Where You Belong

I shook my head and watched in amusement as Leana dashed around the hotel room in search of her other shoe. She'd been tearing the room apart for the past half hour or so, and now her patience was clearly dwindling. We had less than an hour before the limo would get here and take us to the chapel where she and Jimmy planned to get married.

"I just saw that damned thing five minutes ago! Where the fuck did it go?!" she screeched, dumping the contents of her shoe suitcase onto the bed in front of her.

Michelle flinched from across the room, "Who fucking knows? Quit yelling," she groaned, clutching her head in her hands.

Michelle, along with all the guys, had been hungover for the last two days straight. Val, Lacey, and I seemed to have a little more self control. Even Leana hadn't been drinking much, which was strangely out of character for her.

Leana turned and flashed her a nasty look, "Well if you didn't spend the last two days drunk as a damn skunk, you'd be fine right now; now help me look for my fucking shoe!"

"Here," Val pushed herself out of her seat and darted towards Leana, "I'll help you look for it. It's gotta be in here somewhere."

Val. Always the situation diffuser. Bless her little heart.

Leana seemed satisfied with her offer, and the two joined together in the search for Leana's missing shoe. Lacey was just putting the finishing touches on her makeup, and flashed Michelle a pointed stare. With a heavy sigh, Michelle slowly stood and trudged over to the mirror, preparing to do her own makeup.

A knock sounded on the door, causing Leana's calm demeanor to falter.

"WE'RE NOT READY YET!" she shrieked in anger, face flushing as she glare daggers at the cream colored door.

"Uh, it's me, Lee," came Zack's awkward voice from the other side of the door.

I felt Leana's heated gaze shift to me, "What's he doing here? He's supposed to be with the guys on the other side of the fucking hotel...DOES THAT MEAN JIMMY'S HERE?! NO, YOU CAN'T LET HIM IN! IT'S BAD FUCKING LUCK!"

"She's officially fucking lost it," Michelle grumbled, clutching her head in what seemed like agony now. Lacey fixed her with a warning look and elbowed her side, but the damage was already done. Leana was now in full bridezilla mode.

"FUCK YOU, CHELLE! TODAY'S SUPPOSED TO BE THE MOST IMPORTANT DAY OF MY LIFE AND THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF MY OUTFIT IS M.I.A.! IF YOU'RE NOT GONNA HELP ME FIND MY FUCKING SHOE, THEN QUIT MOANING AND WHINING ABOUT YOUR FUCKING HANGOVER!" she bellowed, her response scaring Val stiff.

The room lapsed into silence as she continued looking for her shoe, and even Val was too frozen to move and help her look for the damned thing. I couldn't even hear anything outside the room. I wouldn't be surprised if Zack had run away at this point. Hell, I would, too if I wasn't within reaching distance of her.

Slowly, I began inching for the door, but Leana was quick to catch my movement, "Where are you going?!"

"I, I-I, uh..." I stammered dumbly, looking back to the door, "I'm j-just gonna go see what he wants and then make sure he keeps Jimmy away for as long as possible. Keep your good luck intact, y'know?"

With that, I bolted towards the door before she could utter another word. I threw it open and stepped over the threshold, grinning as Zack's eyes met mine. I stopped short, realizing just how close to the door he'd stood. With a small smile, he reached behind me and closed the door shut.

His eyes trailed down my body, "You look gorgeous, baby."

I giggled, stepping forward and wrapping my arms around his neck and he pulled me into him, "Then just wait til you see Lee."

He shook his head with a laugh, "I'm sure she looks great, but this is what I've got my eye on."

With that, he ran a hand down the peak of my breasts in an innocent manner, trailing down the entire front of my torso. I smiled lightly at the compliment, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. They tasted of beer, sending a funny feeling running through my body. Ignoring it, I looked him over. His eyes were darkened like they usually were, though they were also red and puffy from the drinking he'd been doing.

"Is everything okay?" I asked him, pulling out of his arms and reaching up to run a hand through his hair.

He nodded with a smile, "Everything's great. I just came to check on you."

I cocked an eyebrow, "Check on me? How come?" I asked curiously.

