When You Got a Good Thing

[Brian's P.O.V. – Dec. 15th, 2010 11:40 A.M.]
When we woke up the morning after Zack's party, Sadie and I had hella bad hangovers. It was odd because we hadn't had that much, but I guess that's what having a lot of alcohol over a period of time will do to you.

The next few days were a blur. We tried to get a routine worked out that we could stick to for the time being. We would wake up, Sadie would make breakfast, we'd rest for a couple of hours, watching tv and what-not and then take Pinkly for a walk down to the beach. Just in time for lunch. We had found a small shack on the beach that served some of the best sandwiches. And to think I had only just found it. Jimmy usually found treasures like that, not me.

Our morning was structured but we left the afternoons up to chance. Usually Zacky and Gena asked us to hang out. Matt and Val were too enthralled in getting the house ready for family for the holidays. I guess Johnny and Lacey were just…spending time together.

I was thinking Sadie wished she had her dogs too. She fussed over Pinkly almost as much as me. She was…less forgiving if Pinkly misbehaved though. I guess I needed that too. I let Pinks get away with everything.

Today, we decided to talk a walk around the neighborhood before going down to the beach.

Pinkly walked in front of us and Sadie and I held hands. Pinkly would sniff and yip, then move on.

"McKenna wants you to go visit the barn with her on Sunday. Would you be up for that? I'll come with you."

"Only if you want to come. I mean, McKenna probably wants me to get on the horse right?"

"Yeah I think she does. She'd really love it. She's so spoiled though. She'll annoy the crap out of you. I apologize beforehand." My comment earned a good laugh from Sadie.

"Ah, it'll take time for her to realize that she can't have everything. It'll be fine."

Pinkly surged forward at the sight of a tipped over recycling bin.

"Pinkly! That's nasty. You're not sniffing that!" I pulled her back gently, but she kept at it. She yanked on the collar. She was strong for such a little dog.

"Pinks what's the problem?" Sadie bent down to the barking animal. She nudged Sadie and then ran back toward the recycling bin.

And that's when I heard it.

There was a small whimper, definitely a dog. I shot a worried glance at Sadie. She stepped toward the bin. She gasped and reached her hand in.

"Sadie be careful." Pinkly continued yipping and twirling in circles as Sadie stood. There was a ball of white and grey fur in her hands. It sighed and looked up at me with the cutest blue eyes I'd ever seen.

"Brian…It's a puppy! He must be a stray. He's all dirty."

"Does he have tags?" I asked, Pinkly still throwing a fit on the ground. Sadie checked for a collar but no avail.

"No. I guess…someone didn't want him." Sadie seemed pretty upset, and I held her close as we walked back to the house.

We really hadn't gone that far and made it home in five, maybe ten minutes. Sadie placed the small dog on the floor and Pinkly jumped at him.

"Pinkly! Don't be obnoxious. You'll scare him." I scooped her up and placed her down on my lap as I sat on the floor. Sadie sat next to me and we watched the little pup as he roamed around. He stayed within the vicinity of the foyer, not daring to venture from his rescuers.

He got up a little courage and pounced on the rug, before backing up and half rearing. His actions made Sadie and I chuckle.

"C'mere little guy." She said, making a kissing noise. His attention went to Sadie and he bounded to her, putting his paws on her leg. Pinkly tried to wriggle out of my arms and yelped.

"Pinks, stop. You have to wait." I told my dog, securing her from escaping. Sadie picked up the puppy and held him.

"Brian….can we keep him? Obviously whoever owned him didn't want him." I nodded and patted him.

"Now he just needs a name." I said, Sadie thanking me by laying a soft peck on my cheek.

"What about…" Sadie thought a moment and then snapped her fingers. "Bailey."

"He looks like a Bailey. Bailey and Pinkly. Hey, doesn't he look like Pinkly a bit?" I questioned, taking a good look at the shape of the puppy's body and face. He looked like a Maltese.

"Maybe he's the same breed. It surprises me is that someone would get rid of a puppy as cute as him." She hugged Bailey gently.

"I think I have an extra collar and leash somewhere. I'll grab it so we can walk them both down to the beach. I think Zack and Gena were going to meet us there." I explained, going to fetch (haha) the one extra collar and leash that I remembered getting from Zack a few years ago. It was solid blue, which was perfect because Bailey was a boy.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
[12:09 P.M.]
Bailey was fairly fit. He walked the whole way and was pretty well behaved on the leash. Clearly someone had put some sort of time into training him, but they just…didn't want him. Or maybe it was something else entirely.

Once we got down to the beach we saw Gena and Zack sitting at a picnic table, their two dogs Icky and Majesty sitting quietly next to each other in the sand. I released our animals from their leashes and they sprinted over to the other two dogs, who jumped up and pounced on the two white balls of fluff.

"Brian! Who's the other dog?" Sadie and I sat next to Zack and Gena, watching the four dogs go crazy in the sand. Sadie hugged Gena and kissed Zacky on the cheek.

I knew he was truly in love with Gena, but he always got this goofy smile on his face whenever Sadie was close to him. It pissed me off so much. Even though Zack was my friend, I was jealous. I wasn't afraid to admit that. Well…to his face I was…and to hers. I cleared my throat.

"We found him. We were walking Pinks and he was laying on the ground whimpering."

"Lucky you. No tags?" Gena asked, leaning to pet Bailey. He welcomed the attention and attempted jumping up on her lap.

"Nope. Nothing. We'll just take him to the vet and get him checked out I guess. Make sure he's not diseased or anything." I explained, earning a hefty laugh from Zacky. Zacky sat straight again though and stared at me.

"So…did Matt tell you?" I shrugged at his question.

