We Come out at Night

“Homeeeee!” Lexi sang as we walked through the door of our house.

We had a bit of a break so we decided to come home. A few of us however, were not going to be staying long. Matt, Brian, Zacky, Aden, Lucy, Caleb and I were going to New York. Aden and I, as well as Zacky and Brian have been nominated for the Revolver Golden God Guitarist Award. Aden was going to use the time we were there to see Amber too, it also gave Caleb and I a chance to see Ray for a bit.

When we walked in, it was a little after 5 in the morning and I didn’t even bother bringing my bag upstairs. Our flight to New York would be leaving in about 7 hours so I just left my bags by the door. I did however plop myself on the couch and took a much needed nap.

I woke up when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I looked at the cable box and saw that it read 10:24. I yawned and pulled out my phone. I saw it was a text from Ben. It was just a good morning text that we have gotten a habit of doing over the past few weeks. I sent a good morning text back and rested my phone on my stomach while I rubbed my eyes. When I brushed my hair out of my face I noticed my head was resting on someone and someone’s arm was resting on my side.

“Zacky. Zacky!” I said tapping his arm. He stirred but didn’t quite wake up. “ZACKY!” I said a little louder. I didn’t quite yell but, it was still loud enough to wake him up.

He picked his arm up and I sat up on the couch. We just stared at each other. “I didn’t do that. That was all you. I just sat here. You were on that end of the couch.” He said defensively.

I looked at the other end of the couch and remembered that I did in fact lay down on that side. I just shrugged and got up to shower and throw some new clothes on. By the time I got back downstairs, it was time to say our goodbyes and head out to the airport.

The flight there was like nothing for us. The flight was about an hour as apposed to the 8-12 hour flights we have been taking recently. Once we got our luggage, we made our way to the front of Laguardia and waited for Ray to come get us. As we walked by the baggage claim, the memory of getting arrested with Aden made me want to run, so I jogged out into the snow.

I instantly regretted it. I was freezing, and I wasn’t to happy about it. “Giant Joanna sandwich. NOW!” I yelled as I made everyone huddle around me. Ray eventually showed up, he had a new girl with him, and so far, I was impressed, I couldn’t complain.

“So Caleb and Joanna, does Ray have any embarrasing stories you’d like to share?” she asked. Her name was Leah, in the 45 minute ride we found out that she is 22, a medical assistant at a hospital, a sibling of four and she kept hinting about wanting a kid and even if Ray was thick, im sure he was catching it.

“Oh, oh yeah. Boy do we have some stories for you! Don’t we baby bro?!” Caleb said ruffling Ray’s hair. We all laughed.

“You shut your whore mouth you sperm burping gutter slut.” He yelled, smacking Caleb’s hand away. It was rather amusing.

Ray pulled up in front of our hotel and turned to face us in the back, “So you guys wanna go out tonight?”

“Yeah, sure!” the others said, I just frowned.

“I can’t, I’m seeing a friend tonight.” I said, “You guys go ahead though, if you’re still out I can catch up to you later.” I added a smile to see if it brightened them up at all. All it did was raise curiosities.

“Who?” Lucy asked.

“My friend Ben.” I was nervous for telling them but, I felt if I played it cool they would let it go. It seemed to work, but I could tell it would be brought back up later.

We all got ready to take on the night. I wore a black and gray striped long sleeve shirt, black skinny jeans, the only pair of Ugg boots I would and will ever own, and a black jacket. Before exiting the bedroom I switched out my lip ring and a necklace with a “J” charm.

I walked into the kitchen to grab a drink before grabbing the keys to the rental. As I zipped up my jacket and headed for the door, I heard a whistle behind me.

I turned and saw Aden wiggling her eyebrows, and a not so happy looking Lucy next to her. “What’s the occasion?” Aden asked.

“No occasion, just goin out.” I replied casually.

“You’re not seriously going out on a date with this guy are you?” Lucy asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked putting my hands on my hips.

“You are, I know that stance Toscano! You can’t go on a date with this guy. Think of Zacky!” she said, well more like whisper-yelling.

“Whoa wait, a date? Jo you can’t go on a date! What if Zee finds out?!” Aden exclaimed.

“It’s not a date! I’m just going for a few drinks. Shit. Sorry I didn’t ask your permission mom 1 and 2.” I replied defensively. This wasn’t a date. I didn’t think it was anyway.

“Guys are you ready?” we heard Matt yell from the back room.

“Yeah!” Lucy called, “Look, you better get out of here before Zacky see’s you.”

I nodded and walked out, getting into the car and driving away into the snow.

The bar we were meeting at wasn’t far away, only about 10 minutes. I pulled up and found a parking spot out front. I walked inside and welcomed the warmth as I spotted him in a booth. I smiled and walked up to him as he got up and greeted me.

“Joanna!” he said pulling me into a hug. He was dressed rather nicely. He was wearing a black button down shirt, faded blue jeans, red wing boots, a leather jacket and a watch.

“Hey Ben.” I replied with a smile as I hugged him in return.

He led me over to the bar, “What’ll it be?”

“Hmm, Coors Light.” I replied looking over to the bartender.

