Brian’s POV

What had happened that Avery wasn’t answering any of my calls? What have I done wrong? I couldn’t remember any possible occasion where I had fucked up that could have led to Avery stop talking to me.

That’s been weeks ago, weeks since I haven’t seen my girl and haven’t had any contact with her.
This was fucking sick, I had no idea where she was and no idea what she was up to.
Was she even my girl still, she had to be, I wouldn’t have it any other way, we’ve had enough misunderstandings and we have been through all that shit, not again, I won’t accept that.

But to get that straight I had to freaking talk to her, and how can I talk to her if she is just gone.
Gone without a fucking trace…

Matt and I had done everything that we could to find out where they were.
We raced to their old apartment, just to see someone else was living there, we even made the move to talk to Ave’s father, which we knew he wouldn’t be too fond of.
I mean it wasn’t the best of signs to go to him and tell him that we lost track of his girls, even though Maya seemed to have made the decision herself.

I didn’t know whose situation was worse, Matt’s or mine? Matt who knew he didn’t have a girlfriend anymore, Maya broke up with him via phone, from one day to the other, leaving him with nothing, nothing but a broken heart, and I even I tried to call her talking to her about it but she shut us all out.
When I had tried to talk to Avery about it, she only said it’s Maya’s decision and if Maya made a choice it would stay that way.
It would have all been different if they were with us and not miles and miles away from us.

But in my case, I didn’t even know what happened and I still saw the situation that I had a girlfriend, I just lost track of her for whatever reasons.
I even called in her uni, I had no fucking idea how all these classes worked, I tried to get information but they told me she had online classes nothing more and more information they wouldn’t give me cause I wasn’t valid to get a hold on these information, what the fuck?!

Matt had been pretty crazed these days or rather weeks after the break-up, we tried to distract him as best as possible but that wasn’t really working out, he wouldn’t go to party’s or he wouldn’t even leave his phone out of range, afraid Maya would call him again and want him back.

Now, he was holding up a little better, but I still saw how exhausted he was, but he was trying to swallow that shit down and act normal, more normal then I did in that case. I was in the state of denying and trying to numb the shit out of me, not having any idea on what happened and how I could trace down my Ave.

So even more surprised was I when Zack said something about articles, what did he mean and why the hell didn’t he say something earlier.
“Fuck… Guys, I can’t… I just” Zack stuttered a little and made me want to fucking hit him. I had been aggravated for days so if I would finally get an outlet for it, I would welcome it with open fucking arms.

“Don’t fuck around, Vee. What do you know” Matt growled pushing his way beside me and Zack wouldn’t meet his or my eyes.
He sighed loudly when he walked back into his room, leaving the door open to follow for us and began to type something into the laptop that stood before him.

“I don’t think that-” Jimmy started and Matt whirled around “You know something too, do you? How fucking sweet, two of our best friends know what is going on and they fucking lie to us, let us be miserable the entire time?” Matt spat when the door opened slightly and we saw how DJ walked past us coming straigh from Shads room, her hair messed up and I looked at Shads from the side, well he found a distraction and we all knew and heard that for weeks.

“Hi guys… see you later” She pushed her blonde mane to one shoulder and moved past us with a small smile.
“Very miserable…” Jimmy lifted and eyebrow at Matt, who shook his head “That’s fucking different and you know it… I just tried to-” But Matt trailed off, probably too tired to really explain his weird feelings and I could understand him.

“Won’t change anything anyway, show them” Jimmy said and Zack turned the Laptop so Matt and I could see and read.
The top line said “Syn Gates Settling down?” I whispered, what the hell, I haven’t seen Ave in months, how could they post that?

I quietly read on what the next article said, “Sources say that Gates has been seen spending evenings with this mystery girl in a more intimate locations after the parties and even at home in Huntington Beach, California. Sorry ladies, it looks like Synyster Gates is settling down once in for all!”

“What the fuck? Who is this about?!” I demanded and Zack scrolled down showing me the pictures of me and some brunette girl. My eyes opened wide and my throat ran dry, that’s not me, that couldn’t be me.

