She read the invitation once again and rolled her eyes. How the fuck a couple of sophomores like them were invited to a big ass frat Halloween party thrown by the most popular frat house in UCLA?

She narrowed her eyes at CC, her best friend and also her roommate who excitedly trying on some dresses in front of the mirror. Patiently she watched, as CC put on dresses after dresses, shoes after shoes and finally when CC smiled down on a blue cocktail dress that would wrap around her body perfectly, she groaned at her.

“You’re seriously going, CC?”

CC or Cecily shot a glare at her through the mirror. “And you’re seriously not going. Jana? You love Halloween don’t you?”

Jana scoffed and slumped her body down on the bed.

“They haven’t spoken to us all year and suddenly we get invites? No fucking way!”

CC didn’t answer her and just pretending to pick on something else in her closet. It was as though she was trying to avoid something.

“Unless,” Jana sat up straight, her head tilted to the side, thinking hard. “You and Luke are dating. Tell me you’re not.”

Luke – a football jock, already in his senior year and from what Jana knows he rarely has been seen without a presence of a girl. There is no way her best friend is dating him. Jana hated that guy.

“Not Luke! Mike.”
“Mike? Isn’t he like, the biggest nerd in that frat house?”
“Sheesh, just because he loves books, it doesn’t mean he’s a nerd!”
“Yeah it does. And so are you. Two nerds combined could create a world chaos and collision! Boom!”
“Jana!!”
“Alright alright! Jeez, I was joking! You and your high pitch -”
“ - can reach Shadows range, is that what you wanna say?”

“Oh dream on.” Jana rolled her eyes for the fifteenth times and glanced at her watch. It’s almost to 3pm. Her part time job will be starting in just half an hour. So she got up from the bed and dressed herself casually – in a black Misfits tank top, with denim jacket on top of it, her skinny ripped jeans and black combat boots. She ruffled her black with purple highlights hair and smiled in the mirror. No matter how messy she made her hair look, it will always go back to its place.

“So what costume you’ll be in?” CC, done rummaging through her closet, now crossed her arms and leaned against Jana’s closet door.

Jana ignored the question but smiled nonetheless. Damn this girl really knew her like the back of her palm. She loved Halloween and costumes so much that she wouldn’t miss a chance to be a part of something huge like this.

“You’ll see.” She grinned widely at her best friend and walked out of the room after a few of butt slaps from CC.


Jana works part time as a disc jockey at KROQ FM as she took a major in Mass Media Communication in UCLA. She always wanted to be a radio announcer, but right now all that she can do is putting in as much of her favorite songs on air as she can. At the moment she wasn’t allowed to handle a full talking segment by herself. She can only take up song requests online or even from picking up the phone.

Her day at KROQ FM started with a song from Avenged Sevenfold everytime. Any song. Even songs that are not released as their single yet. Today she felt like playing Crimson Day from their latest album, Hail To The King.

Jana had been their faithful fan from the day she discovered Remenissions. She was there when the news popped up on her television screen saying that Jimmy The Rev Sullivan had been found dead in his house on 28th December 2009. She cried hard that night, she even remembered how her mom flipped shit when she saw her crying her eyes off.

Crying over someone who didn’t know you is just unbelievable. She loved The Rev so much that she even stopped listening to them for a while. She refused to accept that the band have moved on. But sooner or later, she had to.

And now, she was impressed with their new drummer. Arin Ilejay is a far cry from Jimmy especially in personality-wise but he’s something else. Something that Jana never felt like before everytime she heard him play. Sometimes she even muted the other tracks from their songs and just listened to Arin playing. What a talent.

“Afternoon LA folks! You’re listening to KROQ and me, your buddy, Kevin will be with you for two straight hours. We will play your requests so start sending them in! Via online, text messages, phone whatever.”

Jana watched as Kevin, the senior staff there working his magic with the buttons and the clicks away using the tools. She wanted to do that so badly.

“Jana, could you hand me System of A Down, Weezer, Scorpion and Avenged Seven- oh here it is.”

“Yeah, I played Crimson Day earlier.” She explained as to why the CD is already lying there on his desk while heading towards the huge CD rack behind her.

“I noticed. You really love this band don’t you?” Kevin yanked away his headphones as the sound of Shut Up and Drive from Rihanna blared through the speaker.

