Girls & Guns.

Zacky’s POV:

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes before I laughed, unsurely. “Ha, okay. Nice joke! But did you really have to wake Brian up for this?” Brian had officially dozed off on my shoulder. “I mean, look at him. He’s drooling on me!”

Matt looked at Brian and made a face while Jimmy began talking frantically. “It’s not a joke! I’ve been trying to call him since forever ago, but he won’t answer! And when I came here, his door was unlocked and the TV was on, but he wasn't here!” The look of pure terror on his face was beginning to convince me that something really was wrong.

“What makes you think he’s gone? I mean, he might’ve just decided to go out somewhere quick.. The convenience store, something.” Even while I said this, I was shaking Brian awake because I knew something had to be wrong, even if he wasn’t missing. Johnny’s always been a little paranoid about fans getting into his house, so he keeps his house locked at all times.

Jimmy was pacing but stopped and shook his head while walking toward us. “No, no, no!” He violently slammed his fist upon the top of the TV, speaking again. “You don’t get it! When has Johnny ever done anything… That, that… It just feels wrong! Something is wrong.” Jimmy leaned against the wall, facing it, and buried his face in his arms.

He looked… Broken. Like one twin without the other. Matt walked to his side and put a comforting arm on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, Jimmy. We’ll find him.” Once the words had been uttered, everyone went to work. Well, Matt went to work. He began delegating tasks to the rest of us. Sometimes he acts like he’s in the army.

Matt’s POV:

I’d seen enough. If Jimmy was that freaked out, what choice did I have but to believe him? After making sure Jimmy would be okay for the moment, I turned around and looked at Zacky. He was staring at Brian with a small, secretive smile on his face. (AN: Aww! Sorry guys, no Synacky love in this story! Hehe.) “Zacky,” I yelled. His head shot up and his body straightened, the smile leaving his face immediately. “I need you to wake up Syn, now. Then tell him what’s going on, and call any places you can think of where Johnny might be.” I continued staring at him until he realized that when I said “now,” I meant now.

“Oh, okay, yeah. Doing it now, boss - I mean, Matt,” he corrected himself and began shaking Brian by the shoulders. “Brian, Brian! Come on, Syn! Wake up, man…”

Satisfied, I turned back to Jimmy. “Jimmy,” I heard a muffled answer from him, which I took as a yes. “I need you to actually go to any places where Johnny might be. Besides, the drive should do you some good. You are okay to drive, right?” Another muffled reply was all I got from him, again. “Alright, buddy.” I patted his back and walked to the phone. I could hear Zack trying to calm Brian, who had obviously just been informed of what was going on. He was yelling something about getting the army..? I sighed and rubbed my face.

This was going to be a nightmare.

No, scratch that; it was already a nightmare. I really hope Jimmy was wrong.

Brian’s POV:2:30 am

I can’t believe this is happening. Zack, Matt and I are sitting in Johnny’s parents’ living room with his mother, who was crying her eyes out while Matt comforted her. I don’t know what any of us would do without Matt, honestly. He’s always so strong for us.

The Huntington Chief of Police was here, too, and it was about time! Why didn’t we have the army here instead?!

Jimmy still wasn’t back and all we’d gotten from him in the whole hour was one text. One damn text. ‘I’m still looking!’

My thoughts were interrupted by another heart wrenching sob from Johnny’s distraught mother. “W-what do you mean, you’re doing what you can? Find him, now!” It was followed by more sobs.

“Ma’am, we got all our available units out there.” Did I mention that he had a major Texas accent and an even bigger mustache? “Now, don’t ya’ll worry. We’re gonna find him. It’s just gonna take some time.”

Cherry’s POV:2:30 am

“I don’t want to know your damn secret!”

“Well, can you-”

“No! I won’t tell you any of mine! You’ve been trying for almost an hour. It’s not going to work and we’re not friends! This isn’t fucking kindergarten! I said we were-”

“Hey Johnny, your fly’s unzipped.”

“What?”

“Hey, I have an idea! Tell me your secret.”

“No!” This time it came out sounding like a growl… Wait, what happened to them not waking me up? I buried my face farther into Johnny’s shoulder, a little surprised that he’d allowed me to stay there. I’d figured he’d push me off as soon as I fell asleep.

“Just let her tell you the fucking secret and quit with the waking me up,” I mumbled.

Johnny grunted, “For all I know, she’s a murderer or something and next thing I know, I’ll be in trouble for aiding and abetting her! Worse yet, she’ll kill me so I can’t tell her secret to anyone else!”

