Rum and Coke

“You. You’re going to fly to the stars and back,” Danni whispered into her three year old daughter’s ear after she finished her ballet number. Ellie breathed in her mother’s unique scent as she held her closer.

“Thank you, Mommy,” Ellie whispered back. She didn’t understand why her mommy was holding her so tightly.

Smiling, Danni pulled back and Ellie briefly saw the water that was in her eyes. She moved one of her hands to caress her daughter’s cheek. “You were so great up there. I’m very proud of you.”

Ellie’s Uncle Jared then bent down and scooped her up. He planted kisses all over the little girl’s face. She giggled. “Uncle Jared! Stop it!” she squealed as he began to tickle her.

“I just can’t stop! You were so cute!” He cooed to his niece.

“Jared, please don’t kill my daughter,” Danni said with a smile. Ellie immediately went into her arms and tugged on her daughter’s tutu.

Jared just smiled at the two.

“Mommy, where is Uncle Kale?” Ellie asked as she wiggled around in her mother’s arms.

“He’s in California, remember? Don’t worry, he’ll be back in a few days and we’ll show him all the pictures and tell him all about what he missed. We’ll make him so jealous.” Danni smiled at her

“Come on, Angel, I hear a big cone of ice cream screaming your name.” Jared said, showing his teeth.

Ellie’s face lit up as she struggled to get out of her mother’s grip. Ellie grabbed one of their hands and pulled them to the car.

“Mommy? Would my Daddy have been proud of me?” Ellie asked in the car on the way home from getting ice cream.

“If you had a daddy I’m sure he would have been.”

~*~

The members of Stereotypical Youth all took a breath as Bailey pulled up in front of the giant mansion. Ellie and Ryan exchanged looks before they slowly got out of the car. All four of them sported the same nervous smiles. They grabbed onto each other’s hands.

“Are we ready for this?” Bailey asked softly.

Ryan bit his lip and quickly looked at the mansion before turning to look back at his friends. “As ready as we’ll ever be.” Ryan recited. It was basically one of their pre-show rituals.

“Are you ready?” Mark asked, a sly smile creeping across his face.

“To raise Hell? Always.” Ellie smirked back.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get this shit done!” Ryan exclaimed before he took off, dragging his band members behind him. They linked arms and ascended the stairs to the intimidating house. They had nothing to fear. Nothing to lose. They were the most dangerous sort of people. Boldly, Ellie knocked on the door.

The door opened and revealed Zacky with a quizzical look on his face. “Why are you- Oh! I remember you guys! Come on in, you didn’t have to knock. Everyone’s out back on the patio. Come, I’ll show you the way.”

They followed him into the house. It was very home-y for being so large. They were led through a maze of hallways and doors. Ellie made a mental note to myself to make a treasure map of this place, seeing as how it was probably the only way that she would make it out alive…and even then she would most likely be very old and decrepit because she was horrible at reading maps.

Zacky paused to grab a blonde fifteen0year old girl. He whispered into her ear before she took off, giggling the entire way. He turned back to us with one of the biggest grins that I’ve ever seen. “That’s Jules, she’s my daughter. I sent her to gather everyone up.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Ellie saw Mark nod for the group. The band continued to follow the legendary guitarist further into the house. They finally hit what could only be assumed to be the back, because Zacky opened the sliding glass door and beckoned for Stereotypical Youth to go through before him. There were so many people there. The band of course, followed by what could only be the Avenged Sevenfold wives and a few of the children. The blonde from before came barreling through the open door, screeching at the top of her lungs. She was followed by several other teens. Jimmy grabbed her by her waist and slung her over his shoulder.

Matt, who was manning the grill, cleared his throat. “Everyone, settle down! This is Stereotypical Youth. They’re the band that’s going to open for us. Ryan’s the drummer, Mark’s the bassist, Bailey is backing vocals and rhythm guitar, and Ellie is the leader of this amazing band. Stereotypical Youth, this is the Avenged family. Since there’s too many to name, I’ll let them introduce themselves.”

Everyone in the A7X family’s mouth hung open as they looked at Ellie. It was quite unnerving for her. She shifted her weight several times. Mark put his arm around her waist in an effort to calm her down. Simultaneously, the A7X clan looked at someone behind her, before turning back to look at her.

Curious, Ellie looked behind her only to be met with vaguely familiar brown eyes. Bri squinted his eyes at her in confusion.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I’m part of the opening act.” Ellie replied.

“Oh.”

“Wait. What are you doing here?”

“I practically live here. My dad’s in the band.”

“Oh.” Ellie immediately knew why he seemed so familiar at the pier. He was her half-brother. Their fathers were one in the same.

“Oh, so you two know each other?” Brian asked.

“Yea, we met at Santa Monica Pier a few days ago.” Bri addressed his father so coldly.

Ellie looked between the two, confused as to what caused so much hostility.

Bri then turned back to Ellie. “Did you ever find your dad?”

Ellie let her eyes fall on the man in question for a split second. She took in his stance and his features before looking back at the teen. “No, I’m assuming that he’s dead.” She said in an even tone.

IDIOT! Ellie Marie Paterson, you are the biggest idiot alive! Why the fuck did you say that?!