“Fuck yes.”

He chuckled while looking at the CD cover for a short moment.

“They’re all good looking guys. Which one’s your favorite?” Kevin asked casually without even looking at her.

“Um, hard to say. They’re all my favorite, but the one that I like the most is their drummer.”

Kevin looked up. He grabbed the other 3 CDs that Jana handed over to him. “You mean their late drummer?”

“Yeah. The Rev. And Syn too. Obviously.” She rolled her eyes, cueing that Synyster Gates has always been the most favorite among fans. She heard Kevin snorted, as he put the System of A Down’s CD into the player.

“You know we often deal with them right?”

“Yeah I know. But I can’t believe I haven’t even met them yet. Or even bump into them at our events.”

Kevin was done inserting RadioVideo into the next playlist and moved on to Weezer. He smirked in her regard. Grinning evilly like there’s something up to his sleeve.

“Why are you smiling?” she baffled, But Kevin didn’t look at her and just smiled, his eyebrows arched, eyes on the monitor.

“You’ll see.”

*****************************************************************************************************

Jana looked around, switching her gaze once in a while towards CC’s direction and herself. What the hell is this? None of them actually wore scary costumes, except for her. Even CC was dolled up in a sexy cocktail dress and now embraced by the tall, dark and good looking Mike Wyatts. He’s not bad actually, in fact him and CC are really perfect for each other since they both love to spend their time in library. They probably met there, who knows?

Her – costumed in a white dress, torn at appropriate places, and to be exact she came as one of her favorite cartoon character – the Corpse Bride. Her face was heavily made up, with blue eye shadows crept up on her eyelids as she closed them, her eyelashes too long and her purple highlights hair was now covered in temporary blue dye. Her body was also painted in a pale blue spray tan to fit the character purposely. This shit’s going to last for at least three days if she doesn’t wash it right after this party ends. All in all, she looked pretty scary.

She moved around, looking for something to do while holding to a beer pong cup in her hand. Jana didn’t know anyone in this room except for CC, and a few sophomores but that was it. She never knew the cheerleading teams who were giggling in the corner, with jocks being assholes by dancing on the table and holy fuck, Jana just realized that their frat house was awesomely huge. She spotted a few sophomores were also like her – wore scary costumes and being totally out of place.

She was about to down her last drop of beer when she noticed that her cup was actually empty. Nothing much to do around anyway, so she decided to just hung by the keg stand.

“This party sucks ass.”

Jana was filling her cup when she heard someone mumbled beside her. She turned her head and saw a guy with curly hair - combed messily to the side was leaning against the wall with his back facing her. A beer cup rested in his grasp as he scanned throughout the room.

“Tell me about it.” She mumbled back in reply.

He glanced around and Jana can see he was wearing a white shirt with black pinstriped vest on top of it and his face was heavily made up with smoky eye shadows and pale complexion. She froze right here, for two things: one – he was in the same theme costume as hers and two – she immediately recognized who he was.

“Hey ‘Emily’.” He greeted with a smile curved up on his lips.
“Hi ‘Victor’.”

They both chuckled as Jana tried to control the butterflies that emerged in her stomach.

This is Arin Ilejay. Shit. Why is he here? What do I do? Why is he talking to me?





“You a Bruins too? I’ve never seen you around before.” he asked and Jana calmly shrugged despite her mind ravaged full with questions. In case you’re wondering, Bruins is the college’s sports team. Students in this frat house often called themselves as that. Like, ‘Go Bruins!’ or something when they meet each other. It’s practically their greeting ritual.

“I’m a sophomore. Not from this frat obviously.”
“That explains why.” Arin smiled and sipped on his beer.
“How about you? I’ve never seen you around.”
“Graduated a year ago. Used to be in this circle until I grew tired of it.”

They both stood in silent for a while, each enjoying their own drinks and forced to listen to this lame dubsteps which blared loudly through the speaker. A funny view actually - both of them looked like they had just been pulled out of the Corpse Bride movie and struggled to fit in with the normal world.

“How did you get invited if you’re no longer studying here?” she asked suddenly, breaking the silence apart between them.

“Mike invited me. He and I go way back. We used to be roommates for a couple of semesters.”

“Mike, as in that Mike Wyatt?” Jana pointed to both CC and Mike who were now eating each other’s faces. Arin glanced towards her direction.