“Now you know, why we didn’t tell you? We had to promise, or they would have stopped talking to us too.” Zack explained sheepishly but I couldn’t take my eyes of the pictures, I scrolled further down and found more, I saw myself there hanging all over that woman, kissing her and touching her but I didn’t have a memory from that, I would have never done that… I would have never betrayed Ave.

“I learned the hard way with Maya…” Jimmy spoke up and Matt turned to him, I still couldn’t really listen “What do you mean?” Matt asked frowning.
“Whenever I mentioned yours or Brian’s name she immediately hung up on me and wouldn’t talk to me again for days, that happened a couple of times actually.” He sighed as if that was bad for him, but he did talk to them… Jimmy with Maya and Zack with Avery, they know where they are, don’t they.

“I need to talk to Ave, need to tell her this is a mistake, that’s not how it was.. I didn’t do that!” I still stared at the pictures and Zack lifted his eyebrow at me “It sure looks like that, man. I’m sorry to say that, but it doesn’t look like a misunderstanding to me and sure didn’t look like one to Ave” He clarified and I plopped down on the floor not believing all this.

“Alright, and what’s up with me? I don’t see me on any of the pictures, when had that been?” Matt asked and I got back up.
“Wait, new article… here” Zack clicked on a picture and Matt and DJ were shown on it, they were kissing and Matt’s hand was underneath her shirt, okay… no denying in that either.

“Fuck me” Matt got out and looked bewildered, while he clicked further, there we more pic’s of him and DJ, walking towards the bus after a show, him having his arm around her shoulder, her smiling up to him… but then more party pictures of them making out and on one of them I was with that brunette, so that has been the same party apparently.

“I know when that was” Johnny spoke up walking by the open door, but staring at the screen.
“What?” I stopped him with my hand to his arm, and dragged him into Zack's room.
“Well, that’s when you and Matt were already drinking down your sorrow here in the hotel, after Maya broke up… and well you couldn’t reach Ave the entire day, you were pretty miserable too, and then you decided to head to the club, when you two stumbled down the steps, you asked me and DJ to come along, so we did.” Johnny shrugged and I stared at him, waiting for him to go on.
“And?” Matt demanded.

“Well, and… you got shit ass wasted, both of you, I think you drank about everything. And Brian even took some E but I’m not too sure, and then Matt started making out with DJ, saying he needed distraction…” Johnny looked like that was nothing serious and that happened every day.
“And then?” I asked, what the hell, why did we have to pull everything out of him.

“I don’t know… I let you two to it and went to have fun of my own, since you guys were ‘distracted’. I didn’t know you would start making out with that brunette, first you were just talking… and then you said she looked so familiar, I though you knew her or something…” Johnny finished and I tried to remember and I saw the same look on Matt’s face.

“Shads, do you know what happened?” I asked hopeful, because I still had no idea, I do remember waking up in my hotel room, alone… thank god alone… but what happened before?

“I remember I was with DJ… but I wanted it to be Maya… I-I.. fuck, that must be the moment when that thing started but I can’t remember shit… what do they write about me?” Matt asked and Zack shook his head “Not much, the main article was about Brian, just underneath the picture says ‘M. Shadows has the hots for the new Avenged Sevenfold crew member’ that’s it.”

Matt ran a hand down his face in frustration, “Fuck… I never should have… fuck!” He slammed his fist down on the table and Johnny clapped his back “You weren’t together anymore at that time, Shads… I mean…” He tried to be helpful and I saw Jimmy lifting his eyebrows “But it didn’t exactly help with the situation either, I mean… Maya saw that and must have thought you are done with her…” Matt head snapped around.

“She said that?” Both Jimmy and Matt got into a discussion while I took Zack’s laptop and checked the pictures again, willing my mind to remember that evening, that night.
I do remember Matt being already drunk when I reached him, he was in a bad shape, missing Maya like crazy, he normally wouldn’t show it but that night he did.
I joined him, tried to reach Ave, but couldn’t get a hold, so I joined Matt’s drinking and quickly caught up with his drunken state.

