I didn’t know where Zacky was when I got back, I’d texted Mason and he said he was going to pick me up at seven thirty. I’d replied with an ‘Okay : )’ and gone home.

“Zacky?” I called out, I didn’t know if he was still pissed off at me or not. But I didn’t get an answer so I just went to take a shower instead. I washed my hair and made myself smell all delicious smelling before getting out and wrapping myself in a fluffy towel.

Upon exiting the bathroom I walked smack into Zacky who was gnawing on one of his snake bites.

“I called out when I came in” I said walking past him and going into my room.

“I was half asleep in bed, sorry” He said, his voice was void of any expression, I sighed. He was still mad at me.

“It’s okay” I said closing the door gently in his face. I dried myself off and put on a set of matching purple underwear, I wrapped my hair in the towel and went over to my closet, I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to wear to this kind of thing, but it was technically a gig, so I went with a pair of black skinny jeans that Zack and I had ripped up ages ago when I knelt in some white paint (ha ha ha).

I pulled on a baggy one shouldered shirt that said Truth and division across the front and I dried my hair and curled it loosely. I put on some smoky eye shadow and mascara and some red lipstick along with some heels. I was short, I hated it, therefore I had to wear heels to be the height of a regular person.

I came out of my room to find Zack lying across the couch channel flipping, he looked up
when I walked over and sat down on the arm.

“You look nice” He said propping himself up on his elbows.

“I have a date”

“With?”

“Mom’s friend’s kid”

“Are you being vague on purpose”

“Yes”

“Why?”

“Because it doesn’t concern you” I saw him wince at that one, we were being assholes to
each other, yeah, two can play at this game honey.

“Do you have pepper spray?” He asked looking straight at me.

“No”

“Wait here” He said moving himself from the couch and disappearing off into the apartment, returning a moment later with a small green and black can. He looked at me solemnly as he pressed it into my hand.

“I think you’re being a little paranoid” I said trying to glare at him but the concern in his expression made it hard.

“Just want you to be safe, I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you”

“Yeah well I’m fine” I said haughtily, really I just wanted to hug him and make up, I didn’t like
it when we fought, but if he was going to be an asshole then so was i. There was a buzz from the front door to let me know that Mason was here. “Mason’s here” I said spinning on my heel and clacking my way over to the door. I opened it to see Mason standing there in black jeans and a dark red button up shirt his hair was just as perfectly gelled and messy as it had been earlier, he grinned at me, his eyes going all sparkly.

“Ready to go?” He asked me,

“Yeah” I grinned, I left the apartment throwing a “Bye Zack” Over my shoulder, I knew that it would upset him, he hated it when I called him anything other than Zacky or ‘babe’.

“I know it’s none of my business, and I know you mentioned him earlier, but why was Zacky Vengeance in your apartment”

“Oh we live together, kinda like roommates, but he’s being an asshole today”

“Why?”

“I dunno” The truth was I knew why he was being an asshole, and it was my fault, but he was trying to be sweet when I was leaving and I threw it back in his face, I should probably apologise to him when I got home.

The drive to the venue was short, and we made small talk about this and that, when we got to the door we flashed out ID and the bouncer let us in, Mason reached out and took my hand leading me through the crowd and up the stairs at the side of the stage. He lead me down a couple of corridors until he came to a room with five guys in it, one was sitting on the couch tuning up his bass, two of them were busy messing with their hair in front of a mirror, on closer inspection I saw that they were twins, the drummer was tapping out a rhythm on the arm of the sofa and the fifth guy was texting manically on his phone.

“Guys” Mason’s voice caused them to all look up “This is Riley”

“Well hello there” Both the twins said turning around and grinning at me at exactly the same time.

“Hi Riley” The drummer smiled kindly at me, the bassist looked at me with appraising eyes before throwing me a lopsided smile then going back to his bass, and the guy on his phone stood up and shook my hand.

“Hey, I’m Matt” He smiled.

“Riley”

“So you just met Matt, their singer” Mason said sliding his arm around my waist, he kept a
comfortable distance, but the arm said to the others that I was here with him. “Believe it or not their bassist is also called Riley”

“Riley has a chick’s name” Twin one laughed.

“Or I have a boy’s name” I defended, Riley didn’t seem like the type who liked confrontation, he threw me a gentle smile of thanks.

“Joey is the drummer”

“Hey” Joey said

“And then there’s Bevis and Butthead over there” He motioned to the twins “Patrick who’s the
lead guitarist, and Tommy the rhythm guitarist”

“Paddy and Tommy” I nodded, they grinned and nodded.

