Instinctive Feelings.

The crowd roared with all their might, while the band wore casual smirks on their faces. Suddenly the drummer, known as The Rev began beating down hard onto his drum kit, and for a few moments that was all that was heard from the band until the guitarists joined in. “Jealously is an ugly word but you don’t seem to care!” Matt shouted in a fast-paced raspy voice while smirking and showing off his dimples. He paused for the adoring fans to sing the next line, holding the silver microphone above their heads. Even though he was wearing mirrored aviator sunglasses, you could tell his eyes were smiling.

As the crowd shifted from side to side in a crazy motion, hands flew into the air and so did people. Sami turned to Dan, her eyes gazing. “IS IT… GOING… TO BE LIKE… THIS FOR THE WHOLE THING?” she attempted to yell over the noise. Dan nodded, though not really knowing what she said. The dark-haired girl held onto the barrier tightly, not wanting to be pulled into the mass that was behind them. “Fucking hell,” she huffed to herself. It was all right for Dan, he knew how to handle a show like this.

Sweat was dripping from every body in the whole place, including the band members themselves. Each time they flicked their hair, a shower of sweat would land onto the fans beneath them - not as if they even cared anyway.

“Isn’t this great?” Dan beamed over the loud music, his face almost completely a grin.

“Yeah, Dan, yeah,” huffed his sister in return, not exactly impressed yet.

The song finished and the whole place went quiet as slowly, Matt stepped forward again, his face kept straight. “How y’all doing tonight? I’ll tell you how you’re fucking doing, you’re doing great,” he paused, looking at the others and smirking before turning back to the fans, “But we want a little more craziness. This next song… it’s something you might know. It’s Second Heartbeat!” He stepped back and began to jump on his own, while the introduction of the song began. If craziness was what they wanted, that is what they were getting. His mouth-watering scream filled every corner of the room, while every other fan caused destruction.

“I have to get out of here,” Sami panted. “I need water. I’ll… I’ll be back. Are you gonna be okay?”

Dan couldn’t hear a word she said, because he was too caught up in the song, as he was swishing his head around to the beat.

She stroked his arm and jumped over the barrier, quickly running to the door for some air. It was only the second song and she couldn’t handle it. More so the heat than anything else, she told herself. The brown-eyed girl wondered how on earth everyone in there was going to handle it. Especially the ones who were going all out crazy. She shook her head and sat on a nearby kerb, letting the cooler wind brush against her skin. Since cooling down, she decided that staying out here was probably her best bet to find Dan again, and she didn’t really like the idea of trying to get through the mass of people. She could still hear the band playing for a short moment before another singer’s voice appeared, the one from the other band that had been playing, but she couldn’t remember the band’s name. “Maybe Dan will come out now,” she muttered, but thought even if he didn’t, she enjoyed sitting out here on her own. It gave her some time to think about things she hadn’t thought about in a long time.

Mainly their father. And his death.

If one thing helped Dan, it was this band and for that she was slightly grateful that he found them when he did. It seemed to hit him a lot harder than it had Sami, but that was probably because for most of the time, Sami had been in complete denial while Dan accepted it.

She shook her head, she couldn’t think of that anymore. Tears stung at her eyes but she brushed them away harshly with the back of her hand and acted like the thoughts hadn’t entered her brain. “I need a cigarette,” she spoke to herself as she lifted a pack of Marlboro Reds from her jean pocket. They were pretty squished, but it was still a cigarette and that was all she was caring about. As she sat, about to light the cigarette, she heard a voice muttering behind her. She snapped her neck back over her shoulder, checking to see if it was her brother, but she couldn’t make out the figure in the darkness.

“Got a light?” they asked again.

Sami jumped to her feet, eager to help the person out because she knew how it felt to not have a light. “Sure,” she called as she walked briskly over to them, rummaging in her pocket for the squished cigarette pack that held the lighter safely inside. As she and the stranger came practically face-to-face, she realized that the character was the bassist of Avenged Sevenfold. Her face flushed with embarrassment as she flicked the lighter but couldn’t get it to work. “Fuck,” she mumbled, glancing away from him, trying to come up with a solution. “You’ll just have to get it from my cig,” she added quickly, holding out the bent cigarette.

“What the fuck happened to this?” he joked, holding the cigarette in front of his eyes and examining it.

“Being in that fucking crowd is what happened.” She snatched the cigarette back once he lit his own and took a long drag.

“All right. So, why did you leave?”

“What?”

“I saw you leave. Why did you leave?” his eyes stayed focused on her, and were almost intimidating.

“I needed some air, is that not allowed these days?” she retorted, becoming slightly irritated by his question.

“Okay, okay. I’m Johnny by the way.”

Sami sighed. “I know your name already.”

“Well I don’t know yours…”

Sami began to walk away from him, smirking a little. He wasn’t getting to know her name, simply because she wasn’t in the mood to share it. Whether he was famous or not, she didn’t care. She went back to the kerb, sat in the exact same spot as before, and continued to smoke her cigarette.

Johnny scratched his forehead and plodded over, sitting down beside her and smiling a little. “Did I do something wrong or are you always like this?”

“I’m always like this,” the girl hissed jokingly. “No, I’m kidding, I’m Sami.”

Honestly, she had no idea why she had blurted her name out to him. Especially because she told herself she wouldn’t.

“Do you live ‘round here?” he asked, his eyes darting around.

“What are you going to ask me next, if I’m legal?” she joked in return. “But no, I live about forty minutes away. You?”

“I live in Huntington Beach.”

Sami sighed inside a little, she knew now that anytime she visited Huntington Beach she’d probably bump into him - knowing her luck, but outside she smiled a little. Another body came behind her, this time it was her brother. Just in time too. “Hey Dan,” she grinned, getting up and hugging him tightly. “Did you have a good time?”

Dan smirked but pushed his sister away, “A good time?! That was fucking awesome.”

“Uhm, well, I better go,” muttered Johnny, who was also now standing. “Maybe I’ll catch you around sometime?” He offered a hug to the brother and sister, which they both returned, then disappeared into the darkness.

“What the fuck?” Dan questioned. “How can you just be all… calm… when he was just RIGHT THERE?”

Sami shrugged. “I don’t know. We were talking until you came out, so…”

“And you didn’t even think to come and get me?” Dan huffed, then walked to the car.

They were both tired and the journey home was going to be a long one. At least for Sami it would be.