Welcome to the Family

“Yes, I guess that’s exactly what it means. I mean, you’re married, and I’m going to stick around for a little longer, so I really don’t want anything to happen here,” I explained. For the rest of the car ride we didn’t talk.
On the way back, we just had a normal conversation about the music, and I explained that I only knew one song, so he sung the choruses of some other known songs for me. His voice was just perfect, and I actually liked all of the songs, especially Seize the Day.

When we arrived back home, the tension between us was almost gone, and I was very happy for that. He was right, I thought, it was only as awkward as we made it. Though, I still found myself wondering why this perfect man had made a move on me. And why, why on earth had I let him? He smelled great, that was for sure. And he tasted great, too. And the way he kissed, heavily, passionately… Just the thought of it made me squirm.

As we were about to get out of the car, Larry’s Volkswagen appeared in our driveway.
“Hey guys, hope you’re getting along. Let’s go inside for a few minutes, shall we?” Larry shouted, switching off the engine and hopping out of the car. He almost slipped on a tiny, melting pile of snow.
“Hey, Larry,” Matt and I said in unison. Then the back door of Larry’s car swung open. A guy we hadn’t seen before slowly made his way to where we were standing. He looked like he was one of the Avenged guys with his long, dark hair and his full beard. He was wearing black pants with a black sleeveless shirt showing off his tattooed arms and he had a bandana in his hair.
“Hey, nice to meet you, I’m Mike,” he introduced himself, before we went into the house.

About two minutes later we were all sitting in the living room. Larry took a deep breath, then said, “Guys, I want you to meet Mike Portnoy. He’s a great drummer from Dream Theater, actually, he was one of Jimmy’s favorites.” Matt immediately got up, practically killed Larry with his death glare and went to his room. I didn’t know why, but I had the urge to follow him, so I did. When I entered his room, I was actually surprised at how tidy it was, compared to what I’d seen from Brian.

“Larry, go awa-… you?” he asked in disbelief, lying on his bed. “Yeah…,” I said absentmindedly, letting my eyes wander around in his room. His bed was made, not necessarily with a lot of effort, but it was made. He had a small desk covered with dozens of sheets and sticky notes. Right next to it stood a black piano.

“Why you here?” Matt asked. I slowly let myself sink on his bed, watching him closely, so I would know if I upset him. “Maybe you want to tell me what this was about?” I looked right into his hazel eyes. “It’s just too soon to replace him…,” he began quietly. “Jimmy?” I asked softly, trying not to upset him even more.
“Yes. Larry… I don’t know, seems to me he’s just… All he wants is for the fucking show to go on. And… Honestly, I don’t know if we can. Our name… It just refers to the band as before. Are we still Avenged Sevenfold without Jimmy? He wasn’t my fucking drummer, he was my fucking brother…”

As tough as he looked, he had a really soft heart, I thought. “Look, Matt… You need to find out for yourself if you want to keep on playing music. If you want my opinion, you definitely should. Hearing you sing just an hour ago… I don’t know, but you just seemed... happy. And even if Mike plays the drums in the band, you’re still Avenged Sevenfold. At least to me. And he’s never going to really replace your friend. Even if he eventually becomes a friend of yours… he’s not going to have the exact same spot in your heart. I know how cheesy it sounds, but that’s just the way it is.” I replied, thinking to myself that it sounded absolutely cheesy.

Suddenly, the door swung open, and the peaceful silence was immediately gone. “Matt? We need to talk!” a shriek voice demanded. When Valary saw me sitting on his bed, her facial expression changed, making her look even angrier. “And you? What the fuck are you doing in my husband’s room?” she hissed, clenching her teeth and practically stabbing me with her look.

