Take Me Back to Start

Jolie came stomping into the recording studio without acknowledging anyone else on her way. “James Sullivan!” she snapped as she barged into the booth that Jimmy was playing in. Matt groaned and told her she was ruining the recording, but she just glared at him. Jimmy looked up with surprise until Jolie shoved a magazine in his face. The cover had a picture of Jimmy and Jolie running from the officers at the carnival along with a blurry picture of the two of them in the ocean. Thankfully, the beach picture wasn’t clear enough to really tell who the two were. “What the hell is this?” she asked clearly uncomfortable.

Jimmy looked over the magazine article that had the headline, “Mystery Girl Spotted with A7X Again. This Time Causing Trouble.” He just laughed and handed it back with a shrug. “What’s the big deal, Jo? It’s just a stupid magazine article. You can barely even see anything in the pictures,” he said easily.

Jolie glared at the taller man snatching the magazine. “Alex is going…” she started ranting and then suddenly stopped speaking all together. Her face instantly fell and she dropped the magazine to the floor. “Fuck…nevermind…fuck,” she muttered closing her eyes for a second before walking out of the booth quickly. She stepped outside once more to close her eyes and calm herself down. With Dr.Benson’s suggestions in mind, she tried to remind herself of where she was. Alex was no longer in her life. He couldn’t control her anymore.

Matt came outside not saying anything, but standing with Jolie. He didn’t push or ask for her to talk. They just stood for a bit. “Sometimes I forget that he isn’t around,” she says suddenly without really explaining. He understood what she meant though and glanced out towards the road.

“He controlled your entire life for three years. It’ll take time to get used to being free again. Having random times when you forget will happen. You just got to remind yourself that he can’t do anything anymore,” Matt says supportively.

“It’s embarrassing sometimes when I slip. Especially when it’s something that I’m blowing out of proportion,” Jolie shrugged.

Suddenly, Brian came walking out glancing at the two as they stopped talking. “Sorry, guys, I just wanted to make sure you were good,” he said sweetly. Jolie gave him a smile. “That’s what…happened last time, right?” he asked a bit knowingly. She nodded her head letting him know he was exactly right. Matt glanced at the two unsure of what they were talking about.
“After I went back to Alex, there was an article that came out. It was pictures of me with all of you and the titled implied I was one of your girlfriends. Alex hated that and decided that I needed to be taught a lesson, so he hit me,” Jolie admitted honestly. It was getting a bit easier to admit to the truth these days.

Matt’s hands twisted into fists as he tried to keep calm. The usually hotheaded man had been tested ever since Jolie came back. He had been keeping himself in control well. What nearly set him off was Brian adding, “He left scars, Matt. It wasn’t good.”

“I should have beat him more than I did. I can’t believe I walked out without leaving him a bloody pulp. If I ever see him again, he’s fucking dead, I swear,” Matt grunted shaking his head. Jolie instantly reached out to gently place her hand on his fist. He could see the pleading for him to calm down in her eyes. He closed his for a moment and slowly he loosened his fist knowing the anger wouldn’t help anything. Honestly, he knew he had a temper, in the back of his head, he didn’t fully understand how it didn’t make Jolie terrified of him. He took it as a testament of their friendship.

Suddenly, Jolie changed the subject forcing a smile onto her face. “I should go back in. I need to make sure Jimmy knows I’m not really that mad at him. It’s not his fault. I just reacted badly,” she said trying to sound okay. Neither Matt or Brian were going to call her on it. She headed in first heading right over to Jimmy. Matt glanced over at Brian as the second man’s eyes never left Jolie.

Brian watched as Jolie talked to Jimmy and then hugged him. The pair had never really fought at all during their long friendship. If they were to have an argument, it was always small and solved within the hour. They couldn’t stand being upset with each other. “I’m a drama queen, Jim Jam. I shouldn’t have yelled,” Jolie muttered into his chest, “You didn’t deserve that.”

Jimmy laughed loudly shaking his head. “As if I was ever even mad. Come on, dork. Let’s go harass the other guys,” he simply said easily forgiving her.

Matt smirked a little bit crossing his arms. “You can’t take your eyes off her,” he commented quietly to the guitarist. Brian rolled his eyes quickly looking away.

“You watch her too. We’re all looking out for her,” Brian argued straight away.

“If I looked at Jolie like you look at her, Val would be pretty pissed,” Matt laughed. He walked off to talk with Zacky and Johnny leaving Brian standing there in surprise. Jimmy and Jolie joined the other three men. Brian just watched them interact while thinking about what Matt said. “Gates, get your ass over here, we got to finish this album,” Matt called.

Jolie decided to get out of the guys’ hair, but declared she’d make some dinner for all of them. They had to come over, which they all agreed to. She knew that if they didn’t have anyone to stop them, they’d spend the entire night in the studio. She headed home making sure to tell Val to come over too. The blonde woman was out on some photoshoots for the day, but promised she’d be done in time for dinner.

Scott came home to the smell of dinner warming the house and the sound of some music coming from the kitchen. He followed it until he saw Jolie cooking some pasta. Right away, he knew it was going to be a good meal. When Jolie used to spend the afternoons with the Bakers, Zacky’s mother Maria taught her how to make some authentic Italian. She heard him walk in and turned around with a smile. “Hey! I invited everyone over for dinner, that’s cool, right?” she asked and he could see the light in her eyes.

