Taste the Fame

On Friday night's when I'm able to pry Brian away from the guitar shop and I don't have any work to do, we go out to dinner to out favorite restaurant: Meelini's. Best Italian food on the west coast. So I put on my little black dress, and fixed my hair and off we were. People were always trying to get into this exclusive place, some awaiting months on a list to even think about smelling the delicious food. But when you bear the name DeMarco, you'd be surprise how easy impossible things become obtainable.

The place was packed as usual. But what caught my eye were the people in the corner. "Val?" I asked upon seeing the blonde.

"Sophie." She smiled. I hadn't seen her since Johnny's birthday last month, yet we talk on the phone constantly. "You look great. So what are you and Brian doing here?"

"Oh you know, seeing the town." I smiled. "Bri loves this place."

"Well good luck, we'd had resevations for eight, but that was half an hour ago." Val said.

I looked back at Brian, who was letting the hostess take his coat. "You're more than welcome to join Bri and I, there is always plenty of room."

Brian apparently heard me looked up and gave a 'say what?' look. "Actually that sounds amazing. Let me go tell everyone."

I walked over to Chez, the hostess and gave a smile. "Hey" I said kissing his cheeks. "We have a few more with us, so some extra rolls yeah?"

"Of course Ms. DeMarco." He began to led us through the restaurant and up some stairs to a special reserved section. The only people who sat up here were us, and other high-enders that could afford it.

Everyone sat around the long table, with Brian at one end and Matt at the other, putting them a safe distance apart. Chez began to leave, but Brian quietly asked, "Mind bringing up a bottle of Romanée-Conti for the lady, and some Scotch as well?"

"Of course not Mister Haner." Chez replied before leaving.

"So you to come here often?" Gena asked breaking the awkward silence.

"Oh yes. Whenever we have time and when I can pull Brian away from that guitar shop." I smiled, playfully glaring at my boyfriend.

"Guitar shop?" Zacky asked curiously.

"He and my brother set it up a few years ago. It's doing really well, but I can never get him to leave."

Brian rolled his eyes. "It's the guitars. They call to me."

"What do you do Sophie?" Gena then asked.

"I'm a free lance photographer. Nothing big. I also paint occasionally."

"She's being too humble." Lacey interrupted. "Put a paint brush or a camera in her hot little hands and magic happens."

"Really?" Val added in. "We need a good photographer to come with us for the upcoming tour. That is if we can get a lead guitarist to stick around long enough."

Brian fake coughed, using his hand to cover the cocking smirk across his lips. Johnny always said Syn was irreplaceable. "Yeah, we need someone to stick. Maybe our first guitarist will come back." Jimmy said pointedly, causing Brian to raise an eyebrow.

Our waitress finally came up to take our orders when she stopped with a surprised look, "Oh my god. You're Synyster Gates." I giggled when Brian looked at her with shock.

"Well that's a name I haven't heard in a while." He smiled. "Yeah, I guess I am."

"And you with the rest of Avenged? Does that mean your coming back?" She squealed happily. "

"You bet kid." Brian didn't answer. The voice that said that surprised them all. It was Matt, and that was the first thing he had said to any one all night.

The table began to talk and their food came and they ate till finally it was time to leave. "Look, take my card." I said to Val "Every year we throw a Christmas-Eve party for a few friends, clients, and my dad's friends."

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"I don't think this will just blow over like you and Val hope," Aliyah, my best friend and my brother's wife, said softly, "What ever went down how ever long ago was big."

"You can tell he misses them though,"I protested as I looked around the dinning area at the plates and their cards. "You think we should sit Mr. Jennings next to Mr. Fields?" Both business partners of my fathers, both argue quite frequently. She sighed and moved them both at opposite sides of the table. While doing so I noticed she put Matt next to Brian. "I thought you said that was a bad idea?" I mused.

"I did, but doesn't mean I don't support it." She smiled.

I heard Brian come fumbling down the stairs and into the dinning room. "All right. Black and red, or white and red?" He asked holding up his shirt and the Christmas bow tie my father bought him. He really hates the thing but my dad thinks he loves it.

"White." Aliyah and I agreed. "Then you can even look like a bad ass Santa!" She added earning her a glare.

"Har har." he sarcastically growled as he left the room.

"So where is that deeply disturbed brother of mine," I asked her as I once again shuffled people around.

"Picking up Joshua from Day-Care." She smiled. Joshua was my most adorable nephew ever.

Eventually the came back, and it was time to get this party in full swing.

THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW

"This is their house?" Leana asked in disbelief. The houses they passed on the way here just kept getting bigger, and bigger, to where they pulled to a full blown mansion.

Johnny laughed and showed his invitation to the guards at the house gate. The pulled up to see the place crawling with celebrity's, police men, and of course the DeMarco family mob. "Its that Tony DeMarco? Like the mobster? And talking to the police chief like they're old friends?"

Johnny nodded at Zacky. "Yep. Sophie's dad. And if you know what's good for you, you keep quiet around the man."

Val knew this night would be interesting, and Brian's life had changed, but she didn't know what wild ride they were in for.