Diamonds in the Rough

“Where the hell did you two go?!” Valary demanded as soon as Jasey and Brian caught their breath under the tent, “You guys are soaked!”

“I took her out,” Brian stated shamelessly.
“Well the guys have been looking for you for at least half an hour now.”
“They’re going to kill you,” Jasey added.

“GATES!”

He spun around to be greeted by four unhappy and soaking wet band mates.

“No more gallivanting around for you and Jasey,” Zacky declared, speaking on all of their behalf.

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“Come on!” Jasey whined, tugging on Valary’s hand, “Don’t you want to come explore with me?”

“Remember what happened last time you went off exploring?” Val asked, raising her brow at her best friend.

“WASN’T MY FAULT THEY STARTED FOLLOWING ME!”
“Right, because four little screaming fan girls just follow you around all the time,” Val scoffed, “I’m not going to get in trouble with you. They’ll be back on this bus in a few minutes, then we’re off to the last three shows.”

“Party pooper,” Jasey mumbled, digging into her back pocket for her phone and falling on to the couch that occupied the front lounge. Valary had been sitting at the dinette table with her Mac Book open, probably checking her emails or something like that.

Jasey slid open her phone and sent a text to her friend Cassie that she met in Indiana four years ago at Warped Tour. They’ve been texting non stop for those four years now and both of them have flown out to see each other. They’ve become best friends over music.

“Are you texting your wife again?” Valary asked, shutting her Mac Book closed.

Jasey nodded and shut her phone, placing it on her lap. She looked up at Val, “Wanna watch a movie?”

“Sure,” She said making her way over to the couch. Jasey got up and threw Finding Nemo into the DVD player and hit play before sitting back on the couch. Valary grabbed a blanket and threw it over the both of them before resting her head on Jasey’s shoulder.

Sighing contently, Jasey thought about how good her life was as the opening scene began to play on the screen.

Avenged Sevenfold went from this crazy band at Warped Tour, to this huge touring parade. Well, at least to the girls it was a parade, more like a traveling circus. Who knows, but they were always doing crazy shit, on or off the stage. It still makes both of them smile when they think that it’s only been four years since it pretty much all began.

The boys are still being the boys. ‘Raise hell; Rock hard.’ that was their motto on life. Most of the time the ‘rock hard’ part ended up in them sleeping off hangovers the day after. But hey, no one’s complaining.

Jasey was still amused when she pictured the nineteen and twenty year old boys practicing in Matt’s garage like mad men. Now here they were, at the ripe ages of twenty three and twenty four, living it up on the big stage.

Their fifteen passenger van was soon replaced by a very nice and shiny new tour bus and they moved out of their mom’s housing, finding their own place to live in Huntington Beach. But the day Jasey went back to live with her parents, Matt suggested that she should live with him and Valary. Neither her, nor Val rejected that idea.

Nemo was just being dropped off at his first day of school when Jasey looked down at Valary’s hand that was laying on her lap. The most beautiful rock was sparkling on her finger. It was a single princess cut diamond on a sterling silver band. It was simple, but it was beautiful. Matt had popped the question a week ago when they were in Seattle. He took her up to the top of the Space Needle and got down on one knee. In Val’s words, “He was shaking so bad and was so nervous that he almost forgot what he was saying, but when she said yes, he said he was the luckiest guy in the world.”

The other boys also had a lover in their life.

Jimmy was with Leanna. She was absolutely beautiful. Both Valary and Jasey were jealous of her almost every day, but they quickly set that aside and became great friends.

Zacky was in a relationship with a girl named Jenna, but then they broke up. He was pretty battered and bruised for a couple months until her met Gena and things seem to be looking good for them so far.

Johnny had been single for quite some time now. He was a firm believer in ‘single and ready to mingle’, but even the little shithead himself wanted a girl to call his own. So that’s when he met Lacey.

Then there’s Brian ……

Warped Tour he and Jasey spent together, but not even a month after it had ended, so had their relationship. No, it wasn’t due to him cheating or anything of that nature, it just wasn’t working anymore. They tried again eight months later and still nothing caused the same spark that they once had before.

After that, the remained friends, but really close friends. Brian had asked Valary’s sister Michelle out and they were together for almost a year and a half. They broke up from a huge argument and both of them had ego’s to large to go and apologize to one another. Needless to say, her name is not brought up around Brian anymore.

Which brings all of it back to today in Tempe, Arizona. The boys had just finished playing their show and the girls were told to go hang out on the bus. This was because a few weeks back, Jasey and Cassie had decided to go exploring around the venue. A few fans followed them back and refused to leave until they met every single person in the band.

That’s why they are confined to the bus after A7X’s set.

“Stop staring at the rock Jase,” Val said without taking her eyes off the screen.
“Sorry,” She smiled sheepishly, “Shiny things distract me.”

A familiar sound of locks coming undone came from the front of the bus and the girls turned their attention towards it, but they didn’t necessarily move.

“Honey, I’m home!” Jimmy called, walking up the steps.
“Well don’t you two look cozy!” Zacky smiled, stopping in front of the TV screen.

“Vee, your fat ass is blocking the screen,” Jasey complained. Zacky stuck his tongue out at them and walked to the back bunks for some much needed rest.

Johnny walked on with Matt, talking about some bra that was thrown on stage during their set and how big it was.

Then last but not least, the ever so famous Brian Haner Jr. stepped on to the bus, walking past the girls, but not without giving a look to Jasey. His face displayed quite a few emotions, but forgiveness and sympathy were the dominating ones.

“Are you sure he’s really over you?” Valary questioned after waiting for the door to the bunks to be shut.

“Can we watch the movie now?” Jasey asked, avoiding the whole subject all together.