And then I only remembered that I was seeing Ave, that she was with me, we were making out, I wanted her to remember she was mine, I kissed her, let my hands wander over her body, wanted to take her to the hotel… I dreamed that so how did any of this happen?
“Did Ave say something to you, Zack? Tell me what she said!” I looked at him hopeful, he must know where they are… must know something.

“Sorry man, she never told me. It took me a while to even get her to pick up… she wouldn’t talk about anything related to you…” Zack said and looked pitiful.
“Then how do you know about the fucking articles?” I pressed out between clenched teeth.
“When I asked her about it the hundredths time, she said to check out this site… and I did, it was pretty self explaining…” Zack pointed to the pictures “I had to promise not to say a word, and she didn’t tell me where she is or even that she left…” Zack added and I fell down to the floor, this was fucked up and how could I fix it, when I still didn’t remember all of it, and I couldn’t reach Ave to talk to her… how am I supposed to get this fixed?!

Maya’s POV

I was as stunned as Ave when Danny had opened the door for us and suddenly the voice of Ben sounded behind us.
So that’s why this was such a private party and we needed to get the invitation that Tyler had handed to me…

“… bring these Avenged asshats with you?” Ben chuckled and looked behind us, and I could see on Ave’s face that she was as happy as I was by the mentioning of Avenged and we could only get distracted by Danny, who suddenly showed up with red cups with liquor in his hands.

Ave took one and I took the other cup, when the one was down, I took the one Danny was about to put on his lips and looked at the fluids “Is it just alcohol?” I asked and Danny lifted an eyebrow.
“Drink to find out” He got a smirk on his face and James took the cup away, “Here take mine, just to be sure...” He smiled friendly and I downed his whiskey, it burned down my throat, but it was far from enough.

“Come on, little gnome, I need more.” I took Ave by the elbow and guided her away, setting James empty glass on some wardrobe we passed.
I heard James, Ben and Danny’s voice behind us but didn’t give a damn, it sure was nice to meet someone we knew, but if they would mention Matt or Brian just one more time, I would throw a fit, not everything was revolving around those two, not anymore at least.

“We shouldn’t have come here, M.” Avery looked around and I filled my and her cup to the rim with everything I could find, maybe she was right, but maybe this was exactly what we needed, a party and alcohol and fun, we just needed to get started.
“Come on, Ave. Give it a try… Please, for me. I need something else to think about…” I nearly begged and I saw Ave’s eyes move over my shoulder.

“Here, little Gnome, to a night of fun for you and me” I said and gave Ave her drink, she clicked it to mine and nodded “Alright, a night of fun and to forget.”
“Cheers” I held the cup up and downed half of the content and felt the burn again, that was nice, and my insides began to warm up, also nice, that was the way to go.

“Hey, so… just the pleasure of having you two at our party, huh?” Ben’s voice sounded behind me and I knew that he had been standing there when Ave looked over my shoulder.
“You see someone else here?” I asked a little sarcastic turning around and he gave me a small smile and held his hand up as if he didn’t wanna do any harm, “Come on, Maya. Don’t be that way, I was just checking. I like that you are here, never expected it. You never said you planned to come to the UK” He said and poured himself another drink.

“It wasn’t planned, more spontaneous” I said and that would be about as much as I would tell him about the reasons, we did keep contact since our first meeting when we covered as their merch girls, but not in much details, just a joke here and there.

“Should we show you around?” James asked and his eyes were on Ave, who tried to not meet anyone’s eyes in return.
“Sure, why not. Is this Danny’s home?” I asked and Ben chuckled “You wouldn’t want to see my mates, Danny’s home, it’s a freaking mess. Actually this is mine.” He winked at me and I nodded, “Fine, lead the way.”

After we had a couple of rooms shown to us and Ben was mentioning this and that, I always had an eye on Avery, she still looked uncomfortable, so I wasn’t really concentrating on Ben’s words, when we reached the huge garden area Avery excused herself for the bathroom and I stayed with Ben and James alone while the loud music was blaring from inside.

