Tasting Fame

BECCA'S P.O.V.

I awoke with a start as I heard a loud clap of thunder. It was raining hard outside, and I'm not a thunderstorm's biggest fan. Suddenly, I heard something, or someone banging really hard and loud against my front door. I looked over at my alarm clock, and it said the time was 3:47 in the morning, and I couldn't imagine who would be knocking at my door at this time of night. Or morning. However you see it. Matt's band was still out on tour, and I was by myself.

"Who the fuck could that be?" I muttered to myself.

I grabbed my baseball bat, just in case. Matt made me keep it in my room when everyone was gone from the house. I crept down the staircase without making any noise. That is, until I got to the last few steps. I stumbled over them, and fell on my ass in the living room, mumbling random obscenities from the slight pain in my right butt cheek. I quickly crawled in front of the couch so that whoever was trying to break down my front door wouldn't see me.

The loud banging continued as I heard someone call my name.

"Becca! I know you're in there, now open the fucking door before I open it for you!"

I immediately recognized the voice, and it belonged to my best friend Aileen. But why was she at my house? She never came over this late unless she needed to hide a drunk boyfriend from her parents for a night. We tell each other everything, and, last I heard, she hasn't had a boyfriend in almost 4 months.

I did a quick ninja jump over the couch and opened the door to see a rain-soaked Aileen, bawling her eyes out.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"Thanks for the concern, Becca."

Aileen is my best friend. I've known her for almost two years. We love each other like sisters, but we also fight like sisters.

"You know what I meant by that, now get your ass in here before you die of pneumonia. And don't get any water on my furniture!"

She walked in without any hesitation, and I closed and locked the door behind her.

"Let's go get you some clean, dry clothes and then I'll get you a pint of ice cream, and you can tell me what happened."

"Okay." she mumbled meekly.

I knew that my clothes were bigger than hers, and she looked like she was packing an extra 30 pounds when she wore something of mine. Jimmy was the closest to her size, the both of them having a very thin frame, so I grabbed her a pair of his boxers, and one of his 8 bazillion shirts. Aileen ended up taking a warm shower as she had started shivering from the cold rain.

After she was done doing her thing in the bathroom, she picked her pint of vanilla fudge swirl ice-cream out of the freezer, and we made our way to the living room. We plopped down on the couch , flipped on the Tv to Comedy Central, and got comfortable.

Aileen shoveled a huge spoonful of ice-cream in her mouth as the warm tears silently flooded down her cheeks.

"Now, are you gonna tell me why you're so upset?"

"I guess. See, my mom's boyfriend was over tonight, well, last night, with a few friends. They were all drinking and having a good time. Well, I went to bed when everyone got to my house because I didn't want to deal with their drunken asses. Barry, my mom's boyfriend, woke me up at 2 this morning trying to make me clean up the mess that him and his friends had made. I told him to fuck off, that he wasn't my father, and that he needed to take care of himself and clean up his own mess......"

She paused to take another ginormous spoonful of ice-cream as more tears rolled down her cheeks.

"He pulled me up out of the bed and threw me down the stairs, and told me 'Do it now, or Im gonna do a lot worse to you!' I didn't immediately get up, so he kicked my stomach a few times. My mom just stood in the hallway and watched all this. She knew he was drunk. I knew he was drunk, I could smell it on him. I asked her if she was gonna do anything about it, and she just simply said no. Barry went back to the living room and passed out on the couch in front of the television. My mom just went back to bed."

She paused yet again for another ginormous spoonful of ice-cream. It was about then that I noticed bruises on her arms, and I lifted up the hem of her shirt a little and noticed that she had several bruises on her abdomen as well. She quickly pulled her shirt back down, almost like she didn't want the bruises to be seen. I gave her a sad look and she just shook her head.

"I know what you're thinking, but stop thinking it. Anyways, after they went back to sleep, I went upstairs to my room and packed my bag. I have everything with me."

"You were kicked out of your house for THAT?"

"No, I just left on my own. I left a note for my mom, but I didn't tell her where I was going. I was hoping that I could move in with you. Is that cool?"

"Of course! You're my best friend, and I wouldn't leave you out in the rain. And earlier does NOT count........"

All of the sudden, there was this huge clap of thunder. I almost pissed my pants, and Aileen got a look of horror on her face.

"Oh, shit!" she said.

I sat there with a bewildered look on my face as Aileen jumped over that back of the couch and ran out the door.

"I'm not giving you any more clothes!" I yelled at her.

She walked back into the house, not very wet, which surprised me. She was holding 2 duffel bags that were soaked and were about to burst at the seams because they were so full.

"It's a good thing I already had my keys and cell phone, right?"

I began to roll around on the floor from laughing, and Aileen shot me a death glare.

"Shut up, you stupid whore. Now get your ass off that floor and help me get my stuff to the laundry room so I can dry it all."

After a few more minutes of laughing, and a few death glares later, I got off the floor and took one of Aileen's bags. I waited in my spot for her to shut the door, but she just stood there like an idiot, and wasn't taking the hint.

"Shut the door, you fucking dumbass!"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry."

We finished putting her clothes in the dryer, and cleaning our mess in the living room, and were making our way upstairs to the rooms to decide on her sleeping arrangement.

"Well, you can either sleep in the guest room, or Zacky's room.

"Yeah, right. Zacky's room. And did you HAVE to emphasize his name like that?"

"As a matter-of-fact, I did. I know you love him, and your probably gonna drool like an idiot and piss your pants when you meet him."

"Wait, he's coming HERE? To this house? When? WHEN?"

"Ummm, yeah. He lives here. The whole band lives here.I just told you that you could sleep in Zacky's room."

"I thought you were joking. When are they getting here? WHEN? TELL ME WHEN!?"

"Not for about another 2 weeks. M. Shadows is my brother, you know."

"Wow. When you told me your brother's name was Matt...... and he was in a band.......and your last name is Sanders.......I guess I just never made the connection. You're so lucky."

I winced in pain as Aileen's fist suddenly collided with my shoulder, sending me stumbling into the wall.

"Rebecca Ann Sanders, how come you never let me meet them before, you bitch?!"

"First off, they've been constantly gone over the past 2 years. They're hardly ever here. When they're not touring, they're either at the studio, or getting drunk and fucking some random chicks."

"I don't see how they can keep girlfriends."

"I know. And second, I thought you knowing about who my brother really was should be kept on a strictly need-to-know basis. And since you're gonna be living with us now, I figured that you needed to know. And third......."

I brought my fist back and it collided with her shoulder. She screamed out in pain, and I think I even saw a tear well up in her eye.

".......dont hit me."

We both started laughing our asses off. Aileen decided to sleep in Zacky's bed, and she trudged up the stairs in that direction. I walked in the opposite direction down the hallway to my room, which was right next to Matt's. It was almost 5:30 when I finally drifted off to sleep.

The next two weeks are gonna last for-fucking-ever.