Seize The Day.

Jenny woke up the next morning, but didn’t open her eyes right away. She just laid there still, thinking. The whole night before seemed like a dream. She was sure that part of it was, the part after the concert was at least. She finally opened her eyes and turned, and when she did, she saw Johnny lying there fast asleep. It took all of her will power not to scream. It’s not that she was scared, just excited. She leaned up and looked at him; she couldn’t believe that he had really just stayed there with her the whole night when he could’ve been with the guys drinking beer or whatever else they do after shows. She smiled to herself and rested her head back on Johnny’s shoulder.
And then it hit her, the bus was moving. And it had been moving all night. She wasn’t in Saratoga anymore. In fact, she probably wasn’t even in New York anymore. She wanted to shake Johnny and ask him what the hell was going on, but she didn’t want to wake him up. She just laid there, wondering what must’ve been going on at home. And then she realized, her dad probably didn’t even notice that she was gone. She took her phone out of her pocket and texted Corey, “Bro, I got into some deep shit…I need help with this.” She checked to see what time it was, it was 11:00 A.M. Corey would be at work right now. She crossed her fingers hoping that he’d answer.
A few minutes went by and still nothing from Corey. So she slowly got up off the couch and put the blanket back on Johnny. She quietly made her way to the front of the bus. She ran into Arin on the way. He smiled at her, “Hey Sleepin’ Beauty.” She smiled at him, “Hey.” She slid past him and up to the driver’s cab where Matt was sitting. She sat down in the seat next to him and he gave a small laugh, “Morning Sunshine.” She smiled and ran her hand through her hair, “Morning.” He looked at her for a second and then back to the road, “Sleep well with Short Shit last night?” She laughed and could feel herself blush, “Yea… By the way, umm…where the fuck are we?” He laughed as he turned off an exit into a pit-stop area, “Well, we are somewhere that is not where we were last night.” She rolled her eyes at him, “Am I ever gonna go back home?” He shook his head, “Nah, we’re gonna keep ya till the next time we tour in New York.” Her eyes widened, “You’re kidding right?” He stood up and smiled at her, “Of course I am…”
He walked past her to the part of the bus where Johnny was asleep on the couch. He threw a pillow at him, “Rise and shine Seward!” When Johnny didn’t respond Matt walked over and pulled the blanket off of him, “Yo! Wake up!” Johnny mumbled something at him as he pulled the covers back over his head. Matt yanked them off again, “Let’s go! We’re in Nashville!” Johnny finally forced himself up, “Does that mean…?” Matt laughed and nodded, “Yes, it means we’re at your favorite place to eat.” Jenny gave Matt a questioning look. He laughed and shrugged, “I honestly don’t know where his favorite place to eat is. No matter where we go he stuffs his face so this is just what I tell him to get him out of bed every morning. Let’s hope he doesn’t catch on.” She laughed and walked over to Johnny to help him get up. Matt turned to her, “Do me a favor and go wake the other guys up please?” She smiled and nodded and headed farther back on the bus.
Matt sat down across from Johnny, “Yo, so what are we doing with her?” Johnny yawned and shrugged, “I dunno, keeping her for a while I guess.” Matt sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, “You sure that’s a smart idea?” Johnny looked at him and nodded, “Yea, I don’t see why it wouldn’t-” But before he could finish his sentence, a high-pitched scream came from the back of the bus. And as far as Matt knew, Brian and Zacky didn’t sound like that. Johnny was about to go sprinting back there when Zacky came flying through with Jenny on his back. She was smiling as bright as ever.
Matt looked over to Johnny and saw him smiling about as brightly as Jenny was. And he finally understood what Johnny was doing. Jenny was his little project. He was doing everything in his power to help save her since he couldn’t save Jimmy. He turned back to Jenny and Zacky and saw him flinging her down onto the couch. She was laughing so hard that she nearly fell off but managed to catch herself just in time. “Well,” said Matt with a laugh, “I see you woke them up by method of screaming bloody-murder.” Jenny laughed as she started to fix her hair, “Yo, I wasn’t planning on it alright? I went to go shake his shoulder and he jumped up and like, half roared-half growled at me and I thought I was going to die.” They were all laughing when Syn emerged from the back, scratching his head and yawning, “What’s all the noise out here?”
Jenny tried to control her giggles by covering her mouth and she glanced over at Johnny who was shaking his head in amusement. Zacky knew that Brian was going to be on edge for the whole day until they were performing again, so he spoke up before Jenny did, “Oh, I was just beating the shit outta Jenny. You know, the usual.” Brian nodded and gave a small laugh, “Oh, okay, as long as it’s not anything out of the ordinary.” He made his way towards the front of the bus so he could get dressed and Jenny turned to Johnny, “Hey, I hate to sound like some needy teen-girl, but these are the only clothes I’ve got and I feel like a hobo wearing the same thing every day haha.” Johnny laughed and put his arm around his shoulder, “After breakfast, we’ll find a mall for you to wander in okay?” She smiled and nodded, “Sounds good. Hey, where’d Arin wander off to?”
