Don't Deny Me

Summer days were always the best. At least when the store was somewhat manageable but at the peak of summer that was often rare. All the beach bums wanted the best swim suits and such. I found myself wishing I could grab some cute bikini and join them but I always had something crazy going on. At least that's what I told myself.

"Hey day dreamer!" a feminine but not female voice greeted, flicking manicured hands in my face.

I shook myself, smiling wide for my favorite co-worker and roommate. "Hello, Bree." I purred.

His pretty colored eyes were sparkling in mischief, a sight I'd grown to love and somewhat fear.

I helped him with some boxes of new clothes and put them in the back for Cody and Kyle, our storage guys, to unpack. It was strange being the only biological girl in the shop for the time.

"Where have you been, Bree? You're shift started 30 minutes ago." I huffed, setting the boxes down and going to the register to ring up a hoodie for a young girl with her dad.

I gave the dad his receipt, gave the girl a smile and handed them the bag with her new hoodie. I turned to look at a bored Bree to give him the go ahead to start his story.

"Girl." He snapped his fingers while he dragged out the "irl". I giggled and hopped up on the counter, we were surprisingly empty this afternoon at "Surf 'n' Turf"

"This story better include hot boys." I smiled, adjusting a plastic flyer so it wouldn't be stabbing the tender flesh of my thighs.

Bree gave me a look that said "Doesn't it always?" He continued when I shrugged.

"I stopped by your brother's garage where he was having band practice and the hottest men stopped by! Girl I was going cuckoo for coco puffs the whole damn time!" He paused, as I giggled, to fan himself dramatically. Bree was definitely always one for drama.

"Who were these guys?" I took some hot Cheetos that Bree managed to pull from his pocket and popped them in my mouth. The spice kicked in almost immediately, making me wish I hadn't eaten so many at once.

Bree's expressive green eyes smoldered as he thought of them. "Oh! They were another band who wanted you're brother's band to open for them, but they were hot! I think they were called Avenging Seven or something like that."

"Avenging Seven?" I laughed, nearly choking on the remains of the hot chips. That couldn't possibly be the band's name.

"Bitch, I don't know what it was called I was staring at this one big tattooed daddy with dimples." Bree sighed and took the biggest Cheetos into his mouth like it was a dick.

I laughed and pretended to cover my eyes as he took the big red chip deep. The guy who came up behind us to buy a pair of flip flops looked uncomfortable but smiled as he watched what Bree could do.I wondered if he probably wished he could do that. I smiled to myself as I rung him up. "Have a nice day." I waved and looked at the computer for the time.

"I'm only happy to have three hours of work left when you're here." I said on a sigh, sliding off the counter and lazily going over to fix the bikinis that a careless woman had tossed around. Another great day at work! Sarcasm is intended.

"Aww thanks baby." Bree swooned. Then he drew in such a sharp breath I turned to see what was wrong with him. I found his stunned gaze on the shop door. I followed his eyes and saw what made such a commotion but I wasn't so obvious about my surprise.

There was a man with big muscular arms that were full of colorful body art, I moved up his body to his face. Deep dimples that were amazingly beautiful even on a man, were carved into his face as he looked me over. I noticed he had the air of intimidation around him but it was so hard to be scared of him when the most dominant thing about him was his smile.

"OMG that's the sexy guy I was telling you about!!" Bree hissed at me, slapping my arm and holding back a squeal. I nodded in agreement. This man was definitely hot.

I didn't notice but the person who was holding the door open was my brother. Total boner kill when a beautiful man was in the shop. I almost yelled at him to get the hell out so I could just stare at the man with no interruptions.

"Holy shit, sis, I have great news!!" my brother, Daniel, raced past his sexy friend to grab my shoulders. He shook them when I just stared at the hot stranger.

"Did you hear me?" he shook again, annoyance plaguing the excited glaze in his pretty blue eyes. I searched his face for any sign of what happened. It was easy to tell I was lost.

He sighed heavily, "My band is gonna be opening for Avenged Sevenfold in two weeks!"

I glanced between Danny and the tattooed man to see him smirking. It had to be true. A growing smile on my face, I squealed, throwing my arms around his neck. "Oh my God, I'm so happy for you, Danny!" I giggled, he chuckled as well, spinning us around.

"That's great and all but are you gonna introduce us to your friend over there?" Bre interrupted dryly, I knew he wasn't really teasing. He was just as curious as me, but as I'd grown to know, Bree wasn't exactly shy about letting people know what he wanted.

Danny shook his head, chastising himself, and turned to look at the handsome man. "Sorry bro, I was just excited you know?"

The man nodded, "It's cool, Danny, I remember the feeling." His eyes were bright as he seemingly revisited his past. I couldn't tell the color but I knew they weren't brown or anything.