"Just to see how you were all getting along, I guess," he answered somewhat vaguely, reaching forward and taking my hand in his, "Come take a walk with me."

"Are you crazy? If Lee finds out I've left, she'll kill us both!"

He smirked, "She'd have to find us first. She won't risk Jimmy seeing her before the wedding even if it turns out that a fucking meteor is headed for this hotel."

I sighed in agreement, "Okay. So where are we going?"

He smiled but never spoke after that, clutching my hand tightly in his as he led me down the hallway. I followed, taking note of the different turns we took as we went. After a moment or two, he pulled me into his side, allowing for his scent to flood my senses. All the chaos from this morning simply drifted away.

It wasn't long before he brought me to a set of double doors. I wasn't quite sure what was behind them, but he seemed to know. I watched as he knocked on one of the doors before stepping back and waiting. The door was flung open within a moment or two, revealing none other than fucking Matt Tuck.

I stopped breathing. I was sure I was dying. My jaw went slack as he flashed us a warm smile before reaching forward and slapping Zack's extended hand. The words they exchanged between one another didn't register in my mind as I simply stood there, star struck as all hell.

What the fuck were they doing here? Wait, if he was here, then that meant that the others were here too! But what were they here for? Okay, yeah, it's Vegas and all - an American pilgrimage if you will - but the last time I'd checked, they lived on the other side of the world and weren't currently touring in the states--

"Baby, if you leave your mouth open any longer, you'll catch flies."

I blinked rapidly as Zack's voice invaded my thoughts, swiftly bringing me back to the present. I focused myself and looked over, seeing that he and one of the most amazing men on the face of this fucking planetTuck were eyeing me with amused expressions. I quickly closed my mouth and attempted not to smile as hard as I wanted to.

"Um, hi," I strained, trying for the love of God to keep a straight enough expression.

I don't think it worked. Cause Zack burst out laughing, and Tuck was close to losing it, too.

"Matt Tuck," Tuck grinned, reaching his hand out and shaking mine in a friendly manner.

I stammered my name, "B-Brittany. N-Nice to m-meet you."

Zack was howling hysterically and I glared in his direction. He was a lot of fucking help. He knew how fucking star struck I could get if I wasn't prepared for it. I swear he did this shit on purpose.

"Oi, Vengeance! Leave the girl alone, mate. Come in, come in!" Tuck beckoned, ushering me inside the room. Zack followed, teetering with laughter still, causing me to roll my eyes. Little fucker.

I quickly noticed that I was in a bachelor's suite. The hugest suite I'd ever seen in my life. It was loud inside. Heavy metal flooded the speakers of the built in sound system, and faint yells and laughter could be heard in the distance. Chairs were overturned, bottles and snack wrappers littered every surface of the place. The floor was covered with random instruments, pillows, and articles of clothing.

"Dear God," I muttered to myself as I looked at the mess. How they didn't take one look at all this shit in here and not have a panic attack was beyond me.

I followed behind Tuck as he stepped over bottles after bottle. There was even a random guy passed out in the middle of the floor; we had to step over him, too. Zack's hands attached themselves to my hips from behind, but I turned to shoot him an aggravated glare. I was going to fix his ass for setting me up and laughing at me earlier.

"BRITT!"

Turning forward again, I looked to see that Tuck had led us to a large den of sorts, and that all the guys were lounged about there. Johnny lay on his stomach in front of the flat screen, looking less than lively, but dressed and ready to go. Looking around, I could see that all the guys were ready and smiled with pride at that fact. Brian and Moose were in the middle of some heated debate as Padge and Matt Sanders were busy with a card game. Both Jimmy and Jay were nowhere to be found.

"You clean up mighty nice, Britt," Matt winked playfully as he and Padge dropped their cards for a moment.

I grinned, "I could say the same for you gentlemen."

"How's Lee?" Brian asked, reaching over and grabbing what looked like a slice of stale pizza for himself.

I rolled my eyes at the thought, "Freaking out."

"Lee? Freaking out? She's always cool as a cucumber!" Brian laughed with a shake of his head.

"Unless it comes down to her shoes," Zack muttered, causing Brian to choke on his food.