Just as she finished saying that, he walked in. “Awh, did ya miss me?” She laughed, “Of course I did! It’s just incomplete without you here!” He laughed and walked over and linked arms with her, “Shall we?” She laughed, “I believe we shall.” They walked off the bus and Matt and Zacky followed after. Johnny walked up to the front of the bus to grab a different shirt when he passed Brian. Brian glared at Johnny as he walked past. Johnny looked back at him, “Look man, I know you’re pissed at me alright? But don’t you dare take it out on her.” Johnny threw his shirt on and walked off the bus.
Syn stood there for a minute, just staring down at his necklace; he couldn’t imagine parting with it. He couldn’t even imagine under what circumstances he would ever give it up to someone. And he tried to get inside Johnny’s head to figure out what made him give it up, but he just couldn’t. He wanted to ask Johnny straight up what the hell made him give it up willingly, but he didn’t really want the answer. No answer could be good enough for giving it up. No matter what any of the guys said, he’d never get over it.
He walked into the restaurant and saw the guys sitting at a huge table with Jenny sitting in between Arin and Johnny. Syn went over and sat down in between Zacky and Arin. Jenny knew that Brian didn’t like her, but she gave him a small smile when he sat down anyway and then went back to talking to Arin.
The waitress came over, “Morning guys, what can I do ya for?” All the guys placed their orders and then she got to Jenny, “Umm…I’ll just have a cup of coffee.” The waitress looked at her for a moment, but when she realized that Jenny was serious, she just picked up the menus and walked back to the kitchen. All the guys stared at her in disbelief, it was even worse than when she said that they were her first concert ever. She looked around at them, “What?” There were a few moments of awkward silence before Arin finally said what was on everyone’s mind, “Why aren’t you eating?” She just shrugged, “I usually don’t eat very much. I don’t need to.” Before anyone could say anything, she waitress came back with all their food. She set a plate down in front of Jenny and put a chocolate chip pancake on it, “On the house honey. But eat something.” Jenny smiled up at her and thanked her.
All the guys gave a small sigh of relief when they saw her start to eat. They all started chatting and joking around. Jenny sat there in silence, just taking it all in. She was sitting at a table with Avenged Sevenfold. She spent the night with them. They were taking her on tour with them. But, the part that struck her the most was the fact that they were so concerned about some girl they had met not even 24 hours ago. Well, except for Brian, he didn’t like her very much.
They finished their breakfasts and started heading back to the bus when Jenny heard her phone go off. She looked at the screen, it was Corey, “yo, where were you? I waited for like, ever and u never came out. What happened?” She looked down at the screen, trying to figure out what to say to him. How was she supposed to explain the whole situation? “Long story short, I’m touring with the guys for now. they’re gonna bring me home…eventually?”
She hopped onto the bus and shut the door. She looked at Zacky, “So, where to now?” Zacky shrugged, “Well, last I heard, we’re heading to the mall.” She smiled, “Can you guys do that? Like, won’t people recognize you?” He shrugged again, “Usually, they’re too concerned with themselves to notice.” She sat down next to him and he just looked at her. There was something about his eyes that made him seem so safe and trustworthy. She smiled at him and then let her face grow serious again before she asked, “Does Brian hate me?” The question caught him off-guard a little bit, “Umm, no. I don’t think he hates you. It’s just that, this whole situation has kinda caught us all off-guard. It’s a bit of a shock. I guess he’s just gonna take a little while longer to get used to it.” She nodded understandingly and walked over to the fridge and pulled out a beer.
Arin laughed as he walked by her. She turned to him, “What?” He just shook his head, “Not even one whole day with us and you’re already drinking.” She blushed, “Sorry, would you rather have me not?” He laughed and gave her a hug, “Do whatever you want. Just, don’t become a Johnny.” She laughed as Johnny came up behind him and slapped him on the back of the head, “Hey, don’t be mad just ‘cause I can hold my liquor.” Jenny gave a small laugh, “We’re going to have to offload you sir.” Zacky burst out laughing, “Oh damn, I remember that. Good times. You really know your stuff there Jenn.” She blushed, not only did she just get a compliment from Zacky Vengeance, but he called her Jenn. It felt like a pet name, it made her feel special.