“Yeah. Oh, I didn’t know he has a girlfriend already.”
“That’s CC. My best friend. I didn’t know she has a boyfriend too.”

Arin chuckled lightly. Jana wanted to ask about the band so badly but somehow tonight she decided to see Arin as a normal guy, not as an amazing drummer from an amazing band.

“Lovers, right? Always keeping secrets until they become something like that.” Arin muttered while still looking at the couple.
“Exactly. And what’s with this frat Halloween party anyway? It’s Halloween, you’re supposed to wear scary costumes. Not some skimpy slutty outfits to attract guys!”
“I’m down with you there. And dubsteps for Halloween? You’ve gotta be kidding me!”
“Yeah, they should put in metal music, with organs in the background.”
“Like Cradle of Filth.”
“You read my mind, ‘Victor’.”

They both laughed and became closer without realizing it. Awkward silence squeezed between them and yet again, the annoying sound of dubsteps pumping heartbeat through their ears. She was struggling to control her own pounding heart already and she felt suffocated.

“Hey bride, wanna get out of here?”

Jana’s heart leapt. It was Arin motherfucking Ilejay beside her now, looking bored as hell and he called her as that. There were so many reasons to make her adrenaline rushed right now.

“Sure, groom.” She grinned widely as Arin offered his hand and immediately grab hers the second she agreed. As their skin finally touched, she felt shivers went down her spine.


Arin took her out of the house and into the yard. She was still in her shock state but managed to keep it in. So far they hadn’t introduced themselves using their real names. She figured maybe Arin didn’t want her to know that he’s the famous drummer and she was actually right.

He already liked this girl; he didn’t want to be the Arin Ilejay from Avenged Sevenfold tonight. He just wanted to be Victor, the character from Corpse Bride who was running away with his dead bride, Emily.

“Where are we going, husband?”

Arin chuckled and grinned widely hearing that question. “I have no idea, wifey. You tell me. I just wanna get out of that place.”

Jana looked down to the ground, thinking hard. She didn’t even realize that their hands still clasped together tightly and Arin seemed like he didn’t want to let it go. In mere seconds later, she jerked her head up – an idea came to her mind. It was Halloween night and what else can they be doing?

They rang the doorbell and waited patiently. The neighborhood around UCLA seemed lively with Halloween decorations in front porches and kids walking around in groups accompanied by their parents and here they were. Two fully grown adults in Halloween costumes waiting in front of a stranger’s door for candy.

“Trick or Treat!!” they yelled as soon as the door opened. The old man in front of them looked surprised.

“Wow, aren’t you guys a little old to be doing this?”

“Never too old for candies, sir.” Arin replied, his grin was melting every part of Jana.

That man laughed softly and shoved a bunch of candies into their hands. “You kids have fun!” he shouted after both Arin and Jana walked away from his door.

“Don’t worry, we will!” Arin shouted back. They both giggled as they looked down on their full hands and Jana lifted up her skirt a bit to support the weight of so many candies after their thirteenth house that night.

The residents were nice as hell, as they went along and gave out their candies even to adults like them. There were a few times they followed a bunch of kids trick or treating and they had to squat down, to level with the kids’ height and to avoid from being recognized. They laughed hard when a resident actually called them as ‘cuties’ and gave them a handful of chocolates.

They settled in a playground park near the neighborhood and spilled their collection that night.

“I got a few Reese. What have you got?” Arin looked over to her candy collection and accidentally his eyes darted to her teasing cleavage. His heart bumped crazily. He blinked a few times to brush away his naughty thoughts.

“A lot of Kisses.”

He looked up to her eyes. She was smiling and didn’t realize that his gaze turned piercing and yearning as he kept glancing over her lips.

“Kisses?” his voice came out in whisper accidentally.

“Yeah. Hershey’s. You only got Reese?”

Arin’s gaze never left her eyes. She was starting to look really attractive to him now despite her pale blue complexion and her heavy makeup. Arin longed to see her without this silly get up. He wanted to know her.

“I have a few Kisses too.” He replied in a low voice.

Jana wondered what’s wrong with him suddenly. Just minutes ago he was laughing hysterically when he playfully stole a candy basket from a random kid, which resulted in him throwing a full tantrum. Arin apologetically gave the basket back to him but the kid didn’t stop crying out loud and made his mom came over. They ran away hand in hand after that and laughing their asses off when they arrived here, at the quiet and dimly lit playground park.

