I'll Take You There And Back Again

"Kacie." Wow, that's weird, the beach is deserted. And it's just me and the seagulls. Who's calling me? "Kacie." There it was again. It was a guy I could tell that much. "Kace. Wake up." I felt myself being gently shaken awake. There was no beach or seagulls, just myself and Brian tangled in the sheets.

"Mmm do I have to?" I groaned as I shut my eyes again. I felt him gently push back a piece of hair out of my eyes.

"Yes you do. Because you and I are going to get breakfast. So your ass needs to be up and dressed." I opened my eyes to meet his chocolate ones and saw they held a hint of mischief in them.

"Fine Mr. Haner. If you insist." I snagged some clothes and headed into the bathroom. It was sort of routine for everyone to shower at night instead of in the morning since the shows were a sweat fest for us all. I quickly changed into a pair of shorts and a tight fitting black shirt. Once I was ready I trudged back into the room to see Brian was lying already dressed on the bed with his hands behind his head.

"Ready?" He questioned as he stood up and made his way to where I was standing.

"Yeah I guess so. Where are we getting breakfast at?" I pushed my wallet and cell phone into my shorts pockets and slipped on my flip flops before following him into the hallway.

"There's this awesome bagel and coffee shop just down the road. I thought we could take a walk down there." I just nodded as he led the way. If there was one place the Avenged guys could navigate with their eyes closed it was Las Vegas.

"So our birthdays are just under two weeks away. If I recall, we'll be in Miami around then. Anything special you want to do?" Syn asked as we sat down after getting our food from the shop. It had a cozy atmosphere and was quite hopping for it being nine in the morning.

"No not really." I pondered for a minute before shaking my head again.

"But you're turning 21!" His look told me he thought I was insane.

"Oh really?! I would have never known! I could have sworn I was turning 18 again." I rolled my eyes as I took a bite of my cranberry bagel. He gave me a slight glare.

"Well since you have no preference, I guess it shall be up to us then." At this point, I could care less. One less hassle for me to have to deal with.

"Just no strip clubs. I mean it this time." He let out a deep chuckle as he held out his pinky.

"Pinky promise. No strip clubs." We shook on it and then both laughed. "Didn't say no strippers though. Just no clubs." I glared at him hard and he held up his hands in defense. "Alright alright. No strippers."

"Damn straight no strippers." I huffed before finishing off my bagel. We sat there in silence for a minute. It was kind of awkward for the most part. I stared into my cup of coffee for a moment before looking up to find Brian watching me.

"What?" I questioned as he continued to observe what I was doing, which happened to be nothing.

"Nothing." He smiled as he stood up and held his hand out to help me up as well. As we were heading out he slung his arm around my shoulders and rubbed small circles on my arm.

"So, you gonna be my bitch on stage tonight?" My eyes widened and I looked up to see his smirking face.

"Excuse me?"

"Well you're going to be singing with us again." He said as if he were stating a new fact.

"Yeah, I know that. And what does that have to do with me being your so called bitch on stage?" I asked slowly hoping it would get through that skull of his.

"Well so far, it's like Matt owns you on stage. I think tonight should be my turn." I stopped walking to stare at him.

"Umm no one owns me on stage. So no." I started walking again leaving Brian standing behind me by the fountain of the Bellagio.

"Oh come on Kace!" He said as he caught up to me.

"Oh quit whining and grow a pair Haner." I saw his smirk grow as he replaced his arm around my shoulders.

"But I have a pair. Would you like to see them? Cause I'll gladly show you." I scrunched up my nose after realizing the trap I put myself in.

"Umm no thanks." I could tell the smirk was still in place, and that it wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

***

Ahhh peace and quiet. For now. The day's events had been extremely boring, which may seem as a surprise to many considering we were in Vegas after all. Let's just say, when you can't gamble and can't drink, there's really not much to do in Vegas. Once Brian and I had gotten back to the room, he went off with Matt, Drew and Jimmy to go gamble while I just hung out in the hotel room.

As of now, I was lying on the couch in a deserted back room at the venue. It was still a good two hours before the show and I had nothing to do. I did manage to snag one of my guitars off a rack as it rolled past me in the hallway and that was currently keeping me company in my nice quiet room. I had no idea where everyone else was, but at the moment, I didn’t care. Just so long as I didn’t have to deal with a bunch of drunks on stage, whatever they were doing was fine with me. I had played through a few of our songs just for fun since I never got to play them on stage. I was currently on a new song of ours called Dusk Till Dawn. It had a few amazing shredding parts that Garret and I had come up with. We hadn't actually played the song yet, and the Avenged guys sure hadn’t heard it yet. Tonight we were going to attempt it on stage. The only catch was I had to play the solo with Garret since Adam hadn’t mastered it yet.

