The sun glare invading the window woke me up instantly. Did I sleep on the couch again? Shit!
I ran my hand on my face and slowly lifted from that horrible position my body stayed all night long. That’s when the worst headache made its way into my blurred thoughts and spread to my body muscles seconds after. Damn, I need to stop drinking like this…
As I knew my promises of quit drinking would never prevail because I was a musician with a wild spirit and problems of my own and all this same old same shit, I wouldn’t be making those again right now. I’m a guitar player, fuck, to drink is what we do best! Besides, I had nice company…really nice company to join me on this little party. Drinking with one of your idols is probably the best way of having fun in my point of view. As I was trying to reminisce last night, a huge smile sprang from my only muscles that weren’t hurting at that time. Just a noise in the kitchen was able to take me out of my thoughts.

“Hey sleeping beauty! It’s already past noon, were you planning to ever wake up again?” Jess asked loud as fuck to my hangovered ears as I got closer to the kitchen table and let my tired body lay in one of the chairs.

“Please, Jess, keep it down, whisper if it’s possible...” I pick up the coffee pot lazily as I noticed she was washing the dishes. I took a cup of coffee and dragged my ass back to the chair.

“Oh, drinking beyond measures again! When I don’t show up you always manage to get out of line, right, mrs. Rockstar?”

“Well, it was for a good cause this time, J. You will never believe who was in the audience of Pure Rock yesterday…” I smirked.

“With all that luck you’ve been having lately, I would say...Chester Bennington?”

“No, no, not even close! I was all thrilled by the end of our performance with that last song, suddenly the lights came on and soon I was able to recognize a certain someone at the audience with a fedora hat cheering me on there. I couldn’t fucking believe it, Jess!” she immediately closed the water tap and turned to face me.

“That arrogant jerk that treated you bad on the studio before? Our great idol ever that had now turned into swearing reasons by you? Synyster Fucking Hot Gates?” she was laughing with surprise already.

“Yep, the one and only. He was incredibly nice to me, we talked for hours last night. Too bad I don’t remember many things though. But I remember he said I was a girl version of Jimmy Page.” I raised my eyebrows with a cocky smile.

“Wow, that was a hell of a compliment coming from him. Was he alone?”

“Yes, the guys were too tired from their last concerts so...”

“So he saw you playing before Jimmy?” she drew a surprised face. “Looks like someone is having a tiny crush on the new born Paaa-ge!” she smirked and sang, turning her back to me again to get back to the dishes.

“No, no, no, Jessica, I don’t think so...” I stopped to think for a moment and, well, now I was considering that lunatic idea of hers. After all, I had a complete blur after we started to drink, I didn’t know what had actually happened after that. Then I thought about the other Jimmy, MY Jimmy. It can’t be. “What would Syn see in me? I have nothing to offer… he must like those annoying girls that are always on top of her high heels and blabbering about trends in fashion and crap like that. That’s definitely not me…”

“You don’t know that, Ems. You don’t even know him yet!”

“All I know is that he was a true gentleman last night. And his kindness goes on! He also offered me a job as his guitar tech, Jess!!” she stopped again and faced me with the biggest smile she ever showed.

“So that means you’re gonna be able to pay the rent this month?” Jess, saying something nice? BS! I showed her my tongue and gave her a false smile before finally letting my middle finger prevails on her sight.

“You little funny girl, I said I have the money already!” now that was bullshit, I spent it all with me and Syn last night. “But this money is welcome and yes, finally, a dream job for me. He said my perfect pitch ears would be great help to him. He was all compliment, here and there… He’s totally different now, I was impressed!”

“Impressed or in love?” she looked at me with the corner of her eye, with a naughty smirk.

“Why don’t you turn yourself into a stand-up comedy girl with your mood jingling like this? I’m with Jimmy, remember?”

“It doesn’t mean you can’t relight your crush for Gates. You worship the guy for what, 25 years or something? Your bedroom is a haven for him, for god’s sake!”

“Now is different. I’m with Jimmy, the sex is good, we’re getting to know each other more every day, we have amazing talks, why would I change that for someone that I don’t even know where he’s at? I finally found someone, Jess. I can’t put it all to lose as I did many times before, you know what I’m talking about.”

