Diamonds in the Rough

She sat upstairs in her room, trying to ignore the giggling coming from downstairs. She let out a heavy sigh and got up from her bed, digging for her ipod on her bag and putting it into her iHome. She went back to her bed, falling down on it, looking up at her white glittered ceiling.

The first song to come one was If It Means A Lot To You by A Day To Remember followed by Here I Stand by Madina Lake.

She closed her eyes, but they quickly shot open when she heard the opening note of Almost Easy.

Jasey groaned, but rather than moving to change the song, she just laid there. It had been a while since she had listened to anything off their new record, mostly because she had been hearing it live for the past couple of months.

Honestly, she liked the studio version better than the live one because it sounded more polished and clean. Then again, they were still practicing.

Jasey closed her eyes again just as the second verse kicked in, letting the music fill the room. A smile spread across her cheeks when she remembered the tour they just got off of. She remembered everything from Matt and Johnny carrying her off of the bus to Zacky comforting her in the back of the bus.

She winced a little while she heard the first few notes of the guitar solo. It was like her eyes glazed over and she went into a trance where she was smitten under Synyster Gates’s magical guitar playing gift.

She mentally cursed him out in her head and tried to take control of her body again. She hated how he could do that to her.

As the song faded away, Jasey found herself falling asleep.

Jasey woke up to the bright light of them sun and someone nudging her arm. She opened her eyes and saw a blurry image of Valary standing in front of her.

“Wake up,” Valary said hushed, “You’re coming shopping with me and Gena.”

Jasey groaned and rolled away from Valary, pulling the blankets with her. Valary ripped the blankets off of Jasey and dropped them on the floor next to her.

“Get up, now.”
“Why are we going now anyway?” Jasey asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

“Well, Gena needs to find something to wear to her parent’s party,” Valary explained, “And I am not letting you mope around this house all damn day.”

Valary moved away from Jasey allowing her to get out of bed, “Be downstairs in half an hour.”

Jasey nodded in response and shuffled over to her ipod, putting one of the playlists on shuffle. Why Can’t I by Liz Phair came on as she was going about her business of getting ready. It was warm again in California, so she decided to wear the skirt that Lisa made her buy back in Maryland.

Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you? Why can't I speak whenever I talk about you? It's inevitable, it's a fact that we're gonna get down to it. So tell me, why can't I breathe whenever I think about you?

Jasey added just a touch of silver eye shadow and a bit of eyeliner before putting the cap on and grabbing her purse off of the dresser.

“Hot damn,” Gena said, walking in the front door as Jasey neared the bottom step.

Jasey laughed, “Thanks Gee.”

“I’d do you,” She said, pushing her sunglasses on top of her head.
“Aren’t those Zacky’s?” Jasey questioned, standing on the last step so she was a little taller than Gena.

A devious smile appeared on her face.

“Oh he’s gonna kill you,” Jasey sang in a very know it all tone.

“Please,” She said putting her hand up and flicking her wrist, “Like he would kill the beautiful moi.”

“Are you two done flirting with each other?” Valary asked, joining them by the front door.

Jasey got off the last step and slung her arm over Gena’s shoulders, “We’re getting married Val, didn’t we tell you?”

Valary made a shocked face.

“Well we are,” Jasey concluded, “When you and Matt get hitched, we’re going to run off to Vegas together.”

“Jase, you and I both know you couldn’t run that far in heels,” Valary commented.

“We’ll steal your limo driver too!” Gena added.

“You guys are fucking nuts,” Valary laughed, heading out the front door. Gena and Jasey looked at each other and just shrugged before following Valary out as well.

---

“I’m sorry,” Jimmy said for the hundredth time, letting Brian out at his place.

“Don’t worry about it,” He answered with a gloomy voice. He shut the door behind him and headed up to the house, unlocking the front door and walking inside.

Their plane had landed an hour or two ago and it was only noon. As tired as Brian was, he didn’t want to be home right now. The view outside caught his attention when he saw the beach and the somewhat calm water.

He let out a slightly heavy sigh and went into his room to change. He figured he’d go enjoy a bit of the sand and sun before he trapped himself inside of his home for a couple weeks.

He left his car in the driveway and decided to walk the few blocks to the beach instead. He tried to stay away from the more populated side of the beach, mainly because he didn’t have the energy to deal with people. Not that fans didn’t already know that he lived there, but he really just wanted to be alone for the moment.

He walked over to the dunes that were covered in tall sea grass and white, soft sand, sitting down on top of one of the smaller ones that was guarded by a larger dune, overlooking the ocean. He pulled his knees up and rested his arms on top of them, holding on to his wrist with one of his hands. The salty air filled his lungs as he drew in a breath, slowly letting it out.

Now he wished he had brought his most prized possession with him.
His cigarettes.

He stayed at the beach for a little over an hour before standing back up and heading home. He felt a little better getting out of the house and just thinking about everything that was happening.

He was in for a surprise when he turned the corner to his street though.

From a distance, he couldn’t really see who it was, but there was someone sitting on the front steps of his house. As he came closer, he soon realized who it was.

He squinted his eyes once he got to his driveway.

“Michelle?”