Have Faith in Me

Rachel’s POV:
“Welcome home!” Sheryl screamed when I entered the Revolver office the next morning. I laughed as I hugged her. “How does it feel to be home?” she asked, grinning.

“Awesome. It was so comfortable in bed last night instead of that tiny bunk,” I sighed. “And you’ll never guess what!”

“What could you possibly hide from me if you called me the day before yesterday?”

After she had called me because I hadn’t called her, I made sure to call Sheryl at least once a week to keep her up to date with what as going on and to see how she’s doing.

“Something that happened the day after?”

“What is it? Stop stalling! You know how I get when you hide things from me!” I laughed. The blonde looked expectantly at me.

“Matt asked me to move in with him!” Sheryl squealed, causing me to laugh again.

“Oh my God! Rachel! You are so lucky! You’re going to be living with M. Shadows!” She paused and gasped. “You’re going to be living with M. Shadows. You’re going to be living with M. Shadows!”

“Calm down, Sheryl,” I laughed. “I know I’m going to be living with Matt Sanders.”

“Oh so you’re on a real name bases?” she said, smirking and placing her hands on her hips.

“Have been since day one.” I grabbed my folder that held the best of my photos from the tour. “I’d better get going. Jimmy wants to meet up and look over some of my work. He says there might be a spot on the cover with my name with a three page spread featuring my photos and an interview with me and the guys.”

“An interview featuring a person part of the Revolver staff?” Sheryl’s voice was colored with confusion. I shrugged.

“That’s what Jimmy told me. He said they wanted me to tell the readers what it was like to tour with a band like Avenged.”

“That is ridiculous. First you get to shoot them, then you get to tour with them, then you start to date their singer, and now you might be on in an interview with them!” I laughed as I waved bye to her. I headed back to my office where a man was waiting for me.

“Hey, Jimmy,” I greeted cheerfully.

“Welcome home, Rachel,” he greeted in return as he hugged me. I handed him the folder as I set my stuff down. “I can only imagine how many photos you took through out the whole thing,” he laughed as he started to look through them.

“An easy ten thousand,” I laughed. He shook his head with a chuckle.

“So, are the rumors true?” Jimmy glanced up at me, holding up a photo of Matt. It was one of my favorites. He was looking at the camera, a wide, dimpled smile on his face, his hazel eyes bright and excited. It was just after a show and he had been pumped up on all the adrenaline.

My face flushed as I nodded.

“Geez, woman. Only you would snag your all time favorite singer as your boyfriend.” I laughed. I moved closer to him and looked over his shoulder. I smiled at one I had taken of Zacky and Brian exchanging a smile on stage. Matt had been talking about Jimmy before they did So Far Away. I loved the intimacy of the moment, knowing how much the late drummer meant to them.

“What do you think?” I inquired when he finished going through the photos.

“I think you definitely got a shot at the cover and interview.” I grinned. “I’ll take these to go try and ensure you that slot.” He hugged me one last time before leaving my office. Sighing, I sat back down and started to check if there was anything for me to do.

“Hey! What are you guys doing here?” I greeted when I saw Matt and Zacky waiting for me in the lobby of the office. I hugged Zacky before moving on to kiss Matt.

“My parents are throwing a welcome back barbecue and I thought I’d pick you up to bring you along. All the guys and some friends and family are gonna be there,” Matt told me.

“Sounds fun.”

“Hey, Rach, who’s the chick over there?” Zacky whispered to me, nodding his head towards Sheryl.

“My friend Sheryl.” I turned. “Sher! Come on over!” She looked up and her eyes widened when she saw who I was with. A blush spread across her face. She had been infatuated with Zacky for as long as I could remember. “Sheryl, this is Matt and Zacky. Matt, Zacky, this is Sheryl.” She shook their hands, her blush brightening when her hand grabbed Zacky’s.

“Nice to meet you,” Zacky said as he flashed her a smile. I glanced at Matt and he nodded.

“Why don’t you come with us, Sheryl? Matt’s parents are throwing a barbecue. The more the merrier,” I invited.

“Oh, um, sure,” she stammered. Sheryl ran to grab her things and left with us. She and I walked behind Matt and Zacky. “Oh my God!” she mouthed to me. I stifled a laugh as I shook my head.

Laughter was all around us as we entered the backyard. I spotted Brian and Johnny among the crowd of people. I spotted a few familiar faces here and there that I know from bands I like or I’ve heard of. I nearly screamed when I saw Alex from Atreyu talking to Brandon, the drummer of Atreyu.

“Come on. I want you to meet my parents,” Matt told me. He took my hand and led me away from Zacky and Sheryl. I glanced back in time to see Zacky taking Sheryl towards some people he knew. “Hey, Mom,” Matt greeted an older woman by the grill. He kissed her cheek. Matt turned to the older man beside her. “Hey, Dad.”

“Hey, son,” the older man greeted. “How’s it going?”

“Pretty good, pretty good.” Matt turned to me and gave me a gently nudge forward. “Mom, Dad, this is my girlfriend, Rachel,” he introduced. I smiled shyly.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Rachel. Matt was gushing about you the minute he got home,” the older woman said, smiling warmly. She had the same hazel eyes as Matt. “I’m Janine. This is Jeff, my husband.” I shook his hand, smiling at him as well.

“You sure got a beautiful one, Matt,” Jeff commented. I looked away in embarrassment, causing the two men to chuckle.

“I learned from you, Dad,” Matt laughed. He took my hand. “Come on. There’s some other people I want to introduce you to.”