Seize the Day

Matt took me out to dinner after I met with Steve and a couple of other company dudes the next day. "Cause for celebration" he'd said. It was my turn to choose where we ate, so I picked something much more my style - a generic bar and grill.

"So," he asked over our appetizer, "what exactly does this new job entail?"

"I'll report directly to Steve, out scouting talent all over. They'd like for it to be a regular position, with several satellite managers based around the country eventually, but I'm just the guinea pig for now."

He nodded. "They want us to get local talent on each bill, right?"

"That's the idea right now. Then I have to check them out, in depth, on stage and off, to see if they might be a band we want to represent. Then when we get home from tour, I'll be re-evaluated, but the way it stands, I'll still be traveling to check out bands we get leads on." I took a swig of my beer and continued. "Until they get their satellite offices in place and setup, I'll be covering most of the country."

"V, that's awesome," he said. "I know how much this job means to you."

"Yeah, I'm fucking excited," I giggled. "And mostly, I'm amped that I get to come out on the road with you after all!"

"I am too. Don't know what I would have done without you!"

"Oh, you'd have survived, I'm sure," I said, laughing.

"I'm sure I'd have survived, but that wouldn't have been fun," he replied.

"Well, we don't have to worry about it now, do we?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Nope," he grinned. "Canada, huh?"

"I went once my sophomore year in college. I'd love to go back. Besides, I really, really need some poutine in my life!" I sighed dramatically. "God, that stuff is awesome."

"Poutine?" He had his eyebrow raised in question.

"Poutine. It's French fries with cheese curds and gravy." I could see him contemplating the combination. "I tell you, it's heaven! Of course, it'll probably kill you, but I can handle that!"

He chuckled. "First thing we'll do when we get there. We'll go find some poutine."

I clapped my hands like a little kid. "Yay!" He rolled his eyes at me. "Oh, hush," I laughed. "You know you wouldn't have me any other way."

Two weeks later, it was Matt's birthday. I knew there was no way to surprise him after what we'd gone through with Zacky, so I decided to just outright ask the other guys what they thought.

--So, Matt's b-day next weekend. Whatcha think?-- I texted Zack.

--Strip club. For sure.--

--Ha. Not a chance.--

--Sure? It'd be a blast.--

--I'm sure. No way. Besides, done that already.--

--True. How about beach bonfire?--

--Hmm... Do-able, sorta anti-climactic though.--

Then, I got another text from Brian.

--Shadows' birthday = Guns N Fucking Roses!-

--Wait, what?--

A couple seconds later, I got nearly simultaneous replies. They're sitting next to each other talking about this, I thought.

--GNR is playing a club show the 31st. You know Matt would be down.-- Zack said.

-I said Guns N Fucking Roses. Playing a club. Come on, totally what Shads needs.-- was Brian's reply.

Instead if texting both of them, I just called Brian's phone. "Hey, y'all," I drawled. They loved laughing at my sometimes-Southern accent. "Why the hell didn't I know about this?"

"Hey Princess," Brian cooed. "I don't know why you didn't know. I really thought Matt would have mentioned it."

"Not a word." The wheels in my head were already turning. "But this close to a show like that, tickets have to be sold out by now."

"Oh, ho ho," Zacky said. They have me on speaker, I laughed to myself. "You always underestimate us, V!"

I laughed out loud at that one. "Yeah, I sometimes forget who you are, honestly. You think you can get us all in? It wouldn't be any fun without everyone."

"I'll see what I can pull off," Zack said. I could tell by the tone of his voice he was making his "Do it" face.

"We'll get that figured out, you get Matt out of the house," Brian schemed.

"Indubitably," I said. "So. Gates, Vengeance, where are the ladies?" I asked.

"Chelle took Jess to pick out new makeup or something," Zack sighed, obviously bored. "We came over to hang out, but they ran off."

"Aww," I said. "It's ok Zackykins! I still love you! And I'd never leave you for makeup shopping. Either of you!"

I heard both of them laugh. "Well, thanks, Princess," Brian said. "Too bad we can't all share you!"

"Ew, Gates, that's disgusting!" I snorted through a laugh.

"Oh god!" he yelled. "Thats not what I meant! Damnit, Vivienne!"

