashes as we paddled ourselves along. I only wish I’d brought a camera.
“Picture time,” Brian announced, as if reading my mind.
I eyed him suspiciously, “Were you just in my brain?”
“Aren’t I always?” he grinned smugly.
I nodded, “Touché.”
I positioned my little boat as close to Brian as I could get without knocking us both into the water. He turned it around and snapped the most perfect picture that I’ve ever seen. Mostly because he’s perfect. You know.
“So?” he asked as the sun began to set, painting the sky with beautiful hues of pinks and reds.
“What?”
“Are you cheered up?”
I smiled widely, “Are you kidding me?”
“Good?” he asked cheekily, a devious look in his eye.
“This is easily the best day of my life,” I said seriously. “You are just—I fucking love you, you know that?”
He laughed, “Good. That’s all I wanted.”
“And?” I moaned, waving my hand in circles.
He rolled his eyes, “And I love you too.”
I nodded once and then we paddled onward, soaking up the last of the dying sunlight. I could see the shore approaching us and I couldn’t help my disappointment. This had been the most relaxed I’d felt in…a long fucking time. The weight of the world had rolled right off my shoulders for a few hours but now it was time to get back into reality.
We said goodbye to our magical adventure and reluctantly climbed back to the car. Before getting in, we each instinctively lit a cigarette.
“Thank you,” I smiled warmly as I took in a lung full of sweet nicotine. “Today was incredible. Exactly what I needed.”
He neared his lips to mine, that stupid smug grin stapled to his face, “Happy to be of service.”
Because I wasn’t feeling like playing into his game, I pushed my lips against his quickly, stealing some of the smoke from his lungs.
“I was thinking,” Brian said absently as he pulled away from me and pulled more smoke into his chest. “We’ll be back in California soon.”
“In like a month,” I argued lightly.
“Soon,” Brian reiterated with a nod.
I rolled my eyes at him playfully, “Go on.”
“Well,” he hesitated. “Avenged will be heading out for our tour—”
“What?” I interrupted immediately. “When?”
“Two days after we’re scheduled to get home…” Brian said without looking at me.
I took a deep breath. It wasn’t that I didn’t understand what our life was meant to be like or that I couldn’t handle the thought of Brian being gone…I just hadn’t known about a tour. I hadn’t known I’d be Brian-less for months and months. So much for the perfect day.
“That’s lovely,” I groaned sadly.
His eyes met mine, “I know…I just talked to Larry this morning and it’s confirmed.”
“How long?”
“Eight months…” Brian said, wincing all the while.
My jaw dropped. He nodded solemnly.
“There are breaks,” he said quickly to keep me from losing my mind. “I can fly home every month or so…I have a month off at some point. I know it’s terrible timing and I don’t want you to feel like I’m abandoning you…You can fly out to some dates…I’ll come home on my days off…I don’t know the exact details off the top of my head but we can look through them together—”
“Brian,” I half-laughed, “Stop. It’s okay.”
He looked at me weirdly.
“You’re right, it is terrible timing,” I tried to smile. “But that’s my problem; not yours. This is your life—this is our life. We knew this was going to be a thing.”
“But still…”
“I know,” I frowned with my whole body. “It really sucks.”
“It’s got me thinking,” he said, circling around to the beginning of our heart-wrenching conversation.
I was still reeling over the idea of not seeing his perfect face for 8-fucking-months. Who needs to tour that long!?
He put himself closer to me again, pulling my attention back from the loneliness I could already feel creeping in.
“What do you think about living together?” he said so nervously that I nearly died of adoration.
“Living together?” I repeated.
He half-smiled, taking a very long puff of his cigarette, “Yeah. You know, sharing a home…living under one roof…buying food that we’ll both eat.”
“I get it,” I laughed.
“What do you think?”
“I don’t know,” I said honestly.
It had been, what? Five-ish months since we’d started dating? It had been great—I couldn’t have asked for a better partner. He was patient and understanding and endlessly supportive of me. But what if it was too soon? What if this rocked the boat to a place we couldn’t come back from? Then I’d be boyfriend-less and homeless.
“Isn’t it a little soon?” I finally managed.
He grinned deviously, “Like we’ve ever been known to take things slowly.”
“Who’s house?” I asked, my mind racing a mile a minute. “Mine? Yours?”
“Considering you rent your apartment and I own my house—” Brian started.
I cut him off excitedly, “And you have a pool!”
“Right,” he chuckled.
I thought about this for a minute but didn’t need much longer than that. He’d be gone for most of the next year anyway, so really; would it be living together?
“I do like your pool,” I mused.
“So yes then?” he laughed loudly. “You’re fucking killing me, Peterson.”
“Oh my—Stop fucking—”
“I will literally never stop,” he growled as his face neared mine.
“We can live together,” I paused for dramatic effect, “I guess.”
“When I get home from touring, we’ll pick out a new place.”
“Yeah, in a billion years,” I groaned playfully.
He lingered an inch away from my lips, “You’ll wait for me, won’t you?”
“Forever,” I grinned before pushing my lips to his.
I couldn’t wait to go home.

Notes

Since not a single person voted 'yay' to the Brian/Blair breakup, I've gone ahead and moved them forward. ;)

xx