Vengeance Is a Syn

“Merry Christmas, baby Hay!”, Jimmy yelled from the front door.

I kept looking at him confused as ever and didn’t move. My gaze was fixed on the duck he brought under his arm and as much as I wanted it to move it just seemed to be glued on that darn bird.

“Hailey, why don’t you mo-…”, Matt said before looking at the door. “What the fuck are you bringing over there?”

“This is a duck!”, Jimmy said happily.

“I figured it out before, you smart ass.”, I said finally looking at him. “But why did you bring him here?”

“Is he still with that fucking duck?”, Johnny said as he approached us.

“Don’t insult my duck, you fucking gnome!”, Jimmy growled pointing at Johnny.

“We couldn’t get him away from that duck this morning…”, Johnny sighed shaking his head desperately.

I couldn’t help but laugh at Johnny’s picture.

“But now seriously…”, I said trying to contain my laughter. “Where are we gonna put the duck? He’s not gonna be here running freely in the middle of the living room!”

“Can he go to the back yard?”, Jimmy asked hopefully. “He can swim in the pool and run around.”

“I promise you that if he shits on that swimming pool, that duck is going to be my dinner tomorrow!”, Matt threatened.

“Stay away from him!”, Jimmy growled hiding the duck behind his back.

Both Johnny and I burst out laughing at their arguing and finally Jimmy put the duck on our backyard.

The night was rather calm and enjoyable even with the small incidents that happened. Jimmy was playing with Bella and decided to let her out, so she started chasing his duck and we all had to run around Bella and the duck so it wouldn’t be Bella’s victim of a bloody crime. Johnny and Matt also decided to bet who could drink more in a small amount of time, so they ended up getting drunk and hanging themselves on the room’s chandelier and breaking it into pieces. Since it was Christmas and they were almost 18 their parents didn’t mind them drinking in these occasions. If they ever knew that they drunk like sailors in some of the parties they went to, they wouldn’t let them drink in these parties for sure!

It was now past midnight and pretty much everyone but Brian, Zacky and me was a bit tipsy. We decided it was time to hand our presents even though Jimmy, Matt and Johnny wouldn’t remember them tomorrow.

“My turn!”, I said as I rushed to the Christmas tree and searched for the presents I had brought. I handed them out to each of them and waited for their reactions.

“I looooooove these shirts, Hay!”, Matt blurted in a drunk way, placing the shirts in front of his torso mimicking a model, making me laugh.

I bought him an Iron Maiden and a Motörhead shirt, some drum sticks for Jimmy, personalized guitar picks for both Brian and Zacky and a personalized shirt for Johnny that I had bought with Jimmy, which had ‘Short Shit’ written in big letters.

All of them handed their presents and my jaw dropped with Brian’s gift.

“Brian, this is beautiful!”, I nearly whispered. I looked at the box that held a beautiful and simple necklace - it had a silver chain with a small music note. “I… I-I can’t take it!”

“Come on! It’s also Suzy’s gift, partially… She helped me choosing it.”, Brian smiled.

“But…”

“Shh!”, Brian said picking up the necklace. “May I?”

I grabbed my hair with my hands and turned around so my back was facing Brian. He put the necklace around my neck and I couldn’t help but look down at it and smile. It was a beautiful necklace, indeed. I turned around and reached his cheek to kiss it.

“Thank you!”, I said smiling.

“No problem.”, he said smiling back.

The guys kept doing silly things and eating and drinking everything that was set on the table. At three in the morning some of the adults were starting to leave and my eyes were daring to shut. I was so exhausted, but I seemed to be the only one who wanted to sleep on that room.

I lay down on the empty couch and tried to keep my eyes open, but that was too difficult for me to do.

I let my eyelids close and my hands slipped under my face, serving as a pillow.

I don’t know how much time passed until I felt two strong arms shaking me slightly, but I cursed whoever that person was mentally, for waking me up of my peaceful sleep.

“Hailey! Hailey!”, Matt whispered.

I lazily opened my eyes and narrowed them because of the light. “What?”, I asked with a sleepy voice.

“The guys are crashing here tonight.”, Matt said. “Don’t worry if you wake up and see them on the floor, okay?”

I nodded and made an effort to keep my eyes opened. “What time is it?”

“It’s half past five in the morning.”, Matt whispered. “Go back to sleep.”

He kissed my forehead and I shut my eyes close again.

I woke up hours later with a slight pain pounding on my head, but since I didn’t drink last night I figured it out it would stop in the next moments.

I went to the kitchen and prepared a bowl of cereals for my breakfast. I sat on the counter and started eating. I found myself looking at the necklace Brian gave me and instantly smiled as I played with it.

“May I join you?”, Matt asked with a smile, standing on the kitchen’s door.

I looked at him slightly confused, getting back to reality and nodded. “Are you already awake?”, I asked and he nodded.

“It was a nice gift from Gates.”, Matt said referring to the necklace.

