In My Dreams It's Me And You

Since we had backstage passes we were allowed to park behind the venue, although we did have to let the bouncers take pictures of each other with the car, almost as if the thing was some form of celebrity. It was slightly creepy, especially when they leant against the hood of the car to pose while we were watching them through the windscreen. Although I guess I should have known better since something like this did happen to us before at a gas station, but at least that time they actually let us leave without paying as some sort of thank you.

“People should learn not to obsess about machines so much,” I moaned as I finally stepped out of the car, stretching my cramped limbs from being cooped up for so long. The journey itself only took ten minutes thanks to Chloe’s unlawful speeding but we had to spend another thirty courtesy of the unprecedented photo shoot.

Brian chuckled at me before as he followed me out, sliding the pass he had given to me before at the hospital around my neck, pecking me lightly on the cheek as he murmured in my ear,” You left it on the side at your house. Lucky someone remembered, eh?”

I smiled gratefully as he took my hand, pulling me towards a side door that I guessed the band used. Chloe walked on my other side while sliding the keys into my front jeans pocket since she hadn’t obviously hadn’t got any thanks to her choice of outfit, soon sliding her arm under mine as we approached the bouncers guarding the entrance. I raised an eyebrow as Brian got in without even a question while both of us had to show our passes, but when I tried to ask him about it he merely brushed it off on his connections.

Some day I need to find out exactly what those ‘connections’ were.

Eventually we ended up in front of the room with Avenged Sevenfoldacross it, my heart racing at the thought I would get to meet my favourite band, in person. Brian must have felt my anxiety since he flashed me a reassuring smile and squeezed my hand before pushing open the door and leading us inside.

My nervousness ended up being for nothing as no one was actually there, but all this did was make me notice a particular object in the room just that little bit more. The sleek black body patterned with white stripes, a deathbat hidden underneath the strings alongside the name of the person whom this creation belonged to.

Synyster Gates.

I couldn’t stop myself from running my fingers up and down the neck of the guitar lovingly, a small smile playing at my lips as I just the sheer thought of this being the instrument he played personally. My reality had escaped from me enough that I didn’t even notice as Brian walked up behind me until I felt his arms wrap loosely around my waist, his breath tickling my neck as he chuckled.

“You want to play it?”

“What? I can’t do that-” I tried to say as Brian picked up the guitar in his hand, a mischievous grin spreading on his face as I slowly backed away. Of course I would have loved to play the guitar but I just knew it wouldn’t be a good idea. What if I broke it?

His grin grew as I backed myself into the couch where Chloe was sitting, trapped. “Of course you can. No one will mind anyway.”

“But what if someone walks in?!” I protested as I outstretched my arms to try and stop his advances, although he slipped easily around them and pulling the guitar over my head.

“Look, if anyone says anything then I'll just say I let you. So don’t worry about it.”

I bit my lip anxiously, but after running my hands down the neck of the guitar I couldn’t help but not care too much for the consequences. At least that’s how I did feel until I remembered my right hand wasn’t functioning well enough yet to chase notes across the strings in my usual manner.

With a sad look I pulled the guitar over my head and leant it against the wall, a frown greeting me from Brian as I turned to explain. “I can’t move my right hand that fast yet. There is no point in playing if I can’t get it to sound right.”

“Oh.” Brian sounded almost disappointed to my answer, leaning against the arm of the couch with a beaten expression.

“Why don’t you just use your left hand instead then?” Chloe asked as she looked between the pair of us sharing the same, glum expression. “Can’t you just flip the guitar over or something?”

I shook my head. “You can’t do that with guitars. That’s why they make ones especially for left-handed musicians.”

“That and you can’t just change hands when you’re playing,” Brian added, just receiving confusion from Chloe in reply.

“But Nat can.” She turned to me. “I’ve seen you play with both hands. I’m sure of it.”

I shrugged.

“Wait,” Brian began, crossing his arms across his chest as he tried to make sense of what Chloe had just said. It probably did sound strange now I thought about it, but until now I didn’t think of it as weird. “You can play with either hand?”

“I’m ambidextrous. Just means I can do things with both of my hands, instead of just being dominated by one,” I answered lamely, still severely depressed over the non-playing hand I had been cursed with.

“I have an idea,” Brian said as he disappeared into a room off the back of the one we were in, only to re-emerge with another precious instrument in his hands. The cherry finish and ‘6661’ trademark running up the side telling me it was none other than Zacky Vengeance’s guitar.

“You can’t just go around stealing other people’s guitars!” I wailed, Brian not paying too much attention as he slipped the strap easily over my head as he had done the first time.

He sighed as I stood there with my arms crossed at him, soon sitting down behind me and pulling me back onto his lap. “Look, if anyone asks, I let you. Here’s your pick.” He pressed the pick into my hand and leant back as I just sat there not really knowing what to do. It was almost as if I had forgotten what the object in my hands really was.

“Erm... What should I do?” I mumbled as I refused to move for fear that it would break if I did, even though it was obvious that it wouldn’t.

“Play that thing you were practising before,” Chloe suggested, my mind internally groaning that out of everything she could have said, it had to be that. Since the accident a few weeks ago I hadn’t even picked up a guitar to practise it, and I didn’t really want to mess up with Brian here. However just as I was about to ask for something else I saw the casual pose he was settled within, obviously not expecting much from me. I don’t know why, but something about that just made me want to play it.

I’ll show him.

I struck a few general notes before launching into Chapter Four, deciding it was appropriate to play this song since we were at an Avenged Sevenfold concert. To say that it went exactly how I wanted was a lie- especially during the solo- since I knew there were at least a dozen mistakes that I made during that part alone. I looked up dismally at Brian as he opened his mouth to comment, only to be cut off as the door swung open and five bodies filtered in.

“Will you ever stop fucking about with that guitar? We’re on in like-” I recognised the annoyed man instantly as none other than the owner of the instrument I was holding, my head suddenly dropping as I felt his gaze fall across the guitar.

“What are you doing?”