And now he’s being – like this. Eyes piercing sharply and making her heart jumped and her stomach doing backflips.

“Can I have your kisses?” he asked suddenly, her wandering thoughts gone.

“Of course.” She smiled sweetly and looked down to her lap full of candies. She grabbed a handful of Hershey’s and looked up to him.

As soon as she tilted her head up, Arin crashed his lips onto hers and she was stunned, bewildered at his swift move. He kissed her softly but then parted at once, his eyes bulged watching her freeze.

“I’m – I’m -” he stuttered, trying to find the right words to describe his action earlier.

Jana too, was trying to find a good explanation behind all of this. This is Arin Ilejay. And she is just Jana. They just met and now he kissed her? Of course she was fighting with her own urge to kiss him senseless but that was because he is Arin!

What’s his excuse? Does he like me or something?

A sudden sound of Hail to The King ringing tone cleared the tensed air between them. Arin raised his eyebrows hearing that tone. Jana picked it up.

“Yeah, CC? Uh…I left like..half an hour ago. Okay, okay. Stop yelling! I’m on my way.”
She hung up and faced Arin who looked confused as hell.

“I have to go. CC’s waiting for me.” Jana got up to her feet and ready to leave but Arin caught her wrist so quickly, making her braided bracelet loosened.

“You knew about me?”

She blushed. A little bit embarrassed recalling the brief kiss earlier.

“I’m a metal head, Arin. Of course I do.”

Then she pulled her wrist softly away from his grip and ran away from there, leaving Arin clueless about who she really is. And these Hershey’s Kisses still unwrapped.

*****************************************************************************************************

“You’re a meanie, kid.”

Arin looked up from washing his face at the sink and saw Brian was standing behind him through the bathroom mirror. They were lounging at Matthew’s place now and watched horror movies together with the whole crew including their wives and girlfriends. He dried himself off before turning to face him.

“I told you. You have to go there to get in.”
“I’m motherfucking Synyster Gates, surely they’ll let me in?”
“They listened to dubsteps.”
“Oh fuck.”
“Yeah. Get over it dude.” Arin patted him on the shoulder and went out of the bathroom. Brian was a bit bummed because he can’t follow Arin to the party and was stuck here with these annoying couples watching movies and eating popcorns on Halloween night.

“So did you hook up with anyone there?”

Still tailing behind Arin, Brian perked an interest in Arin’s Halloween activity. Among all the members, Brian is the closest to Arin and always has been a great help to him.

“No.” he snorted a cackle and settle himself on the couch next to Valary and Matthew who wrapped their arms around each other while watching the wide ass screen TV. Brian sat on the couch handle beside him.

“Why not?”

Arin scratched his nose, trying to find the answer to that. Because she ran away from him after just one brief kiss?

“Gates, quit bugging the kid.” Matt scoffed lazily while occasionally rubbing on Valary’s growing belly.

“I wanna know how the hell is he still single. Hey, if you need help, I’m down with it anytime.”

“Brian, behave. I know you missed Michelle but no need to drag Arin in your lonely zone.” Valary spat without even looking at him. Arin chuckled watching Brian being nagged by the couple.

“Speaking of Chelle, when is she coming back? I’m getting tired of jacking off to myself every morning.”

There was a sudden loud murmur of disgusted noise, from all of them. Brian just sat there looking innocent and shrugged.

“That’s it Bri. You’re banned from movie night. Get the hell out of here.” Valary shoved him out of the room.

“Okay, okay! I’ll get out of here. No need to push me out! Jeez.”

Arin watched as they bickered, and soon found himself staring at an empty space, thinking about that fun mysterious girl earlier. He dug into his pocket and brought out a black and purple braided bracelet made out of yarn. It was hers. She accidentally dropped it after she confessed that she already knew who he was all along.

His heart had never jumped this way towards a girl before. Sure he had a few crushes back when he took drum major in UCLA but those aren’t even close to what he felt right now. He glanced around, watching them so immersed into the television while cuddling with each of their significant other.

Deciding to get out of there, he got up and went towards Brian outside who was smoking his Marlboro alone.

“Can I bump one?”

