Speak No Evil

Brian Haner Sr. smiled as he saw his son open the door of the diner they had chosen to meet at. In the past few years it was a rare occasion for both men to be in Huntington at the same time with his son touring with Avenged Sevenfold and himself touring with Jeff Dunham. He lifted his hand and waved as Brain Jr. looked in his direction. With a smile Brian Jr. removed his aviators and made his way over to the table. After giving his father a hug and saying their hellos, he sat on the opposite side of the booth and placed his sunglasses and phone on the table. One of the waitresses came over and poured Brian a mug of coffee and mentioned she would be back soon to take their food order.

“So how’s tour been?” Brian Jr. asked taking a sip from his coffee,

“It’s been good, had a fair few good gigs. Met a few of your fans who told me that my jokes about you were the best part of my act, the usual. But we have a two month break now before we go over to Europe. How was your last one?”

“Was alright, not so fun when Jimmy and Matt have Le and Val with them for seventy percent of the tour. Me, Zack and Johnny ended up in the back room quite a bit so we could actually sleep. All the shows went really well, only one was cancelled due to Zacky being bed ridden.”

“Did he get man flu or something?”

“Something like that.” Brian replied as the waitress came back. Quickly scanning the menu he ended up ordering the same as his dad. Conversation continued easily between the two as they both spoke highly of the time they had spent apart. After fifteen minutes the same waitress bought over their food and within moments the two Haner’s were digging in. Their conversation died down during their eating as they filled their mouths.

“Anything else to tell me? Anything you may have missed out?” Brian Sr. asked as he wiped the excess food from his mouth.

“Well you know Leana’s always on about her friend from England though Jimmy was the only one to have met her?” the elder Haner nodded at his son, “Well she’s over at the moment for a couple of months, she’s already been here for two weeks, she’s, she’s pretty cool.” He continued rubbing the back of his neck.

“Uh huh, what’s her name?”

“Emily.”

“She nice?”

“Don’t get me wrong she can be really nice, well I think so, see she can’t speak but I have hung out with her quite a few times and we’ve got on really well and…”

“… you like her.” Brian Sr. smirked finishing off his sons’ sentence as he looked up at him. Brian Jr. looked at his father shocked and at a loss for words. After a few moments he hastily replied,

“Maybe so but she doesn’t like me like that.” Brian Jr. looked doubtful as he mindlessly stirred the almost cold coffee in the mug,

“You know this how?”

“I know alright. There is always something… off about her when we, I mean us guys, are around.”

“Son, do you ever listen to my advice.?” Brian raised his eyebrow at his dad, “I’ll take that as a no. Listen carefully now. Never judge a book by its cover, always take time to read the pages and listen to the story.” As Brian was about to answer his dad his phone vibrated loudly on the table, picking it up he read the text he had received from Jimmy reminding him of Leana’s surprise birthday party the in a few days time.

“Shit! It’s Leana’s birthday in two days and I have got her nothing. I don’t even know what to get her.” Brian exclaimed,

“You know who might.” Brian Sr. smirked at his son from across the table,

“Jimmy?”

“No, well yes probably but I’m not on about him because he’ll probably tell you to get something they can use in the bedroom again. Tell me who have you just spoken to me about?”

“Emily…” a grin spread across the elder Haner’s face at his son’s realisation,

“Use it as an excuse. Get to know the girl even better without the other guys and girls almost suffocating you.”

“You know what dad, I didn’t realise you could be so smart.”

“Careful kid, you’re going the right way for a smack in the head. How embarrassing, the mighty Synyster Gates, guitar extraordinaire, getting his ass handed to him by his father. Oh that’ll get the fans talking.”

“Oh shut up!” Brian Jr. groaned whilst laughing.



“So what are we doing” Emily wrote as Brian pulled into a parking space at the mall. It was the day after he had had lunch with his dad and Leana, Jimmy and Emily had been very surprised this morning when he had turned up at the house asking for Emily to accompany him to the mall.

“Basically next week is Leana’s birthday, and I haven’t got her a present. Unlike the other guys I don’t have a girl to buy the present and say it’s from me also.” Emily raised her eyebrow in question, “Not saying you’re going to be my girl as such…” Emily’s expression became confused, “Fuck!” Brian groaned banging his head against the steering wheel. “Right, what I am trying to say is that you’re going to help me pick out her present.” Emily began laughing at Brian’s distress, “You’re so mean… Just get out of the car.” She smiled to herself and unbuckled her seatbelt carefully climbing out of Brian’s four by four.

Locking the car Brian walked around to the passenger side and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Right, you better give a good idea otherwise I might have to kill you.” He gave her a wink pulling her towards the entrance.

“What have you got her? That might be a good place to start.” Brian asked as he took a glance at the shops,

It’s not going to be much help for you…

“Why’s that?”

Because before I came over here I created a scrap book for her.

“Oh for fucks sake.” After a few moments of thoughts and another quick glance round the mall he turned back to Emily “Come on you’re meant to be her best friend, what shall I get her?” he pleaded, she chuckled at his desperation and pointed towards Forever 21,

Clothes?

“Clothes it is then.” He smiled at Emily and took her hand in his as he walked towards Forever 21. “Right I am giving a maximum of $40 for you to find as many things as you can for that money that you know Leana will like while I just chill out here.” Emily rolled her eyes as she made her way through the store finding different items she knew or at least thought Leana would like.

Brian sat on a stool by the shoes and watched some teenage girls try on some heels that could easily break their ankles as they stumbled about. Looking down at his watch he realised only a few seconds had passed. Breathing out he leant forward on his knees and rested his forehead on his fist. A few more moments passed when he felt a tap on his shoulder, turning round he saw Emily stood with a few tops and dresses in her arms.

“Done?” she nodded lifting the clothes in her arm, throwing her head back as a top fell on the floor. Chuckling, Brian squatted down and picked it up, then carefully took every other piece of clothing from her, “Let’s go pay then eat and then I need to go to the music store and get some new strings and a few other places.” He smiled at her as they stepped up to the till. The woman quickly scanned each items and told Brian to insert his card in the machine. They were done within moments and walking out of the shop, Emily with the Forever 21 bags in hand.

“Right where do you want to have lunch? I am thinking something fatty, maybe McDonalds?” Emily shrugged and followed him in what she guessed to be the direction of McDonalds. “Okay write down your order, I shall order it and you get us a table.” She smiled and quickly wrote down what she wanted before searching for a table for them both to sit at.



“Hey man how’s it going?” Josh the cashier asked Brian as him and Emily walked into the music shop, Brian making his way over to the till and Emily diverting over to the display cases,

“It’s going pretty well, taking a break before recording the new album. The reason I am here today is I want some new strings, mine are ready to snap.”

“Alright, let me go grab them for you. Good timing to, they came in this morning, I’ll go find ‘em so give me a couple of minutes to search the boxes.” With a final smile Josh turned round and went into the back room. Turning round Brian searched the shop for Emily, smiling when he finally found her looking at the many guitars lining the wall.

“Like what you see?” he asked as he walked over to where she was standing. Emily nodded as she ran her hand along the neck of one of the many acoustic guitars. “Ever played guitar?” she shook her head no then quickly typed something on her phone,

Always wanted to though.

“How about I teach you then?” Emily looked shocked at his proposal typing ‘Really?’ into her phone,

“After I have my strings do you want to come back to mine and I could teach you a few things?” Emily smiled showing off her pearly whites and nodded enthusiastically,

“Then it’s sorted.” Brian returned her smile as Josh called him back to the counter for his strings.