Shattered By Broken Dreams

After Avenged had finished their set and cleaned themselves up, the group of musicians wandered back out to the buses. Savannah was not surprised to see Zacky fall into step beside her, giving her a shy smile. She gave him a small smile in return, then noticed Jimmy making exaggerated kisses to his own hand. She rolled her eyes at the lovable goofball who flashed her a large smile before he put his arm around Katie and continued walking down the hallway toward the rear exit of the arena.
“So, um, we’re going to be staying overnight in Michigan after the show tomorrow,” Zacky said. “Do you think everyone will want to go to dinner after the show?” Savannah smiled shyly at him, pleased that he had remembered that she would feel more comfortable with the others around them whilst they got to know each other again.
“Yeah, I think everyone will be up for that. Jason’s the whiz at finding good places to eat, so we should ask him if he can find somewhere so he can make some reservations.”
“Yeah, good thinking 99,” Zacky replied, giving Savannah a little grin. She felt her heart flutter at his grin.

She hadn’t thought in a million years that she would be having a conversation with Zacky without wanting to gouge his eyes out with a spoon, but after everything that Zacky had finally revealed to her she realized that although he had loved her he had been scared for his mother’s life and hadn’t wanted anything to happen to her. She hated her father even more than she had done before, if that was even possible. If not for her father’s greed and interference, she and Zacky could very well have been married by now. The sudden thought shocked her, as it had not occurred to her previously. She shrugged it off, however. There was no more time for what if’s. What happened had happened and they couldn’t change the past.

As they emerged into the cool Wisconsin night, Zacky put his arm around her to draw her close. She felt herself flush as his body heat penetrated the jacket she was wearing. She noticed that up ahead of them Matt had placed his jacket over Shannen’s shoulders and was walking with her hand in hand back to Avenged’s bus. She smiled at the two of them together. Matt had taken the break-up with Val hard, although it had been an amicable decision between the two of them as they had grown apart. As he had explained to Savannah, it wasn’t the fact that the relationship was over that had upset him, it was that he felt lonely with no-one waiting for him back home when he finished touring or wanting to join him on the road. Whilst Savannah had liked Val for the most part, her determination to make it as an actress had pushed a further wedge between herself and Matt. The fact that she couldn’t act her way out of a wet paper bag had certainly not helped matters, as Val grew more despondent at the constant rejections and took her frustrations out on Matt.

“What are you thinking?” Zacky asked her, as they neared Crimson Sins’ bus.
“Just about Matt, and how happy he looks now that he’s found Shannen. I was getting a little worried about him and how lonely he was after Val left.” Zacky nodded in understanding.
“He didn’t really talk much about it, but he confided in Jimmy that he was feeling a little lost for a while. It’s good to see him with a smile back on his face.”

As they neared the open door to the bus, Tommy raced past with Lee on is back.
“Yee hah, onward noble steed!” Lee exclaimed. Savannah giggled at Tommy as he grabbed Lee from his back and leaned her up against the side of the bus.
“Oi, that’s enough of that, you two!” Savannah called out with a smirk. “No fucking against the side of the bus!” Lee shot her the finger with a smirk.
“Okay, but don’t come running to me the next time you need someone to play Soap-Sud-Slalom down the cargo ramp doors of the arenas. You can carry your own damn flags!” Tommy replied.
“Soap sud slalom?” Zacky queried Savannah with a raised eyebrow.
“We invented it one day when we got bored,” Savannah replied with a grin. “It’s kinda like the old kids game but with added danger.”
“Should you really be doing that after your injuries?” Zacky asked. Savannah was touched by his concern.
“We haven’t done it for a while, and we used to wear gridiron padding.” Zacky shook his head as he envisioned the band using cargo bay doors as a slalom.
“You guys are nuts,” he said with a soft laugh.
“Ahh, but you love us anyway,” Savannah replied with a light-hearted chuckle. Zacky glanced at her for a moment before speaking.
“Yeah, I do.”