What If

Some Guy

Brian stood outside the condo door. He could hear Panic! At the Disco's "LA Devotee" playing loudly from inside.

He rang the doorbell and the volume of the music got lower.

A dark haired girl who looked to be in her late 20's opened the door. Her eyes widened at the sight of him. "Holy shit."

He didn't quite know what to do with that so he introduced himself. "I'm Brian...I'm an old...friend of Kate's...I just called..."

"You're here," she marveled "You're really fucking here. Jessica...he's here." She turned to call behind her.

"Who's here?" a small blond came up to the door and took one look at him. "Oh fuck...oh my God...you're really...Synyster Gates...like the REAL Synyster Gates...I thought you were kidding on the phone...fuck I thought Kate was lying."

"Lying about what?" he asked unsure of what the hell was going on.

The blond shook her head. "I'm Jessica and this is Katherine," she said pointing to the girl who answered the door.

"It's nice to meet you," he replied. "Is Kate here?"

"Yeah," Jessica said "she's here. Come on in. She just finishing up with the upstairs bedroom."

He followed the excited girls into the condo that looked like part of it was being packed up. "Kate?" he asked again as they stopped in the living room and exchanged smiles.

"KATE!" Katherine yelled. "Some guy is here."

"What?" Kate's voice called as she walked down the stairs in jeans and white v neck tshirt. "Who is here?"

He felt his pulse jump at the sight of her. Her hair was even shorter than when he last saw her but it was cute on her. Her big blue eyes were clear and her smile was confused but genuine. She had a tattoo on her shoulder that he couldn't seem to read and one on her inner wrist.

"Kate," he said relieved to be in her presence again.

"Oh my GOD, Brian," she said rushing down the stairs and hugging him. "It's been so long. You look...."

She appeared to be searching for a kind word but he knew how shitty he looked.

"You look great," he interjected.

"It's good to see you," she said sincerely "But what are you doing here?"

"Didn't you call me?" he asked.

"I did?" she asked confused and then realization dawned on her and she turned on the other two girls. "I did, huh?"

Both girls looked guilty as sin and Kate shook her head. "I'm sorry Bri...I told these two that I used to date you and they didn't believe me, I guess. Or maybe they did and they wanted you to show up here to prove it."

"No we wanted to you to..."Jessica began but Kate's expression stopped her.

"Can you two excuse us please?" Kate said quickly.

"Sure," Katherine said pulling Jessica out of the room. "We'll just be in the other room."

Kate waited for them to leave before she spoke again. "I'm sorry about that....I just...I shouldn't have told them...."she waved her hand "I'm sorry...they should have never invaded your privacy."

"It's fine," he said following her into the small dining area where he knocked into a stack of boxes.

"Actually I'm glad your here, I have this box of stuff that you may want...just some old albums and a couple of pictures of you and Jimmy." She stopped and looked at him "I was real sorry to hear about Jimmy. I wanted to call you but I didn't know how Michelle...well you know...and I'm sorry...."

"It's fine," he said as tears pricked the corners of his eyes. He had literally gone from a dimension where Jimmy was alive to one where he had to get used to him being gone.

She shook her head as if clearing the thought. "How is she anyway?"

"Uh she's fine...I think. We don't talk much anymore," he shrugged.

She stopped "So you two aren't together anymore?"

He shook his head vigorously "No, not for a long time."

"I'm sorry," she said again.

"Don't be...ancient history," he explained using that phrase for the second time in two days but with Michelle it was the truth.

She nodded before turning to look at the boxes stacked.

"So what's going on here?" he asked motioning to the mess.

"I'm moving to Washington...the state...not DC" she said happily "I swear I had that box here...it says Brian."

"Washington?" he asked "You're moving?"

"Yeah...to Seattle..can you believe it? I'm going to work in the AG's office."

"Seattle, Washington," he repeated. "The one with the Orcas in the sound."

"That's the one," she smiled as she continued to peruse the boxes.

"So you don't work for the public defender's office?"

"Nooo," she said with a horrified look on her face. "Not with what I get paid."

"You're not...married, are you?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No...I never got married." She gave a wry smile and turned back to the boxes.

"Can we take a minute? Maybe get a cup of coffee? Or something?"

"I want a cup of coffee!" one of the girl's voices called from the other room.

"Found it!" Kate said pulling a box from the stack. She carried it over to him and offered it. She was careful not to make any contact with his skin this time. "I just thought it was time for me to give this stuff back."

He stood there looking at the box and then back at her. "Do you ever think about us, Katie? About what might have happened?"

She laughed but it was a sad one. "Are you serious?"

He nodded and for a second, he could see a million unspoken words in her expression.  He wanted her to say them. He wanted this.

She took a deep breath. "I'll tell you what, Brian. Whenever you guys come to Seattle, come find me after your show. I'll be there every time and we'll go for that cup of coffee."

She looked down before he could read anymore in her eyes. When she looked back up, she was a different person. She was a beautiful confident woman that had gotten over him years ago and wasn't interested in going back to being that girl he left in the parking lot.

He nodded. "Sure, Katie...you got it. Every time we play Seattle...there'll be tickets waiting for you at the box office. At every show....and then we'll have that cup of coffee."

He took his box and walked quietly to the front door, passing the two excited roommates as he went.

"It was so nice to meet you!" they called after him.

He took a deep breath and turned off his feelings. He became Synyster Gates and flashed the smile all the girls loved. "The pleasure was all mine, ladies."