I stepped away from the counter and took Bre's arm to meet him with me. I could feel him shaking with excitement.

"Matt, this is my sister, Lexie. Lexie, this is the lead singer of Avenged Sevenfold."

I placed my cream colored hand into the palm of Matt's larger slightly tanned one. His shake was firm but not crushing. He took care to be gentle. I felt myself burn under the hazel of his eyes. Thick eyelashes brushed my face as I cast my eyes down, fighting the smile that refused to leave my lips.

Bree cleared his throat beside me extra loudly. Embarrassed, I turned Matt's attention to the excited gay by my side.

"Matt this is my best friend and roommate, Brenden but we call him Bree." I watched as Bree placed his hand in Matt's. The larger man didn't appear to be uncomfortable with my gay best friend at all, earning points in my book.

"Lex, there's another reason for us coming here." Danny ran a hand over his shaggy black hair nervously as he alternated glances from Matt to me. I couldn't read a thing on my brother's usually open face. My teeth sought the tender flesh of my inner cheek and chewed.

"Don't worry it's not bad." Matt chuckled, "It's just since you work at a shop like this, maybe you would want a change of scenery and maybe wanted to sell merch at the shows?"

There was no doubt that my eyes grew wide but I didn't expect Bree's reaction.

He squealed, jumping up and down so happily I giggled. "She'd love to! And I'm her assistant so I have to go along." he added quickly.

I felt my eyes somewhat shrink back to normal as we all laughed, that was one of the many reasons why I loved Bree. He knew how to make a room full of strangers laugh. Brushing my hair back, I looked at Matt dead in the eyes and nodded, agreeing to sell merchandise. Not too appealing to some but it beat being so…. trapped. Yeah, I like my job but it's great getting to go on tour with my brother. At least it better be.

"Great!" my brother cheered, excitement clear in his eyes, he even began dancing with Bree, who, while still very much excited, was trying to figure out how to dance with Matt. I surprised myself by wishing the two would leave me and the handsome singer alone.

Matt carefully walked around Bree - smart guy - to stand beside me as I watched the show, leaning against the counter. He nudged me with his hip gently, gaining my attention.

"Are you this happy to tour with us?" he asked, arms folding over his chest, biceps bulging. You have no idea how hard it was to not break out in a huge grin and jump on those arms. Or maybe you do if you've seen him.

"Well, I don't know about this happy," I motioned to the dorks who were incredibly still dancing, "but yes I am excited. Is that how it feels when you leave home to tour?" I looked up at him, wanting to read his expression. It tells so much more about a person than words alone. He smiled a bit then thought about what he was going to say.

"I guess sort of. I love being able to make so many people happy but it's a bum out to have to leave my family and the rest of my friends behind." his eyes dimmed even though he still had a smile on his face.

"It's more of a bum out since its you're dream?"

Matt looked at me sharply, almost staring into my soul, his gaze was so intense. Had I said something bad? To the contrary it seemed I had guessed his secret.

"You don't have to feel bad for living your dream you know." I nudged him playfully, trying to lighting the mood. I didn't want him to think I was a downer or something. What a great way to start off the tour right? Not.

He was quiet for awhile but I saw the light of his humor burn in his hazel eyes. His hand ran over his dimpled face quickly and sighed.

"Pretty perceptive huh?" Matt's smile was short-lived. Practically the same moment he smiled, Bre managed to pull him in for a dance.

How a man as big and strong as Matt seemed to be, let Bre drag him into a dance was beyond me. Well, I thought, maybe he would let Bre have his moment of fun. It would also get him away from my "perceptive" eyes, my brain tacked on as an afterthought. Yep that was me, give with one hand and take with the other. Instinctively I looked in the mirror to adjust my hair, the blush from Matt was still burning my cheeks. The color was pretty as I took in the girl in the mirror. She struck me as a girl who was at first absolutely beautiful but there was also something bothering her.

"Hellooooo!" Bree wagged his finger in my face much like he had earlier. I bit my lip when I noticed all the guys were staring at me funny.