“Yeah!”, I said looking back at it. “It’s beautiful.”

Matt headed to the fridge and took the milk packet and a slice of cake.

“Yup.”, he said. “Thanks for the shirts. I don’t know if I thanked you yesterday…”

I laughed and shook my head. “It’s okay! Thanks for the CDs as well.”, I smiled.

We finished eating our breakfast and placed the dishes on the sink.

“Oh, shit!”, I shouted.

“What happened?”, Matt asked confused.

“I forgot about Jimmy’s duck!”, I said. “He’s been outside the whole night!”

I rushed to the backyard followed by Matt, but I couldn’t find the damn duck in any place.

“Where the fuck is that midget hiding?”, I growled while searching for the duck.

“I hope you’re not talking about me!”, Johnny whined from the porch.

I looked back and he was lighting a cigarette and looking at me and Matt trying to suppress a laugh.

“No, Johnny! We’re looking for Jimmy’s duck!”, I explained.

“Uh… Hailey…”, Matt said from the other side of the backyard. “I think we won’t find him…”

I walked over to the place where Matt was and realized why he said that. There was a small hole in the fence that could let the small duck pass to the other side of the house.

“You’ve lost his duck?”, Johnny said.

“No! He ran away!”, Matt said.

“Jimmy’s gonna be so pissed!”, Johnny laughed.

As soon as he said that Brian, Zacky and Jimmy walked to the backyard.

“Why is Jimmy gonna be pissed?”, Zacky asked.

“Huh…”, I said and looked at Matt who shrugged.

“Hey! Where’s my duck!?”, Jimmy yelled. “Come here you fucking stallion duck!”

He started running around the garden trying to find the small animal but gave up and walked towards us. “Where is he?”

“I think he ran away…”, both Matt and I said.

“WHAT!?”, Jimmy shouted. “How!? Why!? He can be in danger! Where is he!??”

“Calm down, dude!”, Johnny said. “He escaped. Maybe there was a she-duck on the other side and he wanted to meet her…”

“Really Johnny? A she-duck!?”, I asked and everyone started laughed.

“I’m not kidding, dude!”, Jimmy said, his eyes starting to get watery. “I promised to take care of that duck!”

“Jimmy… You’re not gonna start crying are you?”, I asked surprised by his reaction.

He sniffled and shook his head. “No! Of course not!”

He walked near Johnny and smacked his arm. “I’m gonna go back to Short Shit now!”
We all laughed and headed inside the house.



Similar to what happened on Christmas, New Year’s Eve would also be celebrated in our house this year.

The living room was already crowded and everyone was laughing and talking happily. There were even more people there than during Christmas and the house was starting to get extremely hot.

I and the guys were on Matt’s bedroom when there’s a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it.”, Matt said standing up from the bed.

“Hey, honey.”, my mom said. “The dinner will be served in a few minutes. Come downstairs, okay?”

Matt nodded and closed the door.

“Hey, motherfuckers. Let’s eat!”, Matt shouted making everyone cheer.

“Finally it’s dinner time!”, Jimmy sang. “You know how much I love Mrs. Sanders’ food!”
I laughed and slapped his head playfully.

We headed downstairs and put some food on the plates. We ended up sitting on one of the couches in front of the TV that was playing “Marley and Me”.

“I can’t watch this movie!”, I whined as the guys all looked at the screen.

“Why not?”, Brian asked.

“She’s gonna be crying by the end of it.”, Matt explained.

“Really?”, Brian chuckled.

“No!”, I shook my head. “I just think it’s a sad ending for the movie. Imagine if that was Bella!”
I finished eating and then grabbed the six plates and put them on the kitchen. I returned to the couch and sat again between Matt and Brian.

By the time Marley was starting to get old I found myself wrapping my arms around Brian’s middle. He looked down at me and put an arm around my shoulders while the other hand caressed my cheek. He traced small circles on my cheek with his thumb and pushed me closer to him with his other arm.

When Marley died I let a few tears run down and Brian quickly wiped them away.

Luckily, nobody noticed it and then Jimmy broke the silence.

“This is actually really sad.”, Jimmy said.

“I’m surprised Hailey didn’t cry this time!”, Matt said and a smirk found its way to his lips when he glanced at me.

“She’s a strong girl!”, Brian joked messing with my hair.

“How could she cry if she’s so comfortable in Gates’ arms?”, Johnny teased.

“Can you guys stop talking as if I wasn’t in this room!?”, I said annoyed as I stood up.

They all laughed and I narrowed my eyes at Johnny that lifted his arms in his defense.

“Well, I’m gonna go out for a while to get some fresh air. I’ll see you in a bit.”

They nodded and I walked to the backyard. The house was so hot that the night breeze never felt so good.

I didn’t care if I was going to get a cold from the wintry air, but if I didn’t get out of the house I’d most likely stop breathing.

I took out my high heels and rolled my jeans up to my knees. I sat on the border of the pool and closed my eyes for a while.

