I'll Take You There And Back Again

Oh gosh. Oh gosh. Oh gosh. I can't believe this. We go on in ten minutes. I need a coke or something with caffeine. Oh shit. Talk about nerves! What if I tripped? What if I forgot the lyrics? Are they going to laugh at me? I glanced to my right and spotted Will sitting on one of the black cases twirling his drum sticks looking rather un-phased by the whole situation. The rest of the band was no where to be seen. I walked over and sat next to him deciding some company might do me some good.

"Relax girl! It's not the end of the world you know." He just laughed as he let his hand go up the back of my shirt and rubbed circles on my back. After a minute of two my breathing relaxed. "Aren't you excited? This is our big shot."

"I am excited. Just nervous too. These aren't any of our fans we're playing for. What if they don't like us?" Garret wandered over and handed me a coke before taking the spot next to me.

"Then they can leave for our set. If Avenged thinks we're good enough to open for them then I'm sure their fans will like us. Now chug cause we've gotta do our pre show ritual." I popped the top before doing just that. Once I was finished I handed the empty can to Will who crushed it with his hands.

"You guys ready?" Jimmy teased as the rest of my band, along with Avenged walked over and stood before us. I let out a big sigh before nodding. We headed to the side of the stage as the lights dimmed and the fans started screaming. I could feel my blood pumping with the adrenaline already. Each of the guys walked past me and kissed me on the head before heading out onto the stage. Right as I was about to head out I felt a pair of arms grab onto me.

"Have fun. That's all the matters." The voice I recognized to be Brian's said before he released me and let me take my place before my mic. The lights came on and we launched into our first song.

I couldn’t believe how well the fans were taking to us. I even spotted a few that had already bought our tee's. My nerves were gone by the time we reached our second song.

"How the fuck are you San Diego!!!" I screamed to a loud wave of noise. "Good. Good. We're a little band called Murder By Midnight. And incase you don't know much about us, we hail from the excellent town of Long Beach. And don't tell anyone, but this was my childhood venue. So it's good to be back!!! This next song is called One That Heals." Will started his intro and I was all over it. Garret was having fun following me on the stage. Since he's a left handed guitarist I turned my back so we were standing next to each other while I sang through his solo. This earned us much applause and screams. Of course, me being a girl, I threw some flirty movements in here and there that made the guys in the crowd let some whistles out.

I glanced over at the side of the stage about half way through our set and saw all of the guys standing there with grins on their faces. They were even moving to our songs. I caught Brian's eyes and his smile widened as did mine. Zacky then looked at me and winked. I shook my head before turning back to the audience.

~Brian's POV~

"Damn they can play. I don't see why she was so nervous! She's a pro! And her voice man, I still can't get over it." Zacky leaned over and told me as we watched Kacie move around on the stage. For a rock star in the making, she sure was graceful on the stage. Even when she was jumping around she made it look like it was so effortless on her part. At one point, she moved up against Garret and rubbed her ass against his while he played and she sang. I could feel my body tense slightly. But it shouldn't. It's not like I like her. I barely know her. Maybe I'm just deprived. Yeah that must be it.

"You ok man?" Matt asked as he looked at me skeptically.

"Yeah I'm fine." He looked out at the stage to where Kacie was and then back to me. He had this shit eating grin on his face that I just ignored. Kacie looked over to where we were standing and grinned at me, which I returned. She was something else.

~Kacie's POV~

"Thank you guys for being so awesome tonight. Now who's ready for some A7X?!?!" I screamed to a massive roar of voices. We exited the stage and I was greeted with hugs from the guys, all the guys. I tried to protest hugging the A7X guys because I was so sweaty but they said it didn't matter because they would be in the same shape soon too.

"You've got thirty minutes to freshen up or whatever the hell it is you want to do before A Little Piece Of Heaven. And remember, since you're playing the wife part, act flirty." Matt winked at me as I smacked him in the arm. We had gone over this earlier and we had it all planned out. I would be Matt's "wife" during the second part of the song. This would be interesting.

I made my way into the dressing room and dried my face off with one of the towels. I figured I probably shouldn’t change clothes since I would just be going back out where it was hot and reeked of sweaty bodies all moving together.

I finished up and then took my spot on the side of the stage. There was a mic sitting to my left for me to take out with me. But for now it was all watching. Matt was currently standing on one of the speakers with his arms spread wide as Jimmy pounded away on his drums, Johnny stood looking cool while he played, and Brian and Zacky were doing one of their many back to back solos. The crowd was going nuts.

