She's a Little Bit Country, He's a Little Bit Rock N' Roll

It's been a very fast week since Ivy and I found out we were going to be parents of healthy twin boys. I still cannot believe that I am getting everything I have ever wanted. Luck has definitely been on my side and I pray to God that she doesn't stray away.

The day after the doctor's appointment I surprised Ivy with a trip to visit her Aunt Jade to get away from the stress of touring for a little while. I didn't want the fast paced journey to drag her energy away, the boys did that enough for her.

She's been gone for five days and I have begun to start regretting sending her away. I am having a hell of a time sleeping without her or being able to lie my head on her stomach and listen to the awkward noises that pregnancy has started to produce.

I don't even know what city we are in at this point anymore. It always ends up this way. We all get extremely amped to go on tour, the beginning is great, the middle is still pretty good, and towards the end we all realize that we are starting to get too old for this shit. Do not get me wrong, we will never stop playing music and we probably won't stop touring until we are geriatric, but this particular tour has kicked all of our asses.

Zacky and I have been worried sick about the girls and our babies, we have been going pretty much non stop from show to show with little to no breaks in-between, and we couldn't wait to be home and relax with our loved ones. Luckily, our end is in sight with only three weeks left of the tour. It turned out to be perfect timing, because Ivy will be a little past six months pregnant, and we will have around two months until the boys are born which gives us plenty of time to relax and prepare for their arrivals.

My sons...I still can't fucking believe she's pregnant with twin boys. I can picture our future together, raising them, seeing their bright smiles every morning when we wake up, getting no sleep to tend to their every need. I can't wait for all of it.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, interrupting me from my happy place.

"What's up Jimbo?"

"Hey dude...uh...you have a visitor down at the front desk of the hotel asking for you. I came out to smoke and tried to avoid an awkward situation when I saw her but it looked like she would be up any minute."

KNOCK, KNOCK

"...Her?"

"Well it was nice talkin' to ya buddy! Good luck!"

Click

"What the fuck, Jimmy..." I mumbled as I walked to the door to greet whoever was knocking.

As soon as I swung the door open I regretted everything and wish I hadn't. There stood a very distressed looking Valary, someone I never expected to see again in person in this lifetime.

"Hey Matt I'm...really sorry to bother you I just didn't know where else to go..."

She actually looked...pitiful. It almost made me feel sorry for her. Almost.

"What the hell are you doing here, Val?"

"It's a really long fucking story...do you have a little while to talk?"

I looked behind me into my empty, messy hotel room and let out a deep sigh. "Don't make me regret this. Come in."

It wasn't until she walked past me that she had a large bump underneath her shirt.

"Holy shit, Val you're--"

"Yeah, I am. A little over six months now. Don't worry, it isn't yours. You can breathe." She sat down on the balcony of my room that overlooked a decent sunset.

"Well...are you going to tell me why you showed up to my hotel this far from home?"

"I...after you left, I met this guy. My mom kept pushing me to move on and find someone to continue life with and I found him and thought I was all set. Things were great up until about a month ago. We were engaged, I found out about this tiny human growing inside of me and I thought I was finally able to move on but then things got...aggressive."

Something in my chest began to burn. My romantic feelings for Valary are long gone, but I will always have that protective side over her considering we were best friends for the longest time. I didn't like what I was hearing.

"What do you mean by aggressive, Val?"

"Something in him just...snapped. I don't know what happened. He started becoming very physically violent and he would taunt me constantly and tear me down mentally. He started to make me feel like nothing but I was too scared to leave because I was pregnant and I didn't want to run back to my family. They already thought I was slipping away once you and I split. I wanted to make it seem like I had everything together. I thought I could handle it and that he would change but then..."

Tears started to form in her eyes and she took a couple of deep breaths to compose herself.

