We Come out at Night

“Rise and shine my sleeping beauties!” Jake said walking into our rooms. I didn’t move, I just sighed and moaned into my pillow.

“It’s not even six o’clock man.” I heard Aden moan from my right.

“Joanna get your face out of your pillow before you suffocate. Learn to sleep on your back or something.” Jake ordered. I just flipped him off and put my hand back under my pillow.

“Leave her alone dude, she doesn’t snore as loud when her face is in the pillow.” I heard Lucy say from my left.

“Come on Lexi, put some clothes on. You always take the longest.” He said opening the blinds.

“Yeah and she always looks the best.” Katie commented.

“Yeah well, get up and get ready, we’re leaving in 2 hours.” And with that he walked out.

We all took showers and got ready. We let Eden and Aden do makeup since they were pretty phenomenal at it. I straightened my hair put on a tank top with an assortment of guitars on it, blue skinny jeans and black Converse high tops. Next to share the bathroom with me was Katie, she curled her hair and put on a plain black t-shirt with a silver vest over it, black skinny jeans, chucks and added a few bracelets.

Aden came in as I brushed my teeth and started to put gel in her hair to tame her curls. She was wearing a red Rebel t-shirt, ripped skinny jeans, red converses, and some black and red bracelets.

As I walked out, Lexi went in. She was wearing a leopard print leather vest, black skinny jeans and leopard print pumps.

As I walked into the kitchen where all the makeup was laid out, I saw Lucy putting on some eyeliner. She was wearing a purple plaid shirt, black skinny jeans, and some knee high converse.

Around nine, we got rushed down stairs and into a van. Jake, being unusually nice, got us all breakfast to eat on the way. The ride only took about 35 minutes. When we got there, there were tons of fans. We signed what we could and took a few pictures with them before being pushed inside by Jake and some guards.

A woman name Izzy greeted us and brought us to a room to meet the host and to hear some of the questions we were going to be asked. And in no time at all, we were called out onto the small stage they had set up.

The fans roared as we walked in. There was a couch set up with a couple of chairs behind it. Aden and I took the chairs as Lucy, Lexi, and Katie sat on the couch, in that order. Until now, we had no idea who we were being interviewed by. Jake never told us. Then we finally saw who the host was.

“Dude, this is Hoppus on Music!” I whispered to Aden.

“Holy fuck.” She said under her breath.

“Well, you girls have been the main topic around here lately. We’re so happy to have you on the show.” Mark said with a giant smile.

“We’re happy to be here.” Lexi said returning the smile.

“You ladies ready for your first international tour?” he asked readjusting himself in his seat.

“I think I was ready the moment I picked up a guitar at 14.” Aden said with a laugh.

“How you guys liking New York?”

“It’s crazy here!” Lucy said with a laugh, “There’s always so much going on.”

“Well, this is the city that never sleeps.” He chuckled, “Joanna, you’re originally from New York aren’t you?” he asked looking at me.

“That I am. I was born and raised on Long Island.” I replied with a smile.

“Why did you leave?” he asked jokingly.

“Well, originally my parents dragged me down when I was fifteen. I already knew how to play the guitar and I also played the violin in school. When I moved down there I saw Aden here, sitting on the jungle gym in the park when I was walking home and she was playing Welcome Home by Coheed and Cambria. I had to say hi ha-ha. Then of course through her I met Lucy, Lexi and Katie, and we’ve been inseparable ever since.” I finished with a smile.

“Nice. Well you guys, well gals, ready to answer some of your fans questions?” we then replied with a series of yes’s. “Here’s your first question. This is from Sarah in Oregon. Who are your main inspirations?”

I jumped onto it before anyone else did, “Well honestly, in my earlier guitar years, this little rinky dink band called Blink 182 had some songs I loved to play.” I kept a straight face until he let out a laugh. “No but seriously. A couple of bands that inspired me when I wrote was Avenged Sevenfold, My Chemical Romance, Disturbed, Evanescence and even Metallica.”

“Speaking of Avenged Sevenfold, aren’t you girls dating them?” he said with a smirk and wiggled his eye brows.

A couple of us giggled but nobody said anything. “Wow news travels fast ha-ha.” I said scratching the back of my head. “Yeah we just became official two days ago.”

“You guys going to miss them on the tour?” he asked.

“Yeah, I don’t know what to do without my gnome.” Katie said laughing.

“Well from what I heard,” he said pretending to listen to an earpiece, “Avenged Sevenfold, as of yesterday, joined the tour with Shattered Halo as a second headliner.”

All of our jaws dropped. There was nothing we could say. We were in complete and total shock. We had no idea this was what was going on. I looked over to where we walked in and saw the guys of Avenged Sevenfold come out smiling and waving, like this was totally normal for them. Then I remembered it was. They stood next to us and we just looked at them, mouth open and in total shock.

“Hey guys. Go ahead, greet your girls warmly.” Mark said to them gesturing towards us. Each of them smiled and kissed us on top of our heads. “So how do you guys feel about going on tour with these ladies?”

