Mistakes Were Made

It was early evening when we arrived in California. The sun was beginning to set as we came into land and I nudged Ginny so she could see. The sky was alight with oranges, reds, and pinks, a true sight to behold. She'd grunted and turned back over, trying to get to sleep again.

I nudged her again, reminding her that we were landing soon, she seemed to wake up a bit unplugging her iPod just as the 'fasten seatbelt' sign came on over head. She'd returned to her seat about half an hour previously, having been hiding in the toilets while the food was being brought around the cabin. The smell always made her ill.

The landing was smooth and we were through passport control and making our way to baggage claim in no time. I got my cell out my bag and dialled Jason's number, making sure he was here and that he knew what number baggage conveyor we were at so he could come help us. He didn't answer, and I huffed, I knew this would happen.

Just as I was about to start cussing him out I felt a pair of arms snake around my middle and lock together, and a head rest on my shoulder.

"You're late." I said to him, turning round and pulling Jason into a hug.

"I am not. I think you'll find I'm perfectly on time even with the traffic." I laughed, pulling him over to where Ginny was wrestling with her suitcase, having just got it off the conveyor and trying to get it to stand upright.

I took it from her and she stood beside me, shooting daggers at it, "Hey, Jase? Can you get our other suitcases?" I asked, "I'll point them out, you grab them." I got Ginny to stand away from the crowd and I stood with Jason.

"Fuck, Jimmy was right."

I looked at him, perplexed, "Right about what?"

"She's Gates' double." he said, shaking his head, as if in disbelief. I pointed out one of our two remaining suitcases, he pulled it off and handed it too me just as our other suitcase and Ginny's guitar case slid on. I got the guitar as he got the case, "Does the kid play?"

"Just like him." Just as we were turning to leave (and I was silently wondering why everything happened both very smoothly and very quickly) Mattie swaggered over to us, baseball cap on his head, carrying his sunglasses and phone.

"What time do you call this? All the hard work's already done!" Jason exclaimed as he dragged one of the two suitcases he was pulling behind him over to Mattie, I noticed it was the larger of the two and smirked. Ginny was looking a little lost as she walked over to us.

"Ginny, this is Jason and Mattie Berry, they're-"

"Uncle Logan's best friends. Yeah he talks about them a lot, how's it going?" They stopped their quarrelling and looked at her as though she'd sprouted a second head. "What? I was only being polite." She looked at me, concern in her eyes.

"Don't worry about them, Gin. One too many bumps to the head." I said, she laughed and followed my lead out the terminal building, the boys following.

The ride to Huntington from John Wayne Airport was only around a thirty minute drive. Ginny used it to catch up on some shut-eye, the flight had knocked it out of her, and I was beginning to wonder if it was a good idea to go to Matt's.

"Don't put it off, Claire." Jason said from the front, playing with the radio.

"How'd you know what I was thinking?" he turned round to face me and tapped his head, inclining it towards me knowingly. He always made me laugh.

Our surroundings began to get more and more suburban and picturesque, and I took that as my cue to wake Ginny up. She squinted as her eyes adjusted to the light and brought a hand up to run through her dark hair, "We almost there?" she asked, and I nodded. She didn't look nervous, but you never could tell with her.

We pulled up in front of a huge house. There was no other way to describe it. It was beautiful. I scoffed, "Seems Matt's moved up in the world, huh?" I asked, laughing slightly, Matt was always extravagant.

"You could say that," Mattie said with a shrug, "You can leave your stuff in the car if you want, chances are we'll be taking you home."

We began walking up to the gate at the side of the house, which I presumed led to the garden, "What, no drinking tonight lads?" I asked them, taking Ginny's hand in my own.

"We're afraid not. The guys are in the studio tomorrow, and we're joining them." I nodded my head in understanding.

"You ready, kid?" I asked her stopping just at the edge of the little passageway.

She seemed to gulp, "As I'll ever be."

I took a step around the corner and thanked whoever was 'up there' that it was only Matt and Val in the garden, bringing out bowls of what looked like salad, and coolers. I cleared my throat and they both turned around, Val's eyes widened and she flew over, enveloping me in a bear hug to rival Matt's. I turned to look at Ginny, her eyes were as wide as Val's, "Why didn't you tell me we were eating with Avenged Sevenfold?" she asked.

