When We Were Young

It took Nancy around two months to find a job but she didn’t exactly consider this a proper job, or a job she’d want to keep for a long time. Sure, it was fun and all, but it was something temporary. It wasn’t her. What she really wanted was to get her college degree and do what she’d always wanted to do and maybe even write a book or two, but first, she needed to save up money and think about JJ first. Brian had offered her money before, mostly to help her with JJ, but she refused. He didn’t exactly give up, though – he usually bought his daughter lots of stuff, from toys to clothes, to furniture and the food Nancy didn’t want her to eat very often but that Brian bought her anyway.

That night, Nancy was supposed to work and since her parents were out for dinner, she asked Brian if he could keep JJ. He still didn’t know where Nancy worked, despite his desperate trying to find out about her new job, but that didn’t bother him that much. As long as she was okay with it, then so was he.

That day he’d spent the whole day at the studios with the guys to finish the last few songs. The album was almost ready and despite everything, he was quite happy with it. Of course, recording an album that was almost entirely written by Jimmy now that he was gone wasn’t easy, but he liked the sound of it and Mike Portnoy was doing an amazing job. Brian was sure Jimmy would’ve loved it. Well, he would’ve freaked out because Portnoy agreed to play with them in the new album as he was such a huge fan of the Dream Theatre’s drummer, then he would’ve hugged him and watched him play his songs.

Earlier that morning, Brian told Nancy he couldn’t keep JJ for the night as he was busy in the night after the recording session; she was tempted to ask her parents but he suggested his own. Papa Gates and Suzy adored the little girl and obviously they didn’t say no when Nancy called them. Instead, Papa Gates immediately went out to rent an animation movie for the kid and another movie for himself and his wife, for when their granddaughter went to bed, while Suzy started cooking some of JJ’s favorite food.

That evening, after the recording session, the guys (with the exception of Matt who went home to spend time with Valary) were supposed to meet up at some sort of restaurant in Los Angeles, just about twenty minutes away from the studio. Both Linda and Lacey were already there, waiting for their boyfriends. Brian had no idea why he agreed to follow Zack and Johnny, he was pretty sure he’d feel like the third wheel, not to mention that he’d rather spend his time with his daughter than to see his friends being all disgustingly cute with their girlfriends. However, he was already in Zacky’s car, so there was no turning back. Unless he wanted to spend a hundred bucks to get a taxi and go home.

The Lavender Crown was the name of the restaurant and it looked rather anonymous from the outside. Brian had never heard of it and as soon as he stepped in, he understood why. He was used to shitty pubs and bars and occasional fancy restaurants (but only when he and Michelle were supposed to celebrate something special or important) and this place was rather… Unusual, to say the least. He looked around and noticed how there weren’t many tables, but there was enough room for a small stage where some guy was singing a country song or something like that. He didn’t sound bad.

“The fuck are they?” Zacky asked, looking around.

Brian found himself squeezing his eyes, which made him realize that almost all the lights of the place were off. Were people even able to see what they were eating or not?
“There!” Johnny exclaimed before heading towards one of the tables at the opposite side of the room.

“Ladies.” Brian greeted the girls with a smirk before sitting down, “Hope you’re ready to have your night entertained by yours truly.”

“Are you gonna strip or something?” Lacey asked with a chuckle.

“What?” Johnny asked, almost as if someone told him the sky was green.

The girls and Brian laughed, while Zacky cleared his throat. “I hope not. I already know he’ll do that at some point during the tour, so let’s keep this to the tour, okay?”

Brian rolled his eyes and nodded. “Alright, alright.” He said, “So what’s for dinner?”

Nobody got the chance to answer because the waiter came to their table with three beers and two cocktails. The girls had already ordered the drinks and Zacky couldn’t help but smile at his girlfriend.

“What would you like for dinner, ladies and gentlemen?” The waiter asked.

“Uh–What do you have here?” Brian asked, “There’s no menu, so…”

“We have salads, steak, burgers, pasta…”

“A burger for me!” Brian exclaimed, “With extra sauce and fries.”

“A salad” Linda ordered, “Me too! With no tomatoes, please. Could you add some bell peppers to my salad, though?”

“Sure thing.” The waiter said, writing down their orders.

“Steak.” Zacky said, then looked at Johnny who seemed to still be thinking.

“I don’t know…” The younger guy said, “I’ll have pasta and a burger, yeah.”

“Dude, you had like a bag of chips less than an hour ago…” Brian commented as the waiter left.

“So what? I’m hungry.”

Brian chuckled and sipped his beer, then looked at his friends. “Where did you find this place, girls?” He asked, “And why the fuck is it so dark in here?”

“My cousin loves it and suggested it to me, so Lacey and I decided to give it a try.” Linda answered, “As for the darkness, I have no idea. I guess it’s the place itself and for the show.”

Brian slightly nodded, looking at the stage again. The guy was playing a guitar, but behind him there was another guy playing the drums and there was also a small piano on the side. If they got drunk enough, he was pretty sure he’d ask to play on that stage. The people in that place didn’t seem like the usual Avenged Sevenfold fans, but who cared?