"Fuck, I forgot about that!" he coughed violently, so violently that Moose had to reach over and pat his back.

"Yeah. It's getting close to World War III right about now," I sighed, perching myself sideways on Brian's knees.

"Sounds like fun," Tuck chuckled, taking a seat with a jug of orange juice in his hand, "Oi! Before I forget, I should introduce you to everyone...officially, at least."

I shrugged and stood up, "Sure."

Tuck then spent the time to introduce me to each of his band mates, though I already knew who they were. Once that was done, the majority of the guys returned to what they'd been doing before, and Zack snatched me off of Brian's lap and wrapped me up in a tight hug. I still wasn't speaking to him.

"Where's Jimmy?" I asked openly, looking around the room for someone to give me an answer.

"He's in the other room with Jay and Niki," Matt spoke, looking up from his set of cards once more before yelling, "REV! Hurry up, we gotta go soon!"

It was then that I could hear Jimmy's rambunctious laughter through the walls, and I wondered why in the world I hadn't heard him before if he'd been that close. Honestly, no person in the same building as Jimmy was ever oblivious to his presence.

It was clear he wasn't coming out any time soon, so I stood on my feet, "I'll go see what he's up to myself."

Tripping over a few empty bottles and more articles of clothing, I slowly made my way towards Jimmy's voice. It grew louder and louder as I continued, and I smiled once I came to a smaller room and saw him howling with laughter at something. I cautiously stepped over the threshold of the room, catching the couple's attention immediately.

Jay wrapped an arm around the girl, whom I assumed to be Niki. She was tall, tan, and sported dark hair with purple streaks. A stud adorned her nose and she wore a lopsided smile on her face. I smiled politely, lifting my hand to wave at them before capturing Jimmy's attention.

"James, your wife-to-be is tearing the other side of the hotel apart and she's scaring me," I stated calmly, watching as he whirled around and faced me with a grin.

"She lost a shoe, didn't she?" he asked knowingly, a smirk tugging at his lips.

I rolled my eyes, "Thanks for the heads up."

He cackled with laughter then, "I figured you'd enjoy it."

Jimmy formally introduced the couple to me before jumping back into a wild conversation with Jay. I wasn't quite sure what they were talking about, but it had Jimmy flailing his arms about and chattering animatedly, so it must've been interesting. I took it upon myself to get better acquainted with Niki.

At first it started out as small talk, the two of us sharing our pasts. Where we'd grown up and how we'd gotten to know the boys of the bands. She and Jay had been dating for a little over two years, and from the glow on her face, she seemed to be enjoying the life she had with him.

"You two look good together. I can tell just how happy you are," I smiled sincerely, watching as her face lit up with excitement.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I love being with Jay," she chuckled, flapping a hand about, "But it's most likely the pregnancy glow that you're noticing."

My eyes widened in surprise, "You're pregnant?"

With a grin, she happily nodded, "A little over four months."

"Congratulations!" I grinned back, offering a quick hug, "I can only imagine how excited you must be."

"Excited, but scared shitless," she breathed, leaning back in her seat and placing a hand on her stomach. I couldn't see that she was pregnant just from looking at her, but I knew it would only be a matter of time before her baby bump popped out of nowhere.

"Your first child, I assume?" I asked knowingly, to which she nodded, "Yeah, it's a crazy feeling."

She tilted her head, "You say that as if you've been there. You have kids?"

Now it was my turn to get a dopey smile on my face, "My son, Mason."

"Aww," she cooed softly, "That's such a cute name. How old is he?"

"Eighteen months," I sighed lightly, memories of the day Mason was born flooding my thoughts, "I feel old just thinking about it. It feels like just yesterday, I found out that I was pregnant with him."

Niki continued to coo as I told her about my pregnancy. How nervous I'd been about telling everyone, and had nearly blown my cover when Brian saw my maternity magazines that one day as the grocery store. How hard I'd tried to hide my pregnancy from everyone.

"Dude, I don't know how you managed to hide it for so long," Niki shook her head in disbelief, "I know I've made it blatantly obvious to everyone within a twenty mile radius that I'm pregnant."

I giggled at the face she'd made, "I highly doubt you're as conspicuous as you may think, Nik."

