Closer to Heaven With You

Leigh smiled broadly when she opened her eyes to the sight of Matt sleeping peacefully next to her. She’d been longing to wake up next to Matt for months. She slid herself closer to him and placed her arm over his muscular chest, allowing her head to fall gently where she could hear the soft, rhythmic pounding of his heart from within his ribcage. His arms tightened around her, pulling her closer to him as he let out a soft, low moan of contentment.

“Morning beautiful.” His chest vibrated against her cheek as he spoke, his fingers circulating the bare skin of her shoulder.

“Morning.” She replied simply, adjusting her head so that she could softly kiss his tanned torso.

“I’ve been looking forward to this for months.” Matt replied in a low whisper. Leigh lifted her head up off his chest and looked deep into his hazel eyes.

“Me too.” she smiled, lifting her head up to kiss his lips.

“You’re on the early shift today right?” Matt asked.

“Yeah.” Leigh grumbled with a pout.

“Then how about I make you breakfast before you go?” he whispered, which immediately turned her pout into a wide smile.

“Waffles?”

“If that’s what the lady wants.” He said kissing her forehead with a smirk. He rolled her over, so that he was hovering above her before pressing his lips harshly onto hers. They both let out a moan before Matt pulled away with a smirk and got up and dressed himself in the clothes he’d thrown to the floor the night before. Leigh watched him intently as he left the room, before stretching her limbs, getting dressed and wandering out into the living room.

“Mmm, they smell good.” Leigh said as she walked over to the kitchen counter, sitting next to Michelle on one of the stools. “Where’s Brian?”

“Gone to check the mail.” Michelle replied as she stifled a yawn.

“I don’t know why he bothers? All we get is junk and bills.” Leigh muttered as Matt placed a glass of orange juice in front of her, followed by a plate of waffles. She was about to take her first bite when she was distracted by the front door slamming open.

“Guys, we’ve got one, we’ve got a reply!” Brian yelled breathlessly as he wave a large brown envelope around.

“A reply?” Michelle queried.

“From a record company?” Leigh guessed. She knew the guys had sent out stuff to every record company they could find and had been waiting eagerly for replies for weeks.
Brian smiled broadly as he held out the envelope, pointing at the return address. “Good Life Recordings in Belgium.” He yelled, still a little breathless from the stairs.

“Well don’t just stand there showing it to us, fucking open it!” Matt yelled excitedly.
Brian glared at him for a brief moment before turning the envelope around in his hands, that were visibly shaking with nerves and excitement, ripped open the top and took out the sheet of paper from inside. He opened it up and rubbed his eyes.

“Leigh read it! I can’t fucking see straight all the words are blurring.” He said shoving the paper into his twins’ hands.

“Um, Dear Guys of Avenged Sevenfold, after receiving your bands material, blahdy blah, we at Good Life Recordings have become very interested in hearing more from you. Yarda, yarda, we would like to hear you live!” Leigh was almost screeching by this point, her voice high pitched, eyes wide, arms flapping about as she jumped up and down on the spot.

“They want to see us live?” Brian asked his voice almost as high pitched as what Leigh’s had been. Leigh nodded and returned her eyes to the letter to glance over it again for more details.

“Oh my God! They want you to arrange a gig so that one of their people can come and see you and hopefully talk about a record deal.” Leigh squealed once she’d finished reading the rest of the letter.

“Seriously?” Matt yelled and again Leigh nodded and was immediately gathered up in her brother’s arms, being spun around as they cheered.

When Brian finally put her down she was immediately pulled into Matt’s muscular arms. His lips found hers, fusing themselves together. Out of the corner of her eye Leigh could see that Brian and Michelle were in a similar position.

“We’ve got to call the others!” Leigh yelled as she pulled away, breathless from the kiss.

“Shit, yeah, who should we call first?” Matt said taking his cell phone out of his pocket.

“Um, you ring Zack, Brian ring Johnny and I’ll ring Jimmy.” Leigh replied running to the coffee table where she’d left her phone. The room was quickly filled with excited chatter and the people on the other end of the cell phones cheered and yelled at the news.

“Oh My God! Seriously?” Jimmy asked after Leigh had repeated the news.

“Yes Jimmy! Really.” Leigh replied with a chuckle.

