I’ve got dressed with a black sleeveless vest, my favorite fedora hat and an aviator glasses to, at least, try to remain anonymous. Oh, let's face it! I know it was probably impossible not to be recognized with that outfit but, well, I was gonna take my risks today.
I went walking by the beach until I got close to main street, where Emily’s band was playing on Pure Rock Bar that friday night. Before I had planned to go watch her, I made sure that Jimmy wouldn’t be going there that night too. It would be too awkward to go if he was there, for obvious reasons.
Besides, we were all too tired to even think about getting out of our houses, our last gigs were in sequel and so stressful to attend. But I had cleverly reserved some energy just to finally put an end to my curiosity to have her playing in front of me. And something was telling me I needed to get ready to be startled tonight.

I got into the place and walked around slowly to observe the surroundings. The house wasn’t even close to full and maybe I was the youngest person in there. The audience was specific: former lovers of pure and classic rock, sometimes with long beards and a few old tattoos spread on their arms. That hard rock landscape reminded me of the times when I used to hear it with Jimmy while rolling a joint, hidden in the back of Huntington Park. Now I haven’t heard that type of music since…since Avenged Sevenfold got my full attention. I was quite nostalgic by then...

The lights were already faded, just a few spotlights around the small stage and some candles on the walls were left on. I chose a table far from the stage but it still allowed me to have full view of it, especially of the right side where guitar players usually stands. I was in fact in front of her mic and guitar pedals. It was the perfect place to stay.
As I called the waiter and asked for a scotch on the rocks, the lights went off entirely and were replaced by deep blue ones, making the environment dark and quite mysterious to my sight. The Joplin tune was turned off and the band finally came in with ovation from the not so big but faithful audience. It felt good to actually applaud somebody instead of being on the stage as the center of attention. I missed that feeling...

Their first song began with a somewhat known intro but I wasn’t sure from where. Emily was the only girl there and by far the only one who caught my attention with great stage presence right away. Just few girls have the same courage to join in an all-guy band. I had literally taken my hat off to her.

“I should’ve quit you...a long time ago...” and when the singer entered, I remembered it instantly: The Lemon Song, Led Zeppelin.

And again, it dragged me straight back to the old times. Me and Jimmy would skip gym classes to smoke weed and drink stolen beer just to listen to those songs. We were always listening to LZ and Black Sabbath, wishing that someday we could do it right like they did. Get on top of the world.

My drink arrived exactly at the accelerated part of the song while her solo invaded my ears and punched hard at my brains. She was utterly diving into that song, her body was going back and forth on that tiny stage as her silky and long reddish hair would cover all her face following the rhythm of her swaying head.
She would never miss a single note and I never saw her looking at the fretboard, she knew it too damn well. Her solos seemed all improvised, as what I remembered it. Brightly improvised.
The influences of Jimmy Page just couldn’t stop rising from her fingers. Her style of playing was so different than mine, I began to wonder why she have Avenged Sevenfold as her favorite band. It just didn’t make sense to me…

Things were starting to heat up when I heard those final chords followed by 'Squeeze my lemon till the juice runs down my leg...' lyrics. That song was kick-ass, I laughed my ass off at that awesome part.
Time to ask for my dear Jack Daniel’s to join me on this psychedelic journey from the past.

“We are The Darkest Hour, ladies and gentlemen.” their singer quickly presented and soon after, hit us with a “Hey hey, mama, said the way you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove!” the next tune was fucking Black Dog. So Emily came in with one of the most famous and glorious riffs in history of rock’n roll and shook every single grown man on that place just by her unique way of handling her Les Paul. I could no longer prevent my legs and head from bouncing up and down with the groovy rhythm as Emily was blowing up the speakers with her little piece of wood. There was even another guitar player there and I had ignored his existence until Emily started with her solo again and he took the rhythm just by himself. She was good, I had to admit it. But I wasn’t feeling surprised as much as I thought I would. Maybe I just kept my expectations on a higher ground for her…

