Love Never Fades

Only after marrying her did Andy realize just what a bitch Juliet Simms truly was, and that made his heart ache. She hadn’t really liked when he recalled memories of Ash before he ran off, and one time, she’d even told him she didn’t want to hear him talk about him anymore. Despite the fact that he still considered the older man his best friend, even though he hadn’t heard from him in years, she hated him, a man she’d never met.

When he sat and thought about it, the frontman honestly thought she was scared he was just going to up and leave her for a man she swore was no longer alive. In reality, while he’d never stopped loving him, he was a better man than to just up and leave his wife for someone else without a damned good reason.

A little over nine and a-half years had passed since they tied the knot on New Year’s Eve, 2017, and he couldn’t take it anymore. Even finding out six months into their marriage that she’d gone behind his back and gotten her tubes tied to prevent future children hadn’t pissed him off this badly. He was sick of her constant bitchy attitude, her never wanting him to spend time with the friends he still had, and he was done.

Now that the divorce he’d filed for was finalized and, after many years spent waiting and twiddling his thumbs, he was going to find Ash. The private investigator he’d hired after the first quit had finally located him, and it was no wonder it’d taken the last seventeen years to find him. After going home to Missouri, he’d moved to central-Eastern Tennessee to a remote area where he doubted they even got cell service. Even in a tiny town where outsiders were easily spotted, it’d be easy for a man, with or without a secret, to hide if even cell service was scarcely available since he’d be so hard to track down.

“Good morning, Mr. Biersack,” the pilot of his private jet, Max, greeted him.

“Morning, Max. And you know you can call me Andy,” he answered, nodding at him as his bag was loaded into the luggage compartment.

“Where are we flying to today?” the man asked him curiously.

“Knoxville, Tennessee,” Andy answered. “Unless I’m mistaken, McGhee-Tyson is the closest airport to there.”

“It is. It’s actually a few miles away in Alcoa,” he told him, nodding. “But why do you wanna go there, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Actually, it’s really personal,” he answered, not wanting to talk about it. He rarely discussed Ash with anyone but his bandmates and parents.

“That’s fine; I won’t push for information you don’t wanna give,” Max told him. “Head on up and I’ll make sure she’s fueled up before we take off.”

“Thanks, Max. A guy couldn’t ask for a better friend than you,” he responded, patting his shoulder before climbing the mobile staircase into the belly of the jet.

It’d been so long since he’d seen the older man, and he sighed as he pulled out the last picture taken of them before he’d disappeared. He looked so young and effeminate, his long, jet-black hair not really helping with that image, and he couldn’t help but wonder what he looked like now. Did he have much the same appearance as back then, just with more tattoos, if he knew him as well as he thought he did? Or had he changed his entire appearance when he’d gone into hiding, which he’d obviously done.

Shortly thereafter, Max boarded the plane as well, telling him that he just had to get clearance from the control tower and they could leave. Andy nodded and put the picture away as he headed to the nose of the plane and quickly buckled his seat belt. It wouldn’t be long now before he finally got to see the man he loved and had missed so again.

* * *

After landing at McGhee-Tyson Airport, getting his bag, and finally managing to rent a car, Andy was following the directions he’d scribbled down. The town he was going to was tiny, so tiny he knew that, even if there were no Black Veil Brides fans residing in it, he’d stick out like a sore thumb. He even suspected that Ash would have half the town on the lookout for him, that way they could warn him so he could leave before he showed up.

It took him a bit to get through the morning rush-hour traffic of Knoxville, but after living in LA for so long, it didn’t piss him off like most would think it would. It really wasn’t that much worse than the city he lived in, and living there had given him the patience of a saint, when it came to traffic jams.

Upon finally reaching the tiny town of Strawberry Plains, he paid sharp attention to the directions he’d written down. He’d thought it would take a long longer to find the house he was looking for than it actually did, which was a bit surprising. Then again, finding Ash after so long, and finding him alive, at that, was surprising, in and of itself. He’d thought, even after his grandmother had sent him a letter a few years ago, that his best friend was actually dead and she’d been trying to make him feel better. Now he knew that Leana Crosswhite hadn’t been lying to him at all, and he was elated.

Once he found the house he was looking for and pulled into the driveway, he felt his nerves rattle a bit. What if Ash didn’t want to see him now, or ever again? What if he’d run away because he was sick of being around him? Hell, what if he’d figured out that he’d loved him long ago, and that one sentiment had scared him into running away? He doubted any of those scenarios were true, but he wasn’t a creative soul for nothing. Still, he took a deep breath, got out of his rental car, and headed up to the front door.

For a few moments after he knocked the first time, he almost thought nobody was home since no one answered. Those thoughts were nixed, though, when he realized that he saw not one, but two cars besides his rental sitting in the driveway. Moments after coming to that realization, Andy heard footsteps within the house and lost a bit of his patience, so he knocked again. No one called out to let him know that they were coming, and he figured that if he got no response this time, he’d leave and come back later. He was terrified that Ash knew it was him, and that that’s why he wasn’t answering, but he still held out hope, just like he’d done for the last seventeen years. It was all he had left if he couldn’t see and talk to his best friend, and he knew it.

When the mahogany panel before him finally swung inward, he gasped almost inaudibly in surprise and relief. Standing before him was Ashley Purdy, the man he’d missed and been searching for for so long. Aside from having let his hair grow out its natural dark brown instead of continuing to dye it black and obviously aging a bit over the years, he looked much the same as the last night he’d seen him. Ever as effeminate as before, his chocolate eyes sparkling in the late-morning sun, and his skin just as tan as ever. Granted, his arms were covered in full sleeves now, and doubtless he had many other tattoos hidden by his shirt but he didn’t care; he’d finally found his best friend.

“Ashley?” he asked, his voice demonically deep with emotion, but sounding relieved and gleeful. “Thank Godsmack I finally found you!”

Ash looked shocked for a few moments before finally choking out one word: his long-lost best friend’s name. “Andy?”

“Yeah, Ash.” The younger man nodded, tears forming in his eyes. “After you disappeared that night, I kept hoping you were still alive, that we’d see each other again someday. I guess I was right not to give up hope.”

It took a few moments for him to regain his composure, and while he did so, he listened quietly.

“I still dunno why you disappeared that night, but I’d like to…if you’re willing to tell me, that is,” Andy said, his blue eyes bright with his happiness.

“Why…why don’t you come in?” he asked, opening his door a bit wider. “It’s a long story, and it’s gonna take a while to tell.”

Andy felt his smile fade slightly as he nodded and followed him into the beautiful home, although his happiness and relief never left his eyes. He followed his best friend into his home, gratefully accepting the drink he offered him as he led him to his living room. Ash disappeared into another room, presumably the kitchen, while he took off his boots, and he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of story he had to tell.

Notes