"Then yesterday he got home from work and he was in a terrible mood. I didn't do anything to make it worse I just...existed in the house. He yelled at me and the next thing I know I was flying down the stairs hoping I wouldn't break my neck while I had both arms cradling my stomach. I hit my head against a wall and I was so scared to move. He fled the house after that and I called a paramedic to come and check me out. I told them I lost my footing and fell down the stairs on my own. I didn't want them to know the truth. I didn't want anyone to but...you've always made me feel safe and if anyone was going to know I wanted it to be you so I looked up your tour schedule, made some calls, and...here I am. I don't feel safe there anymore. I can't risk losing her..." Tears fell onto her stomach as she looked down and rubbed small circles on it.

My knuckled were as white as paper as I gripped the arms of the fragile plastic chair.

"Val...who is he..." I growled.

"You don't know him, really. I didn't come here to ask you to put a hit out or anything. I came here because I didn't know where else to go. My family cannot know about this, Matt."

I rubbed small circles on my temples as I tried to think of a fix for her. Not to make her problems seem less viable but this is honestly the last thing I needed on this tour. I couldn't just leave her stranded, though. That isn't who I am. I may have moved on but that doesn't mean I don't care about her.

"Val...you have to report him. As long as he knows where you are or where you could be, he will go back to you. You have to think of your daughter."

"I know. I am trying to make a plan, I just needed to get away first." She sighed.

"I'm sorry, Val. For everything...you don't deserve it."

She grabbed my hand and placed it between hers.

"She's kicking. Do you wanna feel?"

I hesitantly placed my hand on her small bump and pressed around until I felt some powerful jolts of movement.

"Wow that's fucking insane. Women's bodies are incredible, man." I chuckled.

"Yeah, they really are...thank you for listening to me. It felt good just to get it all out to someone. I think I better hop a few doors down and visit my sister though. I haven't spoken to her much since the tour started, she doesn't even know about Ava."

"Ava, pretty name. Is that what you're naming her?"

"Ava Hope DiBenedetto." She smiled proudly.

"That's beautiful. She's gonna be perfect, Val. Now, go catch up with Michelle. I'm sure she would love the girl time."

I opened my arms and pulled her into a hug. It didn't feel awkward or forced, but more like a sense of closure. I never wanted things to end on bad terms, and it was comforting to know that we had the chance to make things stray from the negative.

"Is this why you sent me away for a week? To have some alone time with her?"

I pulled away to see Ivy standing in the doorway with her luggage in her hands.

"Ivy no it isn't--"

"Save it you god damned liar." She spat and fled.

"Shit Matt I'm sorry!" Val whined.

"I gotta go after her. Go to Michelle, okay? Don't worry about this."

I grabbed the key to my room and ran down the hall as fast as I could. I wasn't expecting her to be home so soon. Not that this was a bad thing at all, but I cannot imagine what was going through her mind right now. Did she really think I would cheat on her with the person I left to marry her? I couldn't fathom the idea of losing her over something this trivial.

As I got in front of the hotel I looked around frantically to try and pick a direction to start running. Jimmy was still standing outside chain smoking and I ran over to him out of breath.

"Jimmy did you see Ivy run out here?"

"No dude I didn't. I thought she was visiting family?"

"She was but she came home early I guess and she saw me hugging Val and she thinks I sent her away to cheat on her, man." My voice began to crack as the anxiety started burning up into my throat.

"Fucking hell, Matt. Alright let me see if she will answer my calls and I'll help you look. You go left, I'll go right, and whoever finds her first can just let the other know." He pulled out his phone and started dialing as he sprinted towards his assigned direction.

She has to believe me, right? All of the trust we have built up in our relationship cannot be ruined by one fucking meaningless hug with my ex. This wasn't happening to me.

I looked into the windows of every business I was passing to make sure she didn't run into any of them until I finally stumbled upon a tiny coffee shop at the end of the street.

There was Ivy, crying in the arms of a guy.

Who the fuck was this...

Notes

WHO THE FUCK WAS THIS?

xxoo,
Leagh