Brian looked around and smirked. “Sure, kid.”

He handed over his Marlboro box and Arin took a straw. He rarely smokes but tonight he felt like he needed to. After Brian lit up the end of his cigarette, he took a long drag immediately.

“Something’s been bugging you, kid?”

He looked at him, expression unreadable. Taking a deep breath, he started.

“There’s this girl.”

“Oh, now we’re talking.”

Brian made himself comfortable by sitting on the ledge of the balcony and facing Arin full frontal.

“We wore same theme costume tonight. She looked scary but beautiful at the same time, you know what I mean?”
“Like a hot zombie, shit like that?”
“Exactly. When we talked, I don’t know. We’re kind of – connected.”
Brian nodded and exhaled smokes from his nostrils. “Then?”
“Then I kissed her -”
“Right on!”
“ – and let her get away.”
“What the fuck.”
“Yeah.”
Brian narrowed his eyes at Arin. “You have her number right?”
“I didn’t even ask for her name.”
“Dude!”

Arin ruffled his hair and sat down next to Brian. “What was I supposed to do? We were playing roles of two cartoon characters for fuck’s sake.”

Brian shook his head as he dragged the last straw of his cigarette. “If you really like her, find her. I would if I were you.”

Arin chuckled at him. He blinked hard, dumbfounded.

“What?”
“That is the gayest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
Brian smirked. “What can I say? I have the hots for you.”
“Damn, Michelle really needs to come back soon.”

He laughed hard at Arin’s comments. Yeah, he missed that woman. She had to work outstation since the past couple of weeks. Luckily they just got back from tour two days ago and Michelle’s coming back next week.

“Oh, this Friday will be your first radio interview. You ready?”

Arin shrugged. He hadn’t gotten used to being a celebrity yet as they had just released Hail To The King not long ago. While his thoughts wandered about the album, he recalled the ringtone from that mysterious girl.

Why didn’t she say something about already knowing who he is? It wasn’t like Arin hoped for her to recognize him but it’d be nice to know her name and call her by it instead of using ‘Emily and Victor’ all night.

*****************************************************************************************************

“Where have you been last night? You ditched me!”

Jana woke up to a splitting high pitched voice from her roommate. She rubbed her eyes lazily and yanked the blanket away.

“Why didn’t you tell me Mike is a friend of Arin?”
“Arin? Arin who?”
Jana yawned and got up to her feet. “Arin Ilejay. The guy who replaced Rev.”

CC raised her eyebrows and her mouth dropped open in shock. “I did not know that. Are you serious? How did you know this? You met him? Like, last night? You’re hooking up with him? What about the others? Did you meet the others too?”

“CC!! Oh my God. Just – calm down will you. Yes I met him yesterday. Apparently he graduated from here. And he had been roommates with Mike long time ago.”

“This is not coincidence, Jana. This is fate. Didn’t you always listen to him playing and always admiring his skill? Now’s the time Jana. Go for him! Call him, right now!”

“Damn it, CC! Get a grip! I don’t have his number. He doesn’t even know who I am. I bet he won’t recognize me without the costume makeup last night.”

“What?! You had the chance meeting him and you didn’t flirt? What’s wrong with you, Jana?”

Jana rolled her eyes. She went forward to the bathroom and shut the door behind her, ignoring CC’s ranting. She turned on the shower and let the water ran through her body. While she stood under the showerhead, she kept thinking about that kiss last night. It was a soft kiss, no begging for access but it made her stomach fluttered even by thinking about it. She bit her lip and ran her hand through her damp hair. That was when she realized her bracelet was gone.

“Oh shit. CC’s friendship bracelet!”

*****************************************************************************************************

Jana picked on a few CDs to be played onto the playlist as Kevin will be starting his segment in just 30 minutes. Today she felt different. She didn’t even know why, Her stomach kept giving birth to butterflies ever since she got here. Goosebumps crept up behind her neck for no reason. But nonetheless she felt a bit depressed about her missing bracelet. CC stopped talking to her for a few hours because of it.

“Hey Jana! How are you today?” Kevin went in and settled his backpack on the chair as usual.
“Good. I didn’t start with Avenged Sevenfold today though.”
“Ah, don’t worry about that. Guess what. Your test is today.”

