"He's acting weird again."

Brian glanced up and over at the singer as he gazed off, eyebrow cocking as he shifted his gaze back to Arin. The newest member of Avenged Sevenfold was squinting across the room, his arm folded across his chest, one finger tapping against his temple. Brian chuckled.

"He's always acting weird."

"Yeah, but like... like.... He's acting WEIRDER. Like reaaaaaaaaally weird." Arin huffed and screwed up his face, looking back and forth between the two men. "Is he like... missing...." He bit his lip awkwardly. Brian's other eyebrow rose to level.

"You can say her name. He won't attack you. And if he did, the death would be quick and painless, so you don't need to worry too much." He grinned and ducked as Arin threw the drumstick he was twirling at him. "They always miss."

"That's not funny! The guy could kill me with like... a..LOOK." Dramatic eyed expression. Arin pointed at the snickering guitarist, "YOU are not taking me seriously. I demand respect."

Brian raised his hands in a mock defense position, smirk on his lips. "Sorry, sorry. Alright....." His face dropped back to seriousness, and he glanced back over at his best friend. "I dunno what's wrong with him. I just know something is. I dunno, I haven't asked, he gets all... weird-...er... if he thinks people are getting in his business. He'd usually only talk to Ji-" Abrupt stop. He looked down. Across the room, Arin mimicked Brian's expression from just moments earlier.

"Jimmy. You can say his name, he's not gonna att-" Unfortunately, he wasn't as quick to duck the drumstick as Brian was. "Owww, son of a bitch!"

"Language, child." Brian tutted, then looked around, brow furrowed in thought. "Should I ask him? Like, just see if he's okay?"

The drummer looked startled at having been asked his opinion on something, shoulders hunching. "Uhh... I mean, he seems pretty..... Space. It's worth a shot. Just in case it's serious."

Brian tilted his head in contemplation. "Yeah... Yeah, good point. Alright." And with that, he stood up and meandered slowly over to the singer. "Yo."

Silence. Brian scowled.

"Matt."

Silence.

"........ Matthew."

"Don't call me that." Matt's gaze snapped up to Brian, blinking hard to come out of his daze. Brian snorted.

"Morning, sunshine. Someone taken their happy pills today, I see?"

"Get fucked." Was the polite response. Matt's eyes were narrowed, and his head was down, eyes to the floor again. He pulled his knees up and rested his chin on them. "What do you want? Can't you go piss someone else off for once?"

"Nope. See, I pull names out of a hat, and yeah. I'm fairly certain that it's been fixed, cause it's your lucky day again!" Brian's smile was huge, and he crouched down so Matt could see the full thing. Unfortunately, Matt was male. And straight. It didn't work.

"GET. FUCKED."

Brian's smile dropped, and he sat back, his legs crossing underneath him. "Okay. I'll leave you alone if you tell me what the fuck is stuck up your ass. You're not yourself. It's annoyin'."

"Just leave me alone." Matt's eyes closed. He didn't need this right now. It had been a couple of weeks since his encounter with Brenna, and since then... well. He hadn't been able to get the damn girl out of his head would be an understatement. And he was desperately trying to be angry about this, but everytime he allowed himself to think about it, he couldn't help the smile that crossed his lips...

"What're you smirkin' at now?"

"Huh?" Matt opened his eyes again and stared at Brian. The guitarist's stare was accusing, and Matt couldn't help but shrink some. Brian was a pretty laidback guy, but when something was irritating him, or there was a mystery to be solved, you could be sure Brian was there. Jimmy had jokingly nicknamed him "Scooby Syn" a few years back, and this was why.

"You're smirking."

"I'm not smirking. I'm smiling. There's nothing illegal about smiling. It's a free countr-"

"Who's the girl?"

Matt blanched. "What? Who said anything about.. I didn’t say there was any-"

"Don't bullshit me. You're smiling, I ask you why, and you give me more of a novel than fuckin'...." Brian waved one hand vaguely. ".....Shakespeare. So who's the girl? Unless there's a guy. Is there a guy? Oh God, have you gone gay on us?"

"No! There's no guy, what the-"

"Then there IS a girl!" Brian smirked triumphantly and sat back, folding his arms. Matt groaned and hid his face in his knees.

"I hate you. You know that, don't you?" He was close to defeat. Brian had a way of wearing him down.

"I know. I love you too." Brian winked. "So, a girl huh? Tell me everything, all the nasty details. Leave nothing out."

