Pin-Up Paper Rockstars

"Matt!"

There was a fine line between furious and livid and Jill had crossed it the minute Jimmy shared the news of Matt's opinion.

"Hey, Sanders!" she yelled louder, hell bent on him coming to her. However, instead of M. Shadows, Kyle and Dustan stepped out of the dressing room.

Dustan's concern kicked in, no doubt when he saw the look upon Jill's face. "Jillian. What's up?"

Jill managed to look her bandmates in the eyes before carrying on down the hallway. She was on a mission.

"Yo, dude. She is pissed." Kyle whispered to both Dustan and the Rev.

Jill headed for A7X's dressing room and curled her hand into a fist and pounded on the door once she was in front of it. At 5'5 and dressed in knee length high heeled boots, tight black booty shorts with rags hanging out one of the back pockets and an open vest with nothing beneath she wasn't exactly the image of power. But right now, M. Shadows was no competition.

The door flung open and Jill did everything in her will power to keep from swinging.

"Who the hell..." Syn's voice trailed off when he locked eyes with her. Instantly he knew what'd went down, she didn't even have to ask. "Matt's in the washroom."

She spun around and headed down the hall a few more feet before pushing the men's bathroom door open with her hip.

"Shadows?"

Matt's head spun around in surprise as he and one of the roadies stood in front of their urnals.

"Time for me to vacate." The roadie wiggled his hips then zipped up his pants before heading for the door.

"Hands." Jill stated firmly, her eyes never breaking from her gaze on Matt. She wanted him nervous, if that was possible.

The kid hurried back to the sink and quickly washed his hands before leaving. By then Matt was lathering the soap up on his own hands.

"Well, Jillian. This is a little unexpected. How can I help you?"

"You're such a fuckin prick." She muttered right off the bat. "I heard you did a little complaining to the tour manager."

"Yeah." Matt admitted as he leaned against the counter with his hip, drying his hands and dropping the paper towel into the waste basket before crossing his arms over his chest. "So?"

"So?" She frowned. "This is my job Matt. Pick something else to fuck with. I haven't done anything that would merit my band getting kicked off this tour."

"Just one of my best friends."

"Last I checked, sex and rock n' roll go together."

"You're such a whore," he chuckled.

Jill was halfway to the door when she stopped and turned to look at him. "No, Matt. I'm a bitch. A whore will sleep with anyone. I'll sleep with anyone but you."

***

Having her charge into the washroom caught him off guard and he wasn't in any way prepared for her assult. The truth was, he knew that Rev and Jill's little escapade wasn't gonna get them kicked off the tour. Sick Chick hadn't breached their contract in any way. But he knew that by getting the story out into the open amongst everyone, especially planting it into Dustan's ears, it was going to cause enough of a rift that maybe they would leave on their own.

It wasn't that he didn't like their band. He did. He liked their sound, their attitude, their aggressiveness. Everything. Especially Jill. And there in lied the problem. She was causing a rift between himself and one of his best friends, and they'd both sworn that no girl would come between them. Their bond and their band came first. No girl was worth destroying one or the other. Or both.

Matt rubbed his hand through the spikes of his mohawk and glanced in the mirror one more time before unclipping his aviators from his shirt and sliding them over his eyes. He left the washroom and headed for their dressing room. Everyone was there waiting except for one of the Berry's and Rev. It didn't take a genious to guess where they were.

Syn chose to the the mediator this time. Removing his fingers from his guitar and looking up at Matt. "You know dude...it's just a fling. Really man, she's from Chicago, he's from Huntington Beach. After the tour what are they gonna do? Fly back and forth to see each other? Just let it go man."

There wasn't even any more room in Matt's being to be mad. He wasn't even really sure what he was supposed to be mad about. Yeah, Rev had beat him to the punch. But ultimately it was Jill who was going to decide anyway.

He sank down onto the nearest bench and tipped his head back against the wall, sighing heavily. Women were going to be the end of him. He was fucking fantastic at picking the complete wrong ones for himself.

The room stayed quiet for close to an hour up until Rev and Matt Berry walked into the dressing room. In Matt's hand was a hand held camcorder. Shadows knew what this was for.

"Yo, Shadows, Shadows, wake up! You've got a show to do dude!"

Matt tipped his head forward and reached up into the air, pretending to stretch and wake up. He then leaned forward a little and smiled, his dimples showing as he lowered his sunglasses a little, looking directly into the camera. "Yo, Fort Lauderdale we're comin at ya in fifteen, get ready to tear this place up." Then he winked and Matt Berry shut off the camera. They could now hear the crowd screaming after watching their quick video live and it brought smiles to all their faces. The countdown was on.