"Crap." I muttered as I paused my fingers from moving up and down the fret board. I couldn’t remember if this string of notes were sharps or flats. I played through each of them quickly before deciding that it had to be a set of sharps.

"Practicing eh?" I jumped a mile when I heard the unannounced voice and ended up rolling off the couch in the process. I looked to see my guitar lying beside me, thankfully still in one piece. I groaned as I looked up to meet the blue eyes of my best friend, who was now in hysterics.

"No need to scare the crap out of me!" I exclaimed as I stood up clutching my heart, still rather shocked. How Garret managed to get into the room without me hearing was a mystery.

"I'm sorry." He managed to get out in between laughs. I glared at him until he was able to compose himself and then I laid back down on the couch. He followed me and tapped my feet, wanting me to lift them up so he could sit down. He started picking at my socks as we both sat there in silence. Deciding I was starting to get tired of the quietness that surrounded the room I spoke up.

"So where was everyone all day?" He turned his head to look at me and shrugged.

"Adam and I just hung out. Everyone over 21, meaning everyone else, went out to gamble or go drink. What about you? How was your night with Mr. Gates?" He had a mischievous look on his face as he asked about my night.

"I did the same as you. And as for my night, well, you already know about the make out part, he gave me an amazing back message, and then we just went to sleep. Nothing else really happened. What happened once I left the club?" I sure hope my storm out hadn’t ruined everyone else's night.

"More lap dances, more drinks, they yelled at Syn a bit before he chased after you. Drew went off with one of the strippers, making Will mad since we were supposed to stay as a group. It was pretty funny." He gave a chuckle as he looked as if he were taking a trip down memory lane from last night. "Are you holding up alright though? You don’t quite look one hundred percent." This is why I loved Garret. He knew me inside and out. He could tell when something was bothering me, or when I was upset about something.

"I'm just confused Garret. I don’t want to be hurt. And if Brian was able to get under my skin once, what's to stop him from doing it again? I don’t want to fall for a rockstar. I really don’t. But you know how these things go. I just don’t want to be hurt. I'm scared." I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. Garret reached up and wiped the tear that had fallen down my face before he rubbed my legs, trying to calm me down.

"Kace you know Brian would never cheat on you. From what I've seen, he's really into you. Give it some time, and then give him a chance. If there's one guy I think I'd approve of, it'd be Brian." He gave me a warm smile. "He may be a jerk sometimes, and he also has a huge ego but I think he's genuinely a great guy. I personally think he's no worse than Will."

"What about me?" I leaned my head over the side of the sofa and grinned at Will who now stood in the doorway.

"We were just talking about how sexy your ass is." I winked at him as Garret laughed. Will's eyes went wide and then realized it was a joke before prancing into the room. He turned on the spot and bent over before smacking his ass.

"It is a lovely one isn’t it? Glad to know you two approve." Garret just howled with laughter as I reached over and gave Will's butt a nice sharp smack causing him to stand as straight as a stick.

"Oh now you're in for it." He glared at me before lunging toward me. Luckily I was quicker and jumped over the back of the couch before sliding out of the room in my socks. I took off in a dead sprint but I knew he was hot on my tail. I knew no one was in the venue yet so I headed in the direction I knew the stage was in. I could hear instruments being tuned but I figured no one would mind if I came running through. I just had to be careful of the cords.

"Come back here you hoe!" I cackled as I turned a corner and found myself near the stage. I looked behind me to see he was gaining ground rather quickly. I let out a scream before picking up my speed.

As soon as I turned around I let out a wail as I was met with a wide eyed Brian standing right in front of me. I tried to stop but only managed to slide right into him, sending us both to the floor in a tangled heap of cords and body parts. Laughter could be heard through the stage area as we both groaned and looked at eachother.

"Help me. He's after me." I whispered frantically as I carefully pointed at Will. He was laughing so hard he had to sit down on the ground. The other Avenged guys were also laughing pretty hard. I looked back down to Brian to see he was sort of confused.

