After they were finished with the show, the guys went out back for a meet and greet. Jason lead me to the room they were in and The Rev saw me first.
"Hey! It's Eliza!" he said as he made his way through the crowd to hug me and I stood in shock. Jimmy "The Reverend" Sullivan was hugging me!
I heard a laugh come from behind him. "Jimmy, let the poor girl go. She was hurt remember?" Synyster Gates said.
Jimmy stood up straight but kept his hand on my shoulder. "Oh yeah. Is your hand ok?" he asked me.
I nodded, still in shock, and held up my injured hand with the melting bag of ice. I was such a dumbass! Why couldn't I speak to them? It probably had something to do with the fact that these five guys were my idols. Not just for their talent or their good looks (and they had plenty of both) but because they weren't just bandmates. They were best friends and brothers. I had never known anything like that.
Sure I'd had friends growing up but only because they pitied me. I was the little American girl who was being raised by a poor Irish family and they didn't even love me. They loved my brother more, but why wouldn't they? Liam was their real child. I was just the leftovers from some family that didn't want me.
I shook my head refusing to think about them at a time like this. I had run away from them and ended up in the same room with Avenged Sevenfold and not to mention I was just hugged by The Rev.
Zacky Vengeance and Johnny Christ came up behind Syn and looked at me.
"Holy shit!" Zacky said. "She's shorter than Johnny!"
I laughed as Johnny punched Zacky in the shoulder. Johnny turned to me and smiled. "Where are you from? Your accent is different than the other ones I've heard around here."
I hugged my numb hand to my chest and looked at my feet. "I was born in America," I said. "But when I was four, my parents adopted me and brought me here to Ireland where I grew up. I've picked up the accent just by listening at a young age."
Jimmy reached down to take the bag of cold water and lifted my hand up to his face. "Well it was swollen but I think it may have gone down," he said.
I nodded dumbly. If I kept doing that, my head would fall off.
The crowd in the room was starting to grow thin now until it was only me, the guys and a couple of their roadies. Shadows came up to join our little group and he smiled at me.
"Hey there, Eliza. How's the hand?" he asked me.
"Ok." I said.
Syn laughed again. "Poor girl is scared of us. See, Jimmy? You scared her when you attacked her with one of your crazy hugs."
Jimmy shot him a look. "I happen to be a very sneaky hug ninja, Brian. Maybe it was your stuck-my-finger-in-a-light-socket hair that scared her."
I laughed hard at that and Johhny smiled at me again.
"Hey, I think we're starting to get her out of her shell." he said and winked at me. I smiled back at him. I was really starting to enjoy myself, but I knew it wouldn't last very long.
As if to prove that point, Matt said "I'm sorry, Eliza but we have to go. Is there somebody waiting for you?"
I shook my head and he tried again. "Well it's really dark and cold out there. One of us will walk you to your car."
Johnny shot his hand up to volunteer but before Matt could say anything I shook my head again. "I didn't drive. I had to hitch a ride three times to get here."
"Oh," Matt said, looking around. "Well get on the bus. We'll take you home."
I shook my head for a third time. "I'm never going back there. When they adopted me, they expected big things from me. When it turned out that all I wanted was to play music and that I wasn't an exact copy of their son, Liam, they started to despise me. I was a disappointment to them. I had spent almost everything I had on this ticket and they tried to keep me from coming to this concert. So I ran away and here I am. But I never really thought farther than that."
All five of them were looking at me with shocked faces. Brian spoke up first. "I doubt they really thought you were a disappointment, Eliza. All teenagers think that about their parents when they have siblings."
I looked up at him trying not to cry. I refused to cry in front of them. "Do those parents tell that child daily that they are a disappointment? That they wished they were like the other child? That they wish they never had them?"
Again, they were all staring at me in shocked silence. This time it was Johnny who spoke up. "They actually told you this stuff?" he asked.
