Such a Surreal Place

“Hey Mom!” Mel squeaked at her cell phone as she wore a huge grin. “Just wanted to let you know I’m in town, so I thought I’d drop by.”

“Oh! Tell her I’m coming!” I said in a hushed voice as Zacky played with Mel’s sleeve.

“And I’m with Ashleigh... Ashleigh? You’ve met her... Yeah, her! She wants to drop by too,” Mel continued.

“Can I come?” Zacky asked. This was crucial. Melissa HAD to say yes.

“Uh... I wanna introduce you to someone else, though,” Mel said shyly and Zacky beamed. It had worked. “Yes... No, we’re VERY serious... Of course he treats me right! ... Yeah... Zacky... He’s in a band...” I could almost picture her mother rolling her eyes. Not another crappy band member, she’d be thinking.

“Ash! Babe! Help me!” Syn shouted while leaping up all of the steps and into the tour bus extremely quickly. He took another few steps and then was attempting to hide behind me.

“Shhh!” I hushed him as he grabbed the sides of my arms and held me in front of him.

“Jimmy’s gonna kill me!” he hissed while ducking his head. Pft, as if he could hide behind me! Zacky laughed at his immature behaviour.

“No he’s not! Don’t be silly!” I whispered as Zacky asked Mel something that I didn’t quite catch.

“What you guys talking about?” Syn asked, resting his chin on my shoulder and looking at Mel.

“Us going to see her parents...” I whispered to him as his hands moved from gripping my arms tightly to being wrapped gently around me.

“Can I come?” he asked quietly as Mel continued answering questions about Zacky.

“Don’t ask me,” I answered as Mel put her hand over the speaker on her phone.

“They say it’s alright and that we can all go for dinner there,” she said quickly.

“All of us? Who’s that?” Zacky asked, sounding a bit nervous.

“Avenged Sevenfold and Ash,” she replied and then went back to talking to her mother. Why did she want everyone to come? Now I would have to get ALL of them on their best behaviour, not just Zacky... Zacky glanced at me and I raised an eyebrow back at him. This was NOT our plan.

“Yippee!” Syn shouted and Jimmy entered the bus, crawling slowly on all fours. And there goes my hardest job of best behaviour...

“Alright, I’ll call you later! Bye!” Mel said and hung up. She received a hug from Zacky as Jimmy prowled over to us. Syn picked up his legs and crouched behind me, doing his best to hide from Jimmy.

“Heya Jimmy... Whatcha doin’?” I asked as he stopped directly in front of us. He growled evilly in response.

“I told you I’m dead!” Syn whispered to me.

“What did you do?” I questioned as Jimmy sat on the floor, giving Syn the evil eye.

“Smashed one of his drums, but it was an accident! I swear!” Syn admitted, practically yelling the last part.

“Aw, grow up! Both of you!” I exclaimed, trying not to laugh at the look Jimmy had on his face. Gosh, he was one funny guy, and everyone loved him for it.

“Hey Ash, can we talk for a second?” Zacky asked, ignoring the other two.

“Of course...” I stood up and Syn grabbed a hold of me, inching behind me, mimicking every step, trying to make sure he was 'hidden' from his best friend. “Please let go.”

“Please save me from the psycho in the band!” he retorted as I almost fell down the steps because of him following me.

“What is it, Zacky?” I asked as we walked away from the bus, leaving Mel in there to deal with Jimmy... Poor girl...

“I need to get a ring. Today.” He sounded worried.

“I know. We can go in a minute, since she's distracted with Jimmy,” I said. Everything was pretty much planned, all thanks to me.

“I’m coming, right?” Syn asked, taking my hand and giving it a squeeze.

“And Matt. If I can find him...” Zacky answered, then walked off in the direction of the store Matt said he'd be in.

“This is gonna be weird,” Syn suddenly said.

“Why?”

“We’re going to look at wedding rings together,” he said and we laughed nervously. Yeah... It was going to be interesting...