Work Experience

Matt Sanders was on a high, a high he hoped never ended.

“Guys I fucking tell you what,” Matt paused taking in the view of the crowd in front of him. “Avenged would be no where without you fucking lot!” The roar of the fans was almost deafening. “But we’d also be nowhere without our fucking beautiful manager,” The cheers continued even if they had no idea who they were cheering for. Brian eyed his lead singer suspiciously, unsure what he was playing at. “Rhian you’re fucking amazing and I don’t know what I’d,” He paused looking at the guys around gaining a few nods. “We’d have done without you, babe this is for you,” Rhian watched on from the side of the stage, holding back the tears as best she could. JB behind her wrapped an arm over her shoulder and pulled her close.

The hardest thing in the world would be walking away from all this. There was no way she could stay, not after this tour, not after these feelings.

She hoped the boys understood. More than anything she hoped Matt understood.

Resting her head on JB’s shoulder she watched the lead singer command the stage, captivating every member of the audience and whipping them up into a frenzy. She bit down hard on her lip, reminding herself it wasn’t all over yet.

Not yet.

There was still the blow out party. No tour ended without a party to end all other parties.

“How about a little something for the record?” Rhian groaned hearing her cousin’s voice and instantly wishing she could be sucked into the glass of vodka and never come back. “Come on I’ve heard rumours about A7X want to put anything straight?”

“No,” Taylor slid onto the chair next to Rhian at the bar. The boys were dotted around socialising with other bands, friends and fans.

“Oh come on, how about A7X sleeps with their help to keep them onside?” Rhian chocked with laughter on her drink, that wasn’t worth Taylor’s ink. “No,” Taylor smiled waving at the barman who came to take her order. “What about the one where the manager is pregnant with M.Shadows love child? You wore a very floaty dress a few weeks ago,”

“No,” Rhian muttered taking a slow, calculated sip of her drink. None of these rumors were anything Taylor would be interested in writing.

“I guess it’s the last one then, the one I just chatted to Matt about,” Taylor took a sip of her own drink and thanked the barman. “Avenged Sevenfold’s manager is looking for a new job, history is repeating itself with M.Shadows lovers, and she is out,” Rhian tried not to let anything show but she knew the fact she’d stopped drinking had given her away. “Ah hah, so you are leaving the boys, because from what I was hinting at to Matt he didn’t get it!”

“What did you say?” Rhian questioned calmly, keeping her cool and somewhat professional exterior. Taylor was impressed, she expected a telling off.

“That there were rumours of history repeating itself,”
“You told him didn’t you?” Rhian asked gazing around the club, she swivelled on her chair counting band members. Everyone but Matt was there.

Great.

Rhian hoped off her chair, downing the rest of her drink and turning to Taylor.

“Stay away, I mean it, I don’t want you stirring anything else up,”

“Yes mam’” Taylor smirked saluting Rhian and gaining a further glare from the Brit. “Where are you going out of interest?” But Rhian didn’t reply, she was gone in a flash, not that Taylor really needed an answer. She smiled to herself, knowing this would be her news article first. She leant over the bar and ordered herself another whiskey, to wash down the bubbling guilt she refused to admit she felt.

“You’re Taylor right?” Niki questioned wondering up to the woman at the bar. Taylor heard the younger woman’s voice and smiled to herself. Round 2. She flicked her brown hair off her face and just nodded. “I have a question,”

“Shoot,” Taylor replied starring at the girl in front of her, she was nothing more than a teenager. No danger or threat talking to her.

“What happened to warn you off M.Shadows?” Taylor raised her eyebrows, surprised and intrigued at the girl’s question. There were rumours flying around about Avenged Sevenfold at the moment, big management rumours, and M.Shadows name had been mentioned numerous times. Did this work experience chick know more than her pay grade?

“Their manager,” Taylor replied simply taking a sip of her beer.

“Bullshit,” She chocked on the drink amazed at that reaction, very little shocked Taylor, yet this girl might manage it.

“Excuse me?”

“Bullshit,” She drew the word out, clicking her ‘T’ at the end and smirking. “Rhian didn’t scare you away, not if you really liked him,”

“I never really liked Matt, I fucked him, I enjoyed the famous horse cock and I got my kicks, but I never fell for M.Shadows, and definitely not Matt Sanders, not like Rhian,” Taylor replied simply putting the girl in front of her straight.

“You reckon Rhian likes him?” Niki asked innocently, knowing what the answer would be.

“Babe, from the word go she’s liked him, she just hasn’t always known it! He messed around at the start, but as he got to know her, he changed, he kept the boys in line for her, he became serious! Hell when I was fucking him I watched him make eyes at her, neither of them knew it, but they are meant for each other,”

“So why didn’t you continue your game? Enjoy the pleasures of the horse cock?” Niki smirked, knowing there was very few woman that would turn down good sex; not at such a young age. Taylor shrugged, thinking about her answer, did she lie or tell the truth. What was the advantage of lying anymore?

But then what could she gain from the truth?

A good story quite possibly?

“It was a game a lot of people did not like,” Niki just nodded waiting for more of an explanation. Taylor finished her drink and smirked at the younger girl. “And I imagine that is just what is happening in the Avenged Sevenfold camp now,” Niki shrugged. “It’s either Synyster Gates with a minor, or the band fucking the labour, I mean how does it look when you’ve got three employees of the record label shacking up with the band,”

“Same way it would look if the writer for a leading magazine slept with the men she was interviewing and got caught,” Taylor and Niki both turned round as they heard the British accent. “Cause I remember the tears and I think you forgot them,” Taylor’s eyes went wide. “I may be just Zacky’s girl, or the designer or the dogsbody, but I see it all, I think you forget that sometimes,” Sarah stood there looking less than impressed at both Americans. “You nearly lost your job and now Rhian is losing hers, you might think I stuck by Rhi, but I stuck by both of you,” Niki looked between Taylor and Sarah utterly confused.

“You-I-shit,” Taylor whispered looking at the British woman she’d barely spoken to in years.

“Rhian is going through exactly what you went through, and you’re partly to blame with your stupid article, I can’t quite believe you were that heartless,” Sarah muttered shaking her head. “Taylor we stuck by you,”

“It was just an article, other people, journalists, they were getting ready to write the-“

“Then let them write it!” Sarah snapped. “Don’t blacken your own families name, and take a band who looked after you down with them, Avenged always said they’d have you back after all the shit,” Sarah admonished.

“It’s my fucking job,” Taylor muttered back waving at the barman. “Rhian was there when it happened the first time, she knew the risks she was an idiot to think she would skate through it, business is business!”

“But you published the article!”

“If I hadn’t someone else would have, it was only a matter of time, at least I wrote nice things!”

“No you didn’t!” Niki snapped.

“I never called her fat, got up high school photos of her and asked what Matt saw in her, I published the facts not speculation!” Niki and Sarah both stayed quiet. “She got herself into this shit, she can get herself out, at the end of the day that’s what I did!”

“You fucked off without a word!” Sarah interjected. “Matt actually had feelings for you,”

“And now he has feelings for her, and guess what?” Both girls looked at Taylor as she gestured round the room. “She’s nowhere to be seen either!” Sarah bit her lip, sudden panic dawning on her.
“History has a funny way of repeating itself,” Taylor’s sing-song voice made Sarah’s blood run cold.

“Go find Zack, stay with them,” Sarah muttered to Niki grabbing her arm and turning her to face the booth at the end of the room. “You stay away,” She turned again to hiss at Taylor before darting across the dance floor in search of her friend.

Not again. She wouldn’t go through tears and drama on a bus again.