“So get your lazy ass to your room and start to rip out all of your hundreds of posters hanging on your wall, the one’s you craved all along to have Gates signing them when you would finally be famous and share the big stage with him, your own glorious God!” I look at her with worried eyes. Oh god, I didn’t even remember those posters! They were there, like, forever.

“Until I prepare myself mentally for this, Jimmy won’t be hitting my room anytime soon. And you are the one to ensure it will never happen!”

“Me? Why always me?”

“Oh, because there’s a reward for you, my dear Jessica! You’re coming with me to their studio at monday and I’ll be ready to introduce you to Zacky Totally-Single Vengeance. And I have good news for you, Jimmy said he has a thing for pianists…” now it was my turn to show her a wicked smile. She stared at me with perplexity. “I mean it, it’s a promise! You’ll be flabbergasted with their huge recording room, their equipment and with Zacky hotness in person. Those snakebites will drive you to madness!” I said while twiddling my fingers around my ears. I could see her face redden in embarrassment before she threw the dishcloth in my face. I couldn’t stop laughing even though my head was trying to expel my brains out.

“Are you serious…he likes…?” after my giggling silenced, she kept her interest.

“You’re gonna check that out for yourself on monday, at 7, okay?” I drank the last sip of coffee and showed her my thumb before placing my empty cup in the sink. But Jess had already finished the dishes, she hated when I did that! And I loved seeing her face.
This time, to my astonishment, Jess pick up the sponge and threw it in my direction, making the OK sign shortly thereafter accompanied by a wry smile. Apparently, I’ll have to wash it myself then…

---

Jimmy, Jess and me arrived at the studio at 6:30. And then, again, I was facing a serious crisis of anxiety, palms sweating, nervousness from head to toe and I knew damn well the reason. I was going to work with one of the guitar players I cherished the most, for god’s sake. I haven’t even talked to anyone yet, only Jess knew about this. And this question didn’t seem to get out of my mind: what would Jimmy think about this? I was still trying to find a good way to tell him and nothing…

“Hey fellas, enough of men talking, comparing sizes and stuff like that, there are panties in the house now!” Jimmy opened the recording room door and let us in first, without ever letting go of my hand. By the look, I would say Jess was as nervous as I was.

“Oh fuck, just now I was going to prove that I have the biggest…” Zacky came towards us with a smile and greeted Jimmy in their weird and unique way. Then he kissed me on the cheek, looking pretty comfortable with me already. Good! “Hey, wazzup Ems?!” he smiled again and looked at frozen Jess by my side. I was laughing inside at her face.

“He’s only trying to have his moment with you, ladies… Don’t mind him, I’ve seen it before and it’s not that big of a deal…” Jimmy answered in his natural funny tone. We all laughed it up but Zacky nodded in denial.

“He lies a lot, watch out, Emily! And I see you brought a friend today?” Zacky smiled towards Jess, coming closer to kiss her cheek too. In the exact moment he did that, her face turned into pepper-red.

“She’s Jessica, my dear roommate!” she showed her shy smile to him and it make me thought about how she would be all loosen by the end of the night. I knew her too much.

“Hi! You can call me Jess, or J, if you want!”

“Okay J, you can call me Zacky or V, if you want!” she giggled at his little joke as he impersonated her talking. I could almost see her melting heart pounding through her shirt.

“She’s the main pianist for the Long Beach Orchestra, you know...” I made sure I would share that info just to see the look on Zacky’s face.

“Wow! Your paychecks must have a lot of zeros, huh!? How can I have never seen you girls on our neighborhood before?” Zacky’s green eyes had Jess analyzed from head to toe and I could even guess what he was thinking, she was nothing like me. No visible tattoos, no gothic clothes, no red hair. Just a regular pretty girl with nice and dark-blondish hair, pale skin and gray eyes.

“Maybe cause you are too busy?” Jess quickly replied. Zacky agreed with her obvious sentence with a nod. “And no, V, the day that a mere pianist earns as rockstars, we may have gone back to the sixteenth century when Baroque was still the best expression of art!” she smirked.

“I…I love Baroque music!” Zack mumbled in a mixture of lack of speech and bewilderment with Jess’s intelligence. I could say the chemistry between them had worked out better than I expected. He was looking intensely at her.

