Between a Little Piece of Heaven and the Danger Line

I was woken by the sound of my cell phone vibrating constantly. Damn, I really should have turned it onto silent after I said goodnight to Zacky... I groaned and rolled over to pick it up. The screen read ‘Dad’, so I quickly answered it. He only called me early in the morning if it was something important, and considering my alarm hadn’t gone off yet, it was damn early.

“Hello?” I said, my eyes automatically shutting again.

“Bri? Is it true?” my father asked. He sounded upset, but I had no idea why.

“Is what true?” I questioned while yawning. I was so confused. What was going on?

“You know what! Is it true?” Dad retorted as I rubbed my eyes.

“I’m seriously confused! What the hell?” I nearly shouted back. I was so annoyed that he was being so vague. “You woke me up Dad. I don’t know what’s happening.” I ran my hand down over my face, itching my stubble when I reached my chin.

“Get out of bed and get the magazine that comes with the newspaper every week. Look at the front cover,” Dad ordered, so I forced myself to crawl out of bed and get to my front door. Sure enough, there was the celebrity gossip magazine curled up inside the newspaper. It fell out and into my hands and I turned it until I found the front cover.

“Holy shit...” I whispered as I saw the front page. The headline read ‘Metal Band Avenged Sevenfold Guitarists Gay’ and there was a huge slightly blurry picture of Zacky and I kissing on his couch.

“Son, is it true?” my father’s voice asked distantly as I stared at the magazine. I quickly opened it and found the article on me. There were more fuzzy pictures of Zacky and I getting intimate, the last one showing us holding hands as we made our way out of the room and, as I recall, to the bedroom. As I skimmed over the article, I realised it was mainly just some background on the band, as well as Zacky and I, and hardly anything was written on our new relationship. It just stated that after Jimmy’s passing, we dumped our girlfriends, and now it’s obvious why. The writers obviously didn’t know too much about what was going on...

“I don’t believe it...” I muttered, not too sure how this had gotten to the press. There was no way in hell I was ready for this to be out in public. I mean, I love Zacky, a lot, but... How were all of my thousands of fans going to react to this?

“Son! Is this true?” Dad repeated angrily.

“Yeah, it is, Dad,” I managed to say as I shut my front door and made my way into my kitchen. This could not be happening...

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier, boy? I can’t believe I had to find out through a gossip magazine!” he yelled and I suddenly felt like crying. My father was disappointed in me. I never ever wanted him to be disappointed in me.

“I was going to tell you...” I scarcely said, but I doubt he heard me.

“I can’t believe this, Bri... You should be able to tell me anything! I’m your father!”

“I was going to!” I shouted furiously as I opened the fridge. I grabbed the first beer bottle I saw and slammed the fridge door shut.

“Surely you’re just confused because of all the emotions Jimmy’s death brought... How long has this been going on for?” my father demanded as I ripped off the lid.

“How long has what been going on for? Me being gay or my relationship with Zacky?” I asked before taking a huge gulp. Thank God I had picked a high percentage alcohol beverage; I couldn’t stand my dad talking to me like this and the alcohol would numb the pain.

“How long have you been gay for?” he asked after a pause, his voice slightly quieter now.

“Since I was a teenager,” I answered, trying to make it vague so he didn’t go too mental at me.

“A teenager?” he exclaimed and I rolled my eyes. “I should have raised you better than this!” My jaw dropped in utter shock. That was the last thing any man should ever hear from their father.

“I can’t talk to you right now,” I whispered after a pause. I hung up and sculled the rest of my beer before checking what time it was on my phone. Not even 7 in the morning yet. And I was already drinking. Wow. I threw the empty bottle into my bin before grabbing something a bit stronger. By the time Zacky text me to say good morning, I was already feeling slightly tipsy. We texted for a bit before I jumped in the shower with some Jack Daniels, Zacky agreeing to pick me up to take me to the studio so we could finish up some work on Danger Line. That’s where I felt like I was right now. I was sitting on the danger line, in between what the press, my fans, Zacky, and my father thought, and the bullets were flying like crazy. It was only a matter of time before one hit me and really damaged me.

After I had a shower and got dressed, I drunk some more whiskey before brushing my teeth and then waiting for Zacky in the lounge. I cruised the TV channels for a few minutes before I saw Zacky pulling into my driveway. After turning the TV off, I exited my house and joined him in the car. Zacky gave me a small kiss on my cheek as a greeting after the casual ‘hey’s, and we then drove in silence to the studio. My head was already spinning, so I was fine with not talking anyway. Zacky slowed the car down into his park nicely and turned off the motor.

“Did you see the-” he began.

“Yup,” I curtly interrupted him.

“And...?”

“My dad hates me now...” I barely whispered, staring down at my hands in my lap.

“I’m sure he doesn’t,” Zacky stated, sounding a lot happier than I was about the whole magazine situation. I remained quiet, lost in thought. “Look, we already know that our friends and my family can accept it, so will the fans... I’m sure Papa Gates will accept us too.”

“But he didn’t!” I hissed before opening my door hurriedly. I leapt out of the car, slammed the door shut and stormed off across the car park and to the studio, stumbling a bit as the alcohol caused me to lose my balance momentarily every 5 seconds or so. My own father couldn’t accept me for my partner choice. Screw what everyone else thinks. I wanted him to be okay with it. And he wasn’t.

I grabbed a hold of the door handle and tried to open the door, but it was locked. What the...? I looked up and saw ‘Cleaner Only’ written on the door. After muttering a few swear words under my breath, I moved along the building a bit until I found the right (and unlocked) door. Once it was opened, my dizzy head caused me to stumble off to the left and crash into the door frame, then fall over onto the table, landing sprawled out on my back. And just to make things better, food had gotten all over me as I crashed into the fresh lunch already set up for us. I groaned as I thumped my head down onto the table. What a good fuckin’ morning I was having... Fuck my life...