Matt raised his gaze to Brian's, and it was his turn to smirk. "A girl I fucked. You REALLY wanna know all the details, Brian? Cause that's gonna be a little too much for your mind to take. She's good at-"

"Matthew, I said details, I don't want a pornographic history of you guys. Have you just fucked, or is there something else going on?" Brian was staring at Matt, expressionless, but his mind was working a thousand miles an hour. It had only been a few months since Matt and Val had split, and Brian knew that if Matt went on a rebound, he'd regret it. Casual fucks were fine, but if it was anything more, there was always a risk. A risk that he didn't want to take, for the rest of the band as well as Matt. Matt shrugged.

"We fucked. She gave me her number. I said I'd call her, but....." He hesitated and bit his lip, avoiding his friend's gaze. "I don't call girls back, man. I just don't. They're one time things only, but this girl.."

"She a rebound?" Brian wasn't one for tact. Matt flinched.

"No. No, I wouldn't feel like this for a rebound."

"So there's feelings involved." Brian's eyes narrowed. "Matt... Is this a good idea? Getting involved with someone this soon after Val?"

"I'm not in-fucking-volved in anything!" Matt unfolded his arms from around his knees and dropped his legs down, glaring at Brian. The guitarist skittered backwards; he'd been on the receiving end of a punch from the man in front of him before, and it hadn't exactly been pleasant. At a safe distance, he tilted his chin up, eyes still narrowed.

"Alright, alright. Jeez, calm down. I'm just worried about you, you've not been... the best... since the break up. I'm trying to look out for-"

"I don't fucking need anyone to look out for me, Brian, especially not you. I don't need advice on love from someone whose wife goes out every other night to get fucking wasted, probably fucks around with more people in one night than I do for the whole goddamn tour. Just back the fuck off, alright?"

He instantly regretted his words as silence fell upon the bus, his friend blinking at him slowly. Brian took a deep breath in, tilting his head back to try and hide the hurt that flashed across his face, before standing up and slowly making his way over to the door of the lounge. Just before leaving, the guitarist turned to face Matt, his eyes down, his voice dull with pain.

"Call her. If she makes you happy, do it. Just don't let yourself get hurt, man. We all care about you too much to see your heart broken again. Please."

"Bri..." Matt started, but Brian had shaken his head and left the room before he could continue. He sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. He'd apologize later, but right now, he was going to take Brian's advice. He hadn't been able to think clearly since, and the urge to call her had been there, he just hadn't been sure. But... it was worth a try, right?

Right?

Deep breath. Here goes.

He sat up and looked around for his cell, patting himself down. The fuck was it? He'd not moved since the last time he'd checked it. And it was a phone. It hadn't grown legs. He huffed and checked through his pockets, then stood up. There we go. Underneath him. He unlocked it and scrolled through his contacts, getting to her name. Brenna. Then froze.

[i]It's worth a try..... Please don't let me be wrong. Please don't let Brian be wrong. At least I can beat Brian up if he's wrong, but I don't want to be the blame for yet another thing going wrong with a girl...[/i]

He pressed call. With his eyes closed, he held the phone to his ear and listened to it ring. The slow, monotonic tone seemed to taunt him. It felt like an entire hour had passed before he heard a click and then the soft sound of her voice. "Hello...?"

She picked up. Oh God. And suddenly every word in every language ever had disappeared from his brain, and his mouth went dry and – hang up. Heart pounding, he stared at his phone, eyes wide, alarmed. He hadn't expected her to pick up. Which was fucking stupid, because duh, it was a phone. People are meant to answer their phones. Oh God, Matthew, you idiot.

He took a deep breath in again, swallowing hard. He could do this. He could do this. He pressed call again and closed his eyes tightly, thudding back down and pulling his knees up to his chest again.

It took her longer to answer this time, probably because it was the same number coming up and she figured it was just another prank caller being stupid. After she'd picked up, there was a small sigh before she spoke "...Hello...?"

"H-hey-" His voice came out as a squeak at first, and he coughed, clearing his throat. Keep calm. "Hey. Is... Is, uh... Brenna there? Please?" He knew it was her. He was just stalling. What the hell was wrong with him?

On the other end, Brenna frowned. It was her cell phone. Why would anybody else be answering it for her? "This is Brenna..." And why did he sound so damn nervous?

