Have Faith in Me

“What are you talking about?” Matt asked.

“My parents. They never approve of anything I do. The only thing they’ve ever approved of was Aaron,” I explained. “What was my dad saying to you?”

“He was just saying I’d better take care of you and how he didn’t like how I looked and a bunch of other shit.” He paused for a moment. “Personally, I think you should go with what you think is right.” I shrugged.

“In this case, I don’t care what they think. I love you and I’ll stay with you no matter what.” He flashed me a dimpled smile. We didn’t say anything else as we drove home. Matt wordlessly led the way to the front door. I headed straight for the couch and laid down on it. I closed my eyes, feeling a headache coming on. Rough, calloused hands started to knead the knots out of my exposed shoulders.

“Someone’s stressed out,” Matt noted. I let out a deep sigh.

“Just a little.” He placed a feather light kiss on my shoulder.

“Relax, Rach. Forget about everything and relax.”

“Forget about… I forgot!” I shot up and turned to face him. “You and the guys need to come to the office and do an interview.” Matt rolled his eyes as he got on the couch himself. I laid back down, now on my back. He rested his elbows so he was hovering over me.

“I told you to forget about everything,” he repeated before coming down and pressing a passionate kiss to my lips.

***

My alarm rang the next morning. I swung back and shut it off. I buried my face into Matt’s bare chest.

“You gotta wake up,” Matt said.

“I don’t wanna,” I objected. He chuckled, his hands skimming my bare back.

“Interview today, remember?” I groaned and started to roll out of the bed. He tightened his hold on me and pulled me back towards him. Matt brought his lips to my ear and whispered, “I told you I’d have you screaming something entirely different from rape.” I glared at him, my face burning up, and he smirked in response. I climbed out of the bed and went into the bathroom.

“Did you call the guys yet?” I asked when I got out of the shower twenty minutes later. Matt nodded.

“They’re meeting us there.” I nodded. He stood up, kissing my temple before going into the bathroom. I put on some jeans and a A Day To Remember shirt. I headed down to the kitchen and hit “play” on the iPod dock. H2O started to play as I started going through the refrigerator.

“What the fuck do you know about me?” I was singing when Matt came into the kitchen.

“Someone sounds angry,” he laughed. I rolled my eyes as I placed pancakes on the table.

“I blame Casey Jones,” I retorted. I poured him a cup of coffee before pouring myself one and sitting down at the table.

“Are you still going to work after the interview?”

“Nope. Jimmy gave me the day off. It’s gonna be awhile anyways since a shoot is included.”

“And are you going to be doing said shoot?”

“Actually, I’m going to be in the shoot and interview. They want my point of view of how it is to tour with a band like you guys.”

“What are you gonna say?”

“Drugs, booze, and groupies were all I saw.” Matt glared at me and I laughed. He cleared away our plates as I filled Bella’s food bowl. “Let’s go.”

“Rachel!” Johnny yelled when Matt and I entered the office.

“Johnny!” I yelled back. He hugged me. “Someone’s excited."

“I haven’t seen you in forever!”

“You saw me the other day.”

“Stop hogging her, short shit,” Brian said, pulling me out of Johnny’s grasp and hugging me.

“Don’t think I don’t know about you and Sheryl,” I told Zacky when I hugged him. He smiled sheepishly as he pulled away.

“Where are we going?” Matt inquired.

“This way.” I led the way to an empty office that was generally used for photo shoots or other projects. Jimmy was in there, watching people set up a backdrop. He turned when he heard the door open.

“There’s my favorite photographer!” he greeted as he hugged me.

“You’re doing the shoot?” I asked. He nodded. “Well then this must be a pretty important interview. Jimmy, this is Matt, Zacky, Brian, and Johnny. Guys, this is Jimmy, my boss.” They exchanged hello’s.

“Well, I’m ready to go whenever you guys are,” Jimmy told us. After exchanging a look, the guys and I got onto the set. I found myself being shifted around a lot. One minute I was in the middle, the next I was on the outside of the group next to Johnny, and the next I was jumping onto one of their backs.

“How are they looked, Jim?” I questioned as I climbed off of Matt’s back when the photo shoot finally ended.

“These are looking pretty nice. Come look at them,” he invited. I walked over and looked over his shoulder at the computer screen. He was looking at one where I was standing a little ways away from them and was giving Zacky one of my infamous you-are-so-stupid looks. He was returning the look and we were both trying not to laugh. “This one here is my favorite. I think I’ll submit this one for the cover.” I was standing in the middle of the guys. I had my elbow resting on Matt’s shoulder, a hand on my hip and a smirk on my face. The guys were looking like their badass selves.

“That one is nice. Mind printing me a copy for my house?” I requested.

“Not a problem. You know where you’re headed for the interview, right?” I nodded. “Then I’ll see you tomorrow.” I hugged him briefly before turning back to the guys.

“Let’s head over to the room next door,” I said. They followed me, Matt slipping his hand into mine and intertwining our fingers. Allison Stewart, one of the writers at Revolver, was already waiting in there, rocking out to Slipknot. “Allie?” I called, laughing. She paused mid-headbang and looked over at me.

“Oh, hey, Rachel,” she greeted, smiling and straightening up. “And you guys are Avenged Sevenfold.”

“Uh, thanks for the notice?” Johnny said, laughing a little.

“Well, I was just saying that so you knew there was no need for introduction. With Rachel here, everyone knows all of you. Especially now that she’s dating one of you.” She smirked at me as I blushed.

“Can we just get this over with?” I said.

“Fine, Miss Pushy. Take a seat guys and get comfortable.”