Coincidental Cause for Accidents

I flipped my short brown hair behind my ear as I waited for my older brother. Josh was flying across the pond to my home. We hadn't seen each other since I last left Washington to go to college. I had sent two tickets, thinking to be nice and invite his girlfriend (if he had one). My eyes scanned the crowd coming off his flight.

"Shrimp sister!"

My head jerked to the left as a familiar voice called.

"Josh! How was the flight?" I asked as Josh hugged me tight and spun me around.

"Not too bad, just a bit of turbulence coming in."

"Yeah, England's atmosphere kinda does that. Where ya freaked to fly over the ocean?"

"I was when you sent me the tickets, but I got on the flight and it really wasn't all that bad." Josh stopped hugging me as he added," wow."

"What?" Josh had never looked at me as hard as he was now.

"You've grown up so much," he said quietly as he turned me slowly in a circle.

"Um, Josh? I've only been gone one year. You said good-bye when I moved here, genius," I laughed.

"I know, but it seems like forever."

"Oh, I'm sure," I rolled my eyes. That's when I noticed her. She had huge baby blues to melt your heart, curly strawberry blond hair, and a smile to stun. I looked from her to Josh, confused. They didn't look alike so....

Josh noticed my gaze towards her and took her hand. "Sis, this is Meggie. I sorta ... adopted her. She's eight years old and I've had her for a few months." He wouldn't look me in the eyes, as if he were nervous that I would call him a screw up like our parents often did and take custody of her or something.

I crouched down and held my arms open. Meggie ran towards me without hesitation. I swooped her up and she giggled like crazy.

"Hi, Meggie," I half-yelled.

"Hi, um ... person!" she half-yelled back.

"Call me J.D." she nodded.

"What does that mean?"

"It stands for Jenna Dylan, my sweet."

Meggie giggled and I looked to Josh. His eyes were wide with shock. When I laughed, he came around and shook his head in amazement.

"When did you get so great with kids?" he asked.

"I've always been good with kids. You were just never really around to see it," I shrugged.

"Excuse me, miss?" a male voice spoke from behind me as a finger tapped my shoulder.

Oh my holy friggin' Johnny Christ! It was The Rev! Tapping on my shoulder! I played it cool ... like I had no clue who he was. Hehe.

"Can I help you?"

"Uh, well, I was just wondering if she was .... yours?" he stammered.

"Who, Meggie? Nah, she's my newly adopted niece. Why?"

"Um, well, you guys look so comfortable together."

"Well, that's good for them to look like, seeing as they just met and all," Josh cut in, glaring at The Rev.

"What?" The Rev looked absolutely shocked.

"Um, person, this is my brother, Josh. Josh, could you please stop freaking people out? Please?"

"How the hell am I supposed to react when some random dude hits on my nineteen year old sister?" Josh half-yelled.

"You could start by not yelling at me, bruv. He's just asking, which by the way, dude, do you have kids?" I asked.

"No, my girlfriend and i aren't married," The Rev replied and ... if you believe, started to blush! I giggled at this and earned some weird looks. I quickly covered my mistake with a scowl.

"And why the hell not?"

"Um..."

"Are you scared of committing? Do you want kids? Does she want kids and you not? What the hell, dude!"

"Which question would you like me to answer first? No, I'm not scared to commit, I don't know, and I, uh ... don't know. I guess I'm waiting for the right moment." He'd mumbled the last bit.

"Dont' ever wait for the right moment. Is she flying in?" I asked.

"Wha - yeah. Why?"

"When she gets off the plane, you sure as hell better tell her you love her. Then, you need to buy a ring and ask her ot marry you. Got it?" I said, forcefully if I might add.

"Don't force him to ask her," Josh laughed.

"Nah, don't worry, man, he loves her like crazy," a guy with longish black hair said coming up to stand next to The Rev. Oh my gosh - Synyster Gates!

"Well, then, there you go! You have to ask he to marr you. Oh, and leave out the bit where I sorta force you, yeah?" I smilednot so innocently.

"And on that cheery note, J.D. we have to go," Josh cut in.

"Why?"

"Look at Megs."

I did. I had set her down and she was dancing around. The classic potty dance. I looked at The Rev and Synyster Gates, my music heroes, picked up Meggie and handed her to Josh.

"She has to pee, so you take her, and I'll meet you. She is your daughter," I said.

"You evil child," Josh fake glared.

"Just follow the signs that say 'WC'," I told him. I turned to The Rev and said, "Mobile swap?"

"Sure," he pulled out his i-Touch and snapped a picture of me. I did the same with my Env-3. We swapped mobiles and added our info. I said good-bye as we switched back and I ran towards the bathrooms.

As I ran away, I bumped into the rest of Avenged Sevenfold - M. Shadows, Zacky Vengeance, and Johnny Christ. Oh my gosh, I felt like a kid in the candy store. I stopped and stared for a couple minutes with my head cocked to the side, and they did the same. I remembered my brother. My eyes widened and i started running again.

"Jenna Dylan! Where the hell - "

"Relax, Josh. I ended up staring at the rest of the band," I cut Josh off.

"Oh, you mean the band that you so obviously tried to act like you didn't know?" Josh teased.

"Shut up," I fake glared. After a few minutes of silence I added, "Was I really that obvious?"

"Only to me and only because I'm your brother," he laughed. We swung Meggie between us as we strolled down to the train station part of the airport. We bought some lunch - fish and chips - and Meggie scrunched her nose.

"It's alright, Megs. When I first got here I didn't like fish and chips, either."

"What happened?"

"I made friends." Josh and I laughed, getting the joke, but Meggie. Boy was she just as confused as all hell. I laughed harder and felt bad for it. When we finished, we grabbed their luggage and almost missed the train. Why? 'Cuz I spoil Meggie already. We stopped in a Nici store. I'm pretty sure she was in heaven.

Since it was a four hour train ride to my town, I had booked first class tickets. Meggie was incredibly worn out - flying to a different continent and all - so she was asleep as soon as we sat down. Josh and I spent the time catching up. There was a lot of catching up.

He asked me what being a foreign exchange student was like and what courses was I taking again? He told me about how he got Meggie and how his girlfriend dumped him. How hard of a time he was having trying to find a college to accept him.

See, here's the deal. When i was fourteen, Josh was twenty-one and in his second year of college. Now, he already had misdemeanors - all of which were for fighting. He claims its his 'protective streak'. One day, the quarterback shoves Josh's face into a locker. Needless to say, Josh returned him in kind ... then, he was expelled. The quarterback didn't even get suspended, even though there were at least forty witnesses.

"It's just ... it's hard enough to find a school that'll accept me just based on the way I look, but a guy like me with a record? I'm a misbehaving freak. That's the only thing people see," Josh said furiously.

"You don't know that," I tried.

"Yeah, I do."

"How?"

"They tell me all the time - every time they fucking see me."

"Have you ever thought about, I dunno, finishing high school first? Or getting work experience?"

"No one will take a man in his late twenties with no diploma of any kind."

"I doubt that. Hey, what about teaching kids to fight? Make fliers, start in your living room or a local gym, just 'til you can get real quarters." I hoped to pull his mind out of the hole he was stuck in.

"I don't have the money nor credibility for the gym to sponsor me. Anyways, who would want their kid taught by a high school dropout and a college kick out?"

When he'd said that I felt my heart tear in two. The conversation was over at that point, but it was still going on in my head.

I put my headphones in, turned my iPod up loud and checked my mobile. I had one missed SMS.



I quickly sent an SMS back saying I would meet him in London on Thursday for lunch. After that, I let myself fall asleep. I normally wouldn't do that, but Josh was here so I felt safe.