What If

Unsure

Johnny and Lacey's home was warm and welcoming and Brian felt at ease as soon as he crossed the threshold. It wasn't the familiar decor they had in the real world but it was just harmonious and representative of their style as a couple.

Brian sat in Johnny's over sized lounger and a pregnant Lacey handed him a warm cup of coffee with a concerned look.

"Thanks Lace," he managed a sincere smile.

She patted him on the shoulder before leaving the room.

Brian looked around as Johnny came in with his own mug.

"It looks different since I moved the big recliners, right?" he asked. "It's throwing everyone off."

"It looks great," Brian replied, just happy to be with a familiar face, even if it was Johnny's.

Of all the people to live next door to, he thought as he stood and walked over to the bookcase where there were rows of frames.  He picked one up of all of the guys in high school. Just as he remembered them. He ran his finger over Jimmy's face.

"Those were the good old days, huh?" Johnny asked. 

"Yeah," Brian said before placing it back on the shelf. 

"Back when all the ladies were after us," Johnny joked as he ran his hand along his dark beard. "Now we're just old married men."

Brian scoffed before picking up a pick of a chubby tattoo free Matt with two teenage boys and a dark haired Val. "Who are these kids?"

"You hit your head this morning?" Johnny frowned. "Did you forget...River and Cash?"

"River and Cash?" Brian asked "But they're like 4 and 5."

"You mean 14 and 15?" Johnny trying to clarify. "I mean I know they act like they're 4 and 5 and you probably think even more so now that Cash and Kat like each other."

Kat? Kate had mentioned that name earlier. "Kat." Brian repeated.

"Kat...Katherine Haner...you're oldest daughter?" Johnny said. "Man you really did smack your head. Are you sure you don't need to see a doctor?"

"What? No of course not..I remember Kat," Brian's replied weakly "of course I remember Kat." He turned his attention back to the pictures.

"Bri, really... this is me your talking to... are you okay?" Johnny asked concern clear in his voice "Cause you took off this morning without a word to Kate and now you seem a little discombobulated..."

Brian picked up the photo of them from their Chain Reaction gig. "Why didn't we stay a band?"

"Aww hell...it just...it didn't work out..well with Matt and Val having kids and you and Kate..." Johnny shrugged. "We blew our chance but hey, let me show you this." He made his way to one of the cabinet drawers and pulled out an album, proudly handing it to Brian. It was a perfectly preserved copy of "Waking the Fallen."

"We never got to make City of Evil," Brian mumbled.

"City of Evil?" Johnny asked.

"It was our idea for our next album. Don't you remember?"

Johnny shook his head side to side. "Nah, but if we had, you would have sounded kick ass on guitar," he replied. "No lie."

"Yeah I'm still pretty bad ass," Brian said flashing his first genuine smile of the day. "That I know."

"So what gives?" Johnny asked.

Brian wanted to spill everything to his friend but settled on. "I'm kind of having a bad day."