As soon as the food came, they all started eating and speaking about the new album. The girls hadn’t listened to it yet, but each guy jealously owned a copy of it. Thankfully Linda, Lacey and Valary weren’t pushing the guys to make them listen to Nightmare, but Brian wanted Nancy to listen to it. He was sure she would love it, or at least, he hoped so. She’d already listened to a first version of So Far Away, now it was time for her to listen to the final version and let him know what he thought of it.

Later that night, after a second guy played some music and sung some songs, there was a third one. The sound of his music was slightly different and Brian liked it a little more, but it still wasn’t his couple of tea. Whatever, he wasn’t there to listen to music. He finished off his beer and ordered another one. Johnny was already drunk and telling some story about that time he peed on Zacky’s backyard, much to his dismay since apparently the owned of said backyard had no idea this happened. Typical of Johnny.

“And then–” Johnny said, before taking a long sip of his beer before stopping and staring at the stage. “Holy fucking shit.” His eyes moved to his friends, almost as if he was waiting for them to react in the same way.

Brian looked at his and frowned, “Then what? Holy fucking shit what?” He asked, “Shit, you’re such a terrible storyteller.”

“Oh.” Lacey said, her eyes looking behind Brian, at the stage. “Holy fucking hell.” She repeated.

“What are you, a parrot or something?” Zacky asked, confused.

“No, it’s…” Linda said, finally understanding what was going on. She pointed her finger towards the stage and that was when both Zacky and Brian turned their heads.

Brian didn’t even notice there was a female singer singing until he turned around, and now that he did, his heart was beating fast into his chest. It was just a random female singer, it was Nancy. He had no idea what she was doing here, wasn’t she supposed to be at work or something? Either way, he didn’t care. He looked at her and was absolutely speechless. He hadn’t listened to her singing in years and he wasn’t surprised she was still good at it. She was wearing a long dress and the occasional smile she gave to the other singer and the people in the restaurant was absolutely beautiful.

“You knew?” Zacky asked, leaning towards Brian.

He shook his head, “No…” He answered, “Do you think she works here or something?” He asked, “I mean, she told me she had to work tonight.”

“I guess? Who knows shit.”

Brian didn’t say anything else, instead he kept his eyes on the girl. She looked stunning. Too bad the song ended quickly and she stopped singing.

“Thank you Nancy for joining me, tonight!” The guy said, quickly hugging Nancy. “Now it’s your turn. Please everyone give a warm welcome to tonight’s greatest star, Nancy Kennedy!” He said, “She promised me she’d perform an original song one day, so maybe the big day is tonight?”

Nancy chuckled and nodded, taking a step towards the microphone. “Sorry to disappoint you, Mick. But I don’t think I’ll play my song tonight. Maybe next Friday?” She asked and gave him a soft smile before slowly walking towards the piano. She placed the guitar next to it then spoke into the microphone. “I’m pretty sure everyone in this room knows this song as it’s pretty famous.” She said before licking her lips. “I’d like to dedicate this song to a person that’s not here anymore but that I still love dearly with all my heart.”

Some people clapped their hands and Nancy immediately started playing the piano before moving her lips closer to the microphone once again, this time to sing.

When you try your best, but you don't succeed
When you get what you want, but not what you need
When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone, but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Brian couldn’t look away. He recognized the song and he was pretty sure it was kind of dedicated to Jimmy. He didn’t like to admit it, but he kind of enjoyed Coldplay music but now that Nancy was playing one of their songs, he liked them even more. She was absolutely stunning and he could feel himself falling in love with her all over again, if possible.

And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

Brian could feel his friends’ eyes on him, but he just couldn’t turn his head. His eyes were glued on Nancy and there was absolutely nothing that could distract him right now, not even Johnny’s drunk behavior.

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Johnny was clapping his hands the whole time and Brian wanted to punch him in the face. As soon as Nancy was done singing, however, he was tempted to punch the bassist even more.
“YES! You go Nancy!” Johnny yelled, getting up and clapping his hands. “Woo-hoo!”

“Jesus, are you fucking dumb?” Brian asked, “Shut the fuck up.”

“I’m no Jesus. I’m Christ.” Johnny said, smirking at his friend.

“Jesus and Christ are the same person, you dumbass.” Zacky said, but Johnny didn’t say anything, instead he frowned and shrugged.

Brian looked at the stage and noticed that Nancy was looking towards them, but he wasn’t sure she noticed he was there, too. If she did, however, she didn’t show it. Instead, she kept singing. The following songs were also covers and she was amazing.

As soon as she was done singing and left the stage, he got up.

“Where are you going?” Zacky asked.

“Where do you think he’s going?” Linda asked him and her boyfriend nodded slightly.

“Should we wait for you or?” This time it was Lacey who spoke. “I think Johnny and I will leave, he’s too wasted.” She commented, quickly glancing at her almost passed out boyfriend.

Brian checked his watch and shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I’ll get a taxi in case.”

“You sure? We can wait.” Zacky said and Linda quickly glared at him. “I mean, I wanna say hi to Nancy!”

“Yeah, well, we can organize a spring party at our place so you can invite her.”

“Spring, sun… Ugh.”

