We Were Both Young When I First Saw You

Dammit, who is that?! I opened my eyes and saw Zacky and Johnny jumping on my bed.

"Ahhh! Why can't I get any sleep or privacy around here?!"

We had been out until 1:00 A.M. celebrating getting signed to WB Records and it was now (looks at clock) 12:00 P.M. Now, that may seems like plenty of time to sleep, but I did not get to sleep until 3:00 A.M. Wanna know why? Val called.

She was drunk and wanted to see if we could "hook up" and be "friends with benefits". I told her

"no Val, we discussed this, we are just friends and nothing more."

Then she said.

"b-u-t Mattie!"

I had to groan into the phone at that, I hate being called "Mattie" by anyone. So, we talked and talked and talked until 3:00 A.M. at which point she was too drunk and tired to even talk anymore. So it is now 12:00 P.M, and I am still tired.

Johnny and Zacky were still at the edge of my bed, staring at me, when I finally asked what they were doing in my hotel room. They said

"we are here to remind you we are having dinner at the Diamond's house at 5."

I groaned again and said

"then, why couldn't you just have called me to tell me?"

Johnny answered and said

"We know you wouldn't get up by yourself on time, so we took the liberty and woke you up ourselves."

I had to admit, they were right. If left to my own devices, I would have not woken up until 3:00 P.M., spent an hour just lallygagging around, then picked something out of my suitcase to wear and not left the hotel until 4:45. Also, because I had no idea where I was going, would have gotten to the Diamond house around 5:30 or 6:00 P.M. I finally sat up and told Zacky,

"OK, I am up, what more do you want from me?"

He said,

"the only thing left we wanted to tell you or give you is the directions to the house."

I saw that it would take 30 minutes (given that traffic was OK) or 45 minutes if traffic was bad. They left and I hit the pillows again.

Next thing I knew it was 3:00 P.M! crap! I jumped out of bed and cursing myself. I still
have to get dressed. It took me a while, but I finally found the perfect outfit, nice pants, a nice shirt and Vans.

I decided to take out my lip ring, just to be safe, I didn't know what James' family was like and didn't want them to get the "wrong" impression of me. I left the hotel at 4:20 and said a quick prayer that traffic would not be too horrible.

Unfortunately, I have a horrible sense of direction when placed in a new environment. As I was driving, all I could think about was crap, I am going to be late! Once I got to a red light, that I knew was about 10 minutes from the house, I called Syn. Once he answered, he screamed

"Dude! Where the f*** are you?"

I said

"I am about 10 minutes from the house (I hope), just tell James I am on my way, bye."

Thankfully, 10 minutes later, I got to the house and man it was HUGE! I could see that everyone else was already here. I walked to the door and rang the doorbell and James answered it and said

"Matt, glad to see you!"

I said

"thanks James, sorry I am late."

As we walked into the hallway, a woman walked up to James and said,

"honey, dinner will be ready in about 5 minutes."

James kissed her cheek and said,

"thanks honey, and this is Matt, Matt, this is my wife, Grace."

Grace said

"nice to meet you Matt" and I replied "you too, Mrs. Diamond."

After that, she walked back and went to what I think was the kitchen. James interrupted my thought and said,

"Matt, you have to meet my daughter Ashlyn."

Before I could protest and say, "oh, I don't do well with children", he called out while I was mentally preparing myself for a 3 year old child. James interrupted my thought process once again and said,

"Ashlyn, this is Matt, aka M. Shadows. Matt, this is my daughter, Ashlyn."

I finally took a look at her and she was beautiful, blonde curly hair, blue eyes and tan skin. One look at Ashlyn's blue eyes staring into my hazel eyes and something told me that this moment would change my life.