Clash Of The Rockbands
Wet Floors Are The Enemy
Melrose’s POV
One Year Later
Sadly enough, we only ever saw Avenged Sevenfold at one more venue on the Van’s Warped Tour. And then we never saw them again. Kim still talked to Johnny on the phone; Matt called Jen once, I think, but they didn’t want a long-distance relationship like that. And, they barely knew each other so it wouldn’t have worked out anyway. So I guess Jen never got more power coming to her then.
After the tour, we went back to our mansion outside of Indianapolis. Life went back to normal: writing songs together; recording songs together; making more records. We watched our popularity grow, and with it our wealth. And then our manager, Sylvester, made a suggestion: Head to California to one of the bigger record companies.
We, being girls and of course thinking of all the celebrities and beaches and nice weather of California, instantly agreed.
So, in essence, we packed up all our stuff, put our old mansion up for sale, and moved halfway across the country to California.
Where in California, you ask?
Ha.
**********
“Where is the fucking milk in this store?” I muttered under my breath. “Ooh, pretty gel-pens!” Never send me to a store alone expecting me to come back with just what’s on the list. Never send me to a store alone period. “No, Melly, you don’t need those gel-pens.” I caught myself before I caused too much damage.
I began looking for the milk again. The girls had sent me to the store to get some milk and bread. You know, the usual things you buy whenever you visit a store. But the problem was I didn’t know my way around the store at all. We had just moved to California a few days before and still didn’t know our way around anywhere. So we just winged it mostly.
Thank God for GPS systems or I would’ve gotten lost on the way to the store.
I was so immersed in my thoughts of finding milk that I didn’t notice the canary yellow WET FLOOR sign. Big mistake on my part there. I know that usually the floors aren’t that slippery when those signs are there. But that’s probably because you know that’s it wet so you’re being cautious. But I didn’t know the floors were wet so I was being dangerous.
Dangerous and I don’t mix well.
Within seconds of stepping on the wet linoleum, I lost traction.
I slipped.
But I didn’t fall.
Instead, someone behind me grabbed my arms as I started going down, stopping my downward—and surely painful—descent. The person behind me helped me gently to my feet.
And boy, was I embarrassed!
I slowly turned around as heat rose up my neck. I had to thank the person. They had saved my butt from large amounts of pain. I couldn’t just go on like nothing had happened.
I’m nice that way.
Once again, I inhaled so fast I almost choked on too much air.
“Oh, hello, Melrose.”
“H—Hi, James,” I stammered. Yeah, James Sullivan, people. He frowned and looked confused.
“What are you doing in Huntington Beach?” he asked.
“We...moved.” I answered slowly. “Sylvester—he’s our manager—said that we got an offer from a record company in California and our contract was up with our old one so here we are! By the way, where’s the milk?”
“It’s at the back of the store. Just keep going that way—“ He pointed over my shoulder towards the direction I was going. “—and you’ll get to it eventually.”
“Oh, thank you muches.” I said. “Oh, and thanks for keeping me from falling.” I motioned halfheartedly at the WET FLOOR sign. James just shrugged.
“No problem,” he answered.
“Yeah,” I said. “So, um, I guess it’s good-bye then.” I had already started backing away.
“Yeah,” James replied. I quickly turned around and headed down the aisle, just wanting to get away.
Talk about awkward.
**********
Jen was waiting for me back at home with a bowl of cereal. She instantly seized the milk as I walked into the kitchen and poured it into her bowl. She gleefully plopped down at the kitchen table and dug in.
“You won’t believe who I bumped into at the store.” I said to the kitchen at large as I put the milk and bread up.
“Who?” Rayne asked. She sat on an empty counter, eating a granola bar.
“James Sullivan,” I answered. I braced myself for the explosion.
“JIMMY SULLIVAN?” Jen squealed, spraying saliva and chewed-up bits of Lucky Charms across the table. AM shrieked as saliva and cereal speckled across her forearm; she shoved her chair back from the table with an awful scrrreeeccchhh, wiping her arm off. “Sorry,” Jen said apologetically. AM just wrinkled her nose and quickly left the range of Jen’s saliva and cereal spitting.
“What happened?” Rayne asked.
“What do you mean, what happened?” I shot back.
“Mel, you aren’t comfortable enough around him to just approach him yourself. Something happened, and I’m wondering what.” Rayne answered instantly.
“Well, I almost fell on the wet floor because I was trying to find the milk and didn’t see the sign. But James stopped me before I fell.” I explained. Rayne grinned.
“I see. He rescued the damsel in distress.” she said. She laughed at the look of half-rage/half-shock on my face.
“He—No—It wasn’t like that!” I sputtered. Rayne just laughed harder, nearly falling off of the counter. “It wasn’t!”