“I can clearly see the influence on your songs…” Jess was already feeling at home when Johnny and Matt approached us. They were nice to me and her as always. Matt could almost cover her entire body with his huge and muscular arms. Well, mine too…

“So I can see you enjoy our work too!” Matt stated with all his charm, dimples and breathtaking smile. The whole package at once!

“Well, I’ve been working on Unbound lately... the piano parts are so fucking fast, but I guess I can handle it!” she was comfortable right away with them, as I presumed. We were the type of girls who prefer to hang around with bad guys and their malicious pranks. Hell, we were practically men on women bodies!

“Wow, so you’re playing for us later, right?” Johnny asked with a naughty face as they were all eyes on her right now, amazed. I laughed, just watching their interaction.

“Of course, whenever you want!” she was smiling with her eyes and lips when I took her hand and stole her to the other side of that huge room. Enough of those flattery boys drooling over her. I wanted her to meet Brian now.

“Hey, there you are!” I called out, not capable of hiding my blissful smile and my throat beating heart when Brian caught my eyes and showed his wonderful smile to me.
He gave me a sweet kiss and let out a murmured ‘Hey’ close to my ears. The sound of his deep voice made me feel shudders in my neck. “Syn, this is my best friend and roommate, Jess. She came to see you guys in action today!”

Brian greeted her and kissed her too.
“Oh, so she’s the piano girl that wakes you up every single day, am I right?” he grinned and I nodded. Then I felt some hurt in my arm: Jess had just hit me. “Welcome to our paradise, Jess. There’s beer in the freezer over there, feel free!”

“Thanks Syn! And don’t believe everything she tells about me...I’m a big fan of your work!” Jess answered while killing me with her angry stare. I just ignored it.

“We appreciate that, Jess! Thanks!” Brian replied before drinking his beer.

“Is there enough booze there to make up for what you drank that night?” I asked in a smirk and Brian smirked back while Jess was trying hard to sign something with her eyes to me, but I couldn’t imagine what she was showing.

“No, probably not enough. But you were the one that were offering drinks to me, I’m not the one to blame here!” he raised his arms. “And…about that thing we discussed…are you in?” when I felt some long and skinny arms embracing my body from behind, that was exactly when I understand Jess’s pointing eyes. Oh shit!

“Are you in for what, baby?” Jimmy asked putting his face side by side to mine. I gazed deeply at Brian and took a breath before telling some news for the only one that still didn’t know it yet.

“Well, Jim…Syn’s looking for a guitar tech as you know it and he…offered me the job. What do you think?” I let it all out in a single sentence without ever taking my eyes off of Brian’s. Now all I had to rely on was his intense brown eyes while I was expecting an answer from the blue one’s by my side.

“Wow…I…guess it’s a great idea! I’m so glad you guys are getting along! Now you can stay with us all the time, Ems… Oh fuck, you will end up hating us in a month, you’ll see!” I felt Jimmy’s grinning lips touching my cheek and then his soft kiss placed there as he tightened his arms around me. Wow, instant relief!

“Gosh, you guys are seriously in love, huh? You just can’t keep your hands away from each other!” Brian’s tone had a bit of contempt, I didn’t understand why exactly, but it got me wondering about what Jess had said earlier. Jealousy?

“I think we are, aren’t we?” Jimmy mumbled it in my ear and nibbled it thereafter, making my body to curve right away in his direction with chills. Brian seemed to ignore us now, all he looked at was his guitars and his stuff as he started to arrange the pedals. I noticed he was annoyed by our public expression of love. It was time to stop it now.

“I don’t wanna have to play the pain-in-the-ass kind of boss here but…If you’re planning to work with me, Emily, you can start today, tuning my babies in there, please. I hate technology, I prefer human ears to that! We take care of paperwork shit later, okay?” Brian said it all coldly, never placing his eyes on neither of us. Jess, which was the observer then, arched her right eyebrow at me. She felt it too, maybe it wasn’t just all in my head.

“Jim, I have work to do here now. And so do you, I’ve been told…” slowly, I induced Jimmy to let me go and kissed him on the lips one last time.

“Hey, Haner, don’t go too heavy on her at her first day, man. I’ll be watching your cocky manners from my powerful mothership there so… Play nice!” Jimmy had his drumsticks pointed to Brian as he was stepping away and, still without looking, Brian showed his middle finger in response. Oh, those two…

I took his black and red Schecter first and started to tune it, not actually believing I was really holding that precious instrument in my hands. And if I inhale really deeply I could even smell Brian’s scent that permeated on it. Inebriating...
Zacky called Jess to the piano then, letting me alone with Brian.

