Past, Present, Future

“Joanna!” she heard a female voice call.

“Hey!” Jo replied, her voice strained. She kept her eyes on the girl, avoiding the boys that were nearby, her stomach in knots as she got closer and closer.

“It’s me, Val! Do you remember everyone? I know you and Brian know each other, right?” the blonde said, trying to be friendly.

Jo nodded and looked over at the group of guys, all of whom were waving at her, except for Brian. He looked somewhat dumbfounded staring at her, clearly surprised to see her. His eyes moved from her own down to her lips, then her neck, her chest…

Heat moved to Jo’s cheeks as he checked her out and she bit her lip, slightly turned on by the way his eyes darting along her body. She swallowed the frog in her throat, waving back to the others. Her eyes stayed on Brian, taking him in as well, noticing the differences from when she saw him last. No longer blonde, he had dark, spiky hair and a small patch of facial hair on his chin that she had never seen before. In his white v-neck she could see all of his new tattoos, the monsters lining his muscular arms staring back at her. He was the same yet different. His eyes were still kind and lips still full, but he exuded a different vibe; he was truly a rockstar now.

“Hey,” she said softly, looking into his eyes. She felt breathless, unable to say anything else.

“Hi,” he said just as soft, clearly feeling the same way.

“It’s good to see you again!” Matt said to Jo. “You know Zack. This is Johnny; you probably don’t know him. And you met Jimmy. Who’s this?”

“I’m Dee!” the pink-haired girl said, going around to the group and introducing herself. Joanna silently praised God that her friend was a social butterfly and could get along with anyone. “This is Riley and Izzy.”

“What brings you to town?” Zack asked.

“Well, the local paper wanted to do an interview since Jo is from here,” Izzy said, pointing to the singer. “But we live near LA, not too far from here.”

Jo hung back towards the outside of the group as they chatted, wishing she was more drunk and willing to have small talk with these people that she didn’t want to see. Brian was still staring at her, sipping at his beer and trying to look inconspicuous. Eventually he quit the act and came over to her, standing a bit closer than she would’ve liked; she could smell the scent of cologne and cigarettes on his clothes.

“It’s been awhile,” he said awkwardly.

“It sure has,” Joanna replied, unable to keep the malice out of her voice.

“How have you been?”

“Really, really, really good,” she said, not even trying to hide her annoyance. “I know you’ve done well yourself.”

Brian sighed. “I guess you could say that. I saw your interview the other day.”

“Which one?”

“The one where you talked about me,” he said with a smirk.

Joanna rolled her eyes. “Blame Dee for that. She thinks it’s so cool that you taught me how to play guitar. She’s a big fan of Avenged.”

“And you’re not?” he teased.

Joanna shrugged and grinned at him. “They’re alright. The lead guitarist sucks.”

Brian laughed then, rolling his eyes at her. “I see you haven’t changed.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” she replied, the joking tone leaving her voice.

“Well, I’d like to,” he said softly, taking a step closer to her.

“I doubt that,” she answered, stepping back.

“Look, Jo-”

“Don’t go there,” she interrupted. “It’s been years, Brian. It’s over and I don’t want to talk about it.”

Before he could answer, he was interrupted by Val, who dragged the two of them back to the group, announcing that they needed to listen to a huge idea that her boyfriend had to share. Jo was grateful for the escape, moving back into the group and as far away from Brian as possible.

“So I talked to Larry last night,” Matt started. “Our manager. We are getting ready to go on tour for our last album.”

“Oh, it’s so great!” Riley interrupted. “The best one yet.”

“Thanks! We are really excited to start touring. And I thought that it would be cool for us to have an opening act from the same area as us, at least for the California shows and solo shows.”

“Oh? Who were you thinking?” Izzy asked.

“Well, JoiRide.”

“What!? Yes! That would be so fucking awesome,” Dee answered immediately. “I’m definitely in.”