“Melrose, you are so ignorant and naïve.” Rayne said once her laughter had stopped, wiping away a tear that had leaked out of her eye. “Were you not paying attention that day on Van’s Warped Tour?” I just frowned and gave her a confused look. She sighed and slid off of the counter. “You know what Zacky said? He looked at you and he said that Jimmy probably hadn’t told you something but Jimmy stopped him from saying anything more. And then Zacky said that Jimmy was showing off but Jimmy quelled that thought too. And then with Syn! He said that Jimmy wanted to hang out with someone more and Jimmy punched him! Don’t you get it?” I slowly shook my head no. I had no clue where Rayne was going with this. “Jimmy LIKES you!”
I laughed.
“That’s funny, Rayne, really hilarious,” I said.
“No!” Rayne snapped, looking suddenly angry. “All the signs are there! Jimmy stopped them for a reason!”
“Well, he clearly doesn’t want me to know. So he can’t like me that much.” I retorted, trying to be logical. James Sullivan didn’t like me. Any girl would want to believe that, but I didn’t want any false hope clouding my mind.
“Of course he doesn’t want you to know! He’s worried you don’t like him back!” Rayne insisted. “Do you like him, Mel?”
“No,” I answered instantly.
“LIAR!” Jen yelled. But thankfully her mouth was empty. I glared over at her.
“I’m not lying.” I snapped.
“Well, if he’s as scared of commitment as Johnny is, I wouldn’t try to hook up with him anyway.” Kim growled with a scowl. We all looked at her in surprise.
“What?” AM asked.
“Johnny hasn’t called me for three weeks! No texts, no calls, no emails, no nothing! I’ve tried calling him, but he never answers! I always get ‘The wireless customer you are trying to call is currently unavailable’!” Kim said. She looked murderous.
“Kim, calm down.” Rayne said, holding out her hands with her palms facing Kim. Kim took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a few seconds. When she opened them again, they didn’t harbor rage anymore.
“I’m sorry. I’m just...upset.” she told us.
“It’s fine.” Rayne said. “We just never knew! Is that why you’ve been so solemn and calm for the past few days?”
Kim nodded.
“Don’t worry, Kim.” AM reassured her. “If Jimmy was in the store, then they must still be living in Huntington Beach. We’ll find them and we will kidnap Johnny and let you murder him.” Kim looked happier at AM’s words.
Well, we weren’t really expecting Avenged Sevenfold to still be living in Huntington Beach. We figured they may have moved on to bigger, better cities—like LA, for instance—and that we really wouldn’t ever see them again. So that’s why it came as a shock when I saw James. I hadn’t expected him to be there.
“Thanks, AM, but I won’t be so selfish. I’m sure women all over the world would be very unhappy if he died.” Kim said. She smiled and then left the room.
One Year Later
Sadly enough, we only ever saw Avenged Sevenfold at one more venue on the Van’s Warped Tour. And then we never saw them again. Kim still talked to Johnny on the phone; Matt called Jen once, I think, but they didn’t want a long-distance relationship like that. And, they barely knew each other so it wouldn’t have worked out anyway. So I guess Jen never got more power coming to her then.
After the tour, we went back to our mansion outside of Indianapolis. Life went back to normal: writing songs together; recording songs together; making more records. We watched our popularity grow, and with it our wealth. And then our manager, Sylvester, made a suggestion: Head to California to one of the bigger record companies.
We, being girls and of course thinking of all the celebrities and beaches and nice weather of California, instantly agreed.
So, in essence, we packed up all our stuff, put our old mansion up for sale, and moved halfway across the country to California.
Where in California, you ask?
Ha.
**********
“Where is the fucking milk in this store?” I muttered under my breath. “Ooh, pretty gel-pens!” Never send me to a store alone expecting me to come back with just what’s on the list. Never send me to a store alone period. “No, Melly, you don’t need those gel-pens.” I caught myself before I caused too much damage.
I began looking for the milk again. The girls had sent me to the store to get some milk and bread. You know, the usual things you buy whenever you visit a store. But the problem was I didn’t know my way around the store at all. We had just moved to California a few days before and still didn’t know our way around anywhere. So we just winged it mostly.
Thank God for GPS systems or I would’ve gotten lost on the way to the store.
I was so immersed in my thoughts of finding milk that I didn’t notice the canary yellow WET FLOOR sign. Big mistake on my part there. I know that usually the floors aren’t that slippery when those signs are there. But that’s probably because you know that’s it wet so you’re being cautious. But I didn’t know the floors were wet so I was being dangerous.
Dangerous and I don’t mix well.
Within seconds of stepping on the wet linoleum, I lost traction.
I slipped.
But I didn’t fall.
Instead, someone behind me grabbed my arms as I started going down, stopping my downward—and surely painful—descent. The person behind me helped me gently to my feet.
And boy, was I embarrassed!
I slowly turned around as heat rose up my neck. I had to thank the person. They had saved my butt from large amounts of pain. I couldn’t just go on like nothing had happened.
I’m nice that way.
Once again, I inhaled so fast I almost choked on too much air.
“Oh, hello, Melrose.”
“H—Hi, James,” I stammered. Yeah, James Sullivan, people. He frowned and looked confused.