"Ugh must I explain everything to you?"

Will spoke up before I could tell Brian why he needed to save me from my evil band mate. "She slapped my ass! But she took off running and she only has socks on!"

"Woah." I heard Garret's voice come from the side stage and he started laughing too. Brian helped me sit up before we tried to untangle ourselves from the cords.

"Umm sorry bout that." I grinned sheepishly. "He was really out to get me though!" I said in all seriousness, hoping they would believe me.

"Uh huh. Sure thing babe. Let's just get us out of this mess." Matt came over and helped Brian untangle the cords so that we were able to stand up. I looked warily in Will's direction to see he was still sitting down. I was about to try and sneak off the stage but I was abruptly hoisted into the air and over someone shoulder. Looking up behind me, the best I could, I saw Brian's shaggy hair and knew it was him who had grabbed me.

"Hey! Brian's got a nice ass too!" I smirked before glancing back down.

"And so do you." He replied before smacking mine. "And don’t you even think about smacking mine." I smirked as I reached down. "Or pinching it!" He added as an after thought. Why did he have to ruin my fun?

"Well you're no fun." I pouted before shoving my hands into his back pockets. He jumped slightly but relaxed none the less.

"Are you guys gonna save me or what here?" I yelled as we headed off the stage in the direction of the backrooms.

"Nope! Have fun!" They all yelled, leaving me to wonder where in the world we were going. We walked for a few minutes before I heard a door open and sunlight flooded my eyes. Oh great. Screams from the fans could be heard as we headed toward the bus. I pulled one of my hands out of his pockets so I could wave at the people in line. It was insane. People were yelling both his and my name. I bet this looked pretty bad, me over his shoulder, headed toward the bus. The stories I would be hearing soon.

Might as well put on a mini show for these kids. "Help! I'm being kidnapped by the arrogant cocky Synyster Gates!" Brian stopped his walking and shifted me so I was now being carried bridal style. To keep from falling I had to wrap my arms around his neck.
"There we go! Now it looks like you're willing!" His smirk made me laugh and shake my head. I was able to wave one last time to the fans before we disappeared onto the Avenged Sevenfold bus. Brian walked into the back room and tossed me onto the bed.

"So it appears little Kacie is at my mercy once again." He paused as he closed the door and locked it before pacing in front of the bed. "So let's play a little game of twenty questions. Only I get to ask the questions." His face held a smirk that scared me, but it also held a hint of curiosity.

"Question one. Do you like me?" Deciding to play along with his little game I put on a smirk of my own.

"Of course I like you. You're a great friend." His smirk dropped some. He needed to work on how he phrased his questions.

"Alright then. Let's try this one. Do you have a crush on me?" What was this? Elementary school?

"Maybe. Maybe not. Haven't quite figured it out yet." I gave him a cocky smile.

"Hmm alright then. Are you a virgin?" My jaw dropped at his bluntness.

"You don't ask a girl that!" I said appalled that he actually asked me that!

"I'll take that as a yes." I could feel my cheeks flushing as I gave him a nasty look. I opened my mouth several times about to tell him off but nothing came out so I decided to just sit back and huff at him.

"Next question. If you could fuck one guy on tour, who would it be?" The smirk on his face was growing with each question. And this was one question I was not answering.

"I do believe that's my cue to leave." I said boldly as I stood up from the bed and made my way toward where he was standing. I stopped as I reached him and stood looking him in the eyes.

"I bet you're a smart man. Figure out the answer to that question on your own." With a wink I unlocked the door and stepped through it, entering the bunk area of the bus. Glancing at one of the clocks on the shelves of the bunks I noticed it was one hour before we were set to go on. I needed to get back into the venue.

"And where do you think you're going?" Brian asked as he followed me out of the bus. I did notice he had a guitar case in hand. Must have been why he dragged me there to begin with. We were still out of the fan's eyesight so there were no screams to be heard yet.

"Back to the venue. Duh. I have some rocking out to do."

"Well so do I." I paused my strides to look at him expectantly. He took the opportunity to grab hold of my hand and drag me into view of the fans. I quirked an eyebrow at his gesture but saw the smirk plastered onto his face as the fans started screaming.

He leaned closer to my ear as he spoke. "A little messing with their heads never hurt anyone." I gave a forced chuckle at the way he made it obvious to the fans that we were holding hands.

It may not hurt their heads, but it was sure doing a number on mine.