“I’ll be right over! I want to see this for myself.” He yelled and abruptly hung up.

As Leigh walked back over to Matt she caught sight of the kitchen clock.

“Shit I’m going to be late for work!” she yelled, quickly turning and running towards the bathroom to take a shower. She showered, got dressed and did her hair and make up in record time, but by the time she emerged from the bedroom most of the other guys were sat in the living room celebrating their news.

“Oh, do you have to work? You need to celebrate with us!” Jimmy pouted as she clipped her name badge to her polo shirt.

“Yeah sorry guys but I gotta go, but I’ll be up for some celebrations later.” Leigh replied.

“Come on babe I’ll give you a lift.” Matt said getting up and casually draping his arm around her shoulder.

*****

Two weeks later the guys had arranged to play a set at Showcase Theatre and had invited a member of Good Life Recordings over to see them. They’d been practicing non stop and had even written a couple of new songs to play in the hope to impress the record company.
The girls had taken their usual spot at front as the guys played. They were easily the bands biggest fans and wouldn’t hear a word said against any of them. As the crowd roared and cheered with enjoyment and appreciation, Matt thanked them all for coming and being a wonderful audience before running off stage with the others.

“Oh my god, you were great!” Leigh yelled as Matt picked her up and spun her around. “Urgh, you’re all sweaty!” she said pulling a face as he tried to kiss her. He chuckled and shook his head, trying to shake the beads of sweat over her.

“Do you think it was good enough to get us signed?” he asked setting her down.

“Most definitely.” A strange voice said from behind them. Everyone quickly turned around to see the record company guy stood there.

“Hi, I’m Steven Drake from Good Life Recording, can we talk?” without hesitation Matt and the rest of the guys nodded and followed Steven to a quiet room. Being left at the side of the stage the girls screamed and hugged each other, jumping up and down uncontrollably.

The wait was antagonising. Time ticked by so slowly, although as Leigh looked at her watch for what seamed like the billionth time, she realised it had been no more than quarter of an hour since the guys had left. All there was to do was to find a booth to sit and wait in.

“There they are!” Gena yelled suddenly, spotting the guys walking across the room looking around, presumably for them. She flung her arms in the air waving to get their attention. It worked as Jimmy spotted her and signalled to the others that he’d seen them. The guys ran over to the girls who all stood up to welcome their boyfriends.

Each of the guys headed to their girlfriend and Matt wrapped his arms around Leigh’s waist and lifted her up.

“We’re a signed band!” he yelled. There was a unified scream from all the girls, each being told at roughly the same time. Matt brought Leigh down so that her face was level with his and kissed her forcefully on the lips.

“We’ve got to fucking celebrate!” Jimmy yelled with Leana in his arms.

“Hell yeah, back to ours!” Brian agreed. There was a unified call of agreement and the group made their way out of the club that they were all too young to be in yet alone drink in.

“I still can’t believe it. Babe, we’ve got a record deal” Matt whispered excitedly into Leigh’s ear as she sat in front of him, his legs and arms embracing her as he sat against the sofa on the floor.

“I know babe, I knew it would happen someday, I’ve always believed in you!” she whispered back.

“So does this mean you’re going to be touring soon?” Michelle asked from her place on Brian’s lap.

“Yeah, from what Steven said earlier, we’re going to make an album and tour it around the country after graduation.” Matt explained.

“After Graduation? But that’s only what less than eight weeks away!” Gena said.

“I know, it’s all happening so fast, he wants to take us into the studio next week.” Zack said. the enthusiasm and excitement was dripping from his words.

“I am taking you out for a slap up meal, just you and me. Our own personal celebration” Matt whispered, placing a lingering kiss on her temple. “I love you.” He added before kissing her again.

“Love you too babe.” She said turning to face him and kissing him. Her lips parted through his guidance and she allowed his tongue to enter her mouth.

“Guys get a fucking room please!” they heard Zack yell as they intensified the kiss. They broke apart smiling and Leigh noticed that Matt was flipping Zack off.

“Actually Zack, that’s a good idea. Come on babe.” Leigh said standing up and holding out her hand for Matt to take hold. As he got up he wrapped his arms around Leigh, pushing his chest close to her back and guided her across the room towards her bedroom door.

“Just keep the noise down.” Zack said as they passed him and again Matt gave him the finger.