Don't Change The Way You Think Of Me

The Road Less Traveled.

Matt's POV

It was a strange evening to say the least. Brian was visibly upset when he got into the car. "What the fuck Damien?" He said turning his head to look at him.

"You didn't tell me to pick you up!"

"I thought I did. Did you have to be a fucking asshole, why didn't you just drop it!"

"Calm down Buddy, I don't think Damien tried to cause problems." Jimmy said.

"I know. I'm sorry, I really thought I told you  to pick me up." He said to Damien.

"You were pretty wound up and in a hurry."

Brian didn't speak except to say bye when each guy got out of the car.  Jimmy said "I'll call you tomorrow, okay buddy?"

"Okay" is all Brian said.

Once it was the two of us in the car, he finally spoke. "I fucked up."

"It sounds like it. I must be missing something, did she say you saved her?"

"I probably shouldn't talk about it, she didn't want anyone to know. I don't need to add anything else to the list of shit she hates me for. I need you to talk to her on your way to LA tomorrow."

"Talk to her about what?"

"Convince her to forgive me, give me another chance." Brian was putting me in an awkward position.

"I don't know if I can do that, I don't even know all that happened. BUT until she does forgive you, you will lay low, right?  You will only talk to her if we're all together and stick to just band business. You will be nice to her also, right?"

"Yes, I will keep my distance. You know that I am not lying about thinking that I told Damien to pick me up, don't you?" he pleaded. "If you can convince her of that, it will help."

"Yeah, I can tell that you thought you did. I'll talk to her, but I can't make any promises. You want to come in and have a beer?"

"Hell yes." He grabbed his jacket to take inside and must have felt something in the pocket, he pulled out a small gold box.. "Oh shit, I forgot about this."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Go ahead, take a look."

"Holy shit! It's one of Dimebag Darrell's picks. Did Paisley give this to you?"

He nodded, "She caught it at a Pantera concert. She was going to give it to me as a peace offering, but instead it ended up being a Thank You gift."

"That was cool, she really wanted to patch things up with you."

"I guess she did, now she hates me and thinks I was trying to just..."

"Trying to what?" I had a bad feeling, it was probably better that I didn't know.

"Never mind. Can I ask you another favor?" I nodded. "Will you give this back to her?"

"Are you sure?"

"I don't deserve it." He said sadly.

"I'll talk to her and see what I can do. It's going to be rough if she won't forgive you."

The next day-

Paisley's POV

I didn't sleep much that night, I couldn't keep my mind from racing with the roller coaster of the last two days. So much changed so quickly. I called the mechanic and the van would not be done until around 4:00 so I called the front desk and arranged a late checkout. I dreaded the ride with Matt because I knew he was going to talk about Brian. I called Matt and let him know when we were leaving.