I slam the shot glass down on the bar and wave for another. It was Halloween and I’m supposed to be at my own Halloween party, but I let Gena take over as I slipped out to get some fresh air. I had to get away from her, she was driving me absolutely insane. I knew moving in together was a bad idea. Before I bought my house and later invited her to move in with me, I could do whatever I wanted, when I wanted. Now, Gena expected an answer for everything; where I was going, who I was going with, how long would I be gone? And while I was gone, she was almost always texting or calling me.

As if on cue, my phone lit up on the bar as another shot of whiskey was set down in front of me. I glanced at the name of the person who sent me the text message and rolled my eyes at the message before downing the shot. “Where are you?????????” Gena’s text message read. I took a deep breath before picking up my phone and texting her back. I wouldn’t, but I knew if I didn’t she would only continue to blow my phone up and then send out a search party.

“Went to get more beer,” I replied. I turned my phone off and brought my half-drank beer to my lips.

Avenged Sevenfold has seen a lot of success in the last year. Our friends in Good Charlotte brought us onto Total Request Live’s Spankin’ New Music Week on MTV and it helped get our music out there and later we were invited to come back and perform a couple of songs. Half of us didn’t want to do it, but we gritted our teeth and did it anyway. We just wanted to get out music out there more, and it worked.

I’m already incredibly drunk and should go home but instead, I finish my beer and scope out the bar. They are having a Halloween party so there were plenty of chicks dressed up in the sluttiest costumes they could find. I light a cigarette and tuck it between my lips as I order another beer. There is a chick in the corner talking to her friend wearing a blue wig and pointed witches hat. The other woman wears the sexiest Freddy Krueger costume I ever saw in my life and she throws her head back in a laugh as her friend grins and sips her drink. I continue to look around the bar but kept coming back to the two girls in the corner. Freddy gets up and heads outside on her phone. I slide off the bar stool, grab my beer and decide to head to the girl in the blue wig.

Her phone is in her hand when I arrive at her table, but I sit down anyways. “Hey, Rachel, do you think…” She starts but trails off when she realizes I’m not Rachel.

Her lungs deflate, and her mouth slowly falls open; I give her my most charming smile. Oh, yeah, she definitely knows who I am. This will be easy. “Hi, I’m Zacky.” I grin, using my stage name.

She stares at me for a long time. I watch her eyes search my face. “Sutton,” she finally replies.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around here,” I say. I catch the bartender’s attention and motion for more drinks.

Sutton shakes her head. “Oh, I don’t live here,” she replies, slowly. “I’m just in town for a day or two while I…take care of something.”

I nod and finish my beer. “Where are you from?” Honestly, groupies and one-night-stands that I never see again are the best. Then, it’s less likely Gena will find out and be pissed off at me.

Again, Sutton hesitates before answering me. “Um,” she starts, “I live in Los Angeles.” She adjusts the witches hat slightly and I can see her face fully now. She has green face make up on, covering one side of her face and it slowly makes its way to the other, making it look like she’s slowly turning into the Wicked Witch. At least, I think only half of her face is painted, there’s two of her right now and they’re both pretty blurry so it’s hard to tell.

I realize I haven’t replied and open my mouth to comment on whatever it was she said, but the bartender brings us two more drinks – a beer for me and a long island ice tea for her – and also sits down two shot glasses of whiskey. “Thanks,” I slur.

I pick up one of the shot glasses and offer it to her. “Oh, I shouldn’t,” she replies.

“It’s a Halloween party,” I smile. “Didn’t you come here to party?” She hesitates before taking the shot from me, smiling. I grab the one still sitting on the table. “To new friends,” I cheer, gently tapping my glass against hers. I bring the glass to my lips.

The shot of Jack Daniels is the last thing I remember before coming out of my blackout. When I come to, my lips are attached to Sutton’s and my hands search her body as she fights with the key reader for the hotel bedroom door. Finally, we hear the unlock and she throws the door open. She pulls off the witch’s hat and tosses it and her blue wig to the floor. Her short blonde locks fall into her face. Blondes – my favourite.

She tugs at my shirt and it falls to the floor with her Halloween props as we kiss again. I try to lead her to the bed, but the room is spinning. It finds us before we find it; Sutton's legs buckle when they hit the bed and she falls back onto it, bringing me down with her. I remove my mouth from hers and gently bite and suck her neck. I reach behind her neck and untie her dress, eagerly pulling it down to reveal her beautiful, perky tits.