“So…what’s the score today?” he asked discreetly while adjusting his pedals. I stared at him without a clue of what he was talking about.

“What?” I was finishing the last string when I decided to place my fingers on a chord position, just to feel what was like to be...him for a second. The neck was super soft and thin, great structure for his fast solos style, you could slide your fingers there so easily, it was almost like a fretless guitar. It was just perfect.

“You really don’t remember anything from that night, do you?” he smirked.

“Well…I just remember our conversation before we started drinking a lot, when I offered you thousands of drinks in appreciation.” I showed my ashamed smile and placed his guitar on the pedestal before picking up the other one, the black and white.

“So you don’t actually remember…anything that happened after we left the bar?” his odd insistence was making me damn curious. Oh, what have I done!? I would appreciate to have that liquor-resistant memory I had once before.

“Did I…put you through some awkward situation or something? I tend to get really provocative when I drink too much...”

“No, no, nothing important. I just thought you could remember the numbers 100…10…?“ he smiled even more malicious now, without facing me. Those numbers weren’t really strange to me…

“No, not a clue, sorry... I hope I don’t owe you money though. What a way to start on the new job, owing for your boss!” I quickly made a chord with the distortion on max, on the best Synyster Gates style. But the volume was also in the max. Everybody on the room stopped what they were doing to look at me weirdly and with startled faces. I felt my face flush as Brian’s smile grew from ear to ear to me.

---

“Hey Jimmy, give us Unbound beat! Jess is playing for us before we start.” Zacky yelled as they were all crowded around the piano with interested looks but Emily and Brian, who continued to adjust his guitar equipment.

“Before we start, please, don’t fire me if she’s better than me on the keys, okay? I’m not in mood for looking for another band… With that clarified, there it goes, 1,2,3…!” he set up the tempo and Jess came in, with a killer glissando right away. They just skipped the intro for the piano part directly.

“Yo, Jimmy, she’s better than you man! You’re out!” Matt yelled and Jimmy showed his tongue in response. Then Jimmy’s gaze fell instantly on Emily and he noticed she was laughing and talking about something apparently interesting with Brian, who seemed to be smiling too, on his own way.

Jimmy was happy to see that scene at first, he thought it was great that his best friend and his girlfriend were finally getting along after that incident. But when he noticed Emily hadn’t returned any of his looks, he started to feel a little bit left out there. That feeling was gone when Emily finally looked back and winked at him in response. ‘Oh, that’s better now!’

Jess was playing amazingly, she could be compared to Gates in her quick-as-the-speed-of-light finger movement. So Matt started to sing along and they all felt the need to join them in that tune they barely practiced before. Zacky, Johnny and Brian picked their instruments while Emily ran directly to the recording table room. She thought that scene was too epic to be missed.
As she was seeing and listening to everything from the glass, she felt that profound itch on her hands to play along with them. Her mouth was watering just to hear those chords to one of her favorite songs. And her dream was about to come true when Brian called her attention with his pointing eyes and started making signs with his head for her to pick his red and black guitar to join them. Emily couldn’t control her excitement and her lips from showing a big grin. At first she showed some resistance to his signs, she didn’t want to sound noisy again. But then he called out again and she breathed heavily before entering the room with all her courage.

“No one can ever slow me down! I’ll staaaay Unboooundd!!” Emily got in the next phrase, the second intro, maintaining the biggest smile she could possibly form. Jimmy and Brian just couldn’t keep their gazes away from her now but she looked at Zacky first, as if asking for permission to play with them. He nodded in response and now she was really comfortable. Playing with her favorite band, her best friend, her guitar idol and her boyfriend. What did she do to deserve to be in her own little piece of heaven anyway?? It was about time for her to feel alive again.

At the end of the song, Matt asked for them all to sang in together, in choir:

“There’s nothing here to take for granted, with each breath that we take. The hands of time strip youth from our bodies, and we faaaade. Memories remaaain…” Emily felt every part of her body shiver during the duets with Syn, they had engaged in a perfect syntony, even better than with Zacky. “…as time goes oon…” they all kept going in chorus, Johnny was dancing in his weird way and doing his best child voice to sing that part but really out of tune as always. Everyone started to burst in laughter watching him, even Jimmy, who was the most concentrated player always. Matt held both his hands high and kept waving from left to right, as if he was really feeling it but he couldn’t contain his own laughter either.

