The Bird and the Worm

He motioned for me to walk in front of him, and I obliged, blushing slightly and toying with the backstage pass I’d won in a contest. I could hear his dull footsteps behind me, and I could smell the cologne he’d spritzed on to cover up the stench of stage sweat. He smelled like peppermint, and I let that scent fill my nostrils as I did my best to remain calm.
On the inside, I was freaking out because I was backstage and alone with Synyster Gates. I was in a position that millions of girls worldwide would cheerfully murder for, and here I was, walking in front of him and absorbing the scent of his cologne.

I seated myself on one of the couches available in the band’s “chill area,” as Syn had put it, and he settled next to me, offering a smile. I melted at the sight, as any other fan girl most likely would have. His hand reached out to take mine, squeezing it affectionately- a gesture of appreciation from a super handsome rock star to one of his many followers. My eyes widened slightly as I took in the warmth of his hand.

His face flushed slightly, and he withdrew his hand, only for a moment, returning it when I unconsciously whimpered. I didn’t think he really minded. He’d created this contest for a reason, and he was here to give me one thing. In the agreement of the contest, he’d offered to spend three full days with a fan and do whatever that particular fan wanted, as long as it was legal and morally sound.

I blushed again as I thought about what every one of my friends would kill for.

“Are you alright?” he asked, his voice softer than I’d expected it to be. I’d only heard him speak to me directly once before, and that was to clarify that he knew what my name was. “Heather?” I bit my lip, glancing down at his hand, the one that held lightly onto mine. He tried again, this time touching his free hand to my chin. “You okay?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Just…absorbing the shock factor a little. I mean, I never thought I would be the one to win the contest.” I glanced up at him, catching his chocolate gaze momentarily, and he offered a warm smile, giving my fingers a small squeeze.

Chewing on his lip for a moment and seeming to be lost in deep thought for a few moments, he stared at the floor, his thumb rubbing the back of my hand. I thought it was ridiculous that I was here with Synyster Gates holding my hand.

When he glanced up at me again, there was an odd expression playing on his lips- he looked almost amused.

“What?” I questioned, my blush fading a little but not disappearing. Whether he knew it or not, he had a very intimidating presence.

He laughed softly, and it sounded like heaven. “Do you want what the typical fan girl wants?”

“Uhhhmm…I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about…”

He leaned in slowly enough not to scare me, his lips slightly parted, and he smiled. “Do you want to kiss me?” he breathed, and my eyes widened. Blushing, I nodded.

“It won’t exactly kill me, if you know what I mean.” He laughed softly, his chocolate eyes twinkling, and he only released my hand to rest his on my waist, pulling me a little closer and making sure I wouldn’t pass out on him. For a split second, I wondered if he had a girlfriend that would be pissed off if she found out that he was offering such things to fans. But the Synyster Gates that I practically worshipped would never do something like that to someone that loved him. He wouldn’t just do this for anyone, right? Morally sound was the rule, after all.

He seemed to notice my tension, and he chuckled. “Relax,” he breathed, running his hand along my arm, and surprisingly enough, it relaxed me, only because instead of tension, I felt chills speeding down my back. Instinctively, my eyes closed, and Syn and his peppermint scent were much too close for me to think properly. He placed my hands on his shoulders, then let his resume their positions on my waist just before his lips lightly touched mine.

His kiss was short, but it made my head spin a little. It hadn’t registered yet- I’d just been kissed by Synyster freaking Gates.

He smiled and leaned in once more, bringing his mouth down onto mine once again, this time letting it rest there. I sighed against his lips, and he smiled against mine. His fingers curled ever so slightly against the material of my Avenged Sevenfold baby doll tee, and I held onto his shoulders, letting him pull me basically into his lap. My mind raced at a million miles a minute; if it was heaven for me to be this close to him, I could only imagine how it would feel if I allowed myself to be a true groupie.

I knew he wasn’t like that, though. This kiss was just that- a kiss as a gift from a rock idol to one of his fans. In a week, he would probably forget my name. And I was okay with that. I would never forget this- the way his lips felt as they moved against mine, the way his hands held on to my shirt, holding my body close to his, the way his warm breath washed over my face as he broke it to let me remember how to breathe, and the way he smiled as he tucked a stray lock of my chestnut hair behind my ear.