They played a few more songs like Rock’n Roll, Burn, Foxy Lady and some of their own. I was marveled at her ability to make incredibly melodic blues solos and it got me completely convinced she was the best female version of Page I’ve ever seen.
I was sure she hadn’t seen me there and I planned to stay unknown until the end. I didn’t want her to be nervous because of me.
After a few more drinks and some really good old songs, when I thought I wouldn’t be impressed more than I already was, the singer, a very hippie and long-haired guy announced:

“Guys, this is our last song! We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did and…we saved the best for last! Mrs. Emily Clarke, ladies and gentlemen, lead guitar!” as soon as he finished presenting, Emily invaded our ears and hearts with a mind blowing minor scale solo which brought me intense shivers from head to toe. And when I was able to identify the song and the exact version she was about to rub heavily in my face, I felt an even deeper chill down my spine. It brought so many memories, heartbroken memories mostly. But I was progressively forgetting about everything else around me as my entire body and soul was absorbing her notes.

By the end of that flabbergasting opening solo, I had lost count of how long my jaw hanged open. Fuck! She just transformed a set of notes into perfection to my ears and sex to my eyes.
In the slow and seductive pace the drum and bass were setting in, her inviting lips coated with darken red lipstick would open in presence of low notes and would open further more with the higher notes, as if that heavenly sound was coming from her insides. Her head moved easily and rhythmically, making her hair to fall a few times on her face again as she closed her eyes in reply to the singing verses.

“Oh baby, since I’ve been loving you… I’m about to lose…my worried mind.”

The world began to disappear since I started to notice how I could easily get aroused by women playing amazingly like that. Emily was at outer space, mesmerized by that atmosphere, as her left hand would gently slid through that Les Paul honeyburst neck. Her mouth then remained open and eyes closed, as if she was experiencing an unstoppable ecstasy. I dropped my gaze from her beautiful face down to her body and realized that as she was moving on the stage, her nipples would become visible through the white tank top she was wearing. Oh fuck...
Then my hungry eyes started to wonder at how sometimes the guitar strap would pass in the middle of her perky breasts while she was curving her body to make a few teasing movements with her guitar.
God, I really needed to take a deep breath before proceeding with my analysis. That was, apparently, better than porn and I really had to control my urges there.
I looked down to her waist, her swagger that would go back and forth and was causing her hips to meet up directly with the guitar body, matching her fold and unfold knee movement. Damn...stop thinking dirty, Brian...

And with all that sexy body language that made me freak out and burn with lust in only just a few minutes of Since I’ve Been Loving You, I came to a final conclusion. She was wildly fucking with that guitar there, for everyone to see. My mouth automatically drew a pretentious smile when I remembered I was the first one of us to ever watch her playing, even before Jimmy. I just loved the feeling of being the first to see how passionate she was while holding her instrument and doing what she was born to do, to be a performer.
I let my imagination run wild, completely ignoring the fact that she was my best friend’s girlfriend, and it made me think about how she would be in bed. So intense and ardent as she was on the stage, maybe?
I knew it was time to startle those thoughts away when I felt that well-known pressure invade in between my legs. I sighed heavily again and tried to focus just on her playing. Well, that alone was better than striptease, I would say…

Just. Fucking. Breathe. Brian!

As soon as the song ended, the audience and me included stood up in ovation to them again. A few lights came on suddenly. Emily’s eyelinered surprised eyes found mine with no makeup on. She showed me a discreet smile, almost seductive if my mind wasn’t trying to fool me. I applauded even more and pointed my index finger at her, trying to tell her she had stolen the scene that night. And, maybe...stolen my heart…

The entire band greeted us all and got out of stage progressively; some of them went to the dressing room straight, others sat up on a table to order something. Emily hugged all of them with a big grin stamped on her face and started to pack her stuff up. I tried to slow down my heartbeat as I decided to approach her after drinking the last sip of whisky.