“So how do you two know each other?” Matt asked me.

“Through our Mom’s” I said

“Adriana finally managed to set little Mason up here” Joey lisped.

“Shut up” Mason said “I asked her to come; no force from Mother was needed”

“Finally, normally his Mom has to force him to do everything”

“Shut up she does not”

“Is this just gonna be a ‘let’s embarrass Mason in front of his new girlfriend night?” Riley
asked

“No, she just needs to know that he’s a Momma’s boy” Paddy laughed.

“Nothing’ wrong with that, besides Zacky, my Mom’s my best friend”

“Oh yeah, Riley’s friends with Avenged Sevenfold” Mason smiled at me and I giggled and
blushed.

“Really?” I suddenly had Tommy’s attention.

“Yeah” I said

“I love them they’re so awesome!” He practically squealed “Look” He pulled his shirt off over his head to show me his head, he had the trademark skull on bat wings and he also had the foREVer tattoo that on his collarbone, it was small but it was lovely.

“I have that one” I said pointing to the one on his collarbone, I lifted my shirt up and pulled the hem on my jeans down a little bit so that they could see my right hip bone, to see the word foREVer that was tattooed on my hip.

I pulled my shirt back down as a small blonde woman with a clipboard came in.

“Guys you’re on now” She said

“Alright!”

“Let’s do this!” the twins said in unison, they all filed out of the room and through the corridors until they reached the stage. Mason took my hand and we went down into the crowd, the band started and the crowd seemed to get into it.

I have to say that they were actually pretty good; I’d have to talk to Matt about maybe getting them a demo made.

Mason and I went over to the bar and he ordered us some drinks, I wasn’t really sure what it was, but I could taste the vodka almost immediately.

“You’re not trying to get me drunk are you?” I quirked an eyebrow.

“No” He grinned at me. I blushed at the grin he was sending my way and took another sip of my drink, I was enjoying myself, and after the bands set was up, they seemed to be on stage for a while, they were really good, their stuff was kind of a mix of punk and hard core, but it sounded pretty rad.

After a little while I decided that I should probably go home, it was well past two in the morning and Zacky was probably going to tear my head off for coming in so late and waking him up, but then again fuck him, he was being such an asshole to me earlier on. I don’t care if I woke him up or not.

“Thanks for a great night” I smiled at Mason; he smiled back and leaned across the seat, kissing my cheek affectionately. “Call me?”

“Most definitely… want me to walk you upstairs”

“Yeah, I don’t know if I can do it on my own, I’m drunk” I giggled, the truth was I was drunk.

“Alright then” He laughed and came around to my side of the car, he helped me out and locked the door before offering me his arm, I took it and he walked I kind of stumbled up to the apartment door.

I was messing around with my keys and he was chuckling when I looked up at him.

“You have pretty eyes” I said “They’re so green” I said he smiled

“Thanks” He leaned down and kissed my lips gently. I smiled and wrapped my arms around his neck, I curled my fingers into his hair. He breathed in sharply and parted his lips, his tongue pushing its way into my mouth. He was a pretty good kisser, his lips were really soft.

I tightened my fingers in his hair and he pressed me gently up against the door frame.

The door opening suddenly caused us both to spring apart, Zacky was there looking tired and pissed off at the same time.

“I didn’t think you were coming home” He said

“Yeah well it’s not up to you” I giggled, Mason smiled.

“You’re drunk” He said, he sounded sad.

“Well done Einstein”

“Come on Riley don’t be rude, he might murder you in your sleep” Mason snickered. I giggled and slapped his chest. “Go one, I’ll see you soon” He grinned and pulled me closer to him by the waist kissing me one more time before letting me go, grinning and
disappearing off down the stairs.

I clacked into the flat and Zacky slammed the door shut.

“What was that?” He asked. He looked pissed off.

“I have a boyfriend” I stated as I sat on the couch and tried to take my shoes off but I was failing miserably, I huffed and held my foot out to Zacky who sighed and took my feet into his lap and unbuckled my shoes and pulled them off. I stood up, wobbling a little bit before going into my room.

“You’ve known him a day”

“Whatever, don’t be such a wet blanket”

“I’m not talking to you when you’re drunk” He snapped.

“Oh fuck you” I said pulling my jeans off and falling into my bed. He wasn’t there any more
“Zacky?” I called out. “Zacky I’m sorry” I said before burying my face in the pillow and falling asleep.

Notes

Title credit: Beast and the Harlot - Avenged Sevenfold