She dropped her jaw right there, eyes widened watching Kevin casually moved to the rack and picked a few CDs too. So this is why she felt nervous all of a sudden, for no reason.

“You mean I get to be on air?”
“Yep. Just a simple segment. We’ll be having guest today and you’re gonna interview them.”
“What? I’m interviewing??”
“Yeah, the questions are ready, just ask them away. Not that hard. Can you do it?”

Jana hesitated for a bit. This is like a dream come true. She finally gets to be on air, playing her favorite song without limit and gets a chance to speak to famous people.

“Of course I can. I’ve been waiting for this day ever since I started working here.”
“Good. Maybe then you’ll consider doing this full time.”
“Sure, Kev. Oh God I can’t wait. Who will I interview later?”

Kevin shot an evil toothy grin at her. He’d been planning to surprise her since last Tuesday.

“To avoid you from being speechless later, I’ll tell you. Help you get prepared. It’s Avenged Sevenfold.”
“WHAT!?” she gasped loudly, can’t believe her own ears. This is her first test, first interview, first time meeting – well at least to the other members of Avenged Sevenfold. She jumped, couldn’t hide her excitement as Kevin just laughed watching her.

Oh, I wonder will Arin be here later.

It’d be fucking awkward if Arin can recognize her. They shared a kiss last Halloween and it had been replayed inside her head like a broken record. Though the kiss was between two strangers who just met but to Jana it was unforgettable. She hoped that Arin won’t recognize her. Beside her hair is back to black and purple, her used to be pale complexion is now sun kissed, and she didn’t wear her torn dress anymore. Her lip ring is back in its place.

Approximately 15 minutes later, the band – full band – came into the studio conty and shook hands with Kevin. Jana stood motionless behind the desk waiting for them to come over. Matthew came over first with a smile, showing his dimples and hugged her briefly. So did the rest of the band. She shuddered at the sight of Arin who was pacing towards her and smiling.

Clearly he didn’t recognize her.

“Cool hair.” He muttered while hugging her briefly, making her blush.
“Thank you.”
“How are you doing guys?” Kevin began as the band settled themselves on each chair provided and started to get ready. They have been doing this a lot of times, Jana can tell.

“We’re good Kev. Just got back from Montreal. Crazy crowd there. You should have seen them.” Matthew answered while taking off his aviator and slipped it on his tshirt. Brian didn’t take off his glasses as his mouth was busy chewing gum while Zacky still had his baseball cap on and Johnny, being Johnny. Short and couldn’t reach the top of the microphone. Zacky had to adjust the stand for him to use comfortably.

Arin sat right in front of Jana who was now back behind the desk, pretending to go over the questions while they were conversing about tour stuff with Kevin.

“This is Jana, your interviewer for today. She’s having a test so, you guys can be evil.”
“Really…?” Matthew arched one eyebrow at Jana and she smiled, pursing her lips.
“Yeah. And to be honest she’s a big fan of you guys.”
Damn Kevin. She already kicked Kevin in the shin inside her mind. Her face flushed as she caught Arin’s eyes, glinting softly at her.
“Okay, we’ll start in 5. You’re ready Jana?”

Jana nodded at Kevin. She watched as Kevin held out his palm, counting from one till five.

“Hey there LA folks. You’re listening to KROQ FM and I’m Jana, your new buddy and I will be playing your requests up until 5 pm. So start sending them in via online, text messages or even phone me.”

Okay. The first test. She passed with flying colors. That was the easy part. She can just mimic Kevin as she had been watching him doing it for the past 6 months.

“We have a little surprise for you guys today at the studio. A handful of guest. Let’s say that they are the kings of metal bands…and they have five members.”

She shot a glare at Kevin who grinned widely and to the five of Avenged guys who nodded at her – feeling impressed. God knows how her heart raced crazily right now.

“So stay tuned to find out who they are. But in the meantime let’s listen to our first request which is from Leyla in New Orleans. She requested a song from Guns n Roses, November Rain and Alicia Keys, No One.”

Second test. She nailed it. While the songs blared through the speakers,, she took a deep breath and calm herself down.

“Wow, Jana! That was your first time? You seem natural.”
She looked up and saw Brian was talking to her.
“Thanks, Syn. I try.”
“You know what? Today is Arin’s first interview too. Maybe you can ask him some personal questions like does he have a girlfriend, or does he have a crush on anyone lately.” Brian nudged Arin on the rib and the guy just chuckled.

