Inside These Arms Of Yours

“Hey is this Katie?” asked a smooth, very deep voice somewhere on the other end. I recognized it from somewhere but couldn’t quite place it. I knew it wasn’t one of my two best guy friends because their voices weren’t near as deep as this one was.

“Ummm yeah I’m Katie. Can I ask who this is?” came my semi-nervous reply. I mean wouldn’t you be nervous too if some guy you didn’t know was calling you and knew your name? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

“This is M. Shadows from Avenged Sevenfold. We recently read your question you had submitted to our email and thought we would give you a call and answer it.”

Ho-ly crap. Was this seriously happening to me??? About a month ago I had received an email saying that the band would be taking time to answer questions while they recorded their new record and to put your phone number and location incase they wanted to answer you personally. I had asked what the band did during their free time. If they just hung out or went on vacation anywhere.

“You did submit a question to us right?” he asked and I was still in shock but I managed to give a reply.

“Yeah I sent a question. But why did you guys choose me to answer of all people?” By now the nervousness had disappeared from my voice and was instead replaced with surprise and shock. I had never even spoken to someone remotely famous before. Let alone a big rock star.

He chuckled a little and replied with “Well, we read your question and saw you were in San Diego. It just so happens that when we have free time we like to take small trips down to San Diego too. Aaaand we happen to be here for the weekend. You seemed really genuine in your email. Would you like to chill with us for the day tomorrow? You don’t seem like the type to be some psycho fan of ours.”

My jaw dropped within seconds of hearing the word ‘chill’. Was I really being asked to hang out with one of my all time favorite bands??? This had to be a joke.

“Are you serious? This isn’t some kind of joke is it?” I think he could tell I really thought it was a joke and that I didn’t appreciate it because he laughed once again and told me “No it’s no joke. I swear. The guys and I took the weekend off recording and drove down here to get away from the crowded LA atmosphere for a bit. You really sounded like a cool person from your email. We’d love to have you hang with us tomorrow if you’re available to.”

My thoughts were interrupted by one word…work. Craaaaap!!! Well maybe I could call CJ and see if she would cover for me? She didn’t like Avenged that much but she knew I adored them. I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to convince her.

“Umm yeah I should be free. I’ll see if my friend can cover for me at work but it should be all good. What time are you guys thinking?”

“Well we are headed to Coronado Beach for the day. Brian said he can pick you up from where you live and bring you over. We just need to know your address so we can make sure he won’t get lost. He has a tendency to do that quite often.”

Off in the background I could hear a muffled “Hey! I do not get lost!!!” followed by many “Yes you do”s. Laughing, I was about to answer but then realized I wasn’t sure what I should call them but that thought was quickly pushed away as Shads spoke again.

“Oh and before you ask… call us by our real names ok? On vacation we just like being us. Not Shads or Syn or any of that fun stuff alright?”

“Sure thing Matt. Oh and here’s my address. 423 Hollander Ave. Make sure Brian has this phone number as well incase he does in fact get lost. It’s not too hard to find though so he shouldn’t have any difficulties. What time should I expect him at?”

“Does 9am sound okay? We’re planning on grabbing some coffee to wake everyone up on the way. There’s supposed to be a really good local café in Coronado that we all want to try out. Brian can pick you up and you two can meet us there. Alright?” I could hear the excitement in his voice. Why they would be excited to have me along was far beyond me. I was just another fan right?

“Yeah 9 works great! I’ll be watching for him.”

“Alright we’ll see you tomorrow Katie!”

“Bye Matt” and my ears were greeted with a dial tone. I could not believe this was actually happening. It seemed too good to be true. Avenged fucking Sevenfold had actually asked me to hang out with them tomorrow! Oh my gosh… wait until I told CJ.