14 Days

Soundcheck was in full swing, the boys littered around the stage while finishing playing through ‘Almost Easy’. Evie stood on the side of the stage, trying to suppress her goosebumps as Jimmy smashed the double rides and the song wound down and concluded. It was one of her favourites in the set, every single time it was played, Evie’s body reacted in the same way.

Once the song ceased, she went over and stood patiently at the steps off the stage, ready to grab new guitars to exchange them for the next song. ‘Almost Easy’ was the only song in the setlist that was in drop C# tuning, so she knew that no matter what, they would need to be swapped out for whatever they decided to play next.

“What next?” Evie asked them, starting to descend the stairs and make her way to the road cases.

“Let’s do ‘Confessions’!” Jimmy requested from his drum riser, his enthusiasm and energy never ceasing to end. “We do that every night,” Zacky whined, starting to get bored of the fairly standard set list. He was eager to change things up, at least for soundcheck. “Let’s do something different.”

“Like what?” Johnny asked, playing a riff lightly on his bass while the band were deciding. “Something from the first album?” Zacky suggested.

“First album sucks!” Johnny replied, jeering at the rest of the band while grinning to himself. Evie let out a snort of laughter, unable to help it as Jimmy threw a stick at Johnny and Zacky walked over and punched his arm. “Shut up, short shit,” Matt retaliated, rolling his eyes at the bassist as he took a large gulp of water. “It’s just because you don’t know the songs to play them live.”

“Fuck off, I totally know them!” Johnny replied, now starting to play a new riff that Evie assumed was one of their earlier songs.

The banter continued, each of the other 4 members hurling insults and tormenting Johnny as he kept playing varying bass riffs with a smirk on his face. Evie shook her head, laughing at the trouble Johnny constantly and purposefully got himself in to. Making a decision as the band were too distracted to, Evie grabbed guitars for the boys to play in drop D. It was a safe bet as most of the set list consisting of drop D.

She bounded up the few stairs again, placing Johnny’s bass against Jimmy’s drum riser to swap over once he stopped fucking around with first album songs, and headed to Zacky. The pair exchanged wordlessly, Evie moving around Zacky to take the strap of his drop C# off him while the lefty held the new guitar. Once the old one was removed, he flicked the strap around his neck, cautious not to hit the radio pack, and started playing power chords to match Johnny.

Evie quickly stashed the guitar back in the road box before moving across the stage and repeating the process with Brian. She held out her hand for his guitar, meeting his chocolate gaze for a moment as the instrument was palmed off. Evie quickly ended their connection, her cheeks flushing under the heat he managed to convey across the few seconds their eyes met, letting out a breath she hadn’t realised she held.She didn’t slow her pace as she made her way to Brian’s guitars. As she placed the drop C# in the case carefully, she gave herself a quick moment to breath, ignoring her surroundings and trying to pull herself back together.

Since the moment she had walked away from Brian, her heart hadn’t stopped thrumming, her palms were constantly clammy and she could not stop thinking about what he had said. Fragments of their conversation kept cropping up, the words echoing around her brain until she could no longer remember why she had been feeling so upset. Had she overreacted about the phone call? Was she ready to give up on whatever there was between them when she knew first hand how good it felt being with him? Now she knew how he really felt, she couldn’t think of anything else but the parting words, ones that were shaking her foundation of resistance - I don’t think I am ready to give you up. Not yet

Evie took a deep breath, knowing that the rest of the night would take all of her concentration to endure. She had the break between soundcheck and the actual show to get herself back together, but she wasn’t sure that would be enough time even if she could find a way to spend it in solitude. She would usually spend the time hanging out with Matty and JB, the three of them tending to either stay outside to chat and smoke, or occasionally join the band in the dressing room once they had moved their stuff back for the opening band. She wasn’t sure if she would be offered the escape considering it was the second last show she would be a part of.

With her short headspace break over, Evie grabbed out Brian’s drop D pinstripe Schecter and started back up the stage. She hurried over to Brian, starting to hand over the guitar until her movements stopped. Standing across the stage, currently shaking Zacky’s hand, was Slash.

The Slash.

“That’s Slash,” Evie told him, one of possibly the most obvious things she had ever said leaving her mouth. She did not have the brain capacity to handle this right now, and as such, she had all but shut down.

“Larry had mentioned he might be coming to the show,” Brian mentioned, his gaze locked on one of the world’s most famous guitarists. “No one thought he was being serious.”

“It was a possibility and no one thought to tell me?” She asked, her eyes wide as she watched Slash move over to Johnny with his hand outstretched. Even Jimmy jumping down from his kit, landing less than elegantly beside his band mate could make Evie come out of her shock induced state.

“Like I said, no one thought it would happen!” Brian reiterated, his tone starting to become more panicked as Slash and his entourage moved across the stage now he had greeted Matt and were coming towards them.

Evie’s eyes continued to grow as they came closer and closer, Brian kicking into gear and starting to walk and meet Slash halfway. He, too, shook Slash’s hand, moving through the group and introducing himself to the guitar tech, the manager, and finally saying hello to Larry himself. She heard movement behind her, Matty, Dave and Bruce now standing to her left to observe up close. Evie’s heart started racing as she noticed the group moving towards her, and she realised that even the techs weren’t getting left out of this once-in-a-lifetime meeting.

