Rum and Coke

“How do you like that, Birmingham?!” Ellie yelled into the roaring crowd in front of her.

They screamed back at her, mostly asking why Synyster Gates was behind her. Ellie’s smile only grew.

“Oh yea? Well, many of you might be confused why the Great Synyster Gates is hiding way back behind me.” She flashed a quick smirk in his direction “Well, some shit went down earlier and my dearest lesbo lover Bails had to jet. Now, enough of that! Here’s something else.” She yelled back at them as she started the opening riffs to Manifest Destiny. The thing she loved most about this song was her killer solo. Right as she was in the middle of a power riff leading into the solo, she heard a very distinct guitarist’s style join in. She glared over at Syn as she continued her solo. She was determined to overpower him.

Brian grinned and shook his head as his fingers continued to dance over the fret board. Slowly, he walked downstage, toward the audience, and got up on one of the ego boosters. He looked like he belonged there.

No wonder my mother never stood a chance she thought to herself.

She slammed her hand down on the strings and looked back at her other bandmates. Mark, still fingering his instrument, had this cheesy grin on his face. Ryan, however, had completely stopped playing and was two seconds away from hitting the floor. Strike that, he was now literally rolling on the floor laughing. Ellie sneered at him and joined Brian on the ego boosters, playing to her heart’s content.

Brian picked up his tempo and began to really milk the crowd. In the two seconds she wasn’t looking at him, he had taken off his shirt.

Fuming because of a broken string, Ellie threw her guitar at Matt Berry and asked for her cordless. In the few seconds it took him to get the guitar, Ellie ripped my shirt off, revealing the black bikini top she had on underneath. There were several gasps from the crowd as she tossed her shirt out to a lucky fan. Brian stopped playing and looked at his daughter in shock. Soon, Mark stopped, too.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he mouthed.

Ellie smirked. “Well, it looks like Mr. Gates doesn’t want to play nice anymore. What do you guys say to a duel?”

The crowd roared in approval.

“You in, old man?” she asked Brain, who just nodded. “Alright. Ry, gimme a simple beat. It’s time to play with fire.”

The drummer smirked and tapped out what his vocalist requested.

Ellie began to play a simple little melody that progressively got harder as she danced and flitted around the stage.

“Oh, it’s on, Little girl. I’ll show you who your Daddy is.” Brian, having finally come to his senses, started playing and the father and daughter were soon engaged in a full on guitar war. The things they did to each other were hilarious. Everyone seemed to enjoy their little antics. At one point, Ellie did handless cartwheels across the stage, somehow managing to get up on the stage left main, and did handless back flip off – all while still playing her guitar). That stunt caused Brian to stop playing and gaze at the girl in amazement. The crowd roared her name.

“Bitch, please, you ain’t my Daddy,” She mocked him, speaking into the microphone.
Brian did a low bow to her before grabbing her and throwing her over his shoulder (careful of the guitar still hanging off of her) and walked me over to the mic stand.

“Give a hand for Stereotypical Youth and their fearless leader, Ms. Ellie Patterson! Now, it’s time for my boys, Avenged fucking Sevenfold! Get ready, fuckers, we’ll be on soon!” he called.

“Brian, what the fuck?!” Ellie asked as soon as they were off of the stage.

“I needed to get some energy out,” he grinned.

“and it couldn’t wait for your set because…?”

“Shads would skin me alive.”

Ellie gave him a look, but decided a different, more direct approach. “What’s wrong?” she asked as she handed her guitar off and began to walk towards the greenroom.

“Nothing. Why do you ask?”

Ellie shrugged, feigning ignorance. “You look different.”

“How so?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Sadder, I guess.”

He scratched the back of his head. “Yea, well, the divorce papers finally came through and I signed them.”

“Oh. I thought you were going to wait until little Brian made his decision.”

His silence told Ellie everything she ever needed or wanted to know.

“I’m sorry.” She said, pulling him into a light hug.

“It’s not your fault,” he replied, his arms winding around her shoulders. He placed his face in the crook of her neck.

“So…” Ellie trailed off, feeling a little awkward. She never was really good in situations like these

“He’s not coming on tour as planned. He’d rather live with his mom and help her out.”

“Oh.”

“Yea, but it’ll be okay. I’m strong,” he said, pulling away from her. “And, I have you now…and hopefully Danni, too.”

Ellie swallowed the lump in her throat. "Yea, you do," she said softly.

Not catching the hint of fear in her voice, Brian pulled Ellie in for another sweaty hug.