Status: Complete

Every Time You Fall Apart You Can Hide Here In My Arms

Don't Scare Her Away, Again

"There she is," Zacky pointed her out in the licensed area near the stage. Matt nodded. He'd spotted her right away, but he didn't really want her to know that they were there.

He kept telling himself that he wasn't there to keep an eye on her but part of him knew that wasn't true. Which was ridiculous. He had never been the jealous type. At least he didn't think he was. He'd never really been in a situation before where his jealousy could be tested.

"You don't want to go over there?" Syn asked him over the loud music.

Before Matt could even shake his head, Rev was interrupting him. "Too late," he informed everyone and they watched as Austin maneuvered herself through the crowd towards them.

"I think...I'm gonna go get a beer over here," Johnny gestured towards a licensed area on the other side of the bar.

"Me too," Syn added quickly.

Zacky and Rev glanced between each other before looking at Matt. If they knew Austin, they knew what was coming. "Us too," Rev muttered finally as he and Zacky began walking in the other direction following Johnny and Syn.

"Where are they going?" Austin asked as she approached him.

Matt glanced over his shoulder hoping that one of the guys had stayed close by to help him out but he was out of luck.

"They wanted a drink."

"So what are you doing here?"

"Jesus, nice to see you to."

She frowned and locked eyes with him. "Cut the bullshit, Matt. Twenty minutes ago you had no intentions of coming to this show. Now here you are."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "So what? I can't come watch my friends put on an awesome show?"

She examined his expression, but it wasn't helping. It was never easy to tell if Matt was being serious, or playful.

"As long as you're here to watch the show," she warned him.

"I am," he reached out for her, wating to pull her closer but she stepped back.

"You came to watch the show, watch the show," she pointed to the Eighteen Vision's boys playing their hearts out on stage.

"Where are you going?" he asked as she turned around and began walking away from him.

She slowed momentarily to glance at him over her shoulder. "I'm going to watch from over here. Maybe I'll see you after the show."

Matt stared at her as she carried herself further away. She was pissed off, so now he was pissed off. Fuck. Why did women have to be so difficult?

Syn re-appeared moments later, a beer in each hand. "Didn't go over well I take it?"

Matt never removed his eyes from the stage. "No."

"You've gotta trust her, man," Syn put in his two cents.

"I do trust her," Matt snarled. He appreciated his friends help, but it was also irritating him.

If Syn sensed his anger, it didn't bother him. "No, you don't. We came here tonight to keep an eye on her. You're just pissed off because she figured it out. You know, she loves you, Matt. Don't scare her away...again," with that said, he left Matt's side.

***

Austin used her pass to get past security and watch the show from the back of the stage with the first band. She enjoyed their company and the show despite it being from the wrong side. And she was glad that she'd been able to stick up to Matt. She knew that he meant well, but he was going about it the wrong way.

After the show she retreated back upstairs with the first band where they chatted amongst themselves waiting for the boys to come back up. And they did ten minutes later, all sweaty and laughing. The show had clearly been a success.

"Look who I found," moments later Ken appeared at the top of the stairs with the Avenged Sevenfold group in tow.

Austin frowned. She should have known better. The guys were all friends. Of course they'd wanna hang out afterwards.

The guys greeted each other with handshakes and quick hugs and soon what was a winding down party, took a drastic turn for a full fledged drinking binge.

Austin had one drink the entire time and chatted idly while passing the time simply glancing at Matt across the room. He was either ignoring her to piss her off. Or he was actually trying to give her, her space. She couldn't decide which. Either way, it felt awkward.

"I think I should head home," she announced later while talking to James. He looked upset with the news.

"You're really gonna go?" he asked softly.

"Yeah," she smiled softly, "I have to work tomorrow."

He nodded and passed his beer to Ken. "Hold that for me," he glanced back at Austin, "I'll walk you to your car."

"You don't - "

He cut her off by holding up his hand. "Don't worry about it, let's go."

She nodded and stood up, fixing her shirt before leading the way out of the room, bidding goodnight to Zacky and Johnny because they were closest. She also wanted someone to be able to tell Matt that she'd went home.

"So," James stuck his hands into the front pocket of his pants as they wandered through the venue. A guard was close behind them. He'd promised to make sure they got to the car, and that James got back into the venue safely, "everything isn't so perfect after all."

Austin knew that he was talking about her relationship with Matt and he'd been aware enough to make it a statement and not a question.

"No it's not," they left through the main front doors and stepped out into the black of night.

