Present day, 2013

“Good morning California. Today’s traffics are in control. An accident happened on the Main St. causing the junction to be closed due to removing the vehicles aside. But as of twenty minutes earlier, the traffic is clear again...”

Boring.

“What do you think of the kids’ education today, doctor?”
“Yeah I think that the kids today might be influenced by some..”

Worst.

“What is it the one thing that you’ll never fail to bring when you’re on tour?”

What’s wrong with all these radio stations? Did they forget how to put on music? Instead of yapping all the time to some info that I don’t wanna know?

“Shoes. I have a huge obsession for shoes. Especially spiky pumps.”

Holy shit, I know that voice.

“Yeah we’ve been seeing a handful variation of shoes that you wear on stage. Don’t you get uncomfortable wearing them?”

“No, not exactly. When I wear those shoes, I feel powerful. Like I could rule the world, you know. Hahaha.”

God how I missed that laugh. I gazed over to my GPS, I’m almost to my destination. But I need to listen to this interview, so I pulled over by the curbside of Bayview Ave and parked.

“So Lzzy, tell us. How does it feel to be nominated as the Best Rock Band in Grammy’s this year?”

“Umm…well, it felt surreal. In just a blink of an eye, we’ve reached to this point but only God knows how hard we’ve tried. We climbed and fall, we stood back up and climbed again. Those were the days that reminded me that we need to stay focus, you know? Keep our feet planted on the ground. Being nominated for the Grammy, honestly will make us go stuck up for a bit, hahaha..but believe me. I would not let that happen.”

I closed my eyes tightly. It had been solid 10 years that I haven’t seen her face to face. Not even at Warped. Avenged Sevenfold rocketed like hell after City of Evil that we were on the road every fucking day. I didn’t have time to search for her but God knows I did.

One drunken night turned into the most amazing moment of my life. She was so beautiful, I can’t hold my feelings back any longer. I knew she was drunk and so was I, but it all happened in an instant, with blessings from herself. God I would relive those moments on any given day.
I don’t fucking know what really happened the next morning after she left my bedroom, but Jimmy and Johnny filled me in. They said that Val slapped her and called her a groupie. It was partly my fault too, because Val was my fiancée at the time. I shouldn’t have lied to Lzzy. She wasn’t a groupie. Wasn’t just a one night stand either.

I tried calling her but she changed her number. Halestorm broke ties with Larry and moved on with Atlantic Records the following year. Lzzy is angry. I can tell. Their songs contained angry lyrics and aggressive screaming, it was like she’s screaming at me.

These 3 years of failed marriage with Val brought nothing but misery in my life. I’m sure Lzzy knows that I was married and now divorced. But how far did she know about me, I’m not sure.

Jimmy died 4 years ago.

Wasn’t a breaking news but it changed our whole perspective in music and band. It changed me. I refused to mess around with our old lifestyle anymore; full of drugs, booze and prostitutes. So I decided to be a responsible adult for once. Though Jimmy was there on my wedding day, he can tell that I wasn’t happy with Val. But family is a family. Val had been with us ever since Avenged started. I can’t repay her for anything other than myself. But it didn’t work out once I met Lzzy Hale of Halestorm. A pianist who sings beautifully on stage, but can scream and rock out with her guitar too.

Everything led me to here. To this point where I helplessly listened to her voice on the radio. Wondering did she ever think about me too? Has she forgiven me?

~*.*~



I waited in the car, pulling up my Revolver magazine to hide my face from being recognized. My eyes arched to the poster calendar that spread before my eyes. It was Lzzy as the Miss April. My God she looked so fucking hot. I turned to look at the cover page. It was her too. How can I not notice this before?

I stared at her picture long enough that I didn’t realize the bell had rung and there came towards me; my three year old son, River.

“Hey there he is. My little hero!”

He ran towards me so quickly that he almost toppled over his backpack. I picked him up and kissed his cheek sloppily.

“How’s school today, son?”

“I draw Batman!”

“You did? And what did your teacher said?” I buckled him up on the passenger seat and ran around to other side.

“She said Leon draw it better.”

“Leon?”

“Leon sits next to me.”

“Really? I gotta talk to his parents.”

