True to You

Fearless Lives

1999

There were no if's but's of maybe's about this situation. It was shit. It was more shit than normal shit. It was a mountainous pile of elephant shit. And Jimmy felt as though he was standing in a deep pit that had been filled with it. It was going to take more than a ladder and shovel to get him out of it, he was going to need an excavator.

It was just over a week since Elliot had left and the only music he felt like playing or listening to was angry music. His parents and sisters had already begged him to use his headphones and he had to agree it was probably for the best. They already had to listen to him bashing away at his drums in a fury, when he was glaring at the walls they didn't need to listen to the soundtrack accompanying his misery.

Brian had kindly refrained from gloating at his black mood but he could tell it was a struggle. He had no doubt that Brian wanted to embark on a rant on how falling in love was always a bad idea but the one time he'd started on one Matt and Val were there and Val had given Brian's balls an ominous glare so he'd shut it down.

It was a small consolation that everyone seemed to feel like Elliot's absence was a loss to their friend group, even Brian. Jimmy had lost the love of his life but the others had lost a good friend. What really sucked was that there wasn't even an ocean between them yet, she was still in the same time zone. Just miles and miles further up the same coast that he sat on glaring at the water. Jimmy could feel the scowl on his face and it made him want to junk punch himself. He was not this guy. The guy who sulked and moodily chain-smoked his way to the cancer clinic. He was a man of action. The guy who made his move and flicked devil-may-care cigarette butts in his wake as he strode toward his destiny.

So Elliot was going to England. So she'd left them all behind in Huntington Beach. Well she wasn't in England yet and Seattle was only eighteen or nineteen odd hours driving away. Way less if he could spring for a flight. He may have been a man of action but he wasn't necessarily sure he wanted to burden himself with a co-pilot for his long distance drive to chase down a girl. Brian was the natural choice but he didn't think he could cope with being confined in a car with Brian's smirks and teasing for that amount of time. Matt was the next obvious choice but Matt would want to bring Val and Val would want to bring Michelle. Before he knew it Brian would have found out, as would Zacky and bass Matt, the end result would be the whole circus rolling into Seattle in search of Elliot.

Nope.

This was his big romantic gesture so he was going solo. Which meant driving was his least favourite option and his thoughts turned to the savings account that he had tucked away. It was meant to be for a new drum kit but something told him that if he sacrificed the funds to the gods of romance now the drum kit he eventually wound up with would be the most epic drum kit ever seen. His sacrifice would be rewarded. He stood up, brushed the sand off his shorts and decision made he swung into action.

Elliot's parents' house looked nice. Respectable. Suburban. Damp in the Seattle drizzle. It was just over two weeks since she'd left him in California but the change in the weather made it feel like months. Or maybe it was just his longing to see her that had done that. Whatever it was his heart was racing. He'd managed to find out her address in Seattle and confirmation that she hadn't yet left the country without anyone catching on to his plan. He'd smugly congratulated himself that if the music thing didn't work out for him he could look for a career as a private detective. He was quite taken with the idea of himself in a Hawaiian shirt driving a Ferrari.

Heart pounding in his chest he rang the doorbell and waited for a response. And waited. And waited. In all his planning he hadn't considered what he'd do if she wasn't home when he arrived. What if she was out with friends catching up before she left? He hadn't even considered that she wouldn't be there waiting to great him with open arms.