“Wow…Who’s to say that the powerful Synyster Gates would come to the mortal world to watch my garage band! I thought you had tossed that paper I gave you right away in the trash!” she smiled ironically as she was turning off the pedals and cables. I guess I could expect some hostility in response to my bad behavior in the studio that other day. I admit it, I deserved that.

“You will never see me disregard any bands. Never. I always like to know good music when I can…and you guys are really great, I mean it.” I didn’t want to just spit out the whole attachment I felt for her in particular. I mean, the band was tight and could handle bigger audiences but she was better, special and different from everything I had seen. She looked at me suspiciously, like not believing a single thing I was saying as I sat down on that tiny stage. I took off my aviator and followed her every move. Emily finally packed everything and sat by my side afterwards, frowning at me.

“Where’s Jimmy, the whole gang and stuff? I haven’t seen them around!” she asked, looking around and searching for them.

“No Jimmy, no band, no gang today! They are all exhausted from our last gigs. You’ll just have to settle with me tonight, the dude who doesn’t know how to tune his own fucking guitar…” I gave her an introspective smile and she had surprised eyes. Was I really demoting myself to impress a girl?

“C’mon, Brian… I was lucky that day. You’re still the fastest guitar player from the old west, ma friend!” she said it with a hillbilly accent at the end before gently slapping my left leg. Cute. “Just go ahead and compare our pay checks, you’ll see…”

“The best talents are always hidden somewhere in the underground scene, Emily… I just happened to bump into a four leaf clover.”

“I think you’ve done more than that…” she sent me her best gaze from the corner of her eye that almost made me believe she was flirting with me. Really? “But…seriously now... What did you, Brian Haner Jr., think about our sound? Your opinion is kinda important to me!” she hold my eyes on hers and I had to hold myself not to kiss her after hearing my entire name coming out of her perfect shaped red lips. Jimmy’s voice inside my head had built a huge barrier on my acts then:“Behave yourself, Haner!” I took a little while to get back to my normal thoughts and her still unanswered question.

“I thought you all kicked ass there and I would certainly take your band to join in a tour with us if I had that power. Your band is excellent, but, you know… you end up stealing the limelight, as a matter of fact.” my hand itched my neck mindlessly and I hoped she could understand what I was trying to say.

“Oh, am I that bad?” and, of course, Emily understood exactly the opposite of what I meant. Women!

“No, hell not! You’re amazing, that last song impressed the shit out of me! And your improvisations on the classics make you a perfect female version of Page, easily!” I got carried away and ended up summarizing what she was in a single sentence. Great, zippy...

“Wow, there are a lot of compliments in that statement of yours, Brian… I know better I’m not even half of what you said and you’re just telling me this to please me, only God knows why…”

“Believe me, Emily, that version of Since I’ve Been Loving You…I swear to God…” I paused to think if I really should say that. I had to convince her of her potential. “…don’t get me wrong but…it seemed like you were having crazy sex with that guitar of yours. I could never get concentrated like that with your stage presence, without missing at least a few notes. And you didn’t miss a thing, Emily, you were…perfect!” when my brain finally stopped to send information to my blabbering mouth I stumbled on her enigmatic eyes to take a breath. Had I said too much?

The silence hung a bit at our own universe as there was a lot of talking and laughing around us. When it was almost getting embarrassing, she broke the ice with a sudden smirk and a slight chuckle.

“I’ve seen you playing and I know I’m far from perfection, Brian. But I always had this idea in my head that…to play rock’n roll is just like having sex with music, with so much love and passion, you know. I just can’t get on a stage without that thought, I’m glad you captured it when no one ever noticed it before.” she gazed at me again with serene and greeting eyes. Now I could swear it was her turn to want to kiss me. And I begged with all my strength she would do it…

We stayed on that raptured moment, glaring at each other, trying to decipher our deepest thoughts. So she smirked again and broke our visual contact, looking ahead and taking a sip of her drink. What was up now?

