Just Stay With Me Awhile

Three hours later, Lili was sitting on the Avenged Sevenfold bus in between Brian and Jimmy. Zacky was sleeping in the back bunks, not talking to anyone. She wondered what his problem was, but decided to leave him to himself. Whenever he got moodie, he always took it out on her. She wasn’t going to go looking for the fight. Matt was rambling on about something to Johnny, but she wasn’t paying attention to him, either. She was all too aware of Brian’s body sitting next to her, and she was worried to some extent. She shouldn’t be feeling the mixture of emotions she was, though she found that she couldn’t help it. She’d always been mildly attracted to Brian, though nothing had ever come from it.

“Earth to Lili.” Brian said, waving his tattooed hand in front of her. She shook her head once, bringing herself back to reality, and smiled at him.

“Huh?” She asked him. He smiled.

“I was asking if you would like to go to dinner with me tonight.” He asked her. “We never got that second dinner I promised you.”

She smiled, and then thought about it, trying not to feel guilty. It wasn’t as though she and Zacky were anything special anymore; he hadn’t asked her to be his girlfriend, and he hadn’t done so much as say one word to her today. Who cared if she went to dinner with Brian, anyway? What did it matter?

“That would be nice.” She told him, nodding .He smiled at her, and slowly moved his hand from his lap to rest on her hand on the couch, curling his fingers so that they were laced between hers. Lili wondered what the others would think if they saw, but told herself she didn’t care. It was none of their business, and she knew that they respected her enough that they wouldn’t say anything degrading or rude to her. They spent the rest of the drive to the next venue in Rochester, New York.

-x-

Lili woke up a few hours later when the bus lurched to a slow stop somewhere. She sat up from where she’d been sleeping on Brian’s shoulder and looked outside. There was a lot of snow on the ground, and it looked bitter cold compared to Los Angeles. She was hit with a pang of homesickness, and then got over it almost as quickly. She loved being on the road, no matter how much she sometimes missed home.

“Hey.” Brian murmured to her, shifting. She just then realized how they’d been sleeping. His arms had been wrapped around her, and she’d been more on his lap than on the couch. While her head had been on his shoulder, his had been on hers as well. She blushed as she moved to the couch, pushing a hand through her sleep-rumpled hair.

“How long were we sleeping?” She asked him. He shrugged.

“Since about Syracuse.” He told her. “So around three hours or so.”

“Oh.” She replied, stifling a yawn. Just then, she wondered if Zacky had seen them sleeping, and almost felt guilty. Why feel guilty? He isn’t exactly your boyfriend, Lil. He’s just a guy you have complicated emotions for. She told herself with a sigh. Brian’s hand rubbed her back comfortingly, and then he checked the time on his cell phone.

“It’s three o’clock now, so what do you say we go walk a round for a bit before dinner?”

She smiled and nodded. “Yeah, that sounds good.” She agreed. “Let me go back to my Dad’s bus so I can change though.”

Brian’s grinned at her, and pulled her back into her chest, his lips behind her ear. “You already look amazing, Lili.”

Lili couldn’t help but give an involuntary shudder at Brian’s words as she stood up. She told the guys she’d see them later, gave one fleeting look at the door leading to the bunks, and then walked off of the bus and towards her father’s bus, which was parked across the parking lot. They must have just gotten there as well, she thought to herself. When she got to the door, it opened before she could even knock, and she saw her mom standing there, a grin on her face.

“Mom!” She said, hugging her mother tightly. “I thought you weren’t coming out on this tour! I missed you so much.”

Lia laughed and hugged her daughter back tightly as well before they walked onto the bus, Lia shutting the door to the bus.

“Your father and the boys are inside the venue getting some stuff set up, and I got here about an hour or so ago.” She told Lili.

“You actually left Los Angeles and the sunny, 80 degree weather for a blizzard?” She asked her mother, smiling as she walked back to where her suitcase was underneath her bunk. She pulled it out and began sifting through clothes as her mother sat on the bunk, watching her.

“Well, I just had to see what was going on with you and that…Zacky? Is that his name?”

Lili groaned. She’d known her mother was going to hear about it; it was only a matter of time. But she’d been expecting a worried phone call, not a surprise visit from all the way across the country.

“It’s complicated stuff, Mom.” She told her, hoping her mother would realize she didn’t particularly want to talk about it. She found a purple dress and held it up, looking at it with a smile. It was perfect for the occasion. She was willing to let her legs get a little cold, and she had the perfect black coat to go with it as well as a pair of black ankle boots that would look great with it.

“It’s not every day you make the news, Lili. Your little speech made People, US Weekly, and even worse, The National Enquirer. What happened that you’d get so pissed off at him that you’d call him out like that?”