I rolled my eyes and snuggled closer to his neck, taking advantage of the fact he hadn’t pushed me away yet. “If she’s a murderer, then what am I?” He mumbled something under his breath, but it was so soft that I couldn’t even hear it. “What was that?”

“I said siren…” He admitted begrudgingly.

“You mean like, a temptress… Or a mermaid whore?”

“I thought they were birds who seduced sailors into wrecking their ships…” Jade threw her two cents in. This brought my attention to her for the first time since I woke up, and I noticed she was watching Johnny and I instead of the road. I turned to look out the windshield and suddenly yelled, “Jade! Watch the road!”

She whipped her head around and the car swerved. “Whoa! Topkick! Friggen smexy Topkick!”

“A Topkick that you almost ran into!” I retorted.

“So, about that secret…” Jade said, not wasting any time.

“No!”

“Johnny, just let her tell you. She won’t stop bugging you about it if you don’t.”

Johnny sighed. “Fine. What’s the big secret, Jade?” he asked sarcastically.

“Actually, on second thought, forget I said anything.”

I found myself groaning in frustration at the same time as Johnny. I was woke for this? Bull shit! “If you don’t tell him the God damned, mother fucking secret and make my being woken up worth while, I’m not going to be a happy me,” I warned.

“Umm,” Jade took a deep breath and paused. “Johnny, I’m really glad that you decided to come with us.”

I had to quickly grab Johnny before he could get Jade and strangle her or something worse than that. Jade began swerving wildly all over the road and I found myself extremely thankful that this strip of highway was barren. “Hey! Watch the face! Watch the face!”

“You’re not going to have a face when I get through with you!”

“Who’s the murder suspect now, Johnny?” I interrupted, annoyed that they were arguing again and upset because I'd lost my pillow. “Seriously, you two! We’ve gone through this once already. I don’t want to hear it again!”

“Oh, suck my Wonderbread, Cherry!”

“Shut up, Jade!” Johnny scolded after taking a deep breath. “Don’t worry, I’m calm.. She’s just slightly annoying. How do you put up with her?”

“Trust me, that’s a lesson for another day. Today, young padawan, we are simply going to learn how to shut her up,” I smiled, reaching for my purse as I glanced back at the man sitting on the seat next to me. Then, I frowned as I realized something. “Johnny, how long has it been since you slept?”

His eyes widened and he shook his head. “Oh, no. No, no, no! You’re not getting me to fall asleep. Ohhh, no! Who knows what you guys’ll do? I’m surprised you haven’t tried anything already!”

“She has, I just held her back. You should be thankful, instead of yelling at me all the time! Geez, I don’t feel appreciated at all!” Jade ended on a pout, crossing her arms over her chest. This was something I’d seen many times, it was one of her trademarks. It was even patent pending, no joke. Though, I don’t know how to tell her it probably wouldn’t ever happen… Anyway, I’m off topic.

I gave Jade a look for her snarky comment and began to dig in my purse, which was sitting forgotten on my lap. “Johnny, you need to sleep. If you haven’t figured it out already, we’re not going to do anything to you! I can tell you’re tired, you’ve got friggen bags under your eyes!”

“I promise I won’t do anything sexual to you! I might draw on your face… But I won’t do anything sexual!” Jade’s promise earned her a very wary look from Johnny and a roll of my eyes. “I promise!”

After a few minutes of nothing but determined looks from Johnny, I realized he wasn’t going to give in to us and sleep, so I continued digging in my purse. I was beginning to understand how my friends could call it a bottomless pit… “You know, Johnny, I was really hoping it wouldn’t come down to this.”

Jade squealed, “Oh my God, really?”

Johnny’s POV:

Oh, shit. Oh, God. Oh my God. They’re gonna kill me!

“Yes, really. We get to use it. I guess you got your wish, Jade.”

Jade squealed and I began to panic. ‘It?’ What were they talking about? A tranquilizer gun, maybe? Or maybe it was a regular gun! “I thought you weren’t bringing it with you! I was bummed!” Jade was excited and I was worrying even more now.

“No, I brought it along. I knew that we were going to get annoyed at each other, if nothing else,” Cherry said, matter-of-factly. So they were going to get rid of each other?! Cherry suddenly smiled, “Found it!” She proceeded to pull an object from her purse.

Jades face fell. “Aww, I thought you were talking about the peeps from Easter!”

“Ew, no. I threw those out a long time ago! I though you’d noticed by now.”

Jade gasped, which is something I felt like doing also, but for different reasons. I couldn’t believe they were being serious about this! While Jade pouted, I just had to voice my thoughts. “I thought it was going to be a tranquilizer gun, actually. So, this is a relief!”

Cherry rolled her eyes at us and sighed. “Guys, it’s just Tylenol PM!”