In My Dreams It's Me And You

Nathalie’s POV

“I know it’s not fair on her. I’ll tell her soon. I’ll see you later.”

On the sound of the cell flipping shut I frowned; who was he talking about? Was it someone else or was it...? Regardless of whom I decided to just ignore it since it wasn’t like I could ask him about it. What would he say about me eavesdropping on his conversation?

After a while Sweet Child O’ Mine started accompanied by the infamous clicking noise from the guitar, making it obvious that he was once again playing the game. Instead of just peeking in and telling him I was ready I decided to perform my entrance- starting with a running leap and jumping on him.

“I’m ready!” I sung at the top of my voice as I burst into the room, his hands instantly dropping the plastic guitar as I flung myself at his back, curling my arms and legs around him. Booing quickly came from the speakers as he failed the song, making me shake my head in a mocking disappointment. “The great Synyster Gates, failing a song? How shameful.”

As soon as he had overcome the shock Brian instinctively tried to pull me off, staggering about the room since I had thrown off his balance. I couldn’t help laughing as his arms flailed about, unable to get a grip on me since I dodged every attempt he made.

When he finally lost his balance my hold around him vanished and I fell onto the floor, followed soon after by Brian. Since I didn’t have enough time to roll out of the way he fell directly onto me, his weight on my chest making it feel as if it had been set on fire. However, at that moment, it wasn’t what I cared about.

Slowly I crawled across the floor to the shattered frame, uncaring for the cuts that appeared on my fingers as I dragged them through the broken glass to pull out the photo. I could feel my eyes watering as I looked at it; smearing the blood from where I held it in my hands.

--

Brian’s POV

One second everything was fine then the next thing I knew I was falling backwards. I did try to twist myself so that I didn’t land on Nat, but as I felt her frail body take my weight I knew it didn’t work. Guilt filled me as I rolled off her, just seeing the pained look on her face before she turned away and crawled slowly across the floor. It didn’t look like she was actually in physical pain though; this was something else.

I moved over to where she sat silently and edged around her so that I could see if she was alright. She snatched her hands away when I tried to look at the cuts on them, shielding whatever it was she was holding from me.

“Nat? I’m sorry, I just lost my balance and fell,” I tried to say, not even really believing my own feeble excuses.

Instead of reaching for her hands again I shuffled behind her and slipped my arms around her neck, reaching up to wipe her cheeks with the back of my hand. I rested my head upon her shoulder and looked down at the photo she had hidden from me. Three faces smiled up at me, and from what I could guess the small, brunette haired girl was Nat, with what must have been her parents standing on either side.

“That’s me,” Nat said softly, pointing at the child in the middle I had originally guessed at. Her fingers skimmed over the photo until they fell across the two others, stopping upon each of them in turn. “My parents. They were always there for me.”

The photo shook in her grasp as more tears fell, the frozen smiles seeming to distort from underneath the water puddles they created. Soon her fingers were shaking so much that it fell upon her lap, her empty palms still open like she hadn’t realised it had gone. I leant forward and took her hands in mine, curling my fingers over hers.

“Where are they now?” I asked while easing her backwards so that most of her weight was against me.

“They’ve gone away.” Her reply sounded hollow, not sounding at all like her normal self. The sound of her voice worried me but I decided against asking her anything else. Her body was shaking in my arms even as I held her close to me, and I couldn’t help but feel useless as I could do nothing to help.

My eyes trailed about the room as I tried to find some inspiration about what to do or say where they finally rested upon the plastic guitar. I don’t know why I said it, but I guess it was just because I didn’t have anything else to.

“Do you know what? I have played Beast and the Harlot millions of times on my guitar, but when I pick up one with five buttons, do you know what happened?” With my hand I pushed her hair behind her ear, turning my head sideways so that I could look up at her. “I failed it.”

Thankfully a small smile appeared, so I guessed it was working.

“You won’t tell the guys will you? I don’t think Synyster Gates will work as a very good stripper name,” I added.

When she didn’t say anything at first I was beginning to wonder if I shouldn’t have bothered, but once she twisted round I noticed the large grin on her face. However since I didn’t expect her to turn around I found myself falling backwards, with Nathalie laying lengthways on top of me, our roles reversed from last time.

“Why shouldn’t I? It’s not nice to keep secrets,” Nathalie answered, a devilish smirk appearing. “I think it is not right to keep the rest of the guys from knowing of your secret ambition.”

She pushed the floor with her palms to sit upright on my chest, leaving two faint bloodied hand prints on either side of me on the carpet. There didn’t seem to be any care for these stains however as she looked down at me, still grinning. My cell rang again at that moment, Nathalie adjusting herself on my chest so that I could reach into my pocket to answer.

“Man Syn, how long does it take a girl to get ready? Hurry her ass up!” Zacky said, a hint of irritation seeping through his words. “You better not be fucking her.”

During all of this Nathalie had moved from my chest and was sitting behind me, her ear pressed against the other side of the phone to listen. She raised an eyebrow at Zacky’s last comment, gesturing me to flip the phone upwards so she could speak into it as well.

“Brian baby, where you going?” Nathalie quietly said down the phone, making it sound as if she were further away that she actually was. “Tell them to fuck off and come back over to the bed!”

I stared at her wide-eyed as she did this, not expecting it at all. It did shut him up though.

“What the HELL Syn! If I knew you were planning on sleeping with her I wouldn’t have bothered making the others wait for you!” Zacky’s stomach grumbled at that moment, as if to emphasise his point. “Are you coming over or not? We’re just going to order some pizza in since the whole restaurant idea is long gone now.”

I looked up at Nathalie who merely shrugged before getting up, leaving me to follow her to the kitchen. She was just sticking multiple band-aids on each of the cuts on her hands as I slipped my free arm around her waist, murmuring gently in her ear, “We don’t have to go if you don’t want. We can always stay here.”

After throwing the empty band-aid box in the bin she pressed her lips against mine, reaching up and taking the phone from my hand and holding it against her ear.

“Don’t worry Zacky, I was only joking, he just takes so long to get ready. Okay, see you soon.” She flipped the phone shut and slipped it back into my pocket with a grin. “What?”

“Thanks for that,” I replied with a sigh. I wasn’t going to hear the end of this from the Rev for a long time. They already had me for my hair and makeup. “Now I sound like I’m vain.”

Nathalie laughed as I said that, curling her hand around mine and proceeding to drag me to the front door. She tossed me a set of keys from the table before pulling me outside and shutting the door behind us, where she then circled her car to the passenger side and standing beside it.

“Sorry Brian, but you are designated driver tonight,” Nathalie said with a smile, gesturing to the driver’s side before getting into the car.

She was rummaging through the storage compartment and was pulling on a pair of long, black silk gloves as I got in, my body still numb from the fact she was actually letting me drive. This car cost more than most houses.

A questionable frown turned to me as I gripped the steering wheel, an uncertain laugh escaping me as I looked at her. “Where did you get those?”

“What these?” Nathalie reached across and ran her fingers up my arm before trailing them down my cheek. “You need to have some props in escort work.”

My shock must have played through to my expression since she immediately started laughing, resting back into the chair.

“They’re from an old Halloween costume, so don’t worry. Now come on, Zacky won’t forgive me if I make him or his stomach wait any longer.”