Lili groaned. She never bothered to look at the rag mags; they annoyed her, and were always complete lies. This was no exception. “They don’t have the whole story, Mom. They probably exaggerated my words.”

Lia raised her eyebrows, pulling one of the said magazines out of her oversize red leopard-print purse. There was a photoshopped picture of Lily and Zacky on the cover, with Lili in tears and Zacky looking guilty. She groaned inwardly, and listened as her mother read an excerpt from the ‘article.’

“Last month at a Motley Crue concert, the daughter of bad-boy rocker Vince Neil took his place in the limelight, singing in his stead while he was in jail on assault charges. During the show, Lili Neil vehemently attacked Avenged Sevenfold guitarist Zacky Vengeance with words, dedicating the song “Motherf***er of the Year” by her father’s band to him, calling him out for allegedly cheating on her with an as-of-yet unnamed woman. She—”

“It’s all bullshit, Mom. First off, I didn’t call Zacky the Motherfucker of The Year. Uncle Nikki did. And secondly, yes, I did call him out. But he deserved it, and he knows it.”

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t have called him out.” Lia sighed. “I just want to know why you didn’t talk to me about it. I know you don’t talk to your Dad about boys or anything.”

Lili groaned. “I handled it, Mom. Just like I handled Axl. But now, I have a date to get ready for.”

“Oh?” Her mother asked her, a renewed interest in the discussion lighting up her eyes. Lili grinned and nodded.

“Yeah.” She said. “Brian asked me out to go to dinner with him, and I told him I would.”

“Who’s Brian?” Her mother questioned, curious.

“The other guitarist in Avenged.” She shrugged. “I went out with him to dinner a few months ago, and it really went well. So we decided to do it again.”

“How does Zacky feel about it?”

Lili rolled her eyes. “He’s not my boyfriend, or my keeper. I don’t have to ask him for permission to go out with a guy.”

“Brian’s probably a good friend of his.” Her mother told her. “Are you sure it’s not going to ruin their friendship, and potentially the band?”

“Mom, it’s not like I’m having sex with Brian.” She said exasperatedly. “I’m just going out to dinner with him!”

“I know, I know.” Her mother sighed, holding up her hands in neutrality. “I’m just saying that it might really hurt Zacky.”

That stopped Lili. She wasn’t out to hurt Zacky; hell, she’d had sex with him earlier. But she wasn’t cheating on him; she wasn’t. He wasn’t her boyfriend, and they weren’t dating. They had sex when the occasion rose, and the rest of the time they seemed to be fighting.

“I know what I’m doing, Mom. It’ll work out just fine.” She said, beginning to change into the dress. She pulled a black cardigan over the spaghetti-strapped dress and then slipped a pair of two-inch heels on her feet before touching up her makeup. When Lili was satisfied with her appearance, she walked toward the front of the bus and smiled at her daughter.

“Dinner as just friends?” Her mother quipped with raised eyebrows. Lili rolled her eyes.

“It’s just a dress, Mom. Nothing even remotely sexy about it.”

“A shorter than knee-length, purple, spaghetti-strap dress with only a black cardigan over it and black heels? In the middle of winter?”

Lili shrugged. “I like dresses, you know that.”

Her mother smiled knowingly, and then walked towards the bus. “Goodbye, Mom. See you later.” She said.

“Bye, sweetie. I won’t wait up.” Lia called after her daughter, waving goodbye.

As Lili stepped off of the bus, she saw Brian waiting there for her, a smile on his face as he waited. As soon as he saw her, she could have sworn his jaw dropped a little bit. She forced herself not to shiver because of the coldness, and walked over to Brian.

“You look even more beautiful than you did in your jeans and t-shirt.” He smiled at her, hugging her friendlily. Lili found it hard to step away from his body, and then immediately felt guilty about it. What about Zacky? She asked herself mentally. But Zacky’s not your boyfriend. And besides; Brian’s not an asshole like Zack can be. Who said anything’s gonna happen? Just go with it. She argued with herself. She smiled at Brian.

“Thank you. You look pretty good, too.”

He gave her his signature smirk; the one that showed where he got the name ‘Syn’ from, and grabbed her hand as he led them towards a rented vehicle. It was a sleek, black SUV.

“I always do.” He replied as he opened the door for her, walking around the front of the car to get into the driver’s side. Once in, he looked at her. “Any particular music requests?”

She shrugged. “I’m sure whatever you brought is good.”

He smiled, and hooked his iPod up to the docking system. “Pantera it is.” He said as “Walk” began blaring through the speakers as he began driving them towards their destination.