They started with Bruce, the monitor tech managing to look calm as he had his turn meeting Slash. It did not surprise Evie that both Bruce and Dave were taking it in stride, the pair being seasoned technicians who had more than likely met their fair share of famous musicians throughout their careers. Evie heard Matty let out a very quiet ‘holy shit’ just before all attention was on him, and then within seconds, it was Evie’s turn.

“Finally, this is Evie. She is filling in as our guitar tech while ours is on paternity leave,” Larry said, introducing Evie in a nutshell.

“A pretty girl with a guitar; one of my favourite things,” Slash said, his smooth voice making Evie immediately blush. What didn’t help her case was after shaking hands, he didn’t let go, but instead lifted it to his lips and kissed the top. “If you’re any good, I might replace you with Ace.”

Ace, his guitar tech, was next in line to be introduced. He gave Slash a fake scowl before his attention turned to Evie and he shook her hand. His manager followed suit, and finally Larry took her hand. He quickly thanked her once again for her stepping in before folding himself back in the group of new arrivals currently talking to the band center stage.

“Did that just happen?” Evie asked Matty quietly, each of the techs still rooted in place as they watched and listened to the conversation happening in front of them.

“I think so?” Matty replied, his answer more a question. He was feeling as shocked as everyone else with the arrival of Slash, totally forgetting that it had been a possibility and receiving the shock of his life as his brother informed him of the guitarists arrival over their walkies. JB and Dan had been the first to meet the musical legend while they were fixing the amps backstage. Matty nudged Evie with his shoulder. “He seemed taken with you.”

“I think I blacked out a little,” Evie admitted, her flush still lighting up her cheeks as she seemed to break out of her daze with his teasing.

“I can’t blame you,” Matty told her, nodding his head to her response.

They fell quiet again, listening in to the discussion of the possibility of playing a song with Slash. He seemed more than willing, throwing out song suggestions while the band eagerly contributed songs they all knew and could play. Within minutes it was decided that he would join them near the end of their set to play ‘It’s So Easy’. Evie let out a low whine when the song was confirmed, she herself knowing how to play it (and the rest of Appetite) and knowing that it was going to make her life a little harder momentarily.

“What was that for?” Matty asked her, raising an eyebrow at the high pitched noise coming from the woman to his right. “It’s in yet another fucked up tuning,” she explained. “D sharp from memory.”

“Oh,” Matty said simply, feeling the pain himself. Since Evie had joined the tour, he had taken on the duties of swapping out guitars for Zacky and Johnny on stage, so he understood that this was just another in the list of tunings to look out for.

“Let’s hope they keep the rest of the set simple,” she said, hoping that her words would ring true. Every night the band had a list of songs they would keep to, changing out two or three to keep their own lives interesting.

“They won’t,” Matty told her, spinning at looking at her with sorrow. “They are out to impress now. It’s going to be intense.”

And that it was. They added the G’n’R cover to the set and quickly decided on the rest of the songs, giving Evie a grand total of 6 different tunings to work to. They handed the list around to all the techs, herself and Matty sharing a pointed look before she returned back to the guitars to retune a backup to drop D sharp for each of the boys.

The band and Slash practiced the song together, getting it all but seamless within the first two playthroughs, but continuing on to make sure it was air tight. She was surprised that after the second playthrough, Ace relocated himself from the sound desk to stand beside her. She didn’t let it look like it bothered her, but she was a little curious as to his choice of hangout.

“It’s nice to see a woman in this field,” he said, breaking the silence as the Jimmy counted them in for the next round. Evie tried her best to keep her emotions neutral, not wanting to launch into a tirade about equality and how ‘surprising’ it is to everyone to see a female technician. She was glad she kept her mouth shut as he turned to her and managed to save himself. “I bet you hear that a lot.”

“If I had a dollar…” she started, letting herself relax a little, but not letting her guard completely down.

“I can imagine it would only take about a week to be able to buy a house,” he joked, yet again managing to put her more at ease. She actually grinned.

“A luxury mansion by now, with a Ferrari in the drive,” she quipped, taking her eyes off the stage for the first time to actually talk to him.

“Ah, so you’ve been working for a month, then,” he retaliated, a grin of his own on his face as Evie chuckled at the remark.

“Come on, the Ferrari took me until week 6 to afford,” she countered, this time Ace laughing at her addition. She was actually impressed with his ice breaker, the unassuming way he turned the initial statement showing her his easy going nature.

“Must have been top of the line,” he said, nodding in faux understanding. “Nothing but the best,” she joked, shrugging lightly.

From there they got to chatting, Ace asking her about her career, and Evie asking him the nitty gritty details about being Slash’s guitar tech. She drank up his words, the information on one of her favourite guitarists being as juicy to her as gossip magazines were to the Valley girl types. Though she kept an eye on the stage, half an ear listening out in case she needed to spring into action, she kept conversation with Ace until the band decided that the song was as perfect as it was going to get.

