Super Avenged: Only Human

Later that afternoon, I sat cross-legged in the middle of my makeshift studio with a sketchbook lying open in my lap and a bag of sketching supplies lying next to me. I’d been trying to find ways to entertain myself all day. It didn’t help that I was still fuming because of Jimmy. Well, it wasn’t all because of him. It was also because of that stupid fight we had that he essentially won since I’m sitting in this studio instead of the one in my apartment. We’d been avoiding each other all day, and I began to wonder when one of us would be the mature one and try to bridge the gap between us once again. It would happen eventually, but until then, we would shoot daggers with our eyes and give each other the cold shoulder.

Out of nowhere, a loud siren went off around the entire house. The sudden noise surprised me so much that I almost dropped my sketching pencil. I also jumped about a foot in the air, and my heart was thundering at a thousand miles per hour. Zacky walked into my studio and threw me his little GPS belt.

“Put that on and stay in the house until we get back,” he told me, nodding towards the belt he’d just thrown at me. It was a plain black leather deal, and it looked a little too bland to me. But I guessed that I didn’t have much choice. “If that guy is going to attack, he’ll probably attack when we aren’t here. Stay in the house so at least the alarms will go off once he breaks in. And the belt will let us know where you are. Okay?”

“Yeah,” I answered, already slipping the belt through the loops on my jeans. Zacky stepped back out of my studio, having said his bit. A few seconds later the siren turned off and I heard the distant sound of the front door slamming shut. I sighed and put down my sketchbook before clambering to my feet and walking towards one of the large windows in the room. I missed my apartment, a lot. Hopefully this situation would be fixed and cleared up and Jimmy and I could return home sooner rather than later.

((*****))

About forty-five minutes later, Super Avenged trooped back into the house, looking a little worn out. I sat in the living room on the couch with a book, and I looked up from the print-covered pages as they walked in. Jimmy walked over to the couch and sat next to me, but he kept his distance. He sat about a foot away from me, which still seemed too close for me. Hey, if I’m going to get mad at my spouse, I might as well do it right.

“I could use a massage right now,” Jimmy said to no one in particular, but I saw him looking at me out of the corner of his eyes. I reached over and grabbed a magazine lying on the coffee table. I rolled it up and shot my hand out, whacking Jimmy on the back of his head with it.

“I don’t give massages to bastards,” I told him before rising to my feet and walking towards the spiral staircase. I decided to escape back into my studio now that they were all back. I passed by Brian, and he was trying to hide his laughter. I knew the others were laughing at Jimmy, too, but Brian and I didn’t have that good of a friendly streak going on, so I decided to target him.

“What are you laughing at?” I snapped in his direction. Brian instantly straightened up. He cleared his throat before saying exactly the right answer.

“Nothing,” he said quickly. I turned away from him and continued to my studio.

Today was not turning out to be a good day.