Meet You in the Stars

“Are you gonna puke?” Jimmy asked, shooting me a concerned look. I definitely felt a little nauseous.

“I think I’ll be okay.” He laughed and slung an arm around my shoulders as we walked up to the house. M fucking Shadows’ house.

He didn’t bother knocking, just walked right in and led me through the house and out the back door. Everyone was either lounging around the pool or splashing around in it. Jimmy had told me to grab a swimsuit when we were at my house, but I told him I wasn’t in the mood for that today. That was a lie, but I didn’t want to deal with the questions that would arise if any of them saw the scars on my body.

“Did you get a girlfriend and not tell anybody?” A voice asked loudly.

Jimmy rolled his eyes. “This is Avery. Avery meet Matt, Brian, Zack, and Johnny.” I smiled nervously and gave a small wave.

“Avery, come grab a beer!” Johnny said and waved me over to a cooler sitting next to him. Jimmy had walked off to talk to Brian so I headed for Johnny.

“No swimming for you?” I asked, twisting the top off of a bottle.

“Nah, it’d mess up my hair,” he said, making me laugh. I would’ve pegged Brian as the hair freak, not him.

I was momentarily distracted by Jimmy taking his shirt off. I tried to look away before anyone noticed but I the grin on Johnny’s face told me I’d been caught. My cheeks flushed.

“If you get embarrassed that easily, you won’t survive around us.”

“Hey Avery come hang out over here before short shit bores you to death!” Jimmy called.

I walked over and pulled my shoes off then rolled my jeans up to my knees. I sat on the pool’s edge with my feet dangling in the water.

“You should come in the water feels great,” Matt said.

“I don’t have a suit.”

“Just get naked, no one will mind,” Brian said with a smirk on his lips.

“Definitely not,” I said, not missing the way his eyes roamed over my body. It was like he was imagining it. It reminded me too much of my abusive ex, that almost hungry look in his eyes. He kind of looked like him too. I shook those thoughts off before it could ruin the day.

I brought the bottle up to my lips and finished off the beer. I started to get up to go grab another, but Matt stopped me and offered to go get it since he needed one too. Jimmy came over to me, even with him in the pool he was tall enough to be eye level with me.

“Well is it everything you thought it would be? Meeting everyone?”

“Nope. Kinda boring to be honest,” I teased.

“Oh really? I’ll just have to make it more interesting for you then.” He leaned forward and kissed me, taking me by surprise. I relaxed, letting my arms slide around his neck, not caring that he was wet from the pool.

A sudden gagging sound made us pulled apart. “You guys are disgusting,” Brian said and climbed out of the pool to go tend to his ringing phone.

“Here ya go, Avery.” Matt handed me a fresh beer.

He then backed up a few steps and jumped into the pool. I squealed and got to my feet quickly, running from the water.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I heard Brian’s voice at the same time I felt arms wrap around me. My feet left the ground and I was suddenly plunged into the water. It was refreshingly cool and I couldn’t even be mad about it.

“Fuck, man! You can’t just throw people into the pool like that! You just met her! What if she didn’t know how to swim?” I couldn’t help but laugh at Jimmy he seemed so worried. It was adorable.

I put on my best mad face as I swam back to the edge. Brian offered his hand to help me out and I took it, only to pull him into the water. Everyone was laughing when he surfaced, sputtering.

“I like this one, Jimmy,” Zack said.

“Yeah, she plays dirty. Should fit right in,” Brian said.

I decided to just stay in the pool, clothes and all. This all felt so surreal. I never in a million years imagined I’d be here, hanging out with the members of one of my favorite bands. It seemed like my life was really looking up. Moving to California was the best decision I’d ever made.

Notes

Ugh, filler. I was so stuck on this one. I have a ton of ideas now so it should get better after this!

I'm so fucking ecstatic right now! I'm going to see Avenged for the first time in June!! And Metallica, it's gonna be amazing!! I can't wait!