In My Dreams It's Me And You

Brian couldn’t help the smile on his lips as he watched Zacky run out of the room, followed shortly after by Chloe and Nathalie who after quite a few drinks were now very drunk. Proof of this was the mindless game they decided to play, which basically involved chasing his friend around in a bid to get him to take his top off in order to show them his Vengeance tattoo, even though if they asked he probably would have done it anyway. However knowing his mind he was fulfilling some sort of fantasy by being hunted by the two girls. At least that was what Brian would be thinking if their positions were switched.

He drained the beer in his hand and set it on the table just as Val appeared, having to jump quickly into the room in order to not get run over by Zacky. When she yelled a couple of choice words up at him a large thump was heard as he tripped over himself while looking back, her head shaking as he ended up scrambling up the stairs on all fours to the shrieking delight of the female hunters.

Another beer was pressed into his hand as Val sat down on the couch next to him, deep in thought as she swirled the alcohol in her hands.

“You like her, don’t you?”

Val raised her eyes to meet his, a sneaky smile on her lips.

Yes.

He fumbled with his own beer at that point, his gaze drifting aimlessly about the room. “Nat’s a great girl, and I like her, but not in that way.” The beer quickly reached his lips as he took a sip, pausing only to wink at Val. “Synyster Gates is not going to be tied down.”

What a pathetic lie. You already have been.

Val made a noise that sounded vaguely like ‘Yeah right’, a sweet smile greeting him as he narrowed his eyes at her asking, “And what do you mean by that?”

“That’s exactly what I overheard Matt saying before,” Val answered, purposely tapping the engagement ring on her finger against the beer bottle.

Before he could make up any reply Nathalie appeared with one hand draped across her stomach, her eyes glazed over as she leant heavily against the door. A faint, emerald colour had stained her lips and fingers since he had last seen her, and from what he could see on the label on the bottle she was drinking from that Absinthe was the culprit. He locked eyes with Val as she raised an eyebrow in question at the arrival, her gaze following him as he set his beer aside and walked over to Nathalie.

“You got bored of your game then?” Brian chuckled as he approached, receiving a drunken smile in return and a wave from the Green Fairy. “Where are Zack and Chloe?”

She mumbled her words so that he couldn’t hear, forcing him to lean in closer to catch the end. “-upstairs in the bedroom. Probably fucking each other from the looks of it.”

As soon as she said that he pulled back to look at Val who held an expression between annoyance and surprise. He couldn’t blame her really, especially after the long lecture she gave him and the guys about bringing girls back to their house and having sex with them.

Zacky better avoid Matt in the morning.

During the brief moment he turned his attention away Nathalie had slid down to the ground, the empty bottle of Absinthe rolling away under the table. Her eyes were closed as she rested against the door, opening them partially as Brian crouched down in front of her.

“I don’t feel so good…” Nathalie moaned, clutching at her stomach for added effect.

“No shit,” Brian replied, grabbing the Absinthe from the floor and holding it up directly in front of her. “You drank the whole bottle, along with whatever else from before.”

He stood up and shook his head as he set the bottle aside before grabbing onto Nathalie’s wrists and heaving her back onto her feet. It was harder than he anticipated; the fact she wasn’t helping at all didn’t make it any easier and in the end it took both him and Val to get her standing. Even then she was still unsteady and had to lean against Brian in order to not fall down again.

“She doesn’t look right Bri,” Val said with concern. “You better take her upstairs, Matt and I can crash down here tonight-“

“No, you don’t need to do that. I’m fine,” Nathalie interrupted. Her expression was stoic as she pushed away Brian’s supporting arm around her waist, only to stumble and then almost fall into the hallway. “I’m going to get a drink of water.”

It was silent for a few moments as they wearily exchanged looks, only to race to the kitchen when a loud ‘thump’ followed by the sounds of glass smashing filled the air. By the time they got there they saw that Nathalie had passed out on the floor, the glass that must have previously been in Jimmy’s open hand shattered around her.

“What happened?” Brian asked Jimmy as Val did the same to Matt, pushing away some of the glass around Nathalie before picking her up in his arms. He looked down at her as she groaned, her eyes opening briefly at him before falling shut again.

“She just came in here asking for a drink and the next thing I know she had stolen mine, drunk it and passed out,” Jimmy answered with a shrug, moving to look at the unconscious female in his arms.

Brian frowned; something else must have caused this. “What was in the drink?”

“Well-” Jimmy scratched his head sheepishly at this point, glancing back at the Vodka bottle on the table. “I hadn’t actually finished making the drink… I think she thought it was water.”
If he could Brian probably would have punched him for being an idiot but Val beat him to it, attacking each inch of him that she could find before Matt grabbed her by the waist and heaved her backwards.

“WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING?” Val roared as she tried to fight off Matt in order to get to Jimmy. “Can’t you see she was already off her head without you giving her fucking straight vodka?”

“It wasn’t like I offered it to her!” Jimmy defended as he rubbed his arm fervently where a bruise began to form. “How was I supposed to know she was going to take my drink?!”

They carried on their shouting match for a few minutes before Nathalie once again stirred in his arms, pushing against his chest with her arms and tumbling out of his grip back onto the ground. She moaned loudly as she pressed her palms accidentally on some glass in order to get back onto her feet, the jagged edges biting into her skin and drawing blood. It didn’t seem to be noticed by her as she staggered to the door behind them and let herself out, taking a few steps before spreading herself out on the back porch.

After watching Nathalie’s odd exit Brian looked around the kitchen before asking, “Where’s Johnny?”

Jimmy shrugged as Matt leaned over the sink to look through the window, pointing at something with a smirk. “Having some fun with Nat by the looks of it.”

He was roughly pushed out of the way as Brian stormed up to the window, looking out with an almost furious look.

“What was that for?”

Brian didn’t bother with replying as he followed out after Nathalie slamming the door behind him, reappearing a few minutes later with a protesting man in his grip. The youngest member of Avenged Sevenfold found he was dumped upon the floor as the guitarist disappeared outside once again, a bemused expression on the man’s face as he looked up at Jimmy, Matt and Val.

“What did I do?” Johnny asked, thanking Val as she passed him some water.

Jimmy and Matt merely laughed as he furrowed his brow trying to figure out the last minute or so. Luckily the anger Val had towards Jimmy didn’t carry on to him as she crouched down next to him, replacing the now empty glass in his hand with a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

“You attracted the wrong company,” Val said, trying to keep herself from joining in the laughter as he looked to be even more confused. “Brian is rather protective of his girl.”

A silence immediately descended after Val’s last comment to which three surprised faces turned to look at her, with Jimmy choking on the beer he had just got for himself.

“Brian… and… Nat?”