Zack was nearly busting a gut in the background, letting loose huge peals of laughter. "V! He's actually blushing!" he managed to choke out, shouting in the direction of the phone. "You made Syn Gates blush!"

"Hey, what can I say," I said. "I'm just awesome like that."

"I can't believe that," Brian muttered, still terribly flustered.

"Anyway," Zacky cut in, still trying to stop laughing, "we'll get us in, you do the rest."

"Got it covered, yo," I said. "I'll talk to you douchebags later. Hug the girlies for me, kay?"

Sure enough, less than a week later, I was getting ready to take Matt out on a date for his birthday. He had no idea still where we were going, but didn't seem to care. The rest of the crew was meeting us at the bar.

I even talked Matt into letting me drive, which was kind of a feat in itself. We pulled up to the club, and his eyes lit up.

"V, are you serious?" he asked.

"What?" I asked coyly, playing dumb.

"Guns N Roses is playing here tonight," he said.

"Really?" I kept up my "playing dumb" act. "I had no idea." He just stared at me. "Ok, fine. I may have had an idea!" I heard Zack yelling our names from a spot near the door. "I actually had nothing to do with this one," I told Matt as we walked up to the rest of the group. Arin and Johnny were arguing over what was the best GNR song - "Welcome to the Jungle" or "November Rain." They paused their spat long enough for Arin to give me a hug and Johnny to greet Matt with a "happy birthday," but quickly continued.

"This one's all those two," I said, pointing at where Zack and Brian were standing with Jess and Michelle. "Since no one bothers to keep me apprised of what goes on in this town, I knew nothing about it until like last weekend."

"Aren't you supposed to be some big talent manager now?" Johnny asked, having given in to Arin and agreeing that "November Rain" was the winner. "You should know about big shows!"

"Well, I'm not a big talent manager, and I'm not even a small one yet, so bite me, Gnome!" I said, laughing. When he started pouting, I added, "Fine. I kid, I kid. You know I love your midget ass, JC!"

The crew laughed. "Yep, she's part of the family now. Picking on Johnny just like the rest of you assholes," Michelle said, rolling her eyes. She was laughing too, though.

"When can we get in, anyway?" I asked, getting excited. "I've never seen Guns N Roses, so this will fucking rock!"

Finally, the guy at the door let us into the club, where we took the spots that Zack had acquired for us, directly against the barrier. The area was roped off, reserved for just us. Of course, the guys were recognized by several people in the rows behind us, and we all posed for some pictures with fans. Eventually the lights went out, and the show started.

They blasted through the first three songs, classics, of course, with little interruption, and none of the Axl Rose 'tude I'd heard so much about. Before they started the next song, Axl stopped to talk to the crowd.

"How the fuck is everyone out there tonight?" he yelled. The crowd screamed a proper response. "Good. I hear that there are some pretty fuckin' special guests in the audience tonight. Anyone know anything about that?"

The kids behind us started screaming even louder, pointing and motioning at the boys. "Not only are there some kickass people here, but my crew told me backstage that one of them happens to be celebrating a birthday today, is that right?"

Matt looked at me wide-eyed. "Not me," I shouted at him, over the noise. I looked over his shoulder where Zack and Brian were beaming like a couple of kids. I laughed and pointed at them.

"Shadows, you here, man?" Axl called from the stage. Matt turned back toward the stage, and Axl spotted him. "Anyone in here heard of Avenged Sevenfold?" he said. After waiting for the crowd noise to die back down, he continued. "Well, they're all here tonight, and it happens to be M. Shadows' birthday!" Again, he paused for the audience's reaction. Once they quieted a bit, Axl found us in the crowd, and I saw Syn flash him a thumbs up. He pointed at Matt. "I think I'm gonna need some help with this next song, dude. You up for it?"

Matt looked like a kid who just got the super-ultimate version of whatever toy he'd asked Santa to bring him for Christmas. His eyes were wide, and a smile slowly crept across his face, until it couldn't possibly have been any wider. A couple stage hands came to the edge of the stage and helped him jump up.

He scrambled up onto the stage, and Axl offered his hand. Matt took it, and pulled him in for a "bro hug." One of the stage crew brought out another microphone for Matt to use, while Axl introduced him to the crowd, and Matt got wired with in-ear monitors.

"All right, you think you can do this?" Axl joked.