“We should probably discuss this as a band and with our manager Simon first,” Izzy piped in, always trying to be the voice of reason.

“Larry actually called Simon already and he said he thought it was a great idea. They were going to work out the logistics first before telling you, but since we ran into each other here, I figured, why wait?”

Jo felt her stomach knot and sweat trickle down her back. Go on tour with Avenged Sevenfold? It was a great opportunity and she knew their fans would love it, but could she actually manage it? She looked around at her friends, all of which were ecstatic at the idea- even Izzy who was hard to make excited about anything. The guys of Avenged all seemed to be in agreement, though Brian seemed awfully quiet in the back of the group, looking as though he was more interested in his beer bottle than this conversation. He wasn’t arguing, though.

“Well, shit! Looks like we really do have something to celebrate now, right sisters?” Dee said, raising her class towards the girls of JoiRide. “Let’s get fucked up!”

-----

Jo’s head was spinning. A mix of too much whiskey, bad memories, and loud noises were messing with her brain, and she just couldn’t take it anymore. She had to get out of that fucking bar.

She was tired of pretending to have fun anyways, was tired of pretending that she was excited to spend the next several weeks with the only man that ever broke her heart. As soon as the two groups decided to celebrate their union, Jo took it upon herself to get trashed, hoping to drown her misery and act happy, since getting drunk usually made her happier than usual. Unfortunately tonight it wasn’t working.

Dee and Jimmy hit it off right away and were attached to the hip for the rest of the night, drumming on their table and acting like their typically goofy selves. Riley was slowly becoming more ditzy as she drank more beer and Izzy was trying to stay sober enough to keep track of the other girl, but was failing miserably; she was more interesting in talking to Zack about playing guitar. Matt, Val, Johnny, and Brian made their own little group, drinking and talking. That left Jo alone to watch everyone else have fun, and being her socially awkward self, she didn’t really know how to fix that problem. So, she drank in the background, slowly but surely becoming totally hammered.

The fresh air hit Jo like a freight train, but she welcomed it, raising her hands into the air in praise. And then the scent of cigarettes hit her nostrils and she dropped her arms, instantly saddened by the stale air.

“You leaving?” she heard a voice behind her, making her whip around to see who was speaking. She moved a little too quickly, though, and almost fell to the ground. Luckily, there were two arms there to catch her. Two big, muscular arms with pictures of monsters on them.

“No,” she answered, pushing off of him. She groaned, “I can’t get away from you.”

“I didn’t realize you were trying to escape me,” he said sourly, leaning back against the wall with his cigarette back in his mouth.

“Brian, Brian, Brian,” she slurred. “I hated you for so long, you know.”

He frowned but didn’t reply, unsure of what to say to that. So Jo took it upon herself to continue her word vomit, “I loved you and then I hated you. And then I didn’t really care anymore. And now I’m like, what the fuck?”

He bit his lip, trying not to laugh at her drunken words as he shook his head. “Well, if it’s any consolation, I never hated you.”

“It’s not. It’s really not,” Jo replied, putting her hands on her hips. “I really shouldn’t be talking to you right now. I am intoxicated.”

“I noticed,” Brian teased, putting out his cigarette.

“I can’t deal with you right now,” Jo said, moving back towards the bar. “I need more whiskey for that.”

And just like that she was gone, back inside, leaving Brian behind with a half empty pack of cigarettes and a brain full of thoughts and memories. How on earth did they just now run back into each other after all of these years? Why now? And why the fuck did Matt plan all of this shit with their tour without talking to the rest of the band first? He wanted to be pissed off about it, but deep down he knew it was a great idea, because those girls were fucking talented. But it also meant that he’d have to spend a lot of time with the first girl whose heart he broke, the first girl he ever loved. He just didn’t know what he could do that would ever make up for what he did…

Notes

Thanks again for the subscriptions and comments! I have the next chapter almost finished- it's a flashback to their high school days :)

xoxo JJ