The verse went on again as they traded glances with each other, noticing that they were actually having a lot of fun there, as they didn’t in a long time. At the end, the guitars stopped and only bass, piano and drums could be listened. Jess finished the song alone, letting the piano sound fade away progressively into the air. Emily took a mental picture of that unique moment they had shared, so intense she was afraid that it wouldn’t be happening again anytime soon. Moments like this were rare in Emily’s life.

They all greeted each other, Matt and Zacky even bowed towards Jess, making her pale skin to blush again. Brian clapped his hands discreetly in Emily’s direction and she did the same.

“I didn’t know you could play our songs too, you came all prepared huh? You keep doing this…impressing me.” Brian said it almost whispering which made her laugh and get a little embarrassed. His admiration words were always eargasms to her.

“What can I say…you always inspired me, Brian!” that was the first time in that night she had said his name and he thought it sounded really sexy coming from her fleshy lips. His mind quickly wandered about the kiss he never allowed to happen that night. He wanted so badly for her to do that again, if only she could remember what she had confessed to him. It got him to spend the whole weekend regretting what he had done which was being the better man there. He would never back out now, God, he swore he would forget about Jimmy in seconds if he had the chance to kiss her again. Just one chance to feel her lips onto his again.

Syn was already sitting on his chair just observing from distance Jimmy and Emily’s conversation when Zacky sat beside him.

“Hey bro…” Zacky stopped just to watch Jess getting up from the piano bench and walking out of the room. She had to pass in front of him to get out. “Wow, have you seen this!!?” Zacky asked Syn while he was in another galaxy, he hadn’t paid attention at any word.

“Yeah…” his answer was vague.

“Wait a minute, what have you seen exactly? I’m referring to Jess’s beautiful thighs. Hey, wake up dude! Where are you?” Zacky shook his palm in front of Brian’s face and his lucid dream was finally interrupted. Then Zacky followed his eyes and he got it all right away. He didn’t even need to be a mind reader.

“Shit, Brian, you like her, don’t you?” he cautiously inspected around to see if anyone could hear them before continuing his discreet interrogation. Brian’s eyes opened widely, totally caught by surprise on that sudden question.

“What?” he frowned in disguise.

“C’mon man, I’m not blind! She was your big focus since she got here, you gave her a job that will make her even close to you and…you let her play your guitar! I never saw you allowing anyone to do that, not even me!” Brian looked away, not knowing exactly what to say there.

“Damn, is that so obvious?” he just spitted it out.

“Yeah, man, it’s in all over your face... If I noticed, the others will too and the last thing you want is Rev finding out, right? He wouldn’t enjoy this at all…” he took a sip of his beer.

“So we keep this between us, okay? I don't wanna have problems with Jim… It’s just a stupid crush, nothing serious, you know, it will pass…”

“Of course, there’s plenty of girls out there, you don’t need her. In fact, I never saw you spend that much time without a girl before. Still mad at Michelle?”

“How can I be mad to her, man, I screwed it up good, she had enough…” Brian shrugged. He didn’t even think about Michelle anymore, she was totally past. It was just hard to face Val all the time, she always had this killing stare at him after they broke up, like she wanted to jump in his neck and break it in pieces.

“You just can’t stay away from women, right? Even when you had one waiting for you every night in your house…” Brian grimaced. He knew his friend was right. Women could be really fascinating to him sometimes. Most of the time, actually. But Emily was beyond that kind of momentarily fascination now.

“Oh, the saint has spoken! What can I do man…girls love me! I need to enjoy my time here before the hands of time strip youth from my body, you know.” they both smiled.

“Oh, but you will never beat me on the amount of bras I got in one concert, man! Don’t even start with me! 33 is the magic number!” Zacky smiled with his huge ego transpiring through his eyes. Brian disagreed immediately with a nod.

“You keep the bras, I’ll keep the girls!” challenged Zacky was about to reply when Matt came speaking into the room.

“Hey guys, let’s start this shit already!” Matt called everybody out on the mic and they started to get into their places to rehearse.