Once they decided it was good enough, Evie collected the Avenged guitars as Ace returned Slash’s signature Gibson to it’s case. Even after all the excitement from the arrival of Slash and his crew, Evie was still not in the mood to be social and hang around the dressing rooms. She made sure to take her time by quickly retuning the guitars before locking up all the cases and pushing them back in place for the support band to come on for their check and set up.

Her idea had worked, and by the time she was finished, there was no Avenged band or crew member in sight, everyone returning to the green room to talk and drink with Slash. Though it was an opportunity Evie was not keen to pass up, she walked straight passed the thrumming room and outside into solitude.

Her muscle memory had a lit cigarette within moments of walking into the carpark, the sun starting to lower and disappear on the horizon. She walked along the side of the building, her ‘back off’ wall of defence back firmly in place as she wandered back to her position from earlier that afternoon. She felt she would be safe in her new favourite spot, it was far away enough that none of her coworkers would walk this far for a place to smoke, yet close enough that she could head back in to the venue within a minute. Best of both worlds, really.

She rounded the corner to her solitude, running squarely into a broad chest. A familiar scent wafted through her nose as she stumbled back slightly, her cigarette hand thrust away from her body while her other was reached out before her to grasp on to something solid before she fell on her ass. A tattooed hand met her halfway, reaching out and grabbing her hip in an attempt to stabalise her.

Once she felt like she was steady once more, she looked up to the personified barrier and her breath hitched. She should have guessed from the rest of her luck today that she wouldn’t manage a moment alone, and that out of the hundreds of people currently in the venue, she would have literally run in to Brian.

“You ok?” He asked, his hand still firmly holding her hip, unwilling to let go.

“Um, yeah, fine thanks,” she mumbled out in response, her gaze lowering once more as she tried to take a step back and regain her personal space. She did not trust herself right now, her mind a mess while the heat radiating from Brian’s touch seemed to be sending electric pulses straight through her. “I thought you’d be in talking to Slash.”
“Snap,” He said, holding up his half smoked cigarette and looking at hers as if it explained everything.

This was not what Evie had wanted. She needed space, she needed a moment to disconnect from reality and calm her fluttering heart. She had been thrown curveball after curveball all day, and she had barely had time to recover before the next one was thrown her way.

“I noticed you were getting chatty with the guitar guy,” Brian mentioned, trying to look indifferent as a slight streak of jealousy coursed through him.

He wouldn’t admit to himself how it had been like a punch to the gut seeing Evie laughing with Ace as the band finished up soundcheck. Not even an hour before she had been all but fleeing from him, and there she was soaking up the comedic stylings of some random guy. His primal, alpha side came out temporarily and it took all he had not to throw his guitar down and mark Evie as his. He felt threatened, and it wasn’t something he wanted to feel again.

“Yeah, he is a nice guy,” Evie replied, shrugging as she took a long drag of her cigarette. She tried to make more space between them, backing up a few paces and standing against the wall of the venue, using the concrete wall as a leaning post. Being that close to Brian was not helping her resolve to stay away. He was close enough to reach out and touch, with no one else watching, and it took all she had to create distance instead of taking it away. “He cracked a couple of jokes, we talked about life on the road, what it’s like being a tech for Slash. Talked gear, dream tours, things like that.”

Brian growled, starting to feel more and more intimidated by the technician. It was another odd experience for him, usually the one in the group to have confidence in spades, yet here he was feeling vulnerable and out done by someone he knew nothing about. Logically, he knew that he was reacting poorly, but the more prevalent side reminded him of the interrupted conversation earlier, the vulnerability he had shown and the kiss that could have been had they not been interrupted. Being near her at soundcheck, close enough to feel the heat from her skin as she handed him guitars, had been more than enough to rattle his normally cool demeanor.

He dropped his cigarette to the concrete, watching Evie’s expression morph through confusion and surprise as he moved in closer to her. He reached out once more, one hand attaching back to her waist while the other reached and held the back of her head. He pulled her smaller frame into him, goosebumps rising where their skin touched thanks to their lack of shirt sleeves, and he took a fraction of a second to gauge her reaction. She looked right back at him wide eyed before biting her lower lip gently between her teeth. Within a moment she closed her eyes and broke through the invisible barrier that had stopped Brian, their lips meeting eagerly.

Now she had made the move, there was no stopping. Evie dropped her cigarette to meet Brian’s on the ground before she wrapped her arms around the guitarist’s neck, her fingers diving straight into his silky hair. She let out a small moan as their tongues entwined, Brian’s hands now moving up her side and feeling as much of her as he could. She tried to move in closer to him, feel more of his body on hers, loving the contrast of his hard muscles push against her soft chest. His hand moved to her back, pushing her into him to help her cause. It was his turn to vocalise his appreciation when her hips rolled into his gently, a move he could tell was subconscious, turning him on more than he would have thought possible.


“I FUCKING KNEW IT!” Brian and Evie broke apart hastily, their attention immediately taken by the green eyed guitarist standing triumphantly in front of them, a cheshire cat grin on his features as he started at the pair.

“I fucking knew it!”

Notes

:D