I take her nipple into my mouth and roll my tongue against it. Sutton lets out a quiet moan in response. My pants are getting tighter by the second, so I begin to pull her dress completely off her.

Before I can completely take the view of her body in, I spot a tattoo. It’s a few inches below her breast, against her ribs. The air in the room shifts and I throw myself backward off the bed so hard I bump into a table with a lamp. It wobbles before falling into the carpet, breaking. The tattoo is one of a kind; I know because I remembered writing the words with my own left hand onto the transfer paper. Through Still and Storm.

“Sheridan.” I hear my voice but don’t remember forming the words.

Sutton…or, Sheridan realizes my realization and covers herself up. “Zack,” she starts.

There was so much I didn’t understand. I wanted to know everything and nothing at the same time. I felt my chest rise with the breaths I took but my lungs couldn’t get enough air. I had to get out of here.

Before Sheridan could continue her sentence, I was out the door. I didn’t wait for the elevator, instead, I ran down the stairs. I didn’t stop running until I was a few blocks from my house.

Reading that tattoo was a sobering moment. It all made sense now, the way she stared at me, her hesitation in the beginning. I didn’t recognize her because of the face paint and wig. Her hair was back to her natural hair colour. I hadn’t seen her blonde since the first week I knew her. She had cut it all off since the last time I saw her too. God, she looked good.

It didn’t matter. Why was she here? Why didn’t she tell me the truth when I asked her name? She has no reason to hide anymore. Was she hiding from me? I had so many questions and no answers. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know them.

“Where have you been? Where’s your shirt?”

I don’t realize I’m in my house until Gena speaks. The party is over, and the place is trashed. People still remain, passed out in odd positions and places. Gena’s words sink in and I look down at my torso. My shirt. I ran out of Sheridan’s hotel room so fast I forgot to grab my shirt off the floor.

I look at Gena; she looks both worried and pissed off. I open my mouth to lie to her, but my words won’t form. I could tell her the truth and she wouldn’t believe me. No one would. “I need to take a shower,” I say to no one in particular. I walk passed Gena and head upstairs to our bathroom. Gena says something, but her words don’t register with me, so I keep walking.

I stay in the shower until the water runs cold. I felt lost. I was so confused. I was still in a daze when I got out and wrapped the towel around my waist. I just needed sleep, that’s all. I would wake up in the morning and this would all just be a bad dream. A horrible, upsetting dream.

Gena isn’t in the bedroom when I walk out of the bathroom. I sit on the edge of the bed and submerge myself back into my thoughts. I don’t know how long I sit there until Gena walks in. I don’t know how long she was standing in front of me before she finally speaks.

“I wish you would get that thing covered up.” At her words, I realize that I’m absentmindedly rubbing my thumb against my own Through Still and Storm tattoo. I stop touching it but don’t reply. “Zack, where were you?”

“Gena, please,” I mumble. “Not tonight.”

“I don’t want to fight either, Zack. It’s my birthday. I just don’t understand where you were.
Were you with someone? Is that why you came back with no beer and no shirt? Zack…did you cheat on me, again?” Her voice breaks and I finally look at her. Her eyes are red like she’s been crying.

I take a deep breath. “Come here,” I tell her, extending my hand. She sniffs and wipes her cheek before reluctantly taking it. I pull her toward me, and she gets up on the bed, straddling me. Her hands caress my face and we kiss. Sheridan’s mouth tasted like cigarettes and tequila whereas Gena’s tastes like tears and should-have-been’s.

“I love you,” Gena told me. Her lips brushed against mine as she spoke.

I began pulling at the zipper on the back of her dress. “I know. I love you, too.”

Notes

The sequel is here!!! And wow, Zack has changed in the last six years! This chapter brings up a lot of questions with Sheridan, Zack and everything that's happened since the last chapter of Through Still and Storm. Hopefully, we will get some answers too! I know how I want this to end but I don't exactly know how I'm going to get there so bear with me on the updates. Also, I'm not sure how long this will be but it'll probably be somewhere around 15-20 chapters AND as long as there are still some readers at the end of this sequel there will be another, which will also be around 15-20 chapters.

Thank you so much for reading! Don't forget to comment, rate and subscribe!

Title credit: You Me at Six "Take on the World"
Which funny enough, is the same song I got the last chapter of TSaS's title.