Did he say – crush? Does Arin have crush on somebody already? Then why would he kiss me? Oh gosh. Does he have a crush on me?!

“Brian is so drunk right now. You have to avoid asking him anything.” Matthew explained teasingly and made Jana laughed.

“About that crush,” Kevin began suddenly. He paced forward to stand between Arin and Brian. “Do you have a crush on anyone lately, Arin?”

Shit, Kevin. Why do you have to be so painfully accurate with my mind right now?

“Damn right he does!” Brian cut in. “He’s been looking for that girl ever since. Didn’t know her name or her number.”

“Dude! Stop embarrassing me. At least not in front of Jana!” Arin glanced at her and when their eyes locked they both felt it. That racing pulse and shivers sent down to spines. Jana already knew why she was feeling like this, but Arin didn’t.

“No please carry on. I didn’t have any personal question for you anyway, and I’m dying to hear.”

“See, Arin? Everyone’s interested in your love life.”

“I’m not.” Zacky cut off while playing with his phone.

“Zacky’s just being jealous. You see, Jana, Zacky’s been with Gena all his life and he didn’t understand how does it feel to have a crush on someone.” Matthew explained again.

Woah. Jana thought. What a friendly pack they are! They just casually blurted out gossips about their personal life to a total stranger.

Arin stared at Jana and hesitated. He wouldn’t just share the moment he met his infamous Corpse Bride with just anyone. Certainly not to a stranger girl who made his stomach flipped without knowing the reason. Besides, he didn’t want to let anyone see that he was desperately looking for that girl. His story was a lot like Cinderella rather than the Corpse Bride movie itself.
He was about to say something but Jana had to cut him off and hurriedly putting on her headphones, realizing that the tune from Alicia Keys was over.

“Thank you guys for coming here. It’s an honor to have my favorite band on my first time being on air.” Jana shook Brian’s hand as they were ready to leave the studio after two hours being here.

“No problem Jana. Great to have you as the interviewer. Kevin trained you well.” Brian flashed his famous smirk and went out of the room. Arin was the last in line to shake her hand and when their gazes met again, for the hundredth times, they both felt the shivers.

“Hey Arin. Thanks again for being patient with me.”
“You too. I’m so glad we’re in the same page. I was nervous as hell.”
“So do I.”

They smiled at each other and stood awkwardly, both recalling the Halloween night but only Arin didn’t realize that Jana is the Corpse Bride he was searching for.

“Well, see you later.”

“See you, Arin.”

He was walking towards the door when suddenly Jana’s phone rang, crying out her Hail To The King ringtone. Arin halted in his steps, remembering that his mystery girl also had the same ringtone. He turned and stared as Jana was answering her phone. He frowned - wasn’t sure whether Jana is the girl he was searching for, or is she just a fan of that song. Just to be sure, he approached Jana slowly, eavesdropping to her conversation on the phone.

“Yeah CC. That was my voice on the air thank you. …No I don’t! Stop urging me! …No he doesn’t look at me that way. Besides, he’s famous. And I’m just -”

“My metal head Cinderella.” Arin mumbled in a low voice, but it made Jana quickly spun around.

“Arin!” she yelled in half whisper.

“Found you, ‘Emily’.”

This time, without warning and waiting for anything Arin grabbed both sides of her cheeks and kissed her lips gently. Jana let her phone hung in her palm as she kissed him back, granting him a full access into her mouth. They both couldn’t stop thinking about each other all week and now they reunited in a perfect intertwining kiss in a radio station with no one around.

“I knew it was you. I kind of hope it was you.” Arin muttered under his breath as he parted from the long kiss. Jana smiled at him, her arms locked behind his neck.

“Hi, I’m Jana.”

Arin chuckled slightly. “Hi, Jana. I’m Arin. The drummer from Avenged Sevenfold, the band you love so much.”

They both laughed softly and soon Arin kissed her again, deeper this time. But then he pulled away suddenly and dug into his pocket to bring out her missing bracelet. She gasped happily at the sight of it.

“Oh and, you dropped this.”

Notes

A/N: hey @Syn.Deep.In.My.Blood, sorry I took a loooong time to publish this. As I told you that I was busy haha. I hope you like it XD