“So, now tell me why did Matt let you out of his cage, looking so gorgeous going to a party all alone? Normally he was hanging all over you, babe” Ben asked and it sounded causally, like he was really just wondering yet his words were the trigger for something I still couldn’t control so I downed the rest of my drink and before he could stop me I ran off cursing him and the world, that again everything was moving back to the one topic and the one person I tried to forget – Matt.

James’ POV

I was still a little confused that Maya and Ave were here, and they still haven’t said a word on why they were alone, was it the reason I thought it was, or were they just having fun and would return to their boyfriends soon?
Was Avenged doing concerts in the UK? I haven’t heard from anything yet… but well I didn’t really look for it either.

While Ben and I made fun and walked the girls around the house, I never could take my eyes from Ave and I was really confused on how Brian would let her go to a party dressed like how she was, because that outfit was bloody amazing, I mean.. not only that she was rockin’ the blonde hair which was a nice change, her outfit screamed that all the attention should be on her and, my attention she had, no question about it.

“Blonde suits you, Ave” I said quietly, while Ben showed them around his little built in studio, but Ave looked a little absent.
“Oh thanks… I thought I needed something new.” Ave said and her cheeks flushed a slight pink.
“Well you look fabulous.” I winked and the pink just intensified.

“Alright, let’s go out and enjoy the view from there” Ben announced and we led the girls to the garden area, but Ave excused herself to go to the bathroom and I told her again which door she had to take and just turned back around to hear Ben ask, what had been on our minds the entire time.
“So, now tell me why did Matt let you out of his cage, looking so gorgeous going to a party all alone? Normally he was hanging all over you, babe”

But instead of answering, Maya said something under her breath that sounded like a veil curse and hurried away, Ben looked at me stunned “What did I do?” I shrugged “Fuck do I know”
“Shit, Maya! Wait” Ben went after her pushing his drink in my hand and vanished, alright… Leave me all alone.

I waited some more and realized that Avery should have been ready a long time ago, so what the hell happened that took her so long?!

I went inside and found her in a conversation with Danny, that fucker! He cornered her against the wall and was intensely talking to her, when her eyes met mine I saw the relief and I grinned.
“Yo Danny, I think someone called for your special drinks at the bar, will you check?” I asked pushing Danny a little off Ave and heard Ave’ sigh.
“I’m having a serious conversation right now, they can do their drinks themselves or they can go fuck themselves.” Danny slurred and I sighed.

“Alright, well… then I gotta be rude and-” I quickly grabbed Ave’s hand and pulled her away, she looked stunned, but I just pulled her further and ushered her outside leaving Danny stunned leaning against the wall, he wasn’t that quick in his drunken mind anyway.

“Cass, you asshole!” Danny screamed on the top of his lungs but I just chuckled, sadly I knew this wouldn’t be the end of it, but for now I could talk to Ave again.
“Thanks!” Ave laughed a little and I smiled, that was a really nice sound.
“You’re welcome” I held the cup out she left earlier and she took it.

“Where is Maya? And Ben?” Avery looked around and I shrugged “Ben said something stupid, as usual, and Maya ran off… She will cool down and they will come back soon, don’t worry”
Avery looked a little uncertain “I told her not to fucking leave me alone, and what is she doing… leaving me alone… damn it! I hate when she does that!” Avery muttered and I carefully laid my arm around her slim shoulder, god she was so small.

“Don’t worry, I won’t leave your side until she is back, okay?” I asked and Ave looked up to me then pointedly to the arm and I took it away “Okay, message received, another drink?” I asked and she nodded “Yeah, I think I need way more then what I already had…”

“Very well, my lady… More alcohol you should get” I had a mission and I was the right person to do the job of that I was sure, and I meant it when I said I wouldn’t leave her side… was it bad that I hoped that Maya wouldn’t come back so quickly?

Notes

Comments lovely readers :)