“Not thinking about going back inside?”, Brian asked as he approached me.

I opened my eyes and looked back.

“It’s better here outside. There are not so much people and it’s not so hot.”

Brian chuckled and sat next to me. We stood there in a comfortable silence until he got up.
“Stay here, I have an idea.”, he smirked and I did as he said.

I stood up and waited for him to come back. When he returned he had two towels on his shoulder and was smiling at me.

“What exactly are you planning on doing?”, I asked raising my eyebrow suspiciously.
“We’re going to the beach!”, he grinned.

“What!?”, I asked surprised. “It’s New Year’s Eve, there’s nobody there!”

“Exactly.”, he said as he took my hand in his. He walked me to the fence and helped me jumping it, never letting go of my hand. He jumped after and we walked to the beach.

“Oh, god… You have the craziest ideas!”, I chuckled, shaking my head.

“I’m gonna take that as a compliment!”, he said making me laugh.

I grabbed one of the towels and started running in the beach’s direction with a smirk on my lips.

“Come on, lazy ass! Think you can win a race?”, I shouted a few feet’s away from Brian.
“Oh, is this a race?”, he asked playfully and I nodded.

He started running in my direction and I tried to run even faster. Eventually he ended up winning the race, because he was faster.

“Oh, it’s not fair!”, I pouted, panting for air.

Brian laughed and walked to where I was. He picked me up from the ground and walked to the sand.

“Come on, little one. You’re too slow!”, he chuckled.

“No, I’m not! I just wasn’t expecting you were so fast!”, I replied as he let me out of his embrace.

I set the towel on the sand and sat next to Brian’s. I just enjoyed looking at the sea. Since it was a full moon night you could see everything pretty well, and the dark blue water had the moon’s reflection dancing calmly.

I started singing quietly and then noticed Brian lying on his towel and looking at me smiling.

“You sing so well…”, Brian whispered making me blush, but since it was late night I didn’t have to worry about him seeing it.

I smiled sheepishly laid back down.

“Thanks.”, I said.

“Let’s go swimming!”, he suddenly said, standing up.

“What? Are you fucking kidding me?”, I asked surprised.

“No, I’m not.”, he simply answered taking his shirt off.

“But you have no swimming clothes! And it’s cold and the water must be freezing! You’re gonna catch a cold!”

“Relax!”, he said. “Come with me… I promise I won’t let you go.”

“You promise?”, I asked and he nodded.

I stood up and he was now only wearing his boxers.

“But I’m not wearing a bikini…”, I said.

“So what? Underwear is fine!”

I bit my lip and started undressing my top, then my jeans, until I was finally only wearing my underwear.

I bet I was as red as a tomato and I was finding it extremely awkward to be standing in front of Brian with such few clothing.

Without any warning, Brian lifted me up bridal style and I put my arms around his neck for support.

“Oh, god… We’re such idiots for doing this…”, I sighed and then chuckled.

Brian laughed and let me go of his arms when his feet touched the water. I dove into the cold water and swam far away from the shore. When I got to the surface in search of fresh air I couldn’t find Brian.

“Where the fuck are you hiding?”, I muttered not expecting an answer.

I gasped as I felt two strong arms wrapping around my waist and Brian’s lips on my cheek.
He placed his chin on my shoulder and I rested my head on his.

“You scared me!”, I said panting.

Brian laughed and tightened his hold on me.

“Just close your eyes and enjoy being here…“

After a while I started feeling cold and shivery so I turned around.

“I’m cold…”, I said.

“Let’s go to the towels then…”

We walked back to the sand and I wrapped myself on my towel. I put my jeans and my top back and Brian groaned.

I looked at him suspiciously and raised my eyebrow. “What!?”

“I was enjoying the view…”

“You asshole!”, I slapped his arm playfully.

He laughed and pushed me to him, making me fall on the sand. He put an arm around my shoulders and I rested my head on his chest. I started tracing his tattoos until I realized it was New Year’s Eve and that it should already be close to midnight.

“What time is it, Bri?”, I asked.

He raised his arm and glanced at the watch. “Fuck!”

I grabbed his arm and turned the watch in my direction, seeing it was already half past midnight.

“Did we just miss the beginning of the new year?”, I asked.

Brian sat back on the floor and did something on his watch.

“Nah…”

I then saw he had set the time again, so it was 11:59pm.

“Look…”, Brian said.

“3… 2… 1…”, we both said. “Happy New Year!”

We laughed and hugged each other.

“That was really sweet of you, you know?”, I said looking him the eyes, making him chuckle.
Brian’s forehead met mine and our eyes locked. He started approaching me and when he was dangerously close I moved my head on the other way so that nothing could happen. I stood up and could see the disappointment on his face… And it hurt to know that I did that to him…

I tried to say something, but nothing would come out. I returned to my spot next to him and he was looking down at his lap.

We heard a noise coming from behind us and instantly looked back.