Shattered Secrets

Saturday morning came quickly and soon enough I was rushing around the house to get ready for when Amanda would show up with her new Hummer and the two of us would pile in for the night of our lives. I raced to my closet and went straight to my 'band shirts' section where I knew that I would find at least 15 different Avenged Sevenfold shirts among the rest. I went through each shirt and finally decided on my white one with a skull on the front, red splotched that were meant as blood and the deathbat at the bottom with the name of the band surrounding it.

I pulled a pair of black jeans on too and then I took a deep breath, excitement making it a little hard to breath. I laid on my bed with a sigh and yelled for Bronx, who was downstairs with Greg.
Greg did end up staying the night and although there were times when he would kiss me it never went farther than that because of me constantly reminding him of the baby sleeping in the room next door.

Greg hid his disappointment well and eventually I fell asleep facing the window, with his arm around my waist. When I woke up this morning Greg was already up like always and he decided to cook breakfast for the three of us. I had woken my lazy son up and carried him downstairs into the kitchen where Greg was standing an apron over his dress shirt.

I giggled quietly at the sight and Bronx laughed his heart out at the grown man who had discovered the cooking apron that my Mom bought me years ago, that I had never even used.

We ate breakfast leisurely. It was like I was trying to use up as much time as I could before two o'clock rolled around. Afterwards I sent Bronx on a mission to clean up his toys that he left out the night before while I showered. Greg offered to do the dishes so I could jump in on time.

As Bronx came running up the stairs I sat up from my bed and pulled him into my arms so that I could talk to him. "You're going to be good for Greg, now," I stated, pushing his shaggy hair from his eyes, "Right?"

He nodded quickly and tried to squirm away. "Yup!" he answered dutifully.

I smiled at him and tapped my cheek twice. The young boy reached up to place a sloppy kiss on my cheek before he scurried into my lap and wrapped his arms around my neck. We talked awhile longer before I heard a knock at the door and Greg yelling that he would answer it. I grinned and placed Bronx on the floor, knowing that it was Mandi down there. I slipped my shoes and socks on before I checked my makeup in the mirror.

"You look pretty, Mommy," Bronx said with a cheesy smile on his face.

"What a charmer," A voice cooed from the doorway. I turned around to see Mandi standing there with an excited smile on her face.

"Always has been," I declared, pulling my boy to me as Greg appeared in the doorway as well, "He's my son after all." I walked past them into the hallway and they followed me downstairs to the living room.

"You almost ready to go?" Mandi asked politely, stealing a look at the clock on the wall. 1:47 pm.

I nodded and grinned widely, excitedly. "Definitely."

I kissed Bronx goodbye quickly then walked over to Greg and wrapped my arms around his neck, wishing that he wouldn't have shaved his head again so that I could tangle my fingers into his hair like I used to. I leaned in to kiss him, seeing as he was just about an inch taller than me. 5"7 or so. Greg pulled away soon after my lips touched his, feeling uncomfortable with Mandi and Bronx watching our affection. I nodded goodbye to him as Amanda and I walked out of the house calling 'I love you' to the little boy inside.

"Greg seems like an alright guy." Mandi said as we began our 45 minute drive to L.A.

I nodded with a light smile. "He is," I answered, "He's a really nice guy."

"Kind of boring though," she joked, winking at me from the drivers seat.

I laughed and it almost sounded like a scoff. "Oh yeah? Thanks." I giggled and rolled my eyes.

"Really!" she reiterated, most serious that she came across, "He didn't even kiss you!"

I scoffed again playfully. "He did too!"

She shook her head and shouted, "No! You kissed him!"

I laughed at her outraged voice and stuck my tongue out at her. "He's a good guy."

"Mhm," she murmured, "I bet."

My jaw dropped. "What's that supposed to mean?" I questioned as I turned in my seat and faced her, my arms crossed over my chest and my eyebrows raised.

She laughed at my expression pushing her brown hair from her face. "Nothing! He's a lawyer, right? Doesn't he like have to be a good guy? A bad lawyer kind of defeats the whole purpose," she joked, rolling her green eyes at me.

"Oh, " I said, "I guess it does." I turned and looked at her and we both laughed loudly, any shred of seriousness flying out the window as we took to the highway to see our favorite band.

I pulled my Ipod from my pocket and plugged it into the cord that would let it play through the car speakers. Amanda sent me a weary look. I just shrugged and grinned, "Just a little something to get us pumped."