"Pfft, right! I have the oily glow to my face, my tits are always sore. I'm always stuffing my face with some strange food, and when I'm not doing that, I'm either screwing Jay senseless cause I'm always in the mood, or I'm bitching over absolutely nothing. And the morning sickness! Oh my God!"

"Now that I can relate to," I shuddered violently at the thought of my ever present bouts of morningall day sickness, "Definitely not something to look forward to it."

"You're telling me," she grumbled lowly, crossing her arms over her chest. She was quite the amusing character.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, it's all worth it in the end," I smiled encouragingly, gently patting her arm as she stared down at her flat stomach.

Jay turned from his conversation with Jimmy and proudly wrapped an arm Niki's middle again, "And we can't wait til he gets here," he smirked, stealing a quick kiss from his girlfriend.

She rolled her eyes, "Who's to say that it's gonna be a boy?"

"Me," he grinned mischievously, wriggling his eyebrows up and down.

She shook her head in defiance, "What if it turns out to be a girl?"

"Then I'll love her all the same," he mumbled, pulling her in for a sweet kiss. I looked away and allowed them to have their moment, smiling to myself as I thought about how well they fit together.

I winked over at Jimmy, "You're next."

His eyes widened in shock and I just smiled.

***

"I can't believe they've actually pulled this off," Zack shook his head in amazement, tugging me close to his body as we slow danced together.

Jimmy and Leana's ceremony had been anything but average, and it'd fit them perfectly. The ceremony had been held at a place called Cupid's Weddings on the strip, and boy was it one hell of an experience.

We'd all been instructed to wear only white. The chapel had been dark when we'd arrived, but we were assured that it was all part of the plan. We marched up the small aisle and waited for Leana to come in, weary of what would happen. All of a sudden, we heard a loud scream, and the lights came on as James Brown blared through the speakers. Strobe lights illuminated the room with bright colors as a James Brown look-alike and Leana danced their way up the aisle to I Feel Good.

I'd never laughed so hard in my life. Leave it up to Jimmy and Leana to have a funk-themed wedding in Las Vegas. The James Brown look-alike turned out to be the minister. He did little shuffle kicks with his feet, grunted, and screamed all throughout the exchanging of vowels. He even had Jimmy attempting to do pelvic-thrusts after he'd taken off his own sequined jacket and allowed Jimmy to put it on.

As strange as the wedding was, I couldn't picture my two friends getting married any other way. There were some normal moments where they two simply stared at each other and smiled, whispering sweet things to each other despite the hip-thrusting man behind them. It was beautiful in a way, and damn if it didn't have all us girls crying.

"Who else would you have expected to get the job done?" I smirked up at him, coiling my arms around his neck as my body became flush with his.

He twirled us around in a carefree circle, dipping me playfully before bringing me back up, "I guess you're right. You having a good time?"

I giggled, "I'm a single mom, Zack. Anytime to myself is a good time, no matter how much I love my little baby."

"Single, eh?" he smiled slyly, slipping a hand down to cup my ass.

With a roll of my eyes, I slapped his hand away, "Actually, I have a boyfriend."

"Oh?" he cocked an eyebrow, a playful twinkle in his eyes, "Who's the lucky guy?"

I flapped my hand, "Eh, you don't know him. He's not like you," I answered dismissively, staring up at him innocently.

"Well, what's he like?" he asked cockily, puffing out his chest as he flashed me an expectant look.

I scoffed, "As if I'd tell you."

I turned to walk away from him, but he caught my arm and yanked me back to his chest. I giggled wildly as he smothered my face, neck, and collarbone in sloppy, wet kisses. After a while, I pushed myself away from him, knowing it wouldn't take long for us to get carried away. I did want to actually remember my friends' wedding and reception, and that meant that I actually needed to not run off for a quickie with Zack for once.

Zack pouted, "I wasn't done."

I snorted at that, "Which is why I'm so sleep deprived now!"

"You loved every fucking minute of it."

"So," I grinned, sticking my tongue out at him before I walked back to our table. Lacey and Johnny were the only ones at the table, and they were locked at the lips. I bypassed them and went straight towards my seat, reaching over to pick up my drink from the table.