“What are you doing in Huntington Beach?” he asked.
“We...moved.” I answered slowly. “Sylvester—he’s our manager—said that we got an offer from a record company in California and our contract was up with our old one so here we are! By the way, where’s the milk?”
“It’s at the back of the store. Just keep going that way—“ He pointed over my shoulder towards the direction I was going. “—and you’ll get to it eventually.”
“Oh, thank you muches.” I said. “Oh, and thanks for keeping me from falling.” I motioned halfheartedly at the WET FLOOR sign. James just shrugged.
“No problem,” he answered.
“Yeah,” I said. “So, um, I guess it’s good-bye then.” I had already started backing away.
“Yeah,” James replied. I quickly turned around and headed down the aisle, just wanting to get away.
Talk about awkward.
**********
Jen was waiting for me back at home with a bowl of cereal. She instantly seized the milk as I walked into the kitchen and poured it into her bowl. She gleefully plopped down at the kitchen table and dug in.
“You won’t believe who I bumped into at the store.” I said to the kitchen at large as I put the milk and bread up.
“Who?” Rayne asked. She sat on an empty counter, eating a granola bar.
“James Sullivan,” I answered. I braced myself for the explosion.
“JIMMY SULLIVAN?” Jen squealed, spraying saliva and chewed-up bits of Lucky Charms across the table. AM shrieked as saliva and cereal speckled across her forearm; she shoved her chair back from the table with an awful scrrreeeccchhh, wiping her arm off. “Sorry,” Jen said apologetically. AM just wrinkled her nose and quickly left the range of Jen’s saliva and cereal spitting.
“What happened?” Rayne asked.
“What do you mean, what happened?” I shot back.
“Mel, you aren’t comfortable enough around him to just approach him yourself. Something happened, and I’m wondering what.” Rayne answered instantly.
“Well, I almost fell on the wet floor because I was trying to find the milk and didn’t see the sign. But James stopped me before I fell.” I explained. Rayne grinned.
“I see. He rescued the damsel in distress.” she said. She laughed at the look of half-rage/half-shock on my face.
“He—No—It wasn’t like that!” I sputtered. Rayne just laughed harder, nearly falling off of the counter. “It wasn’t!”
“Melrose, you are so ignorant and naïve.” Rayne said once her laughter had stopped, wiping away a tear that had leaked out of her eye. “Were you not paying attention that day on Van’s Warped Tour?” I just frowned and gave her a confused look. She sighed and slid off of the counter. “You know what Zacky said? He looked at you and he said that Jimmy probably hadn’t told you something but Jimmy stopped him from saying anything more. And then Zacky said that Jimmy was showing off but Jimmy quelled that thought too. And then with Syn! He said that Jimmy wanted to hang out with someone more and Jimmy punched him! Don’t you get it?” I slowly shook my head no. I had no clue where Rayne was going with this. “Jimmy LIKES you!”
I laughed.
“That’s funny, Rayne, really hilarious,” I said.
“No!” Rayne snapped, looking suddenly angry. “All the signs are there! Jimmy stopped them for a reason!”
“Well, he clearly doesn’t want me to know. So he can’t like me that much.” I retorted, trying to be logical. James Sullivan didn’t like me. Any girl would want to believe that, but I didn’t want any false hope clouding my mind.
“Of course he doesn’t want you to know! He’s worried you don’t like him back!” Rayne insisted. “Do you like him, Mel?”
“No,” I answered instantly.
“LIAR!” Jen yelled. But thankfully her mouth was empty. I glared over at her.
“I’m not lying.” I snapped.
“Well, if he’s as scared of commitment as Johnny is, I wouldn’t try to hook up with him anyway.” Kim growled with a scowl. We all looked at her in surprise.
“What?” AM asked.
“Johnny hasn’t called me for three weeks! No texts, no calls, no emails, no nothing! I’ve tried calling him, but he never answers! I always get ‘The wireless customer you are trying to call is currently unavailable’!” Kim said. She looked murderous.
“Kim, calm down.” Rayne said, holding out her hands with her palms facing Kim. Kim took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a few seconds. When she opened them again, they didn’t harbor rage anymore.
“I’m sorry. I’m just...upset.” she told us.
“It’s fine.” Rayne said. “We just never knew! Is that why you’ve been so solemn and calm for the past few days?”
Kim nodded.
“Don’t worry, Kim.” AM reassured her. “If Jimmy was in the store, then they must still be living in Huntington Beach. We’ll find them and we will kidnap Johnny and let you murder him.” Kim looked happier at AM’s words.
Well, we weren’t really expecting Avenged Sevenfold to still be living in Huntington Beach. We figured they may have moved on to bigger, better cities—like LA, for instance—and that we really wouldn’t ever see them again. So that’s why it came as a shock when I saw James. I hadn’t expected him to be there.
“Thanks, AM, but I won’t be so selfish. I’m sure women all over the world would be very unhappy if he died.” Kim said. She smiled and then left the room.
♠ ♠ ♠
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