“I’ll tell her you said ‘hi’, alright?” Brian promised before quickly saying goodbye to his friend and trying to head backstage.

When he arrived in the small room, there was sign of Nancy. For a moment he thought he’d dreamt of her, but he was sure he didn’t drink too much, not enough to completely fuck up his mind and make him have hallucinations, at least.

“You’re Synyster Gates!” One of the singers from earlier recognized him and walked towards him.

Brian wasn’t in the mood for meeting fans, but he wanted to find Nancy and he was sure that guy could help him, so he smiled at him.

“How are you?”

“I’m good! Surprised you’re here, but glad you are! I’m such a huge fan.” He said, “Those things you do with your fingers, damn. Amazing.”

“Thanks, man.” Brian said, “Look, I was looking for Nancy. Have you seen her?”

The guy looked surprised, then nodded. “Guess she went out to smoke. Don’t know how she keeps her voice if she smokes so much.”

“Thanks.” Brian said, almost ignoring his next words. He headed outside from the back exit, there he found Nancy leaning back against the wall, with her cigarettes between her lips.

“Hi.” He whispered.

She looked at him and put a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Hi.” She said before taking a long drag of her cigarette. “I didn’t expect you to be here.” She admitted, “Thought you were busy with the guys at the studio.”

Brian took a step towards her and nodded. “I was, but Lacey and Linda were out shopping so we decided to meet up for a late dinner and drinks.” He explained, “Are you upset?”

Nancy finally looked at him and met his gaze, surprised by his question. “Why would I be upset?” She asked, confused. Of course she wasn’t upset, there was nothing he did that made her feel upset. She was surprised, that was all. He shrugged without saying a word, so she kept speaking. “I’m not upset, just surprised.”

“So am I.” Brian admitted. “I didn’t know you worked here.” He said before taking a cigarette to his lips. Nancy took a few steps closer to him and light up his cigarette using her lighter.

“Of course you didn’t know. I didn’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

Nancy shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest. “I guess it’s because this is not a big job, you know.”

“You kidding? You’re amazing at it.”

Nancy looked at him for a moment then leaned back against the wall again, Brian looked around for a moment then back at her. She gave him a small smile, then spoke. “I’m not but thank you, Brian. I’m just saying that this is not what I want to do, you know. It’s all temporary.”

Brian wanted to tell her that she didn’t need to work, he could provide for her and JJ, but he knew she was extremely stubborn and she wouldn’t accept. Instead, he simply nodded. “I see. Well, temporary or not, you’re good at it.”

Nancy didn’t say anything and looked up at the sky. It was dark and there were a few stars, it would’ve been a nice moment if she wasn’t standing in the alley at the back of the restaurant.

“I’m done for the night, need a ride?”

Brian was staring at her, she looked incredible. All he wanted to do was kissing her again, but he promised her he wouldn’t push her and so he didn’t. He hadn’t tried to kiss her since that night at her place two months before, but he couldn’t deny that he wanted to do it every time he saw her.

“Sure. I was hoping you’d say something like this, I don’t have my car with me and I don’t wanna go home with a taxi.”

Nancy laughed and threw her cigarette butt on the ground. “You’re lucky I got my car, then.”
Without saying anything else, she walked away and Brian followed her.

“Wanna go somewhere?” He suggested as he got into the car. “I mean, we could grab some coffee and waffles at Sandra’s, if you’d like.”

Nancy smiled at him at his words. “I’d like that, but I gotta pick up JJ at your parents’.”

“They won’t mind if they keep JJ a few hours or for the entire night.”

“I know, but I promised her chocolate pancakes for breakfast tomorrow.”

“Ah. Alright, then.”

Nancy looked at him and noticed how he looked slightly sad, so she took a deep breath. “I guess we can grab a coffee on our way home anyway, though.”

Suddenly, Brian smiled widely. “Awesome! Thanks, baby.”

Nancy froze at how he called him and Brian mentally slapped himself in the face.

“Sorry…”

“No worries.” Nancy whispered, trying to look cool and calm even though she was kind of dying inside. It’d been a while since he called her “baby” and it made her feel weird and great at the same time. Dammit, she thought. Right when she thought she had everything under control, he had to come up with something new. She only hoped things wouldn’t be weird now.

Notes

Guess who's back?! I'm so sorry for my disappearance; what I thought would last just a week ended up lasting a month and between my apartment makeover, my laptop deciding to break for no reason and work I couldn't update or even log in, especially because my phone doesn't let me even browse the site (it always open new windows and ads and I'm like???). Anyway, here I am with a shitty chapter. Hope you enjoy it anyway <3 Let's consider this some sort of filler since not much really happens in here but more exciting stuff is coming in the next chapters :D

I'd like to thank all the new people who subscribed to my story, I can't believe there are 40 (forty!!) people who subscribed and like my story. It means a lot. Of course, I want to thank all the people who commented the last chapter, most of you are my loyal readers but I noticed a few new faces so thank you. I love you all <3

PS: If you're interested, this is the version of Fix You that I pictured Nancy singing!
Second PS: I'm gonna reply to all my messages later today or tomorrow, so please don't think I've forgotten about you :P