"I thought it would be a surprise." I said, through gasps for air, Matt had came over and decided Val wasn't hugging tight enough.

"I'll say. But, mom, you said my dad… oh, oh… He's one of them, isn't he?"

Matt guffawed, "You make us sound like some sort of cult, or something." I laughed with him, and pulled Ginny over to a table to get us both some coke to drink. I wasn't a drinker nowadays.

"Mom?"

"Hmm?"

"It's Synyster Gates, isn't it? My dad I mean."

"His name's Brian, Ginny, and yes, yes you're right. How'd you figure it out?"

She looked down at her glass, "The way you guys looked at each other. You know, that day, in our living room..."

We heard a car pull up and doors close and I didn't know whether Ginny was nervous or excited, but I needn't have worried, he wasn't here yet. I heard them before they were insight, Johnny, Jimmy and Zacky, I mean. I recognised them by their shadows; Jimmy, tall and lanky; Zacky, shorter and stockier and Johnny, the shortest of our group, he made up for his lack of height with the amount of noise he made. His voice was the most distinctive out of them. They rounded the corner with a girl draped over each of their arms, I shook my head a little, nothing's changed.

"Claire!" It was Zacky, he walked up to me, the rest of them following and pulled both Ginny and I into a hug, almost rivalling Matt's. Ginny, looking shell-shocked, managed a small smile and a gulp of air before he set upon us. I, well I was not so lucky. He released us and indicated to the girl behind him, "Claire, this is my girlfriend Gena. Gena, this is Claire, the one Matt never shuts up about. And you, well you're obviously Ginny." She blushed as he pulled her to him again, his hug more bone crushing now that I wasn't there to soften the blow.

Jimmy introduced us to Leana, she was tiny, built like a ballerina, but a mouth on her the size of Canada, she also, made up for being vertically challenged with noise. I already knew Lacey and so we got reacquainted and they left for drinks. Pantera could be heard playing softly from the stereo in the house and I smiled softly, the song that was playing reminded me of one of our cook-outs on the beach. That was the night I'd had my first kiss.

It was with him - Brian - of course. I was terrified.

I was fifteen and worshiped the ground he walked on. We hung out a lot, he'd made friends with my older brother Logan when they were both starting school. Brian introduced Logan to Jimmy and Jimmy was friends with Matt and Matt knew Zack from the local hardcore/punk scene. They were all a year older than I. Johnny was the exception, he'd been best friends with my sister for as long as any of us could remember. It wasn't just our eight, the guys' siblings would come out with us, and a few kids from the afformentioned punk scene. We were a close-knit group, surprising considering our numbers.

Anyway, that night, as I said, we'd went to the beach, there was nothing unusual in that, we were always at the beach. It must have been a So-Cal kid thing. We had just finished eating the food Logan and Matt had cooked and I stood up to go for a wander along the sand. Logan was about to protest letting me go on my own when Brian stood up and said he'd come with me. There was nothing unusual in that, Brian and I had always gotten along well.

We had walked pretty far, Brian directing us to some rocks overlooking the ocean where we could sit. We didn't say much to each other, occasionally commenting on the sunset, or asking how our day went, at the time we were both in school, but he worked weekends with a local building company and I did makeup for a local theater company. I remembering turning to look at him and finding him looking at me already, he'd also moved closer, which I had failed to notice. He'd placed his right hand on my left cheek, bringing my lips closer to his, my heart thudding in my chest. He took my top lip inbetween his, running his tongue along it, sucking slightly. Just as I was getting both comfortable and used to his lips pressing against mine, and our tongues battling for dominance, Logan and Matt's calls could be heard shouting on us from down the beach and we broke apart.

Just as Brian and I had been interupted, so were my thoughts, and the no-doubt blissful look on my face, as Matt nudged me back to reality. I looked up to where he was looking and saw Brian and Ginny, staring at each other, neither knowing quite how to go about this.

As I made a move to go over and disperse the awkwardness a tall brunette came walking down the garden path and my eyes bugged out my head, "Michelle?"