And She Was Strong.

“Hello?” she answered.

The phone rang, and she’d answered it cautiously. Neither of her parents were home yet on that Saturday morning, and she didn’t want to risk answering the phone to hear Jeremy’s voice over the other line. She was just hoping that it was either her mother or father, calling to tell her that they would be home in just a matter of time.

“Hey,” came the reply over the other end, “Lily?”

Her face lit up immediately. This was a better call than she could have hoped for.

“Matt!” she smiled. Matthew could hear her excitement over the other line, and gave a little smile of his own. “It’s so good to hear from you!”

He laughed. “You too, Lily. How’ve you been?”

She paused, biting her lip, before saying, “Oh, I’m fine, just the same as when you left. How are you?”

Matthew couldn’t tell the lie in her voice from the truth, even after all these years. She had perfected the art without him even noticing.

“I’m fine,” he said. “The same as when I left, too, I guess.”

Lily, just like Matthew, still had yet to realize when he was lying. The two of them were really lost causes, one could gather. Neither of them knew how the other was really doing, how the other honestly felt about their situations and the seriousness with which they both lied about being rather trivial.

“That’s great to hear,” she smiled. Her chest was still aching, but it didn’t falter her smile. “I’m so glad that you are doing alright. How are the boys?”

“They’re doing fine,” he said. “You know, just doing their thing.”

“I know,” she laughed. “Tell them all that I said hello, will you?”

“I will.”

She sighed, taking a seat at the kitchen counter. “You all sound like you’re doing well. I’m happy for you. Was the tour everything you hoped it would be?”

“It was pretty good,” he answered simply. “I mean, it would have been better if you’d come along. I invited you, you know, but you didn’t want to come.”

“I know,” she said. Her eyes were sad. “I’m sorry. I wish, now, that I would have. Would have saved me a lot of energy and wasted time.”

“What have you been up to lately?” Matthew was trying to lighten the mood. He didn’t like hearing Lily sound so sad. “Still working at that little café on Second?”

“Yeah,” she answered, “still. It’s a really boring job, pouring coffee to make ends meet around here. Not that I’m complaining, or anything, but I just think that I need to do a little more with my life, you know? Other than living with my parents and working at a coffee shop.”

“I know what you mean,” he said.

She laughed. “Are you serious? You’ve done more with your life in the past five years than I have in my entire life!”

After a moment, he laughed, too. “I guess you’re right,” he said slowly. “It doesn’t seem like it’s been five years.”

“Seem shorter?” Lily asked.

“Yeah,” he replied, “a lot shorter.”

Matthew had just woken up when he decided to call Lily. It was around eleven o’clock when the sun woke him, in addition to the sound of Jimmy’s high pitched squeals. He must have been winning at a game they all were playing.

As soon as Matthew woke up, he knew that today would be a terrible day. It was the beginning of April and they were going to play a show in Detroit, Michigan later that night. He truly was not in the mood to put on a show at all that day, and he doubted that he’d be able to put on one that was remotely close to being acceptable.

“How many more shows?” Lily asked. She, of course, was referring to how many performances were left until all five boys returned to their own little world in Huntington Beach, California. Matthew could tell she missed him, perhaps even more than he missed her.

This theory was plausible, however, because Lily didn’t have many friends outside of the Avenged Sevenfold crew. And they were all on tour, together of course, while she was alone. Still, she did have her long-time boyfriend of a year and a half, Jeremy. Matthew did, in all honesty, like the guy; he had a well-paying job, good morals, didn’t smoke or drink, and treated Lily like she was a princess. Matthew didn’t even know it was possible for someone as perfect as Jeremy to exist.

When Matthew first met Jeremy, he thought: How can I compete with him? How could anyone compete with that? It was from the moment he met Jeremy Duncan that he knew he would be forced to give up on Lily. He was no match for Jeremy, despite his recent fame in the music industry. Fame was something that didn’t really phase Lily. In fact, Lily tried to act like Matthew and the boys hadn’t discovered fame at all. That was another reason Matthew knew that Lily could never be entirely his: to her, he was just Matt, an old friend that would never change into something more than that.

“Only about four, I think,” Matthew answered her. “I’m sorry that this tour was so long, Lily. I would make it shorter if I could.”

She was suddenly very sad. “You love touring, though, Matty. You wouldn’t make tours shorter, even if you wanted to. Now that you’ve seen what it’s like to meet your fans, meet new people, travel the world… You couldn’t come home forever, even if you tried.” Her chest was hurting again. She placed her hand over her heart and put pressure on it; there wasn’t much that she could do to stop the aching, but for somewhat of a relief, she merely placed her hand over her heart and wished that it would stop. That’s when the throbbing gave for a few moments, long enough for her to catch herself.

Matthew sighed, rubbing a hand over his forehead. He knew that she was right; it would be a long while before he ever even considered stopping touring. Touring was one of the things he loved, one of the few things, in fact. It would be hard on him if he ever decided to quit, and- so early on in the game- he couldn’t bring the thought of ending it all to mind.

“I mean, you’re right, Lily,” Matthew began, “but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m sorry. We both know that it’s hard on you when we’re all away.”

She drew in a deep breath. Neither of them had been this straightforward with each other before. What could she really say to that? That he was right, and that she was weak? She couldn’t do that to him, or to herself. It would do wrong to her pride too much.

“I miss you,” she admitted, “probably more than I should. But don’t worry about me. I’m strong, I can handle myself. You don’t have to be sorry, Matt.”

You aren’t strong, he thought, regrettably. You’re incapable of getting along, incapable of being happy, without all of us there. Matthew wasn’t stuck-up, or conceited, but it was what he honestly thought of Lily. He couldn’t help the fact that he would always worry about her, even if it was just a little. But what did he worry about?

Matthew worried about all of the wrong things, that is what he worried about.

“Matt!” Brian called. “C’mere, you gotta see this!”

Lily could hear him in the background, and sank into her kitchen chair. She had to end the conversation, because Matthew was needed elsewhere.

“I have to go, anyway,” she spoke into the phone. “I’ll just talk to you later, I guess.”

“Listen, Lily,” Matthew said a bit anxiously, “I’ll call you again when we get into town. It’ll only be about another week or so. Alright?”

“Okay,” she said. “Bye, Matty.”

“Bye.”