“Well, we’re all really excited actually. This is gunna sound so corny but these girls are all we ever talk about now. Certain things that happened when we met them, Katie’s birthday party and how we surprised them all, when we’re going to see them again. It’s insane!” Matt said, smiling with those dimples that make you melt inside.

“What are some of your most memorable moments with them?” he asked leaning back in his chair.

Jimmy raised his hand, “One of the most terrifying moments of my life happened the moment I set foot into their home.” He chuckled, “No but seriously, I thought Joanna’s dog was going to kill me. If I was a dog, that’s the breed I would be. He’s huge!”

The audience laughed and we couldn’t help but laugh along.

“What kind of dog is it?” Mark asked.

“Dribblez, yes that’s his name ha-ha, he’s a Great Dane/Rottweiler mix.” I replied.

“Oh man, he’s gotta be huge. Is he vicious?” he asked, almost sounding concerned.

“No, he’s just very protective, my dog is too.” Aden replied.

“Oh, well. Are you guys willing to answer a few more questions before performing?” he asked.

“Of course!” we said in unison.

“Well one of our questions is from a Mike from Sacramento. His question is how badly did Aden and Joanna beat up those guys at the airport. According to him he said you two looked like raging mad women.”

My stomach sank and I knew Aden felt the same way. Today was just full of surprises. I looked over at Jake and I saw his expression and knew that this was a shock to him as well. I closed my eyes and just rolled with the punches.

“They were stealing our guitars. We only spent a night in jail and got out on bail. We got our guitars back, thank God. And we just tackled them down and gave one good punch and that was what our fault was. We should have just gotten a security guard to take care of it. But we don’t know when to hold back. Just don’t mess with us.” I finished with a smile as Aden jokingly punched her hand.

Thank fully after I said that, the topic was let go. We got set up for our performance and went right into it.
Lexi jumped into our opening. “We’re obviously Shattered Halo, and this is one of the songs off our new album. This is Blood Shedder.”

Katie started us off with her drum solo, which led to Aden’s solo and mine and Lucy’s rhythm. As the introduction came to a close, Lexi started to sing. The rest of the performance went about flawlessly. It couldn’t have been a better recovery on our part from mine and Aden’s jail story.

After we were done with the show, we got to have a moment talking to Mark, which pleased all of us. When we left we all felt hungry.

“Anyone wanna go get some real New York style pizza?” I asked. Everyone nodded and thus we all piled into the van to make our way to the best pizza place I knew of. On the way I called my brothers and since they promised to hang out with us after the interview, I knew they would join us.

We waited outside for my brothers to show. Since it was only September, it wasn’t cold enough for heavy jackets. Hoodies would suffice; the only one who had an issue was Lexi because she had a leather vest on and we had to form a circle around her so she could take it off and put her hoodie on.

My brothers arrived about a half hour later. I saw my brother Caleb walk up first, and he looked pissed. He
was walking fast and the smile from my face fell instantly. I unwrapped my arms from around Zacky and walked towards him.

“Caleb, what’s wrong?” I asked very concerned.

“Nothing, just…nothing.” He said very frustrated.

“Caleb.” I said grabbing his arm, trying to get him to stop moving.

“Joanna, look.” Lucy said to me pointing past him.

I saw Ray walking towards us. But he wasn’t alone, Kristin was with him. I felt myself twitch. “That’s why you’re all twisted?”

He nodded. “Okay well let’s go inside. Sit with me, Lucy and Aden and the guys and just ignore the bitch.”

We were seated out back like requested, and just like we said, Caleb sat with us on one end as the bitch and Ray sat on the other. We got 4 pies and everyone loved it. We talked and laughed for what seemed like hours.

“I’ll be right back, gotta use the little boys room.” Zacky said to us as he got up and went.

I talked and laughed with Aden and Lucy about our inside jokes as Caleb, Matt and Brian tried to keep up. Then I noticed Kristin wasn’t at the table anymore, and Zacky didn’t return yet. “I’ll be right back.” I said as I got up and walked toward the bathrooms.

I walked up to the hostess and asked her where the restrooms were, and she gladly pointed me in the right direction.

As I walked past the front door and I saw Zacky’s back against the door his hands up in the air. I walked out there to investigate.

“Get the fuck away from me! I don’t want anything to do with you” I heard him yell before I could even get out the second set of doors.

“Don’t lie to yourself honey. You know I’d be the best looking girl you’d ever be with.” She said as I swung open the second set of doors.

“Who the FUCK are you kidding bitch?” I said with what I imagined to be one of the scariest faces I ever had on my face. Seeing her expression confirmed my thoughts.

“Thank god Joanna. She’s such a crazy bitch.” He said as I stood in front of him.

“Go. Get the fuck out of here. Forget about my brother. You two are done.” I said. It took her a fraction of a second to react. And as she walked away I gave her one last warning. “And if I see you around my family or friends again, your life will come to an abrupt halt.”

Once she was out of sight, I turned to Zacky. “Joanna, I swear. I didn’t-“ I cut him off by pressing my lips to his.

“I know you didn’t. I knew she was a crazy bitch the second she walked in my brothers kitchen. Ray doesn’t know how to catch a good one. He never brought home decent women. Now come on,” I smiled and kissed him again, “let’s go back inside.”