Johnny picked her up and tossed her over onto the couch, “Watch your mouth newbie.” She laughed as Zacky flipped her over onto the floor. “You guys are so abusive!” joked Matt as he helped her up. She brushed off and sat back down on the couch, “Toss me my beer man?” Matt tossed it to her and she cracked it open. Johnny smiled, “Learned how to do it yourself?” She blushed, “Well, I’ve been watching some of the best in the business.”
They all sat around and talked for a little while before everyone seemed to split off in their different directions. Zacky and Johnny headed to the very back to catch some extra sleep since they would take turns driving that night and Matt and Arin sat down and started working on songs and music stuff. Jenny felt out of place for the first time since she stepped onto the bus. She checked her phone and saw a message from Corey, “You’re not coming back?” She bit her lip; she wasn’t sure what to say. She stared at the screen for a minute, “Not soon anyway…” She sighed and put the phone back in her pocket.
She made her way up to the front of the bus where Brian was driving and sat down next to him in the passenger seat. She just looked out the window at the passing cars and lines on the road. She wanted him to start the conversation, but the silence was getting un-bearably awkward. She saw him look at her out of the corner of her eye and a small smile slowly crept on to her face. It was nice to know that he somewhat acknowledged the fact that she was there. She turned to him, “Can I plug my iPod into the radio?” He shrugged, “Go for it. Just, no shitty music alright?” She laughed, “Okay, I’ll try to stay away from that.” She plugged her iPod in and went through her library until she landed on You Me At Six. Syn looked at her as the song started to play, “Who is this?” She smiled, “They’re a band called You Me At Six. They’re probably a little more mellow than you’re used to haha.” He smiled, “You’re right. But they are good, I’ll give ‘em that.” Jenny looked at him; there was something different about him. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
“Are you okay?” He looked at her for a second before turning back to the road, “What?” She looked down at her hands, “Are you okay? You just seem a little…off.” He sighed and leaned back in the driver’s seat, “Yea, I’m fine.” She just stared at him, “Look, don’t lie to me. I can spot that ‘I’m fine’ bullshit from a million miles away. I know you’re not.” He looked at her, “You’ve got some serious balls kid.” She paused the music, “Duly noted. Now what’s wrong?” He sighed, “Alright, I know you probably think I hate you or some shit like that, but I don’t. I just, I wonder what made Johnny so attached to you. And, well, I realized it was because you’re like a wakeup call for this whole band. There’s a little bit of all of us in you. And I guess the reason it irked me so much at the beginning was because, well, you’re like a better version of me. You’re so strong even after everything you’ve been through with losing your friends. I can barely get out of bed every morning and I’ve only lost one. I’m jealous of that. And when Johnny gave you his necklace, I just, I don’t even know. I snapped. But I get why he’s doing it, but it just, it stung a little. He’s stronger than me about it all. I can’t handle it like everyone else can.”
Jenny wiped the tears off of her face and tried to steady her breath before she said anything. She looked at him, even though he couldn’t really look back, “Brian, I want you to listen to me alright? You and Jimmy were best friends. You have every right to be hurt the way you are. Don’t think that you’re weak because of it. You’re one of the strongest people that I know for being able to get through this. And trust me, I’m nowhere near a better version of you. Your pain comes out differently than mine. You guys lost a best friend, and no one can handle it perfectly when that happens. But none of you are stronger than the other about this. You guys just express it all differently. I can see it in all of you. But Brian, please, don’t be so hard on yourself about this. It’s enough to deal with without the added pressure of yourself.”
Just as she finished saying that, they pulled into the parking lot of the mall. Syn put the bus in park and took the keys out of the ignition. When he stood up, he leaned down and gave Jenny an awkward and unsure hug. She threw her arms around his neck and she never wanted to let go. It was like, in that moment, everything was okay. He pulled back and gave an awkward smile “Thank you.” She smiled as he walked back to the rest of the guys. He looked around, “Everyone ready to go shopping?” Arin’s face lit up like a five-year-old’s, “Shopping? Let’s go!” Johnny snagged his arm before he took off out the door, “Easy, down boy.” They waited for Zacky to come stumbling sleepily from the back of the bus, “Alright, let’s go,” he said as he grabbed a new t-shirt to wear. Jenny just stood there smiling. The guys all looked at her and Zacky asked, “What’s that look for?” She just laughed and shrugged, “I’m going shopping with the guys of Avenged Sevenfold. This is, beyond my wildest dreams man. Like, you have no idea.” Matt walked over to her and put an arm around her shoulder, “Well, we’ll shop with you on one condition; you’re not allowed to drag us into any super girly stores or any shit like that. Okay?” She smiled and nodded, “Nah, don’t worry. But I do know just the place to bring you guys…”