I pressed the gas and turned the wheel around.

“Daddy,” he called.

“Yes, cap’n?”

He giggled. He loved it when I called him captain in a sailor voice. “Can we not go to mommy’s house today?”

I stunned at his question. He never did once turn his mother down. Though Val won the custody but I got to spend the weekends with him and fetch him from the kindergarten every day.

“Why, honey?”

“Mommy talk crazy. She walk like a ghost. I’m scared.”

Shit. She must be drunk at the time and River found her that way. Yeah, being an alcoholic was also one of the reasons to why I divorced her.

“Riv darling, mommy just want to have fun. Mommy is worried about you and your school. When you see mommy like that, you hide in your room okay?”

“Mmkay.” He nodded and played with the seatbelt on his body. I tousled his hair in a mess and he smiled at me, showing the dimples that he inherited from me. In my mind I cursed so much at Val. How can she let River see her that way?

“Maybe we can be late just this once. Mommy won’t mind.”

His eyes lit up as he glanced at me. “Where are we going?”

“Uncle Brian’s house. You love it there right?”

“Pinkly!! I wanna play with Pinkly!”

I chuckled at his excitement. River and that Maltese are like best friends from Mars. He wasn’t so excited with our own dog, Bella. Maybe because Bella is getting old and she rarely played around anymore.

When we arrived at Brian’s house, I saw Michelle was getting ready to go out. I rarely talk to her after Val and I got divorced and she wasn’t the type to get friendly around kids so we just nodded to each other and I thank God River didn’t get attached to her.

“Uncle Brian!!” River yelled once he was out of the car.

“River? I thought you’re supposed to send him home to Val?” Michelle walked up to me with her car keys draped in her palm.

“I’m stopping by. He wants to play with Pinkly so bad.”

Michelle sucked her teeth and looked at me suspiciously. I’m sure she will rant about me to her twin sister and I just don’t give a rat’s ass about it. I ignored her expression and went inside. Brian was polishing his guitar while River was playing with Pinkly around him.

“Dude.” Brian got up and hugged me briefly. “Look at that dog. She can even smell River from afar.”

“Your fault man. Who told you to leave her alone all the time? Maybe she just needs a friend.”
Brian laughed and continued to gently take care of his pinstriped Schecter with a set of guitar care kit by his side.

“Or, the kid needs a sibling. A little brother or sister. Find him one. Or better, make him one.”
I rolled my eyes and walked towards his kitchen, grabbing a bottle of beer from his fridge.

“Easy for you to say. Why don’t you make one then?”

He smirked. “We’re still in our honeymoon mode.”

“Honeymoon my ass. It’s been what, 4 years?”

Brian sighed heavily. “She doesn’t want kids. Not now.”

I sipped the beer and leaned against the archway. “Until when?”

Brian shrugged and placed his gear on the guitar stand. He picked up his guitar care kit and put it aside.

“River, do you want some ice cream?”

River gasped happily at him. I shook my head and smiled. I know Brian wanted a kid of his own, a daughter probably but it was just his luck to be married to a woman who doesn’t want kids in their life.

“Don’t you want to get married again, Matt? I mean, it’s been 3 years since you got divorced. How about trying to get back out there on the market?” Brian babbled on while getting an ice cream cup for River from his fridge.

“Brian, you know I don’t have time for that. We’re on the road all the fuc- freaking time.”

River reached for the ice cream from his hand and ran to the front with Pinkly chasing him from behind.

“That is a lame fucking excuse. We’re free now. Why not now?”

“And when I found her, then what? We’ll be back on the road in no time. Do I have to ditch her?”

“Just bring her along.”

“Oh you know I can’t focus when that happens.”

“Yeah, last time Val followed us, you guys fought like hell. Your voice missing on stage and then I was-”

“Don’t fucking remind me.”

He laughed and uncapped a bottle of beer for himself.

“So what’s your plan now?”

I glanced at him, thinking hard about that question. I just don’t know what will happen to me next. What I definitely know was, we’re going on tour for our new album starting next month. And I just couldn’t get attached to anyone now, except for River.

“Just wait and see what the universe had planned for me.”

Notes

A/N: hahaha there you go...10 yrs later :)