"Oh. Oh... Uhm. Hey. It's... It's Matt. From the gig. The... from the gig." He felt like facepalming. She KNEW who he was. She was a fan. She'd been there for HIM. [i]I'm a goddamn idiot.[/i]

Brenna smiled on her end, but tried her best not to let it slip into her voice. He said he'd call. She hadn't believed him. "Oh, hey, Matt..." She bit her bottom lip to try and stop the grin spreading any wider. "What's up?"

"Nothing, nothing, I just... I just wanted to... I said I'd call, and I wanted to talk to you and I guess I didn't- You're not busy, are you? I can call back another time, if you want." He ran his hand over his face before silently clamping it over his mouth. Stop talking.

"No... No, I'm not busy at all," she told him, smile still on her lips. "I'm... glad you called. Most guys don't keep to their word on that one."

"I'm not most guys." He muttered through his fingers. Cheesy ass line, but... maybe she'd buy it. He couldn't help the faint grin as he took his hand away. "Which you already know. Obviously." A little attempt at humor to quell the nerves and the weird squirming feeling in his stomach.

Her smile turned to more of a smirk as she recalled the night they'd spent together, or, well, the few HOURS of a night they'd spent together. Her tongue ran across her bottom lip and she nodded her head, even though he couldn't see it. "Oh, I know you're not, Matt," a small giggle escaped as she sat back in her seat and crossed one leg over the other. "You're definitely one of a kind." She could be just as cheesy.

He chuckled. "That's what I thought." His legs dropped and he relaxed a little, eyes closed. "Sooo... You doin' alright?" Maybe more casual chat would help.

"Yeah... Not much to complain about." She still couldn't believe he had actually called her. Until now, that had just been something guys had said to not seem ignorant at the end of their... fun. "What about you? How's the tour?"

"It's going good, I guess. No major fuck ups, everything's been running fairly smooth, um... There was a creepy stalker for Johnny the last show we were at, but we got rid of him, and it's like... he's all freaked out cause someone acknowledged his existence and – " He swallowed. "I miss you."

She sat up straight, eyes widening slightly. "What?"

"I- I m,miss you?" He didn't know what that what meant, whether it was a good what or a bad what or what. Shit. "Sorry?"

She was just about turning to mush on the other end of the line. He was being adorable. Here was this big, cocky, confident rockstar... Who had been reduced to a shy, nervous little teenage boy. It was cute. She perked up a little. "You miss me?" She resisted the urge to squeal. "That's sweet... But you've only met me once." Small giggle.

"Yeah. Yeeeeah." He gave a self-depreciating laugh, pinching the bridge of his nose. She thought he was stupid. He was stupid. "I know. But... I guess.... I'd like to see you again. If that's okay with you."

"You would?" Her smile was growing by the second. She'd be an idiot to refuse, but it would be awkward. "I'd like to see you again, too, but... I'm all the way in New York, and you're... all over the place. You live on the opposite side of the country."

Stupid. He slumped. "Oh. Uh... It's okay, then. I.. I'd come and see you, but like... It's okay if you don't want to. I understand." Though just because he understood, didn't stop his heart from sinking through the floor. A dull ache had started in his chest. "Sorry."

She was pretty quick to correct him. "No... It's not that I don't want you to. I'd love to see you again, Matt. I just don't want to mess up your plans is all. I know you're busy..." Her eyes drifted to the floor as she drew small circles with her foot. She really wanted to see him now she knew he was interested.

"You wouldn't. I promise." His own words were hastily spoken, and he cursed himself for sounding so goddamn desperate. Desperate and clingy is not attractive. "I... I could drop by sometime. Or you could... I could ... I'll figure something out, if you want. If it's not gonna bother you. You've probably got plans too."

Brenna gave a small laugh, and the smile she wore afterward came through in her voice. "Matt, I told you I want to see you. I mean it. It's not going to bother me at all. Quite the opposite, actually."

He smiled widely at the tone of her voice. "Then... Do you wanna get coffee or something? Uh... When would be good for you? I have a few free days next week.."

"I'm good any time," she told him. She didn't want to sound TOO keen... but she was. This was beyond her wildest dreams. "It all depends on your schedule. I guess... call me when you know for sure?"

"Sure. I'll call you tomorrow night." He grinned. "G'night, babe. Talk to you soon."

Inside, she was squealing with delight. She wanted to giggle like a little schoolgirl but she managed to keep herself calm to end the call. "Goodnight... I'll speak to you soon." And with that, they both hung up.