"Yes," I said quietly. "They want me to marry somebody I don't want to marry. Everytime I say no, they get very angry with me. My mother told me tonight that she knew I'd be trouble when she adopted me."
"How old are you?" Zacky asked me.
I looked up at him. "Nineteen. I'll be twenty in three months."
"And you're just now getting away from all of that?" Brian said.
I nodded again. "I had nowhere else to go. But there was no way I was going to miss this concert. You guys are the reason I play at all."
Matt looked at me. "What do you play?"
I looked at Johnny and then over at Jimmy. "Bass and drums," I said.
Both of them smiled and Jimmy threw his hands up. "I have a mini-me!" Jimmy yelled out.
Johnny laughed. "Hey! So do I!."
Zacky draped an arm over his shoulder. "Christ, you are a mini-you."
I laughed again and it felt so good to actually be happy for the first time in a long time. Matt looked like he was thinking something over then he pulled the guys away to talk to them in a group.
I stood in the corner and looked down at my hand. A lot of the swelling had gone down and the pain was mostly gone, but I knew it would be bruised by tomorrow.
It was a good ten minutes or so before their little huddle broke up and they came over to me. They were all smiling but it looked like Johnny was smiling the biggest.
I looked from face to face, trying to figure out what was going on. "What?" I asked.
"Come to America with us." Matt said. "You're technically an American citizen since you were born there. And like you said, there's nothing left for you here."
This time, it was my turn to look at them with shock. They were asking me to come with them? They barely knew me. But they were right, there was nothing left for me here. I would miss Ireland very much, but who would give this opportunity up?
I smiled up at them. "Yes. I will go with you."
Jimmy whooped and pulled me into another hug, but Brian held up a hand. "Hold on guys. We don't even know if she has a passport."
I pulled my bag off my shoulder and dug through it until I found what I was looking for. I held my passport up for them to see it. "I got it made a few weeks ago. I had been planning to travel and go see the world. But Da had crushed that dream too."
Matt held the passport up. "Looks good to me," he said as he handed it back to me. "Ok, Eliza. Come get on the bus. You're coming home with us."
Later, on the bus, I sat between Jimmy and Brian on one of the couches. They were all drinking and laughing. I had a beer in my hand but I hadn't taken a single drink from it. I was afraid that my nervous stomach would just throw it up. There was some music blaring through the speakers, but I wasn't paying much attention.
Only a few hours ago, I had been nothing but a stupid girl running away from a family that didn't want her. And now I was on a tour bus with my favorite band of all time and they were taking me home with them. My life was changing so quickly.
Matt came up to the front of the bus putting his phone back into his pocket and turned to me. "I just got off the phone with my wife, Val. When we get home, you're going to stay with us until you can get on your feet."
I smiled at him. "Thank you very much."
He nodded and took a beer from the mini-fridge. Jimmy draped a long arm behind me on the couch and looked down at me. "So, Eliza. You say you play drums?"
I nodded. "Yes. I learned by listening to you play. Same with the bass. If I listen to it, I can play it."
Jimmy's eyes got wide. "That's a great talent to have," he said making me smile. "And you say you learned by listening to me?"
I nodded again and he hugged me. "Matt! Can I keep her? I'll take good care of her I promise!"
Zacky laughed. "She's not a puppy, Rev."
Jimmy was now petting my head, but I didn't care. I was having fun. "She's my new sister. I'll take really good care of her, Shadows! Please?"
"It's up to her," Matt said smiling at me.
I shrugged. "Sure. But you have to feed me everyday," I said to Jimmy making him hug me harder.
"Yay!" he said jumping up to look through the fridge.
Johnny gave him a look. "What're you doing, Jimbo?"
"Getting food for my Eliza. I have to feed her. She's my responsibility now," Jimmy said still rummaging through the fridge.
I laughed at him. I was really starting to love my life right now.

Notes

Ok, my loves :) second chapter to my Johnny story.
Wifi didn't happen today so I'll try to post as much as I can.
Comments and cookies! <3