Told Me You Hated My G n' R Shirt. Shoulda Known Better, This Was Never Gonna Work.

I roll over in my bed in the morning feeling like I was just run over by a bus. I groan to myself and get up, knowing that I have some Advil in my medicine cabinet that will make me feel much better, and also knowing that I told Jason that I'd meet him for breakfast this morning. I go into the bathroom that is attached to my bedroom and take some of the amber colored pills with a palmful of water from the sink.

When I look into the mirror, I raise an eyebrow at myself. My blonde hair is a little disheveled and my mascara and eyeliner look a little less than perfect, but other than that, not too bad. Lastnight, my best friends/roommates, Madison and Jackie, and I went out to a club to watch My Darkest Days play. We all ended up partying with the guys and hanging out, and it seems I had one too many drinks. I go back into my room and change into a clean shirt and some jeans, then grab my leather jacket and purse, and head out to see what the others are doing.

When I go out to the kitchen, I see Jackie sitting at the table reading a magazine and drinking a cup of coffee, and Madison is sitting on the kitchen counter making out with some blonde guy. She has her legs wrapped around his waist and he has his hands on the counter on either side of her. I raise an eyebrow at them, then look at Jackie.

"Morning," she says to me.

"Who is that?" I mouth, pointing at the guy.

"Matt," she says out loud, so I can hear but quiet enough that he doesn't. This gets a double eyebrow raise from me.

"Nice," I say.

"At least one of us got some action lastnight," she says.

"No shit."

"So where are you headed, all dressed and ready to go this morning?"

"I have to go meet Jason for breakfast." She laughs.

"You should have seen him lastnight when you told him that you wanted to crowd surf."

"I wanted to crowd surf at a MDD show?"

"Oh yeah. He said that he forbid it and you flipped him off, don't you remember?"

"No, not really. I have to stop drinking, or I'm gonna be in the ground next to my old man," I say. She gives me a somber look and I walk towards the front door.

"Bye, Madison!" I yell as I walk out the door. I get no response which makes me laugh to myself as I walk down the hall of the huge building where my condo is that I own.

My father was in a little band called Def Leppard... maybe you've heard of them? They were, and still are pretty famous for songs like Pour Some Sugar On Me, Love Bites, and Hysteria, and a shit ton of others. He died of an overdose when I was four, so I don't really have a lot of memories of him. Whenever he was around he was loaded, which I didn't understand then. The only thing he left me was an inheritance that I got when I turned eighteen and after that, my mother skipped out on me. I guess she figured I had it from there. My Godfather, Jason, is the guy I'm going to meet right now. He's my best friend in the whole world, and he's the only person out there that I know has my back 100% of the time. He is the former bass player for Metallica, and now a days, he just hangs out and paints, and goes to shows with me and my friends, making sure that we don't get in any serious trouble.

I walk the streets of Manhattan alone, even though I'm surrounded by people. They really don't lie when they say this is the town that never sleeps. Even walking home from the show at four in the morning, there were tons of people out walking around. It's a block from my condo to the cafe where Jason wanted to meet, so I round the corner and see him sitting at an outside table waiting for me. I walk up to the host and smile at him politely.

"Good morning, table for one?" he asks me.

"I'm with that guy over there," I say, pointing at Jason.

"Very well, follow me." I smile again and follow him over to the table. Jason gets up and hugs me tightly as the host leaves.

"Good morning, beautiful. How're you feeling this morning?" he asks as he pulls my chair out for me.

"Better now. I hear that I went crowd surfing lastnight," I say.

"You did not, Jackie is lying to you."

"I also heard that you tried to forbid me from doing it, you had to know that wasn't going to work," I say with a devilish grin.

"It did work though, didn't it?"

"Hmmm, I suppose it did. You won this time, Newsted, don't get used to it though."

"I never get used to getting my way with you, doll." I smile at him and glance at the menu in front of me.

"Did you order yet?" I ask him.

"No, I was waiting for you. Was Matt at your place this morning?"

"Yes, it was kind of disgusting actually. He had Madison up on the counter and they were like making out, she didn't even say anything to me, I don't even think they knew I was there." I shudder a little. "It was a little gross."

"Remind me never to eat food at your place that was prepared on that counter."

"You think that's the worst thing that's happened on that counter?" I ask him, the devilish grin back on my face. He raises an eyebrow at me.

"You can stop now with the rebel child act, it's just me." I roll my eyes.

"Oh Jase, you're the only one that gets me."

"It's because I've been around you constantly since you were eighteen, who else can say that?"

"No one." I say with a sigh, taking a drink of my coffee.

"On a lighter note, My Darkest Days are playing another show at the Starland tonight. You wanna go?"