"Everyone up guys, lets go." Zacky beamed. The guys all stood up and began stretching a little before they formed one big group hug. There they softly thanked everyone from their loved ones to the rock gods up above before they each grabbed a new beer and began the long treck down the dark hallway. They were guided by security with flashlights as they carefully navigated the stairs up onto the stage, just waiting those last few minutes before they took the spotlight.

***

"Jillian, we need to talk about it."

"Talk about what, Dustan?" She spun around to look at him. "They can't kick us off the tour for that. We didn't break the contract. We're fine, Matt will get over it."

Kyle sighed heavily and relaxed into the ratty chair in their dressing room. "I know they can't kick us out for it Jillian. But it's just the fact that you could have put this whole band in jeopardy."

Now she was getting it. She was the loose cannon in the band, and they didn't wanna go down for something she did.

"I'm not gonna stand back, and be the one who doesn't party, drink, or go out with everyone. I won't do it. So if you're thinking you need a new singer, tell me now. And remember, that will be a breach of contract. And that will get you kicked off this tour." She grabbed onto the handle of the door and swung it open, stepping out into the black hallway. She hated playing dirty, but she was pissed off, and she only gave it a minute or two before Dustan was following her out into the hallway and she just couldn't deal with his sweet understanding nature right now.

She began down the hallway, heading towards the stage. As she walked by, security guards turned on their flashlights for her and lit a path, but instead of heading up onto the stage to watch Avenged Sevenfold, she headed to the left and climbed over the gate, against some of security's better judgement. She then began walking down the small path left between concert goers and the small metal fence security had set up.

"Hey, oh my god can we have a picture?"

She'd made it a few feet without anyone noticing her but that didn't last long.

She stopped and smiled sweetly at the two teen girls closest to the fence. "Sure." She glanced over her shoulder to see she had one security guard with her but she climbed over the fence anyway. That caught more people's attention. She spent the next hour slowly making her way to the back of the arena but stopping to take pictures and sign autographs. She'd even gained a small entourage of fans who were following her out into the main lobby of the venue.

To take off a little more steam she stopped at the merch booth and signed a few autographs there and chatted with the merch crew. Young girls no doubt feeling they were fulfilling their dreams by touring with bands.

When she'd had enough, she headed outside with the rest of the smokers, bummed a smoke and lit it up immediately. She'd quit smoking cigarettes some time ago, but right now, she really needed one.

"How the fuck do you scream like that?" the one she'd bummed the smoke from asked curiously.

She tapped the ashes onto the cement pad and looked up at him. "I just stumbled upon it mostly. I took singing lessons, which was why I can sing. But then my brother had this, shitty cover band and their singer got sick so I offered to sing a few gigs. That's pretty much how I discovered it. It's very hard on the throat though. I probably won't be talkin too much tomorrow."

"That probably doesn't help." One girl laughed and gestured towards the cigarette in Jill's fingers.

"No, it doesn't." Jill took one last puff then dropped it to the ground and stomped it out. "Guess I should get back in there so I can help A7X close."

The kids nodded and she headed back inside the venue. This time she went through the hallways, avoiding everyone as she headed towards the stage. Jason Berry looked a little unnerved.

"Where the hell were you? We were just decididng on whether or not to close with that song."

"I'm here now." Jill muttered as she climbed up the stairs onto the side of the stage. She took the cordless mic Matt Berry handed her and waited for her cue to enter the stage. This time, rather than standing in the middle of the stage with Matt, she chose to stand near Syn. He seemed to be the Switzerland in this mess.

She sang with them. And like every night, the crowd cheered. They did their little bows then exited the stage. Avenged would go back on once more to sing Bat Country but then it would be over. The lights would come on. The crews would rush to take down the stage. The roadies would make sure all the instruments were packed together and loaded properly and the musicians would convene on one or both buses and have a few drinks before heading off to bed. Then they would try to sleep on the thin mattresses in the small bunks while the buses bounced down the highway to the next destination only to do it all over again. It was tidious.

Jill sighed and leaned against the wall near the door to Sick Chick's dressing room. So what was so wrong with her trying to make the trip a little more interesting?

"Alot's wrong with it, Jill. You're better than that."

She turned around to see Dustan standing behind her. He'd clearly just had a shower. She closed her eyes and groaned. He always knew what she was thinking about. And after years of intense friendship, she figured most girls would probably take that as a sign. But not Jillian Court. She could never do things the easy way.

"Give me a hug," Dustan smiled and extended his muscled arms out towards her.

She was reluctant, but like gravity, she was drawn into his embrace and like always, she was reminded how nice this was too.