If I Was Perfect Then This Would Be Easy

"Everything set?" Cate asked as she added the final touches to her outfit. I cleaned some dust off my old Schecter as Jason and Mattie high-fived eachother.

"You bet, boss!" Jack laughed at the excitement in Jason's voice. The two Berrys were complete sweethearts and they offered to help us with the tech shit and we gladly agreed. I glanced at my phone's watch and sighed, counting down the minutes.

Johnny had called and announced that they were going to be late for a little longer, so my guess was they weren't going to show up until after our performance. But that was okay by me. It only meant less stress for me. Because having Brian watch me perform was definately the key element to all my stress. Although, I also couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed as well.

"You okay, Ace?" Corey asked as he sat next to me on the couch backstage.

"I guess so," I shrugged with a small smile. He chuckled.

"I checked the set. It's all set. Not to sound intimidating or shit, but there's shit load of people in this fucking arena." I gulped. Of course there were plenty of people out there. After all, this was supposed to be an A7X concert. What I didn't understand, though, is why they all gathered even before the opening act.

"We'll do good," Dom stated simply as he rearranged his fingerless glove and Jack fixed his outfit.

"You guys ready to do this?" Jerry enquired as he showed up next to Cate. We all noddedfaintly enough. He quirked his eyebrow. "I didn't decide to be your manager for nothing. I picked this fucking band because I saw a future. I hope you're not planning on ditching right now...?"

"Ditching? Us?" Jack huffed and Cate and I chuckled before a guy from the staff announced us that we had twenty minutes until we headed on stage.

"Fuckers, right now, I don't give a fuck if we fail or not," I stated and Cate laughed. "I say we have a great time on that stage."

"I'll drink to that later on, sister!" Cate yelled and we bursted out laughing.

"Group hug!" Jack screeched like a girl and I was pulled in an enourmous hug by all my bandmates. We were all laughing, but that only made the moment better.

"Why don't we ever hug like that?" Jimmy whined from somewhere behind us. We pulled apart to watch Avenged Sevenfold walk towards us, ready for their show as well.

"Because we don't have two hot chicks in the band," Brian replied with a roll of his eyes and I bursted out laughing. But when he winked at me, I gulped and felt my cheeks on fire as he approached me. "You ready for this, beautiful?"

"No," I replied simply and he smiled. It kinda surprised me, since I was expecting to see that smirk of his. Instead, he just gave me a cute smile and pulled me into a tight embrace. I placed my hands around his neck and grinned.

"If it helps, picture that there's just me and you in the whole arena," he whispered in my ear. I couldn't help but shudder.

"Th-that wouldn't really help, Bri," I replied and he brushed his lips past my collarbone. This time, I knew he was smirking.

"Do I make you nervous, Ace?" he questioned seductively and I inhaled the scent of his cologne.

"Maybe," I replied, using the same tone. He brought his lips a few inches from my own and waited for my reaction. I bit my lower lip visibly and this made his smirk come back. I rolled my eyes and pressed my lips onto his, surprising him. But he didn't lose his time and it was his turn to surprise me, as he slipped his tongue in my mouth, taking advantage of my slightly parted lips and I did all my best to supress a moan.

"Eww, my eyes! My precious eyes!" I instantly pulled away from Brian to see Jimmy and Dom laughing their asses off. But I soon started laughing as well when Brian gave them the finger.

"Blinding Rise, you're up!"

Matt gave me another of his big hugs and smiled down at me. "Put on a show for us, Ace." I laughed and patted his back.

"Will do, Shads." I grabbed my guitar and took in a deep breath before someone hugged me from behind.

"Good luck, baby doll," Brian whispered and kissed my neck. I chuckled and winked at him before following my band mates on stage.

And my breath literally caught in my throat. Corey hadn't been lying regarding the enormous number of people out there. I suddenly felt like a little bug caught in the attention of the entire planet. I doubt I could have described the feeling anyway else. Corey, Dom and I took our places in front of our microphones and I nodded at Jack as he sat at the drum set. Cate stepped closer to the crowd.

"So I know you guys are here to see Avenged fucking Sevenfold," she screamed, stressing out their name, "but unfortunately, there has to be a fucking opening act, right?!" I honestly didn't expect her to get a reply as loud as she did. The crowd literally went wild. She introduced us and soon enough, I was playing the intro to our first song and people starting screaming and jumping.

I know you'll be there
To see the tables turning
Wake up tomorrow
And watch the bridges burning

Every person in the crowd began rising their fists in the air to the beat and banging their heads to the song. Cate hadn't made it obvious before, but she had been extremely nervous about this. However, I saw how my best friend gained self confidence with every person that screamed or jumped excastically. Dom, Jack, Corey and I approached our own microphones and joined Cate for the chorus.