"What I believe is all that I am
Take it away, I'm only a man
Back from the dead and now it appears
I'll be the one to take back the fear!"

"Who are these guys?" Amanda asked as the hard rock/metal band played.

"Hail The Villain," I replied with a knowing grin.

Amanda's eyes grew wide and she jumped around excitedly in her seat as she drove. "This is Hail The Villain? We get to see them today!" she exclaimed, even more pumped for the show.

I nodded cheekily. "I know."

Amanda and I talked about music and bands and who we were going to see today and miraculously we got back on the subject of the Avenged Sevenfold boys. "You need a man like Syn." Mandi said, "Strong, outgoing, loud, hot!. Someone like you."

I snorted in laughter disbelievingly. "That'd be the day," I argued, "And I'm a single mom living in a messy house with a four year old who's cooler than I am."

"Oh bullshit, Nissa. Where do you think he gets that all from?" she asked, giving me a look before it transformed into one of her signature smirks, "And you never know. Brian Haner Jr. could fall madly in love with you."
"How is the sexiest man alive going to pick me out of a crowd of thousands?" I asked jokingly shooting a wink at the younger girl with brown hair. "It's not like I'm a fucking supermodel."

She smirked again and shrugged her shoulders, answering, "Maybe with the backstage passes that I have in the glove compartment he won't have to."

I immediately became immobilized as her words registered in my head. I felt like the gears in my brain stopped moving and my fingers and toes froze along with every other body part I have. "What?" I stuttered, reaching my hand slowly towards the glove compartment, in fear that when I open it she'll start laughing and scream, "Gotcha!"

"Just open the damn thing already!" she shouted, reaching forward to do it herself. The thing fell open and there were two pieces of laminated paper with a lion on them sitting there attached to strings. The words 'backstage pass' were written at the top of both of them and then underneath that, 'Avenged Sevenfold' was typed out in their signature font.

So I screamed.

"How the fuck did you get these?" I asked, still yelling as she stared at me like I had gone crazy.

"...I bought them..."

"How? They were sold out when I tried!" I screamed, waving them around like a crazy person.

"I pre-ordered them when you said we should meet up and go. I just didn't tell you about them when you went to pay me for your ticket. Think of it as a late birthday present."

My jaw dropped as she talked and it took all my energy to hold myself in my seat and not jump on to her lap and squeeze her to death. "Oh my god." I murmured, "I'm going to meet Avenged Sevenfold again."

Amanda smiled at me, her grin going from one cheek to the other, "Is this your first time back stage?"
I shook my head, "No, I went back there in 2001 when I was 19, and once in 2004 after I had Bronx, but it's been so long!"

Mandi nodded, reaching out to clutch them along with me. "I'm so excited," she said, looping hers around her neck.

"Me too!" I answered loudly, following suit.

The rest of the ride seemed to fly by in Amanda's new yellow hummer that her parents bought her for graduation college just months ago. We stopped at a Taco Bell drive thru when we got into L.A and order some food so that we wouldn't have to pay 8 dollars for a bottle of water inside of the arena, the venue. We ate quickly in the parking lot before we drove about two blocks over to the place. As we drove around to the front we could hear the opening bands playing and as we passed the back entrance to see all the tour busses we shouted in surprise as we saw Avenged walking out of theirs.

Mandi rolled down the windows and we passed by, slowly, and shouted with her head out the window, "We love Avenged Sevenfold!" she screamed, surprisingly catching the attention of the guys on the other side of the fence, "Hey Syn!" she continued since they were casually looking over, "My friend Nissa wants to screw you!"

I laughed loudly and covered my face as a smirk took over his features and he laughed along with the guys. I spared a single look at his girlfriend, Michelle, as we passed and lost sight of them. She looked anything but pleased.

"That was so immature, Mands." I told her while trying to hide my laughter.

She shrugged with a smile. "I just graduated, it's time to have some fun. Maybe we should go back and kidnap them? There's enough room to hog tie Brian and Johnny and throw them in the back. Seriously," she said, and jerked the wheel back.

"Amanda!" I shouted through my laughter as I reached for the wheel, "Stop! Obviously we would have better access to them backstage."

She hummed and nodded. "Yeah, you're right. There's no twelve foot fence separating us."

I sputtered out a laugh and shook my head at the recent college graduate. "You're fucking crazy," I muttered, "Just don't get me thrown in jail."

She smirked over the center console. "No promises, Baby."