We Always Knew

Matt shook Brian vehemently until he was satisfied with the amount of curse words echoing in the bunk.

"Dude, we're in Tampa- didn't you say you want to cruise the town for bars?" Matt said. Brian nodded, snuggling back in with his pillow, obviously not comprehending what Matt had meant.

It took Brian around an hour to get ready to stroll the sidewalks. Even a nap had not conquered his hangover- you know, the one he didnt actually have.
Zacky was punching Johnny in the shoulder for dropping the 40's on his foot,

"Why the hell do we trust this peanuthead with our alcohol?"

"We don't trust him. We're just too lazy to carry them ourselves," Jimmy yelled, causing Brian to shiver.

"Jimmy, why are you yelling? Can't you use your inside voice anywhere?" Brian questioned. Everyone froze. Since when did Syn get annoyed with the obnoxious Jimmy?

"Well..uh, I'm outside, thats for one," Jimmy retorted.

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Delaney waved hyperactive April over to the chair, shushing her before she could even start going off about anything.

"I'm in a great mood today, and I don't care why you ran off yesterday," Laney explained, ushering April to pull her jeans up. April pouted the entire time.
Around noon, Delaney had retired checking everyone coming in. It was evident that "Synyster Gates" wasn't going to come in broad daylight. She should have figured as much.

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Currently, Brian was ignoring the girls blatantly gawking at him from across the bar. Brian wasn't going to lie to himself, or anyone, for that matter, he knew he was good looking, he just didn't care. He found himself more concerned with keeping himself grounded.
Brian had witnessed fame get to the head of his father when he was younger. It was depressing to watch the effects it had on everyone in his family, but mostly his mother. Once or twice, she had thought about divorcing his father because he sat on a high horse. Funny thing was, Brian Haner Sr. hadn't achieved that much celebrity status to let it get that way.

Michelle, Val's twin sister and also his girlfriend, appeared behind him. Brian felt her teeth penetrate the skin on his neck. A gasp escaped his mouth.

"Hey baby, how was the flight?" he sighed.

"It was short and boring. I'm sorry I had to miss your show the other night," She took a seat.

Brian's face went red. Luckily, the bar was poorly lit and no one could tell. Michelle missing the Tampa show probably changed his life. Feeling like he had cheated, Brian told her what she had missed, not leaving out any details. Michelle pecked him on the cheek, grateful for having such a honest boyfriend.

"Mich, I'm so sorry. It was such a stupid mistake for me to do," Brian apologized.

"It's alright. I think we've done our time anyways, you know? Both of us need someone who can be there," Michelle patted his hand and took off towards the dance floor.
Matt took her place beside him and ordered a beer. He seemed to already know what the two had discussed.

"That had to be the cleanest break-up ever," Brian inspected the empty glass collecting dust in front of him.

"Was it for Delaney?" Matt asked, sipping his chilled beer.

"Nope," Brian popped the 'p' dramatically. Matt nodded, although believing otherwise, "Want to go look at some tattoo places?"

"Sounds fun," Brian ran his fingers through his hair before setting some money down on the counter to pay for both their drinks and walking outside.
Brian ran into Matt, he had been too busy focusing on his headache to know that Matt had paused.

"What the fuck?" Brian yelped.

"Isn't that Laney on the bench over there?" Matt asked.

A ray of light brightened his mood when he lifted his head and saw familiar auburn strands pulled effortlessly back into a bun. As his eyes skimmed the girl's figure, he caught sight of a strange tattoo.

"Delaney!" Matt held his hand up. She looked around, trying to spot where her name had developed from. When finding them, she jumped up and ran over.

"Hey guys," she greeted huffing from the random exertion. Brian was awestruck all over again. No one had ever evoked such strong emotions inside of him, he felt out of control and like...a wild animal. "Why didn't you call me?"

"Jimmy threw the paper out on accident," Brian shrugged. He was worried she would find it a horrible excuse. But she accepted it, and that made him smile.

Delaney suggested them come inside the parlor so they wouldn't get sick. It seemed as if rain was brewing in the clouds above. Showing them around her office made her giddy. She couldn't help but to glance every once and a while at Brian who pretended to be interested, but she could tell he was bored to death.

"I'm sorry boys, I should have known better. You two know what a tattoo parlor looks like and I'm just boring you." She apologized. Now Brian felt like an asshole.

"No! We're delighted and actually quite impressed. It's just, I have a hangover." Brian admitted. Matt spun around and practically shouted.

"WHAT? Synyster Gates has a hangover?" Matt pulled out his phone and started texting someone.

"What's so surprising about him having a hangover?" Delaney wanted to know.

"Brian never gets a hangover. Alcohol is like, apart of his blood," Matt gasped, now texting someone else.

"Oh. I have some Tylenol Brian, want to come back with me?" Delaney offered.

Brian followed her lead, not knowing that she had more than just Tylenol in store for him.