Emily kissed Jimmy quickly and got out of the room, Jess was already there, waiting for her.

They started to play again, this time for real purposes, and the two girls kept watching them with total focus. They didn’t even talk to each other. If there was talking, it was about technical details, recording details and stuff like this. Emily was showing the functions of the recording table with the sound engineer and Jess got marveled with the quality of the sound they were listening there. Everybody could notice how they weren’t just fans of their sculptural bodies and tattoos, they were actually real fans of their music and their true talents.

As soon as they finished the third song, the girls jumped in their seats with a roar coming from the door. They looked back at the same time and there was a woman coming in, really high heels and tiny shorts. Was that…?

“Hey honey, I missed you! Where have you been?” Matt said, walking straight to that woman and kissing her passionately afterwards. Of course, he was engaged… “Hey girls, that’s my fiancée, Valary. Val, this is Emily, Jimmy’s girl, and Jess, her friend.” they all greeted each other with a nice smile on their faces.

---

The guys went out to smoke and rest a little and Jess, Valary and me stayed inside, staring at each other, somewhat uncomfortably. We didn't know what to say exactly, so Val was the brave one to break the ice.

"So...Emily, Jimmy has been talking a lot about how he's in love with this amazing girl that is a guitar player and how I seriously needed to know her and well, I decided to meet her finally!" she smiled a bit in my direction.

"Wow, I didn't even know he was in love with me until now. I'm surprised!" my eyes popped wide open at Jess. This was new! "But thanks for considering to meet me..."

"Yeah, I don't even remember the last time he had a girlfriend or anything like that. Jimmy's a bit of a loner, you know. He likes to live on his own terms, if you know what I mean." Val's big smile faded down a little. Maybe she was talking about his drug use? Did she know about that? "But he's such a nice guy, he deserves someone as cool as him. When the subject is having fun, he's the best for the job! But you probably know that already..."

"Yeah, he's always seeing the good side of things. He's good to me, I'll try to be as good as he is, for sure."

"And now you work for the guys, right? You're gonna be around them all the time, you'll probably get tired of them before you notice! Believe me, I know what it's like to be at A7X Staff... good old times that now, thank God, are over!"

"I'm on the road like them too, I know how things could get complicated on a tour. I believe I'm prepared for them." I smiled, feeling quite confident. Val's face grew darker, though.

"Well, I probably shouldn't be saying this at all but...you're the only girl in the staff today, like I was before, and I feel like I need to stick up for you here so..." she got up from the stool and sat closer to us, on the sofa right next to the door. I was starting to get worried when she continued, with a lower tone, almost whispering. "I have a sister, a twin sister actually. Her name is Michelle. She dated Brian for a few years and they had a nasty broke up a couple months ago. The reason: he was fucking every girl that breathed in his way or had a deathbat tattoo while they were on tours. He's the biggest womanizer I've ever known so...my advice to you is: be careful with his charming looks and his smooth talk, ok? You don't want to mess up your relationship with Jimmy, he cares about you, a lot. He just...doesn't deserve a messed up relationship, ok?" Val said her lecture and chuckled, she didn't seem upset or anything, it was just her way of being nice to us. But I wasn't able to capture why she was saying all those things to me. It really got me unprepared.

"I... really appreciate the advice, Valary. I'll be careful with him, I promise!" I said looking deeply at her eyes. Woman to woman talk.

"Call me Val! He's the only guy around here you should worry about, ok? Johnny and Zacky are great, not like Brian at all, they don't usually start hitting all the things around them. And I'm always with Matt so...I make sure that he just won't have time to be around women. All I can tolerate is fangirls! But just a hug and an autograph and that's all! You should stipulate some rules for Jimmy too, you know!? Gosh, they are so clingy to them! It must be the huge muscles and tattoos or something..." I just laughed and suddenly remembered that I once was that slimy fangirl that she was talking about. Maybe I still am and surely Jess is too.

"Yeah, I will talk to Jim about this rule thing...thanks for this, it has been really enlightening Val!" I grinned at her and then saw Johnny and Matt passing through the door. It was just about time to end that conversation.