“When have I ever said no to the guys? Val coming too?” Scott asked easily leaning on the counter. Jolie nodded her head right away with a smile, “That’s great. I’m going to grab a shower before dinner. I’ll be right back down.” He kissed the top of his daughter’s head and went upstairs.

About an hour later, Scott was back downstairs and the doorbell was ringing. Jolie was finishing putting the food on the table, so Scott answered the door. Jimmy greeted the man with a big hug before nearly tripping on his own feet as he ran inside. Zacky, Johnny, Matt, Brian, and Val all greeted Scott in a more relaxed manner. They all went into the kitchen to see Jimmy already making himself a plate. Jolie was shaking her head, but making no move to stop him. Everyone grabbed themselves a drink before sitting down for food.

Val talked about her photoshoot and Scott told some stories from work. The guys updated everyone on the recording process, which was ending soon. They had to start doing some more interviews to get the word out about it. All of the guys actually had an interview the next day. Jolie talked about some of the artwork she had been working on and the people she met at Vengeance Academy. Then, Jimmy started telling stories that resulted in everyone having tears in their eyes from laughter.

The guys and Val stuck around after dinner to watch a movie. Though they tried to convince Scott to hang out with them, he insisted he as fine and went upstairs. Matt and Val took the loveseat on the side of the room. Zacky and Brian sat on either side of Jolie on the couch. Meanwhile, Johnny and Jimmy fought for the recliner, which resulted in Jimmy just sitting on Johnny’s lap.

Slowly, the guys started filling out. Jimmy and Brian being the last to leave. “So, we have an interview tomorrow. Do you want to come?” Brian asked Jolie. She hesitated, but the duo promised that she would just have to sit back stage to watch. She didn’t have to be in it at all. With that promise, she agreed to come.

“So, how close to finishing recording are you?” The interviewer, Maxx Lennox, asked the band the next day during their interview.

“We’re nearly done. We were waiting on finishing a song or two lyrically so we could get them recorded. Originally, we were going to release it on October 16th, but it’ll actually be out the 30th,” Matt answered professionally.

“Only have to hang in there a couple more weeks! You guys seem to be loving Almost Easy already!” Zacky said in an upbeat manner.

Val and Jolie stood on the side stage listening the interview. They loved to see the boys in their element like this. Their stage personas clearly showing off. They giggled making fun if the boys playfully to one another. They described how this new album, their self-titled, was more experimental than anything else they’d tried.

“A lot of this album is more hard rock I guess. We used some symphonic rock, gothic rock, and even country music. Then, we just have this real fucked up song that Rev wrote,” Matt explained and started laughing.

“It’s avant-garde metal, okay?” Jimmy said playfully and added, “It’s got everything you could ask for. A love story, murder, and necrophilia!”

“Johnny Christ didn’t do anything though. We should probably kick him from the band,” Brian started to tease.

“Hey! I’m the most important member of this band!” Johnny whined.

Maxx transitioned the conversation into talking about how the band came to be and the transitions they’ve made over the years. The five men answered with a mix of real answers and silly stories that kept the interview interesting. Finally, Maxx decided to end the interview with a couple of questions from the fans. The first one asking what their favorite song off the album was. They all answered naming random songs. They went through a couple other questions before asking about their love lives.

“We got Val! She’s the angel we don’t deserve!” Jimmy declared before Matt could say anything, which made them all laugh.

“Yeah, Val and I are still going strong,” Matt concluded easily.

“V has a new girl he’s been seeing!” Johnny suddenly threw Zacky under the bus.

“Shut up, man. It’s still kind of new, but she’s great. She’s everything I could ask for and it seems like everyone approves so far, so that’s great,” Zacky said sweetly.

“So, that’s it then?” Maxx asked, “Nobody else has a lady in their life?”

“Gates wishes a certain someone would date him,” Matt teased with a smirk.

“Oh yeah! He’s been gone on the same girl for a while now. He’s always been too chicken to make a move,” Jimmy jumped right in.

“Shut the fuck up. I don’t know what they’re talking about,” Brian rolled his eyes trying to move on from the subject. Thankfully for him, Maxx listened and transitioned the conversation into the ending segment. He thanked the band for coming and they signed off.

The band came backstage ready to leave. Val and Jolie gave hugs all around as the complimented them on a job well done. They all headed to their cars to leave. Brian, Jimmy, and Jolie all got into Brian’s car. “So, Bri, what was the bit at the end about you liking someone?” Jolie asked in a teasing tone as she leaned in the middle of the driver and passenger seat. Jimmy started to snicker, but didn’t say anything at all.

“It was nothing. The guys were just being dicks,” Brian muttered without moving his eyes away from the road. Jolie looked over at Jimmy who just shook his head, but she didn’t press for more information realizing that Brian would just continue to deny whatever the guys meant. She’d find out eventually.

Notes

Lololol at this cheesy scene at the end. Debated taking it out entirely. Eh. Thank you guys for the feedback :)