Break Free

Chapter Thirty Nine

The boys woke up next to each other. Nothing had happened, they were both too tired to do anything else after they came home. They had yet to tell everyone else that they were now engaged, but were both too cozy with the other by their side. They hadn't slept next to each other since Scott took Chester.

Eventually, Mike decided he should get up. He saw Chester starting to fall back asleep and let him be. He wouldn't tell the others about last night until Chester was by his side. He left the room, closing the door softly not to disturb his fiancée. He turned away from the door to see Phoenix, Rob, and Brad standing behind him with wide eyes. He jumped a little and yelped in shock and silently cursed, knowing it probably woke up Chester.

"Damn it, guys!" Mike snapped and the door opened. Mike wanted to yell at his friends more for scaring him, but had to take a minute to look at Chester. His blonde hair was messy and he was wearing his glasses. He was wearing one of Mike's old oversized shirts and plaid pajama pants. Mike thought he looked too adorable not to hug and lost all his anger all at once and put an arm around him.

"Awe," All the guys said in sync and Mike rolled his eyes. Chester yawned and rubbed at his eye, pushing up his glasses a little.

"What's going on?" Chester asked, leaning into Mike's arm.

"Just checking up on the lovebirds... Did you do it, Mike?" Phoenix suddenly asked and the two were taken aback. Brad pointed at the silver band around Chester's ring finger and grinned wildly.

"He did it!" Brad shouted and the two found themselves being engulfed by Brad's arms. They managed to push away, gaping at the trio.

"How did you know I was proposing?" Mike questioned and Phoenix's cheeks began heating up into a crimson red.

"Well... I saw the box in your back pocket-"

"You better not be checking out my soon-to-be husband's ass," Chester warned with a giggle, beginning to wake up a bit more. The other guys choked on their laugher, but Phoenix ignored the comment.

"I saw the box and I couldn't keep it to myself..."

"Who all knows? Who did you tell?" Mike asked, wondering if the entire house knew. The pair had been looking forward to spilling it for everyone, but wouldn't be disappointed if they couldn't.

"Well, obviously Rob and Brad know... I - uh - also told," He faked a cough and pretended to think. "Joe, Toby, and Talinda."

"You even told Talinda?! We hardly know her!" Mike groaned, but Chester giggled again. His friends always seemed more funny than they actually were to him.

"Well... She, like, I don't know..." Phoenix was struggling to find a reasonable explanation for why he told her. He decided to just shrug the question off. To get away from the situation all together, he shouted, "Congratulations!" and ran off.

"So is Talinda still here?" Chester asked the remaining duo, who nodded. Chester could see Mike's scowl from the corner of his eye. "I'll talk to her and see what's up."

~

"Hey," Chester said, coming into Toby and Rob's room. Neither of the couple were in, just Talinda, which Chester was glad for. He was curious as to why she wanted to stay the night for two days in a row. He wondered why she hadn't gone to her job within these days.

"Oh, Chester, hey. How are you? I see Mike proposed. Congratulations," She smiled roughly, Chester knew it was fake.

"Yeah, thank you," He nervously laughed and then cleared his throat. "Look, I'm sorry if asking offends you, I'm just curious as to why you've stayed the night twice now and haven't gone to work."

"Oh," She said tonelessly and sighed. "If it was anyone else in the house, I wouldn't say, but it isn't. This is you... I can talk to you. I - um - my career isn't going as fabulously as I said it was. I was laid off the day before I ran into you."

"Talinda, I'm so sorry," Chester frowned and sat next to her on the bed. "What happened?"

"They wanted me to do porn. Can you believe that?" She looked to him with tears in her eyes. "As if I didn't have any dignity. I couldn't do that. They fired me and I was already struggling financially. My apartment was already taken and I had been staying with a friend, who was growing sick of me staying with them. I'm sorry I didn't say anything, Chester. I meant to... but I was afraid of being homeless."

"Don't worry about it. You can stay for as long as you need, we're here for you."

"Thank you, Chester, that means so much," She gave him a genuine smile and he hugged her briefly.

"It's nothing. Get back on your feet," He stood and headed to the door. He left the room and found Mike in the living room with the guys.

"Hey, Ches, how'd it go?" Mike asked, secretly hoping she was a sketchy character and they could kick her out, but by Chester's face, he knew that was merely a fantasy.

"Alright. She needs a place to stay so I offered her here until she lands on her feet. Since we're sharing a room again, she can take Steve's old room."

"We are?" Mike smirked and Chester grinned.

"Yes we are," He sat down next to him on the couch and the two immediately started snuggling up next to each other. "What were you guys talking about?"

"Our old band before everything happened. We want to pick it back up where we left off," Mike explained and Chester nodded, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. He was already beginning to feel unneeded and out of place, as he was never apart of them. "But we left off needing another vocalist..."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, oh," Mike trailed off, trying to get Chester to see eye-to-eye on what he was getting to. "Okay, let's cut the crap. Do you, Chester Charles Bennington, take thee open position to be your lawfully wedded job? To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health, until death do you part?"

"I do," Chester giggled.

"I know pronounce you man and job, you may kiss the frontman," Mike puckered his lips and Chester fell off the couch with laugher, all of his troubles at ease.