"It's not because of me is it?" he asked carefully.

She shook her head and lied, "no."

They navigated their way across the parking lot in the darkness. Austin occasionally glanced back to see the guard keeping true to his word. He wasn't far behind them.

"Does that get awkward?"

James glanced over his shoulder then over at her and laughed softly. "Nah, sometimes it's nice to have them around. You know, one less thing you have to worry about."

"I guess," she muttered as they neared her car. She reached into her purse and grabbed her keys, "well thank you for inviting me out tonight."

He leaned against her car as she unlocked the driver's side door, "I'm glad you could come. And I didn't mean to make things awkward between you and Matt."

She smiled softly and tossed her purse onto the passenger seat of her car before turning around to look at him again. "You didn't make things awkward, don't worry. I don't know if we'll ever be a real couple like we should be."

James smiled softly, "that's what a long history does to people."

"Yeah," she nodded, "well I guess I should probably go."

He nodded and stood up straight, outstretching his arms and pulling her into a hug. Austin shivered slightly, as the hug bordered between friendly and more personal. She didn't know what the hell was wrong with her but she couldn't quite make herself pull away any sooner than he let her go.

He stepped back and smiled. "I'll call you, maybe we can do something some other time," he seemed to sense her hesitation, "with Matt," he added.

Austin felt like an idiot standing there but she didn't know what else to do exactly. She'd never been in this situation before in her life, and she suddenly found herself realising the difficulty Matt must have experienced along the way between her and Val.

"Alright," she mumbled finally, "I'll talk to you later."

He nodded and watched her get into her car and leave. She glanced in her rearview mirror and watched James begin walking towards the venue, chatting with the guard.

***

By the time Matt really noticed that Austin was gone, he was to hammered to even care. He was having a hard time standing up even and Rev was helping him out of the building back towards Zacky's car.

"Fuck man," Rev groaned, trying to hold up Matt was like trying to keep a brick wall from falling over.

Syn helped Rev get Matt into the backseat of Zacky's car before they both climbed in behind him. Johnny rode in the front with Zacky. They all went to Matt and Johnny's apartment for the night. Lacey was clearly already in bed so they tried to keep quiet.

"I need a fuckin' bucket or something," Matt groaned as Zacky and Syn walked him to his room and helped him onto his bed.

"I'll get one," Zacky left the room and returned a moment later with an ice cream pail, "it was all they have," he answered Syn's skeptic look.

Syn glanced at Matt one last time as Zacky placed the pail on the bed beside him. He was on his back, arms out to his sides, legs spread slightly, and out cold.

"What an ass," Syn muttered before leaving the room, Zacky was right behind him.

"Why was he in such a fine mood tonight?" Zacky asked him as they headed to the living room where Rev had laid claim to the couch. Lacy was now up, no thanks to Johnny, making a bed on the floor for either Syn or Zacky.

"That looks more comfy than this couch," Rev laughed softly.

She smiled and placed another pillow and blanket on the love seat before leaving them, "have a good night boys," she said softly before shutting off the lights.

When Lacey was out of earshot Syn sank down to the bed on the floor allowing Zacky to have the love seat. "Oh he's just pissy because Austin's mad at him."

"Well she should have been," Zacky muttered. He was the only one of the guys who hadn't had anything to drink, therefore he was still thinking clearly, "he went there to watch her."

Rev's sudden soft snoring caused Syn and Zacky to both laugh. He was obviously passed out.

Syn rolled onto his side and pulled the blanket up, "well, he's the one that will have to deal with it."

"Yeah," was the last thing Zacky said before he fell asleep.

***

"Glad to see you haven't changed much."

Matt cracked open his eyes and stared at the white ceiling. He was laying on his back, fully clothed, shoes and all. He turned his head slightly and came face to face with a yellow bucket causing him to jump slightly.

Val grabbed the bucket and placed it on the floor. "Have a fun night, Matt?"

"What time is it?"

She glanced at his alarm clock. "It's almost two in the afternoon."

He groaned and sat up slowly. "Fuck me," he ran his fingers through his hair before rubbing his eyes and looking up at her again. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh you know," she said sourly, "I just thought maybe you'd be ready to have birthday lunch with Maddison and I in celebration of her birthday like we've done every year since she was born."

Matt slowly lifted his head and locked eyes with Val's stern ones.

Shit. He'd been so preoccupied with all this other crap, that he'd forgotten all about Mattie's birthday.
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