“I don’t get you, Brian… On the rehearsal you weren’t half the nice person you’re being right now. What happened? What has changed?” I could feel her trying to read my thoughts through my eyes. I got embarrassed and couldn’t think of a right answer to that. I could never tell her the truth, that I had a crush on her since the first moment I saw her on backstage. How many times I needed to repeat to myself that she was my fucking best friend’s girl? If I would tell her, we wouldn’t be able to stay in the same place together again without feeling awkward. I averted her gaze instantly.

“Well… Synyster Gates was having a bad day there, sorry about that. But tonight I’m just Brian, I swear. And changing a bit to Synyster G. now, I say if you make some good changes in your guitar, its sound will improve a lot. Maybe it’s time to change your old humbuckers for new ones on your Gibson. I can help you with that, what you think?”

“Oh, my baby really needs some arrangements, huh? I would love to!” she showed me her biggest ear-to-ear grin and I thought that as the prettiest thing ever. “I’ve worked for four years in a music store until a few weeks ago and never got enough money to buy a decent instrument for myself. My dream is to have a legit Les Paul someday.” she smirked again, giggling after. “Oh, look at me talking about it with you. Your house must be full of guitars everywhere…”

“I have a few but no that much! So you WORKED on an instruments shop…?” I frowned.

“I had to quit…I mean, in fact, I was fired…”

“Why?” I curiously asked and she laughed, a bit ashamed.

“Okay, promise me you won’t laugh!” I disguised my smiling face as I already wanted to burst in laughter and raised my hands in promising sign. “I was caught smoking a joint at the back of the store before my shift…” I try to get a hold on myself but it wasn’t working, I laughed automatically. “You promised!!!” her tense features was turning into a funny one and seconds later she was laughing with me.

“Impossible not to laugh! Your boss fired you cause you wanted to cool off? He should be fired from life!”

“Yeah, I thought so too…”

“So no day job at the moment?”

“Yep, and I really needed that money. My roommate is killing me when she found out I don’t have my part of the rent this month.” she looked down, embarrassed.

“Well, problem solved. I’ve been looking for a real good guitar tech to work exclusively with me and, you, with all your abilities and those ears, are perfect for the job. It’s yours if you want!” I offered hoping that she would accept it right away. Without thinking about Jimmy, her band or twice.

“Wow, you came full of surprises tonight, huh!?! Oh, I’m flattered, Brian, really. I would love to work with Avenged, with you!! But I guess I need to talk to my band first because there will be some days that our gigs will match. And, well… I need to talk to Jimmy too, right?”

“Oh sure… but most of our concerts are on weekends for now on. You play here wednesdays and fridays. And I’m sure Jimmy will enjoy it.”

“Can I answer you on monday?”

“Sure and if you are planning to take it, our session starts 7 pm!” she nodded with a smile and I could see an even deeper glare in her hazel eyes now. I just loved to see her happy like that.

“Now you should at least let me buy you a drink! I can’t think of another way to thank you!” she rose from the stage and offered me her hand. It was my time to grin now.

“How many you want!” I took her hand in mine and she dragged me to a table.

---

It was 3 AM and there were only two tattooed people stumbling and giggling on the streets of Huntington Beach. Emily had drunk much less than me but seemed more stoned than I was. I guess I had already created some resistance to high doses of alcohol with so many years of abuse.

“You kept asking drinks for me, Emily, it’s not my damn fault! Now look at you, you can’t even walk straight now!” I said with a drawl and laughing a bit, then I tied my hand in her waist, to help with her lack of balance.

“Hey, I’m all good, Brian! Look, I can walk all by myself, okay!?” she let go of my arm, pulled my fedora out of my head and began parading in front of me with an exaggerate shimmy. All I could do was laugh even more of that scene.

“If you keep going like this, you’ll be able to pay your rent real quick!” my stupid mumbling made her stop walking immediately and turn to face me as I reached her. Oh god, she was even sexier with my hat on.