Matt nodded eagerly, but then quickly changed his expression. "Wait, what song are we doing?" he laughed into his mic. I knew from that little laugh that he was actually nervous.

Axl chuckled as well, as the song started up. The opening guitar of "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" rang through the sound system. Matt relaxed visibly, since he ran around singing that song all the time anyway. The two of them ripped through the song, as we all knew they would. Matt, being the huge fan he is, was pretty much in heaven. The two of them traded off vocals, sounding most defintely amazing. The entire audience, us included, was all screaming the lyrics along with them. Once the song was over, Matt got another hug from Axl, jumped down of the stage, and rejoined the rest of us to watch the rest of the show.

After everything was over, we all went to a bar just up the street for post-concert drinks and debauchery, as only Avenged Sevenfold can do it. Brian sashayed up to the bar to get the first round of drinks while the rest of us went to the back corner to find a table.

"Here's to the Shadsman," Brian yelled as he approached the table. "Happy birthday, brother!"

We all grabbed a beer or a glass off the tray he'd carried back with him. "Here, here," I added, raising my glass. Everyone else followed suit, yelling their cheers and clinking glasses.

"Thanks, everyone," Matt said after the crew had downed their drinks. "So, who's idea was all that?" He looked over to me.

I shook my head vigorously. "Not I." I pointed across the table from me to Zack, who pointed to Brian. "I was Syn's idea, but Zacky was the leg work," I summarized. "I had nothing to do with it, other than getting you there."

"I don't know how you did it, but thanks," Matt said again.

We spent the rest of the evening drinking, telling stories, and teasing Arin about what his first groupie experience would be like.

"You know they're all gonna be standing right outside the door, fuckin' whooping and hollering and cheering you on, right?" Jess asked, pointing around to all the guys.

Arin looked like he was blushing. "It's not gonna happen, guys," he mumbled.

"Yes it will," Johnny said. "And it'll be awesome!"

"Leave the kid alone." I walked over to Arin and ruffled his hair. "If he wants to fuck groupies, let him. If he wants to be a little bitch about it, let him do that too." He glared at me. "Oh, you know I'm just kidding, Sweet Cheeks." I kissed him on the forehead. "Don't let 'em get to ya."

"Thanks," he said quietly. "Enough about me. We got any details for tour yet?"

Zack's face lit up. "Working through it now," he said. "The label liked the idea of a full Canadian tour before we hit the US. They're getting everything set up."

"When are we releasing the album?" Brian asked.

"How about just before Halloween?" I piped up. "Get the single on radio beginning of October, the CD drops before Halloween, kickoff tour dates on All Hallows Eve, the Devils' Night, Samhain, whatever you wanna call it."

"I like the way you think, lady!" Zack reached across the table to give me a high-five.

"Yeah, figured you at least would like it!" I obliged him the high-five, and then turned my attention to the girls. "Besides, that gives us an excuse to get the sluttiest costumes we can find and parade around in frot of thousands of dudes!"

Michelle and Jess both nearly blew a gasket laughing. "Fuck yeah!" Michelle screamed, holding up her glass again. "I'm in!"

"Like hell I'm letting that happen," Brian scoffed. "No fuckin' way."

"Oh?" I challenged. "I'd like to see you try and stop us, Scarecrow!" I reached quickly over the table, grabbed his beer, and chugged it. He just stared at me, dumbfounded.

"Gates, don't you know better by now?" Matt laughed. "There's no way to win with this one." He patted my arm as I belched loudly. He rolled his eyes. "God, you're sexy, babe," he teased.

"I do what I can," I shrugged, as Jess guffawed with laughter.

"Man, I love you guys," she managed to choke out. Zacky put his arm around her and nodded.

"And I love you too. But, if you'll excuse us, the birthday boy and I have some, um, highly important birthday business to attend to, if ya know what I mean." I started sliding out of the booth, pulling Matt along with me. "Peace out, homies. You all be good. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"That doesn't leave us many options," Jess said with a wink.

"Ha! So true," I laughed.

"Happy birthday, Matt," Michelle said, getting up from he seat to hug him.

"Yeah, hope you had fun," Zack added, doing the same.

After the daisy chain of hugging was over, I pulled Matt's hand and started toward the door. The last thing I heard was Brian yelling "Yeah! Go getcha some!"