Anything for You

“I need some more boxes!”

“Are you going to get them or do you need me to?”

“No, don’t worry about it. I’ll go get them.”

“Okay, I’ll watch the booth.”

“Thanks, Val. I’ll be right back.”

The platinum blonde-and-red-haired girl dusted off her hands and moved around the merchandise tent and out into the crowd. She squeezed her arms to herself as she pushed through the crowd of sweaty bodies moving with the music. She glanced up at the stage to see her boys thrashing around on the stage, the sounds of “Beast and the Harlot” flowed around her and people sang along with the words.

It was a small show they were doing, but it was on Christmas Eve. They were in northern California, and it was the first Christmas she’d spent away from any of her family. Her mother had died that May, and she wasn’t sure who or where her father was. She didn’t care, really, but not having her mother waiting in Huntington was eating her up inside.

Instead of throwing herself into a depression, she threw herself into the band and helping them. Avenged Sevenfold was her second family; Valary DiBenedetto was the sister she never had. Matt, Johnny, Jimmy, and Brian were all her brothers…And Zacky was… Zacky was her saving grace.

They had started dating in high school, and she followed him with the band. He was always there for her for everything, but after her mom died, he didn’t know how to be there. For the first few months, she distanced herself from him, but when it was obvious he wasn’t disturbed by her odd behavior, she came back to him with full force. Since then, she’d been helping them and Val out with shows. If Val had to run off somewhere, she ran the merchandise booth, she helped pack up the equipment with the Berry’s, and she even helped tune some of the guitars if they needed her.

She made her way through the crowd, towards the stage and through the back door. Backstage, everyone was busy doing something, and completely ignored her. She made her way to the door leading outside and took the opportunity to light up a cigarette from her back pocket. She checked her phone to see she didn’t have any messages or missed calls. She sighed and took a drag of her cigarette.

When she was finished, she headed to the bus to get another box of shirts. Benny, the driver, was standing outside.

“Hey, Benny,” she said and reached for the door.

“Sorry, Alexys, you can’t go on there.”

“I need more shirts. Why can’t I?”

“The bus is being cleaned and you can’t go on yet. I put the extra merch by the door.”

Alexys whirled around and sure enough, she’d walked right by the boxes. She gave Benny one last questioning look before waving and taking off towards the boxes. She moved the top two aside and found the medium sized shirts. She picked up the box, rested it on her hip, and pulled open the door.
She held the box in her arms as she made her way through the crowd to the booth where Val was sitting. She barely had enough time to cut the box open and pull a few out before Val stopped her.

“I’m going on a break,” Val said, wiping her hands on her pants.

“Oh, alright,” Alexys said, looking a bit dejected.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Val said, smiling.

“Okay,” Alexys said, nodding.

Unfortunately for her, a few minutes turned into never. The show was completely finished and the crowds were slowly dispersing when Alexys realized Val had never come back. Once the crowds had gone, she blew out a puff of air and pulled her hair into a messy bun on top of her head before looking around at the booth.

She packed up all the boxes, took down the display sheet from the back of the booth, and stacked all the boxes up so they were ready to be carried back to the bus. Now, she just needed to find someone to help her so she didn’t have to do it all herself.

Fortunately, Jason Berry walked by at that time.

“Hey, Jason, can you help me carry these boxes?”

“Sorry, X, I got some things I gotta get done.”

“Oh, alright,” Alexys said, dejected.

A few more hands came by, but each of them said they were busy. Frustrated, she sat on top of one of the boxes. Brian appeared out of nowhere and walked by the booth.

“BRIAN!”

He started at her screaming his name and whirled around.

“Oh crap,” he whispered, but he smiled. “Hi Alexys.”

“Can you please help me with these boxes?”

“Actually—”

“Please don’t tell me you can’t. God, you’re the fifth person to tell me they were busy. I thought this was fucking Christmas…Why does it feel like everyone is avoiding me? Usually I don’t have to go far to find help.”

Brian felt bad. He could feel his will breaking as he watched her sit there, dejectedly. He couldn’t let her know, though.

“Alright, well, I’ll go take some boxes, but you stay here. I don’t want anything to go missing.”

“Oh my God, thank you so much, Syn.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, but he smiled as he grabbed two boxes.

As soon he put them in the back of the van, he rushed to the bus. He climbed the stairs and was greeted to Jimmy wrapped in Christmas lights.

“This is the single must fucked up thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Jimmy complained.

“Actually, it’s not. You’ve done a lot of fucked up things, now come over here,” Val said, impatient.

“Guys, she’s almost done. She’s starting to suspect something. She asked me for help with the boxes of merch and I tried to tell her no but apparently everyone’s been avoiding her.”

“Shit, we’ve got to hurry,” Val said, pausing in her actions. She turned around to the rest of the guys. “You all need to get your stuff on. We need to hurry this the hell up. Jimmy, get those lights up on the windows. Matt, after you get dressed, I need you to move this couch.”

“It’s fucking nailed into the bus, Val; I can’t move it.”

“Well, then find me some damn chairs then, asshole.”

“Why can’t she just sit here and we can do this here?” Matt asked, pointing to different places on the bus.

“As long as you guys can move, I don’t care how we do this,” Val said. She turned to Zacky who was finishing up some decorations. “You need to go help your girlfriend so she doesn't get suspicious.”

“Okay,” he said, smiling brightly.

“Why the fuck doesn’t he have to dress like this?” Johnny asked, coming out of the back.

“This is my idea, shithead. Now, fucking go along with it. You guys have got half an hour,” Zacky said before he headed to the front of the bus and down the stairs.

He jogged the whole way until he saw Alexys lifting two boxes, turning to bring them outside. He moved closer and took both boxes from her.

“I got those, sweetheart.”

“Thank you,” she said, sighing before leaning up to kiss him.

“Get me two more ready and I’ll be back in a second.”

He quickly took all of the boxes outside and came back inside to see her folding the tables down. He carried those out and came back inside as she was walking backstage.

“We’re all finished,” she said, coming to hug him. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you,” he said, kissing her forehead.

“Everyone’s been acting weird tonight. Until Brian came along, everyone acted like they were too good to help me.”

“That’s weird,” Zacky said, frowning.

He hated lying to her but he knew it was for a good reason.

“Come on, let’s go smoke before we leave,” he said, pulling her hand.

He kept her facing away from the bus so she wouldn’t see if anything happened. He only had to wait six minutes, though, before one of the Berry brothers stepped off of the bus.

“Zacky!” he hollered.

Zacky hollered back, threw his cigarette on the ground, and pulled a piece of fabric from his back pocket.

“What’s going on?” Alexys asked as she stubbed her own cigarette out.

“It’s time for your Christmas present,” he said, smiling, as he tied the blindfold around her eyes.

He led her to the bus and helped her step up into the bus. She couldn’t hear any sounds, but she felt that there were people on the bus. Zacky pulled her along, holding both of her hands. She bumped into something and he apologized, but she could hear the laughter in his voice. Suddenly, he turned her around and shoved her down. She landed on what felt like a couch.

She felt Zacky sit beside her and then his lips were on hers. Her senses were heightened, due to the loss of one of them, and she leaned into him.

“Merry Christmas,” he whispered before he pulled off the blindfold.