They all came in and re-started the rehearsal and I couldn't even pay enough attention to them thinking about Val's warnings about Brian. She seemed real nice at first sight and she wouldn't be saying those things if they weren't true. And she has a twin sister that dated her husband's best friend, this is pretty unusual and...maybe a little weird. I wonder if Matt and Brian ever mixed them up by accident or if they ever kissed and hugged the wrong twin. If I were them, I know I would probably get confused. I guess you just have to know your girl very well and their personality should be really different anyway so...
Why the hell am I thinking about this that much? My job is not to be worried about Brian and his million girls around the world, I'm here for Jimmy and just for him. What Brian does or does not with his own life is not of my damn business...

"Hey, Ems, are you in there? You seemed zoned off a little..." Jess asked, with worried eyes.

"Yeah, well, I was..." I couldn't say that I was thinking about their twin girlfriends at all so I invented something as fast as I could. "...thinking about what Zacky said earlier, about his 'size'." I giggled a bit and looked at her with a naughty smirk. Val wasn't around and the band was playing so nobody could listen to the dirty talk that was about to begin.

"Oh you don't waste time, do you? You have to provoke me with those..."

"I'm not provoking you, Jess, I'm just saying that...well, maybe he's telling the truth! I'm not the one to judge anyway, I've just seen Jimmy's so...I don't have enough material to compare with!"

"Are you saying that Jimmy's thing is not enough for you?"

"Nooo! I didn't say that at all!! You're just putting words in my mouth, Jess." I got a bit angry. "He's perfectly enough for me! Thanks for your concern."

"But if you were thinking about Zacky, I just figured that..."

"No, you are wrong! I know Zacky is yours, he looks at you like he is about to eat you or something." after hearing me, Jess couldn't stop her silly smile at Zacky's direction. While doing his duets with Brian in Beast and the Harlot, he blinked at her in response. Her face flushed instantly.

"Oh my god, really? Do you think I...have a shot with him?"

"Of course you have, Jess. All I've heard is that he went through a bad broke up on their last tour, too. And he has been single for too long now, they mock him about it all the time. Especially Brian." Jess's grin opened widely with that information. I looked attentive at the band and stopped at Brian's pose, always careful not to make any mistakes in his incredibly fast solos. All I wanted was to have that level of concentration he has to play his guitar.

"And...speaking about the devil with spiky hair, what do you have to say about HIS size?" Jess asked quietly but excitedly, careful enough to rapidly spy through the door that could have Valary walking by at any time. My eyes popped open, as I wasn't expecting that question.

"What? I...I don't know." she could see I got suddenly distracted.

"Of course you do, Ems. Syn was and still is your Guitar God even before I met you at music school several years ago. Don't you come say to me you never stopped even a little to think about his...stuff. I won't fucking believe you!”

"Okay, okay, you're right! I spent not just a little, but a lot of bathing and before-sleep time thinking about him and his magic stick and his soft hands but...I just don't think it's right to fill in my thoughts with Brian if I am with Jimmy now."

"But it didn't forbid you to think about Zacky so..." Jess was really trying to test my nerves, wasn't she? Who was the provocative, now?

"I'm just...I'm not attracted to Johnny or Matt or Zacky as much as I am to Brian, are you satisfied? And yeah, I rather believe IT is huge!" I almost screamed those words at Jess's face. She glanced at me for a while, shocked. The awkward silence between us was only filled by the loud sound of the organ in Critical Acclaim.

"Did you see you actually forgot to mention Jimmy? And when did you start calling Syn by his real name, anyway?" I looked at her in contempt and showed my middle finger. Was she ever going to stop annoying me with that? "I'm your best friend, Emily, I'm just saying...Just be careful with Syn, ok? I've seen how he got all jealous when Jimmy approached you before..."

"Shut the fuck up and start telling me what do YOU think about Zacky's size, ok?" I let out a tiny smirk again, forgiving her for being such a wise pain in the ass. I knew every word she said was damn right.
She grinned in response and we were almost going back to our dirty talk when Valary suddenly came in.

"Hey bitches, how is this practice going?" Val asked and sat beside us on the couch, blinking at the sight of Matt looking at her.

"Excellent! They don't even need to rehearse anymore, they are killing it!" Jess responded this time, smiling back at me.

"Yes, they are..." I said looking at Jimmy rocking his drums out and then, at Brian, perfect as always. That was the moment I finally accepted that my heart was torn between them both.
And I felt completely lost...

Notes

this a bit longer, sorry :P

hit me with ur thoughts, would ya?? xD