"Absolutely. I won't miss those guys if they're around here."

"I also heard that Hinder is in town, recording their new album." I feel my eyebrows shoot up on my forehead.

"Hinder? Like, my favorite band in the world, Hinder? That Hinder?" I say, trying to make sure that I'm not squealing. Jason is laughing at me.

"Yes, that Hinder."

"Oh my God, I wonder if they're going to be hanging out anywhere around here. I wonder if they're going to be doing any shows? Where did you hear that?" I ask, talking a mile a minute.

"I know some people who know some people, and they told me that they were working on a new album with a guy named Kevin Churko. He's worked with like, Ozzy, and Five Finger Death Punch, and people like that." I nod my head quickly, a hundred different thoughts running through my head.

"That is so awesome. That like, just made my life, right there," I say. He grins.

"I thought it would. So, tonight, you want me to meet you guys at your place, or what?"

"You're going again tonight?"

"Yeah. I have to keep an eye on you and your freaks, make sure you're not going to some seedy New Jersey jail, or something."

"Aww, we're your freaks, that's so cute," I coo at him. He rolls his eyes.

"Whatever, groupie." I make kissy noises at him and he just smiles at me. A waitress walks by and gives us a strange look, which I'm used to when I go places with Jason. Some people don't get how close we are, they just look at the outside appearances and think that we're fucking or some perverted thing. Jason turns and looks at the waitress after she walks by. Big mistake.

"You think she's hot," I say simply, taking a bite of my eggs.

"No."

"Fuck too, you do too! You think she's gorgeous, you want to fuck her, you want to eat her pus-"

"Shayna!" I start laughing my ass off at him.

"What?" I manage to spit out in between laughs.

"You're an asshole, Shayna. You need to stop."

"What? She's totally your type, all skinny and like, dark." He rolls his eyes.

"You do not know my type, at all, Shayna Clark." I make a face and we go back to eating.

When we're done, I take a taxi back to my condo to hang out with the girls and try to get some more sleep. I figure if I'm going to have another night like lastnight, I'm going to need my sleep.

I lay on my bed and try to get some sleep, and a second later, I hear a knock on my door.

"Come in," I say. The door opens and Jackie and Madison come in together and lay on my bed. Jackie flops an envelope on my bed and I look at it.

"Another inheritance check," I say to them. They nod.

"Did Matty leave?" I ask Madison.

"Yeah, they had to go get ready for the show tonight."

"Jason is going to go with us again tonight."

"Yay, another night we'll get to have a babysitter," Jackie says, jokingly.

"I think he really likes MDD, if he didn't at least like the music, he wouldn't be going to all these shows with us. I mean, he's said it before, he won't go if the band sucks, you know?" I say, opening the check and looking at the amount.

Madison lays her head down on my pillow and shuts her eyes. Jackie is propped up on her elbow on the other side of me, watching the two of us.

"We get to stay here another month," I say, setting the check down on my stomach.

"You OK?" she asks. Both her and Madison know that it's a little weird for me to get these checks every month.

"I'm fine. It's nights like lastnight though, that freak me out though. Like, my dad died doing that shit, what am I doing, you know?"

"You're not an alcoholic. Trust me, babe, I would be the first one to yank your skinny ass out of the bar kicking and screaming, and into rehab if I thought you were." I shrug.

"Thanks babe," I tell her. She smiles and lays her head on my shoulder.

"No problem, lover."

Later that night, we get up and get dressed up together, and a few minutes later, Jason arrives to go to the show with us. We plan on taking the subway across the Jersey Turnpike to where the Starland Ballroom is, and walking the rest of the way to the club. We come here quite often to shows, and it's a pretty cool venue to see bands if you want to hang out with them afterwards. On the subway, we all get a few looks from strangers who don't know anything about our situation. Jason just sits beside me and acts like he's not paying attention, even though I know that he's noticing everything thats going on around him. That's a special Jason characteristic.

We get off the subway and walk towards the venue, Jackie, Madison, and I talking the whole way there, while Jason just walks alongside with his hands in his pockets. When we get to the club, I pay everyones cover charge, and we immediately go to the bar to get drinks.

I order a raspberry vodka and sprite on the rocks and then we go off to the merch booth to find the My Darkest Days guys to say hello before the show starts. Jason goes to the front of the room to make sure that we have a spot on the rail for the show.

After we say hi to the MDD guys, we go up front to where Jason is standing and prepare for the show to start. About twenty minutes later, the lights go down and I see Doug, the drummer walk across the stage to his kit. As soon as he starts playing the first beat, I feel my heart start racing. I know this is exactly why I do this. It's not about my dad anymore, it's not about drinking and partying, it's not about getting down with the guys. It's about the music and my racing heart.