“What do you mean by that? Were you looking at my ass?” she seemed a bit angry and cocky at the same time, I just couldn’t tell. What the hell, she wouldn’t remember this tomorrow anyway…

I went back to hug her and guide her lanky body as she still was staring at my face. Oh, I wasn’t actually planning to answer her question, if that was what she was thinking.
We begin to walk slowly again and in a sudden jolt, I felt her hand slipping down my back and stopping at my butt, to give it a little grab afterwards.
My mission was now to control myself and control that hussy little girl too? I wasn’t sure if I would be able to succeed on that.

“Hey! This is sexual harassment, you know?” I said it in a quite loud and squeaky voice, stepping aside from her at the same time.

“You looked at my butt and I can’t grab yours? We are damn even now!” she was the one to put her arm around me now, pushing my entire body against hers. Be strong, Gates, be strong!

“How can we possibly be even? I only gave it a little peek but you…you squeezed mine! I don’t get your logic…”

“Aww, you confessed!!! I knew it!!” Emily pulled away from me again and stopped to laugh in a really high and loud pitch, as if I had told her a state secret. A man cannot just look at women butts for once in a while, dammit?

“Funny...very funny! Go ahead, laugh it up Emily!” she giggled even louder now and started to walk unsteadily to one of those houses on the street. I really hoped it was hers because I didn’t want to get arrested for trespassing.

“Well, the score is 100 x 10 to you now, lil sin!” I reached her standing on a front door while she was giving me that mysterious look with my hat slightly curved on her face. Now I could only see her mouth from that bad lighting.

“What are you talking about, what is that score? I’m winning?” I frowned with a smirk.

“Yeah…now that you know where I live, you get 100 extra points now!” when I least expected, she wrapped her arms in my neck slowly. That alone sent shivers down my spine again. It was a crucial moment now, I needed to back out but something just stopped me. Her eyes, now close to mine, were looking deep inside me.

“And the other 100 points, where did it come from?” my arms automatically found her waist like a magnet target, it was just the perfect place to rest them. My head was screaming to not do that. Any of us could be the one to make the first move now, all my rational thoughts were scrambled into her eyes. I just wasn’t sure who would dare.

“Oh, because it’s…been 8 years that I have this huge crush on you, Brian, and tonight it got even bigger on that sweet and gentle man I met today…” she let out her marvelous smile and that set of information just made my heart sprint. What? She had a crush on me? For 8 years? And what the hell is she doing with Rev anyway? Fuck!

Before I could organize my thoughts to answer, her lips calmly landed on mine as her soft hands were moving from the back of my neck down to my cheeks to push my head closer.
Even with all my struggling with my urges to finally let her win, I didn’t allow her to go further with that kiss. Despite of my cravings and being able to use that old drunk excuse, I couldn’t do that to Jimmy or take advantage of a woman with low inhibition like that.
I would simply keep that feeling of her fleshy lips landing on mine locked in my heart forever. And that was all.
She took a step back and looked a little disappointed with my lack of response. Then she took the hat from her head and placed it back on mine gingerly.

“The night was great, Brian… Thanks for escorting me here. Do you…wanna come inside for a while?” her naughty grin was denouncing her dirty thoughts. C’mon, Emily, help me out here!

“No, it’s late, Emily, I gotta go. I feel like I owe you a few drinks now so… Charge me on monday!” I said as I was walking away from her a bit bland, with my hands stuck in my pockets now. My heartbeat was finally getting back to normal rate while I was watching her trying to unlock the door and get inside. Oh, thank god it was really her house!

“Oh okay, I’ll definitely charge you for that!” she yelled one last time and quickly covered her mouth, finally realizing how loud her voice sounded.

I nodded with a discreet chuckle and made my way home, quite dazed with everything. But I went home with a certainty that drunk people usually tell the truth. Was she… actually telling the truth?

When I turned the next corner, I noticed I lived just one street above hers.

Fate just loved to play with me…

SHIT!

Notes

Brian noticed her magic now ;D

Hit me with your thoughts, would ya? =D