"Tell me what?" I heard the accidently tinge of attitude in my voice. I think Sadie did too. She raised at eyebrow at me.

"About Mike. I guess not."

"What about Mike? He's coming on the Nightmare After Christmas tour right?" The corners of Zack's mouth dropped.

"No. He's not. Uh…Larry had a chat with him and said something to the effect of 'We want to be Avenged Sevenfold, not Avenged Sevenfold and Mike Portnoy.' So Mike got pissed and decided not to tour with us." I laid my hand flat against the picnic table, rubbing the bridge of my nose with two fingers.

"Are you fucking kidding me? So we don't have a goddamn drummer. Great." Zack took in a deep breath and let it out shakily. He was thinking about Jimmy. I could tell.

"No we just have to find someone. We need to find a really good drummer that's not busy that's all."

"And what if we don't find one?"

"Brian why do you have to be so negative? Larry is trying to get suggestions and trying to set up auditions. He's doing everything he can. He was gonna call us in for a meeting later today."

"Why am I so negative? Gee, I don't know. Why am I not in the loop on any of this? Is it because you think I'm going to get upset again?"

"Brian…that's not…" I cut him off, the harshness in my voice startling even me.

"We can't replace Jimmy. You know that. No one can ever replace him. There's never going to be another drummer good enough for this band. We should've given up when we had the chance." And there I felt hands on my shoulders. Sadie. She massaged gently, easing my nerves. Her touch was so comforting.

"I know we can't replace him. I don't want to. You know we have to go on for him." I sighed at Zack's comment.

"Yeah…I know." I replied, my voice becoming unsteady as I thought more about Jimmy. Sadie's arms wrapped around my middle and she placed her lips on my neck.

"So…meeting later?" I said, trying to keep my emotions in check.

"Most likely. I promise to text or call you. I'm going to keep you in the loop Bri. You're a part of this band too."

"I know. I appreciate it Zack. Sometimes it feels like we aren't a band anymore though." I couldn't stay mad at Zacky. Ever. He was just too damn nice. I guess it's why I put up with him being the way he is with Sadie. I love him like a brother.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
[3:00 P.M.]
*from Zacky: Larry wants us there for 4, Sadie can come if she wants, Gena is comin' w/ me*

I replied with an 'okay' and stood from my laptop. I had it set on the counter in the kitchen. I turned it off and closed it before striding to the living room, where Sadie was laying on the couch with Pinkly and Bailey. It was so quiet without anyone except us. I enjoyed it.

"Zacky texted me." I knelt down beside the couch, Bailey rising from his light sleep to greet me.

"And?" Sadie's voice was soft, barely audible if you weren't next to her. She tended to do that.

"Larry wants us at the studio at four. You can come too. In fact, I really would love it if you did." I ran the back of my hand across her cheek. She was warmer than usual.

"Okay. We leaving Pinkly and Bailey home?" I nodded.

"Are you alright baby? You're really warm."

"Yeah. Fine. I just have a little headache is all. I'm okay." I pressed my lips to hers. I observed her tan and blue orbs.

"Sadie. You look so tired. Are you sure you're okay?" She shifted, seeming fairly uncomfortable.

"Now that I've had time to relax, my body is beginning to hurt. I'm so active and now I'm just kind of doing nothing. I was riding six to seven horses a day plus doing barn work."

"I get that. If I don't play guitar for a few days my hands hurt terribly. I mean…it's different but I understand what you mean. We just might need to do more until you can get used to not working hard every day." I helped her up off the couch and kept my arm around her. Taking the keys to the 'Cedes off the table, we ambled out to the driveway, leaving Pinkly and Bailey to potentially destroy the house.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
[3:25 P.M.]
Parking in the lot to the studio, we stepped out into fresh air again. Zacky's BMW was sitting up by the entrance, as was Larry's car. Matt and Johnny had yet to arrive.

Sadie and I linked our fingers and we stepped inside the blue brick building.

Gena was sitting in the kitchen with Zack, both of them having beer. Their tolerance for alcohol surprised me sometimes. I was a heavy drinker at times, but I didn't drink like it was water.

We said our hellos and I took Sadie into the belly of the studio to meet Larry. She shook his hand immediately.

"Nice to meet you Sadie. I'm sure you're keeping this trouble maker in line?" He chuckled.

"Oh yes. Of course." She flashed a smile and then looked to me. Larry spoke again.

"Brian. I'm sorry about all this. Not keeping you in the loop. It's been a bit hectic with what I've been trying to arrange. I haven't barely talked to Johnny either. It's good that Zack keeps you informed." I simply nodded and smiled, agreeing with him.

"So what exactly is the plan?" I asked, taking a seat. Sadie stood next to me, keeping her hand in mine.

"That's what I'm addressing in the meeting. I'm going to call your father too. He's the next that we need."

"Okay." Larry walked out of the room, probably outside to get in touch with my dad. Sadie shifted weight from her one hip to the other.

"Now I get why you do that."

"Do what?" She rubbed her hip a little.

"That…the thing with your hip. You don't like to put weight on that whole side of your body. It's because it hurts right?" I coaxed her toward me, placing my hands on her hips.

"Yeah it does. It's not my hip though. It takes pressure off of my back. I've fallen off so many horses that I've messed it up pretty bad. I used to go to a chiropractor but I haven't had problems so I haven't been."

"Does that have anything to do with the headaches?" She let her hand drift up to my shoulders and she leaned forward. I spread my legs and trapped her between them.

"Yeah. I'm all fucked up." She laughed softly and grinned down at me. I loved that smile.

"No you aren't. You're just..ouchie. I can fix that." I leaned up, begging for a kiss, and she gladly obliged.

"You can fix everything."