The Way Your Heart Sounds

Lauren stood awkwardly in the kitchen as Jimmy introduced her to about a million other people. Friends of the band, roadies, crew members, and more. There was no way she could remember all of these names. Jimmy told her to stay put while he grabbed a drink, and walked off. Val, the blonde woman who was standing next to Matt before, came over to her.

“How’s it going?” she asked.

“Not bad. There’s a ton of people here, huh?” Lauren said.

“The Avenged family is a pretty big one,” she laughed. She then made eye contact with Brian, who was sitting on the other side of the kitchen. Her eyes turned into daggers as she looked at him. Brian ignored her and walked away.

“Uh, is everything okay?” Lauren asked, slightly confused.

“Oh, yeah. It’s just that Brian and my sister broke up last night. Even though it probably wasn’t his fault, I’m still a little mad at him, you know? I’m sure they’ll get back together in another week or two,” she shrugged. Lauren nodded.

“Is she your younger sister?” Lauren asked, trying to make conversation.

“We’re actually twins,” Val said.

“Oh, that’s funny,” Lauren said. She thought it was interesting that two best friends were dating identical twins.

“Yeah, everyone says that. How did you and Jimmy meet? All I heard from Matt was that Jimmy had a new woman in his life.”

Lauren paused for a moment. She thought the truth about about how they met would sound a little weird, but she also didn’t want to lie in case Jimmy had already told the rest of his friends besides Brian.

“It’s funny, you see I’m a nurse. Jimmy came into my ER a couple of days ago, I treated him, and here we are,” she laughed awkwardly.

“No way! That’s so cute. I knew Jimmy was good with the ladies, but I didn’t think he could just snatch them up everywhere he went.”

“I guess he is pretty charming,” Lauren said. She smiled as she saw Jimmy come back towards her. He had a drink in his hand, but she didn’t really mind. It was a party, and she hadn’t seen him drink in front of her at all these past few days. She even had a beer herself at some point, so she didn't want to be a hypocrite.

Lauren spent the rest of the evening talking to a bunch of different people. Jimmy was in and out, sometimes joining in on her conversations and sometimes off having his own. She was talking to Lacey, Johnny’s girlfriend, as Zacky approached her.

“Have you seen Jimmy? Can’t find him anywhere. You’d think he would he easy to find, looking like a giraffe and all,” Zacky joked.

“I actually haven’t seen him in a little while. Sorry,” Lauren said. She had been too preoccupied talking to people to notice that Jimmy had been gone so long. After a little while longer, he finally appeared and threw his arm around her shoulder.

“Hey,” he drawled. She knew immediately that he was already drunk, by his voice and by the smell of alcohol radiating off of him. Now she was annoyed.

“Where’d you go?” she asked.

“No where, I was with Bri,” he mumbled. His speech was so slurred, she had a hard time understanding him.

“Is he alright?”

“Yeah… I think he’s fine.”

Lauren looked over Jimmy’s shoulder to see Brian standing on Zacky’s kitchen table, his head nearly hitting the ceiling. He was playing guitar, but wasn’t plugged into an amp, so no one could really hear what he was playing. Even so, he seemed pretty into it. He was more lively than she had ever seen him look before, in fact. He then proceeded to smash an empty beer bottle over his head, and Lauren’s eyes widened.

“Is he … drunk?” she asked Jimmy, who was now avoiding her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah... He’s torn up inside,” Jimmy said. His eyes were nervously pacing around the room like he was looking for someone. His body was practically vibrating.

Lauren’s heart sank.

“You’re not drunk…” she started, speaking softly.

“Huh? Yeah, I had a few drinks.. What do you mean?” he said quickly. He still wasn't looking at her.

“Did you have anything besides alcohol?” She was fuming, because she already knew the answer. Her fists were balled up at her sides, her nails digging into her palms. The temptation to leave was overwhelming, and she would have already left if she didn't think it would be disrespectful.

“No! No of course not, why would you think that? Come on, forget about all that,” he got closer to her, practically backing her into the wall. He was attempting to seduce her, but she wasn't having it.

“Do you think I’m dumb?” she asked bluntly. Jimmy made a ‘shhh’ noise, and then aggressively kissed her. She responded by shoving him away with all her strength.

“What the hell?” he asked.

Lauren didn’t answer. She was looking at the floor, hoping he didn’t notice the tears in her eyes. She couldn’t bear to look at him, so she quickly started walking towards the door. Jimmy was hot on her trail, and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her back towards him.

“Jimmy, let me go,” she growled, trying to break out of his grip.

“Come on, stay here with me,” he pleaded. He nipped the back of her neck and was pressing his body against her. This was not the sweet, gentle man she had been with the past few days. This was a completely different person that she didn't recognize at all.

She managed to pry herself away from him, and left. The tears spilled out of her eyes as she darted down the street, occasionally turning around to see if Jimmy was following. He wasn’t. She didn't really know where she was going, all she knew was that she needed to be somewhere else, away from him.

After a few minutes, she noticed someone behind her, but not Jimmy. It was Val. She called for Lauren to stop, so she did.

“Are you okay? I didn’t really see what happened but someone told me you took off,” she said, out of breath from running.

“What the hell has gotten into him?” Lauren cried. Val frowned and pulled her in for a hug.

“Sweetie, I’m so sorry… I thought you knew,” she murmured. Lauren pulled away from her and gave her a confused look.

“Jimmy is a drug addict. He’s not just an alcoholic,” Val said quietly. Lauren looked down at the floor. She had suddenly begun to regret everything that happened these past few days. She should have listened to her gut and denied his request for a date that night.

“Cocaine?” Lauren managed to say.

“Yeah. Pills too,” Val mumbled.

“I have to go,” Lauren said quickly.

“Look, I’m sorry you found out this way. I promise you, he’s not a bad person. In fact, he’s one of the greatest guys I know. He’s head over heels for you, Lauren, I can tell. Please don’t give up on him because of this.”

Lauren sighed, and turned away from Val.

“I won’t. But I have to go.”

Val nodded, with an understanding frown. She offered to drive Lauren home, but Lauren refused. She had an idea of where she was, and she needed to get away from here as soon as possible.

Notes

This chapter was really painful to write. :(
I promise it's very important to the rest of the story, though. Happier chapters are ahead, so not to worry. Hope you enjoyed!