I'm over me being under you
I'm breaking free I'm breaking through
I've overcome all I'm underneath
I can finally stand
I can finally breathe

I looked up and approached the edge of the stage, near the 'ego-risers' and grinned at the audience, which only made them scream louder. As on cue, my fingers flew over the fretboard and I launched into the solo. I doubt I ever heard a crowd as loud as the one right there in front of me, but they all seemed to like it. I instinctively jumped on one of the ego risers and my grin went wider as I realized what had just happened. Just when I jumped on the bloody thing, everyone in the crowd made a jump as well. I continued to play just as cool and glanced at Cate, who winked. So I went for it. I jumped off the riser and back on the stage and made other jumps, while the crowd did the same thing.

Brian's POV

"No fucking way!" Johnny breathed as he watched the crowd jump at the same time, while Lexa played. Cate approached Lexa and they stood by eachother, back to back, while Lexa hit the notes perfectly.

"Huntington, I wanna see you all jump to the fucking roof!" Cate boomed and to my enormous surprise, they did as told, screaming and rising their fists in the air. As Lexa finished the solo, she took a bow, making some of the guys whistle and returned to her spot on the stage, glancing at me. She suppressed a chuckle and I knew exactly why she'd done that.

We were all staring at them like idiots, like they were from a different planet. Johnny and Zack were the only ones banging their heads and jumping in the air. Matt, Jimmy and I were literally watching them wide eyed.

"Dude, she totally got you on that," Matt stated, a grin spreading over his face.

"She's a fucking talented chick, Matt. What were you expecting?" I retorted. Come to think of it, I had never watched so intently the way she played. First time I met her...well, I just thought of her to be this arrogant bitch who didn't deserve my attention. But now, I honestly regretted acting like a retarded asshole and I really saw the talent behind her.

"Her guitar reminds me of the first ones you had," Jimmy told me and I nodded.

"Maybe Schecter can set her up with something," I replied and continued watching Lexa.

Normal POV

"Holy shit!" Zack exclaimed as he pulled me into a hug one we finished our set.

"That was fucking awesome!" Johnny added and Jimmy laughed. I put my guitar aside and smiled, before high-fiving Dom and Jack.

"Damn, Ace, you can scream!" Matt exclaimed.

"Thanks. That was...something else," I replied with a laugh, as I searched for Brian. The instant I saw him arrange his custom Schecter, I let out a whistle of admiration and made my way to him. He smirked and set the guitar aside.

"I don't have words to tell you how awesome you were," he muttered as he pulled me towards him. I chuckled and pecked his lips, making him smirk.

"I was scared to fucking death," I admitted and he snickered.

"You shouldn't have been. I never got the audience to jump like that during a solo," he explained, narrowing his eyes at me playfully. I laughed.

"Oh, the wonders of having boobs and a fine ass." He bursted out laughing.

"You got that one right, gorgeous." Brian grinned as I bit my lip and looked down, right before Matt called his name, announcing that they had to be on stage soon. Brian shot him a glare, then returned to watching me. "I gotta go. So do I get a good luck hug and maybe a kiss?"

"Even if I'm sweaty?" I pointed out and he quirked his eyebrow while eyeing me.

"Oh,please. You're not even sweaty." I sighed, but wrapped my arms around his waist, making him grin like a ten year old.

"How's it now?"

"Better. But....you know what could make it better?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows at me. I smirked and brought my lips onto his, making his grip tighten on me.

"Gates, on stage! Now!" Matt boomed and I reluctantly pulled away from Brian, who sighed sadly.

"Promise me we'll get back to this," he mumbled almost inaudibly. I grinned. Oh, if only he knew the things I would've done to him. Brian pulled away from me, grabbed his guitar and began walking towards the stage.

"I promise!" I yelled after him and he glanced back at me, that amazing smirk of his back in place.

I was pulled into an embrace by Jimmy and I chuckled.

"Sullivan, get your ass on stage!" I exclaimed and he laughed.

"Right away. I just wanted to tell you two things. One: you rocked! Two: we're going partying after this shit!" With that, he took off, leaving me laughing. Cate joined me and Matt gave us a thumbs up. Brian glanced at me and I winked at him, making him grin.

"That opening band was fucking awesome, huh?!" Zack yelled and the crowd began cheering and screaming, making Cate cover her ears with a giggle. I grinned like an idiot and high-fived Corey, who was closest to me.

"That's right! So why don't you give it up for Blinding Rise and their amazing performance!" The crowd did as told and Dom snickered.

Within seconds, they started playing and we were completely blown away.

"I've seen some fucking concerts, but these guys are something else," Dom muttered and I chuckled, nodding. During their entire set, I watched Avenged Sevenfold with a grin plastered on my face. Johnny had to be the funniest. Him and Zacky seemed to be full of energy and were really banging their heads and moving all the time, much like Dom and I. Matt looked really confident on stage and it really looked like he belonged there, while Jimmy was in his own little world, drumming off. Brian, though, seemed different and I thought I understood why. He was on stage then, in front of all of his fans. He was 'Synyster fucking Gates'.

I soon began banging my head to "Unholy Confessions" along with Jack and Cate.

"I hope y'all had a fucking awesome evening!" Matt yelled in the mic and the crowd began screaming and jumping.