"Sorry." I ran a hand through the soft pieces of hair that began to fall into my eyes. The need to constantly perfect my appearance began to gnaw at me but there wasn't much I could do when they were all staring at me. Instead I felt heat rise on my cheeks until the last of their eyes left my face.

~~~~~~

A few days after Matt came into the shop, I was closing up ,with Bre chatting ecstatically about the thrill of going on tour with a bunch of sexy rockstars. His words not mine. For all I knew Matt was the only hot guy in Avenged Sevenfold. I had heard some of their songs, falling instantly for "A Little Piece of Heaven" and "I Won't See You Tonight Part 2" but I didn't see any pictures of what any of them looked like.

"Bree, you know we're gonna be in the hot sun for hours right?" I drawled, making sure he knew what we were getting into. Knowing him he's just been focused on the words "hot" and "guy". A devious smirk sprawled across his face, "Of course, doll, that means time for me to work on a tan and really step up my game."

I chuckled, hip bumping him and continuing to walk down the somewhat quiet street with a few groups of tired surfers passing us.

"That means we're gonna be sweaty in the booths." I added sadly, looking both ways before crossing the street and headed up the stairs to the apartment building where we lived that was a block from the Santa Monica Pier. Bree whistled at the somewhat cute guys in a black Jeep. They laughed and shook their heads. "I don't know why you worry about shit like that, Lex." Bre licked his lips and smiled, holding my hand in his and walking with me to our mailbox.

"I don't know, I just feel better about myself when I look good. Is that so bad?" I said defensively, getting our mail and running my fingers through the hair of the little girl who lived in the apartment closest to the pool, directly downstairs from us. She hugged my leg and looked at Bree funny.

"You can't hold hands!" she pointed at our joined hands accusingly, her cute tan cheeks turning pink from how much she wanted our hands to separate. Just as I was about to let his hand go he held on even tighter.

Bree knelt down to the small girl, Julie, to speak to her while dragging me down as well.

"I have to hold her hand, Julie. If I don't then I'll like boys!" he smiled at her as her eyes got wide in disbelief. I couldn't stop the urge to laugh, how could he say something like that to a little girl and keep a straight face? He looked at me and tried to get me to convince her. I coughed to hide my laughter and found a grim smile for her.

"It's true, Julie. I need to hold his hand all day." I nodded as Bree stood up to his impressive height, folding his arm around my waist to emphasize his point. Julie stared up at us and bit her lip. "Oh…it's ok then." she mumbled as we both smiled at her and walked up the stairs to our apartment. As soon as we were out of Julie's sight I smacked Bree in the side to which he laughed, trying to kiss me, as if there was a shred of him that still liked women.

"You are so bad! I can't believe you told her that!" I giggled, fiddling with the keys and opening the door, our cat named Fender meowed lazily from the couch he was resting on. Bre laughed loudly again and went to pick up the skinny black and white cat with green eyes that we loved so much.

"Oh get over it." He sang to Fender and me. Rolling my eyes I went to put my things in my room, lavender on the walls with my dark purple bed which had a black body pillow that looked so good to snuggle on. "Hey Bre, we have to be packed tonight so tomorrow we can just go ok?" I called, relieving my tired scalp from the pressure of my rubber band. I heard him mutter something but I wasn't sure what. "When is the tour bus going to pick our asses up?" he yelled from his bedroom, no doubt shoving countless tank tops and glasses and such into his duffle bag. I laughed and walked into his room, the light green walls were covered in posters of half naked guys.

"The tour bus isn't picking us up since we aren't in a band but we'll meet Danny and the guys at Danny's." I sat on Bree's soft white bed and placed a hand on Fender's silky body. The cat purred instantly, folding its body into the shape of my hand to maximize the massage my hand could give him. Oh he was such a whore for attention like his daddy.

I told Bree the same thing and laughed as he flipped me off, smile on his lips. I stuck my tongue out back and laid back on his bed. His plush pillows were so soothing I wanted nothing more than to sleep then pack. "What would you do if I told you that Matt guy was checking you out the entire time?" he asked after a moment, the smallest hint of envy in his voice.

"Ehh, I think we'll just have to wait and see. Who knows maybe I'll meet the man of my dreams on this tour!" I sighed dreamily as Bree hit me with a soft pillow. I laughed with him and smacked him back.

SYNYSTER GATES

"Promise you'll call?"

I smirked the very smirk I was infamous for and nodded for her benefit. I think her name was Angie but I wasn't sure enough to call her that. I slid my jeans on as she watched from the bed, sheets covering the huge tits I had been drawn to earlier this evening. "Yeah I'll call babe, but you know I'm in a band and it's not always easy for me to call a special girl." I lied with just the right amount of innocence, sighing as I slid onto the bed with her so she would somewhat believe me.

"Syn Gates, you're such a bad man." she giggled, holding the sheets tighter around herself. "You're not gonna call me and you know it."

I couldn't help but smile and wink. "You said it first sweetheart not me but I had fun anyway," That was a lie I've had better.. "Maybe we'll meet another time?" Kissing her cheek for the last time I quickly made my way from her hotel room to the elevator she was close to. I pushed the button a few times, annoyed with how it would stick to my finger. After a few minutes the bell rang out signaling my ride down.

Thankfully the elevator was empty so I could be alone with my thoughts. It took me a second to realize I didn't exactly have deep thoughts. Nope, the extent of my inner reflection was how ridiculously hot Angie was tonight. I sighed happily all the while thinking, God, how I love being Synyster Gates.