"WHAT'S THAT?!"

Jumping in fright, the glass fell to the ground as Leana popped out from behind me with squinted eyes. Staring incredulously at her I gaped and looked to the floor, "Well, it was fruit punch..."

Suddenly, she smiled widely at me, "Oh! Well...carry on then!"

I blinked in confusion as she happily skipped off, watching as she flew into Jimmy's arms as a new song blared from the speakers. Looking around, the ballroom of the hotel we were staying in was packed with people. Jimmy and Leana had rented the entire space out for their reception, and it turns out that they'd called a lot of friends over to come celebrate with our group.

I'd recognized a few faces from before; the guys from Good Charlotte turned up, and of course, Bullet For My Valentine shared the same hotel as us. I recognized a few more faces though I'd never officially met the people. And then there were a hell of a lot of people I'd never seen a day in my life. Turns out that Jimmy and Leana had also invited every guest of the hotel to come party with us.

Young or old, no one in their right mind turns down free booze and music.

Hotel employees kept the decorated tables loaded with food and drinks for hours. Every time I would finish a plate of food, I'd get up, go dance for a bit, then come back to another plate waiting for me. I'd eaten so much that I was downright ashamed of myself...until they brought out the cake.

It was hard to do, but Brian eventually pulled Jimmy and Leana from the dance floor and got them to cut the cake. Leana began cutting the cake in a nice, straight line until Jimmy got impatient and yanked the knife out of her hands. Needless to say the piece they shared actually fell apart due to the large, crooked cut in the middle of the slice. Leana used that as an excuse to smear the sugary sweet into her husband's face. Jimmy went to cut another piece after Leana licked his face clean, but Michelle slapped his hand and took the knife from him.

"Your friends are insane," Niki shook her head in amusement, watching as Matt and Jason Berry drunkenly square-danced with each other on the top of a table, "Which would be great if I wasn't pregnant."

I giggled, "Well, you'll definitely have to visit more often now that we've all met, so you'll have plenty of opportunities to get in on the madness."

"Here, here!" Lacey shouted drunkenly, holding up her glass of amber liquid. I wasn't sure what it was, but I knew it was the culprit behind her slurred speech.

I burst into laughter as Lacey went to get up, screaming about wanting to dance with her 'sexy gnome of a man' before completely plummeting to the ground. Johnny howled with laughter, clearly tanked himself, and swiftly lifted her up before he carried her out to the dance floor.

"I'm happy to experience motherhood and yada-yada, but," Niki sighed, looking longingly at the dance floor, "They look like they're having one hell of a good time."

"You get used to it," I chuckled, taking a bite of the cake that had just been set down in front of me, "But it ends up being a lot of fun as the only sober person here. You remember all the embarrassing shit someone's done when they ask you what happened the next day. It's the greatest." I grinned, wriggling my eyebrows.

"Evil bitch," she snorted with a shake of her head, "That does sound like a good deal..."

"Oh, it is--" I stopped short as my stomach suddenly lurched. I froze in my seat and breathed deeply until the feeling passed.

"You okay, dude?"

Turning back to Niki, I could see that she was eyeing me with a worried expression. I smiled sheepishly, turning to the water that was on the table and taking a sip of it, "All this fast food and lack of sleep lately is probably getting to me."

Niki nodded in understanding, "I can understand fast food but no sleep?"

I rolled my eyes at the thought, "I've been a bit of a slut with Zack for the past week or so."

Now it was Niki's turn to howl with laughter, "That's the best fucking thing I've heard all day! I understand it all now!"

I giggled, too, "Shut up."

"What!" she sputtered, wiping the corners of her eyes, "You're just as bad as I am and I'm the pregnant one!"

I rolled my eyes again, "I am not."

"Are too," she argued, rolling her eyes in mockery, "You eat a bunch of shit, you spend every waking hour getting laid. You just fussed Zacky out earlier for not telling you that you'd meet one of your favorite bands, and there you were sucking his face off ten minutes ago. That's like Pregnancy 101 in my books."

I gaped at her, "W-what?"

She continued to laugh, but suddenly I wasn't laughing anymore.