I melted at his touch, and my face returned to a healthy shade of deep red. He simply chuckled in that enchanting tone of his, and then he sighed- I would have worried about that sigh, but he seemed content, so it could have been a sigh of thoughtfulness or something.
It took me a couple of minutes before my air flow was regulated enough to speak coherently. During that time, he let me find solace in his molten chocolate eyes, his hand folding around mine once more. “What now?” I barely managed to squeak out.

He chuckled. “I don’t know. Whatever you want. You can meet the band, or we can go somewhere to kill time before you get tired.”

“I’m never going to get tired,” I protested, convinced that this was true- seventy-two hours with Synyster Gates was not a chance handed out every day to every single person with a secret or well-known fetish.

He laughed again. “You will eventually, but you won’t have to worry about not being with me, if you like.”

“Huh?”

“These next three days are yours. If you want to be able to go back to your friends bragging about how you fell asleep in my arms or something, so be it.”

My eyes were wide in astonishment. How could he be so flexible and mellow? “Could I…can I meet the band?”

He nodded. “Yeah, sure. Jimmy might smell a little funny though. He sweats the most out of us all.” He snickered at that, and I relinquished his hand in order to get up once he had, and I opted to hold on to his arm with my hands curved around his bicep. He simply chuckled and shook his head, leading me along to the tour bus. He knocked on the door once we got there, and he called, “Matt, you guys have ten seconds to get your clothes back on. Heather wants to meet the whole band.”

I bit my lip to hide my smile. I liked that I wasn’t ‘the girl that won the contest’. I had a name- I was Heather. As we stood outside the tour bus, we heard scrambling and muttering, and the bus rocked a little, but Syn just shrugged it off like it was nothing.

I snickered a little to myself, and I tried to be as nonchalant as possible when M. Shadows opened the door in a pair of jeans, his chest partially exposed by a wife beater he’d most likely just thrown on. He offered me a quick smile before ducking back inside and yelling to the rest of the guys. Syn led me on to the bus, and I glanced around. It was pretty clean, considering five rock stars lived on it for months on end, and it smelled like peppermint. I smiled to myself as I made the connection between the scent of the bus and the appealing aura surrounding Syn- whose arm I was currently holding on to like we were dating or something.

He helped me settle into one of the comfier seats, and he brought me a soda to sip on while the guys got ready. He grabbed the same thing for himself, and he made light conversation with me until Jimmy, Vengeance, and Johnny Christ came stumbling out of the bunk area, all three of them mystically missing shirts.

They offered quick smiles, just as Shadows had, and waved as they walked towards us. I stood up to meet them, and they each greeted me with a hug.

I was euphoric. I was living in dreamland. There was no way I was being passed into four different sets of arms- arms that happened to belong to the hottest rock stars on the planet. There was no way that four different sets of lips kissed my cheek- the same rock stars were treating me as though we were best friends. I blushed slightly, impressed. They’d watched every second of my video, and they’d taken to heart every single word I’d said.

Before now, I had had no idea that this band was truly this fan-oriented. But tonight, instead of chugging beers, they were downing can after can of Coca-Cola with me while telling me stories about something stupid one of them had done on tour or in a music video and laughing and joking with me like I was their best friend or something. Syn remained beside me, in accordance with his promise that I wouldn’t have to worry about being away from him, and every once in a while, the guys would glance at the two of us, smile about something, and then shake their head slightly before continuing on. I didn’t exactly catch it, but Syn did.

He didn’t seem to really care, though.

None of them seemed to realize that he was basically pretending to be my boyfriend for three days- he wanted to do anything I wanted to do, he’d kissed me because he had this weird way of reading my body language perfectly, and he and the guys were doing their damnedest to give me everything they could from my list in the video.

We were up for hours talking and laughing, undisturbed by movement of the tour bus.

When energy began to run out, though, it was a unanimous decision: it was time for bed so that Heather could enjoy a full day with the band the next day. The guys were going above and beyond with this.

Syn sat with me while I finished off my last Coke, and because all the guys were already snoring in their bunks, he quietly took my hand and led me to his bunk, letting me crawl in first before peeling off his shirt and joining me, pulling me to his chest. When I glanced up at him, he simply smiled, murmuring, “Good night, Heather,” with a very soft, very slight kiss to my lips before I snuggled back into him and closed my eyes.

I murmured the words back to him incoherently, and he rubbed my back until we were both asleep.