I got up. It was hard for me to remain calm. On the inside, I was so angry I just wanted to hit her with a chair or something. But that wasn't who I was, I reassured myself. I took three deep breaths before curtly responding, “I was just talking to Matt. I don’t see your pro-.” “Oh, I know what you’re like," she interrupted me loudly, "You’re one of those people who’d just about do any fucking thing to get close to a celebrity. As a cook, come on already… And you,” she turned to face Matt, “how fucking dumb are you? I mean seriously, you just believe that out of good will this bitch turns up and flips your fucking lives around? She’s just here to sleep around.”

What the actual…? “I think this is between the two of you, I’m leaving now,” I explained, trying to keep my voice steady. “No, you tell me now, how many of them have you screwed, huh? All of them? Is Matt your last target?” she was screaming now. “Please, Mrs., just please calm down…” Matt’s voice, filled with anger, interrupted my speech: “What the hell do you want, Val? Will you fucking leave her out of this? She’s HELPING us. A thing you never did, though you’re my fucking wife. So, Vicky, like you already proposed, leave the room, and now you, Val, tell me why you’re here.”

I breathed heavily. Of course I was very upset, but also proud of myself for staying calm and professional. I decided to treat myself to a smoothie, so I went to the kitchen and took out some orange juice and poured it into the blender, added a banana and a handful of strawberries and then pushed the button. When it was done, I downed it and then decided to see how the other guys were doing with Mike.

In the living room, the others were joking and laughing so loud that the screams from Valary and Matt were barely audible. I introduced myself to Mike and had a quick talk with Larry about how everything was going, before eventually returning to the kitchen and shoving my already prepared vegetable lasagna in the oven.

I felt funny, I didn’t know why, but I did. Somehow everything was slowing down and I was in the mood to dance and sing. Having dinner with the guys only made me feel even better. “Hey Vicca, I know you’re all about healthy, but how ‘bout we fucking celebrate tonight? Yo, this guy Mike is real nice and we think we can work with him,” Zacky asked, smiling at me.

“Yeah sure, having a party seems like a good thing to do,” I giggled. What was up with me? “You mind if we drink a little tonight? Promise we won’t for the next week,” Brian tried to convince me by playing with his Haner charm. Actually, for the mens sana in corpore sano treatment, alcohol was the only no-go, especially for the first two weeks. But they’d asked so nicely, and I was feeling funny anyway, and they were grown-ups, so it wouldn’t hurt, right?

About an hour later, the guys had invited a couple of friends from the neighborhood, and asked them to bring alcohol. Especially Matt had done too many shots since Valary had left shortly after the first guests had arrived. I wasn’t feeling too great. Everything was spinning around and I was almost sure I’d caught some kind of bug or something. Eventually Matt came to the couch where I was lying and asked me if I wanted to hear a song he’d written for Jimmy.

“I have so much to say but you’re so far away…” A couple of minutes later we were in Matt’s room. He sometimes didn’t hit the right note on the piano, and he slurred slightly, but I was too busy trying to handle how soft his voice sounded when he sang. I was sitting on his lap while he played me his new song, looking at his perfect face.

His hazel eyes were encircled by slightly red colored eyeballs. I knew I should have been angry because he hadn’t only drunken alcohol, but also obviously taken a few tokes from a joint, but I was too busy watching in awe how his dimples moved when he sang and how perfectly white his teeth shone.
After playing the song, he asked me if I liked it. I was very brave, and obviously out of my mind. “What do you mean? The song you wrote or making out with you earlier?” I purred, cupping his face with my hands. He looked at me with a concerned glance for a second, but then chuckled, “Well Vicky, I didn’t think you were so fucking feisty, but damn, I really like that.”

He smiled, and then he leaned in, and then suddenly our lips were connected and his hands were traveling over my bare skin and everything kept spinning around, and somehow there was always his face right in front of mine and his gentle lips kissing mine, and the next thing I knew was lying in strong, tattooed arms, too tired to care about anything else and immediately falling asleep.

Notes

uh-oh....

So what do you guys think? Was this bound to happen sooner or later?

Comments please! ♥

also a special thanks to @wilda73 and @LadyRevenge for showing so much interest and always giving me their opinions. You guys always make my day!