“Classy.” He chuckled, “Two of those please.” The man handed us our drinks as we took a seat at the bar.

“So, I must say, I am in love with your Optimus Prime and Megatron tattoos. They bring joy to my life.” I said laughing.

“Thanks. I’m a big kid trapped in a man’s body.” He replied smiling. “What about you? I’m sure you have some tattoos yourself.”

“I do, as a matter of fact, I have some of your lyrics on my ribs. Aden and I got matching tattoos back in high school.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but could I possibly see?” he asked. I could tell he wasn’t trying to be too forward, so I showed him. I lifted up my shirt just enough for him to see that lyrics that were written in cursive. It read ‘And I'll survive, paranoid. I have lost the will to change. And I'm not proud, cold-blooded fake, I will shut the world away…’

He looked at it in awe, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “They’re amazing lyrics dude. The first time we heard the song, those lyrics practically screamed to us. We love them.”

We talked for a few hours. I looked at my phone and saw it was almost 9:30. I was feeling a bit tipsy and Ben drank almost twice as much as I did. Needless to say, he was pretty fuckin drunk. I was about to say we should head home until someone greeted him. They most definitely appeared to be friends. The man that greeted him seemed extremely familiar to me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“Hey, could you help me get a cab for him?” I asked the man

“Yeah, that’ll be fine, I could take him home if you’d like.” He said smiling. That smile made me feel weird, I’ve seen that smile a million times before, but I still couldn’t place it.

He helped me get Ben to the car, but as I reached for the handle, I was slammed into the door. I looked up and before I could make the face, the person was kissing my neck. I started to fight him and push him off of me.

“Ben! Get off of me! You’re drunk and I don’t want this.” I said pushing and struggling. If I were be harmed, I would start swinging, but I knew he was drunk and I didn’t want to wail on him.

“Oh come on Joanna, this is exactly why you came out tonight. You’re done with that Vengeance guy, that’s why we’ve been talking and getting so close.” He said as he kept trying to kiss me.

“NO! I wanted to be friends. I am nowhere near done with Zacky. We’re just on a break.” I said pushing as hard as I could.

I saw his friend standing there with a smirk, and that’s when it hit me. “Trent.” I gasped. This gave Ben the opportunity he needed to plant a kiss on my lips. I punched him in the jaw, which he did not hesitate to return. The only difference was, I was the one that hit the ground.

I touched my jaw and felt the warm blood trickle down my hand and neck. I looked up and him and saw him lunge for me, but he never made it to me. One second he was charging for me, the next second someone charged for him and tackled him to the car.

I started screaming when I realized it was Caleb who tackled him. Ray ran over to him and joined in wailing on him. I felt a pair of arms wrap around me and gripped the shirt and took in the scent. It was Zacky, and I was not letting go.

“Are you okay Joanna?!” he asked inspecting me. I saw rage fill his eyes when he took in my face. “I’ll kill him.” He muttered to himself.

I gripped his shirt so he couldn’t get up, “No, don’t leave me.”

He looked down at me for a moment before kissing my cheek. “Alright, let’s get you out of here.”

Just as he said that, Lucy and Matt ran up to help me up and led me to the truck. “No, I gotta drive the car back.” I said pulling them the other way.

“It’s okay Jo, I’ll drive it back.” Lucy said.

“You can’t.” I said looking over at her, pulling the keys out of my pocket.

“Why not? Look just because I can’t park for shit doesn’t mean tha-“

“It’s stick Lucy.” I replied cutting her off.

“Oh.” She said.

“Will you ride with me?” I asked Zacky.

“CALEB! RAY! Come on! Let’s go home!” I called over to them, they were pretty much done beating the shit out of him, they were kind of just screaming in his face. They soon came our way and got into the truck with Matt and Lucy.

We sat in the car for a few minutes in silence. I had my face buried into the steering wheel and I knew he was watching me. “It’s over, Caleb and Ray took care of that guy. His friend was stupid though. He was just smiling the whole time. Was he with you guys the whole night?” he asked.

“No. Zacky, it wasn’t until the last second I was pushed against that car that I realized who that was. And right now, I wish I got one good punch on him, for all that he’s done to me.” I replied with my face still pressed to the steering wheel.

“What did he do? Did he touch you too?” I saw him reach for the handle and I picked my head up to look at him. “I’ll find him Joanna, if he hit and hurt you too, I’ll hurt him.”

“He didn’t hit me Zacky. But he did hurt me. He hurt me years ago. That was Trent.”

If I thought I saw anger in his eyes before, I had no idea what I saw now. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone as livid as he was right now. I grabbed his hand and pulled it away from the handle, “Zacky, don’t worry about it. There’s nothing we can do. Just let it go.”

I noticed my hand still holding on to his. I started to pull it away but he squeezed and pulled me towards him. I didn’t fight it. He inspected my jaw again before planting a kiss on my lips. When we pulled away I smiled. “I believe I’ve got my shit together.”

I giggled as I pushed down the clutch and started the car, “I believe you.” I gave him another quick kiss before turning into the flow of traffic and heading back to the hotel.