In between songs, Matt started talking to the crowd and Zacky, who was on my side of the stage, kept looking at me and smiling. He was currently downing a water bottle and he tossed it to me once it was empty. I caught it and shook my head at his antics before setting it on one of the cases.

"So who out there is up for a little morbid wedding tonight?" Matt looked over at me. I wish they would quite doing that. I felt like I was on the spot all the time. I snagged the microphone. "Well tonight's wedding is going to feature a good friend of ours. It's actually someone you should already be familiar with." Zacky ran over to me with his guitar on his back and picked me up bridal style, which I wasn't expecting. He carried me over to Matt and set me down as I gave shy wave to the crowd. There were a lot of shouts and many whistles from the guys in the crowd as Matt put his arm around my waist.

This seemed so surreal. I was on stage with one of my favorite bands. And I was singing with them. Simply a dream come true. The song started and I snapped out of my daze and began to move around the stage with Matt, helping out with backup vocals here and there. He was spinning me around as if we were dancing. Matt at one point, led me over to Brian. He stopped playing for a minute to let his hands run from my shoulders to my waist and back up, before giving me a wink and going back to play. Eventually, Matt had taken me to all of the guys. It was almost like they were critiquing me. But it was all part of the story line. I was the "wife" after all.

We reached the vocal part and I echoed Matt's words. The crowd was going wild, and I was loving it. I knew this would be so much fun to do every night. It was funny how comfortable I was on stage with the guys. It felt as if they were my own band.

The song ended eventually to a round of cheers. I waved to the crowd as I made my way off the stage and as I walked past Zacky he smacked my ass before giving me a smirk. People started laughing as I stuck my tongue out at him. "I need a shower. Bad." I mumbled to myself as I passed some of the tech's that were hustling about. A few of them told me good job and gave me a high five.

"You did good." Adam smiled at me as I entered our room in the venue. "We watched a bit then came back here." He explained as he saw my curious face.

"Well thank you. Now, who would be so kind as to point me in the direction of the nearest shower?" I snagged one of the towels that was on the table and also grabbed my gym bag that I had hauled in here.

"Down the hall to the right, fifth door on the left. But beware; it's just a general shower room. It's not specifically for girls or anything." Drew said as he walked in towel drying his hair. I nodded before making my way down the hall. I was just glad they had places to shower.

As I entered I noticed there were several shower stalls in the room along with several counter spaces with sinks. I set my bag on the floor outside one of the stalls and stepped inside before closing the curtain. I undressed and reached out and shoved my clothes in my bag before grabbing my shampoo and soap and turning the water on. For being considerably in shape, my muscles were sure sore. It felt so good to just stand there and let the hot water run over me. It was relaxing.

I was in the middle of washing my hair when I heard the door open and people enter. I groaned slightly as I recognized the voices.

"Hello?" Jimmy asked as they stopped talking.

"Hi." I replied as I tried to casually keep washing my hair. Well this was awkward.

"Ohhhhh. So it's you in here." I could hear the smirk in Zacky's voice as he spoke. "Fuck! What was that for?" It sounded like someone had hit him or something.

"Just let her shower dude." Syn chuckled.

"Are you serious? You've got a naked chick in the room and you're not going to make some remark?" Brian laughed again and I decided to stick my now shampoo-free head out from the curtain. I gave Zacky a glare before sticking my tongue out at him for the second time tonight. The guys just laughed as I returned to the depths of my stall.

"Now that was sexy." Brian said.

"Oh shut up! I'm almost done then you guys can have the whole room to yourselves. Which I know you're just dying for so you all can enjoy eachother's company." They let out a chorus of protests as I just laughed to myself. I shut the water off and poked my head out again so I could grab my towel. After drying off I figured it would be best to change in another stall that was dry. Once I was covered I slid the curtain partway to see them all still standing there.

"Aren't you guys going to shower?" I questioned, hoping that they would go in so I could come out.

"Yeah." Johnny replied. But apparently not anytime soon. Hesitantly I sighed and slid the curtain open all the way and quickly rushed into the dry stall next to mine. Zacky let out a low whistle and I noticed Brian watched my every move.

"Go shower!" I yelled while laughing. "Men…"

"I heard that!" Several of them yelled. I fished out a pair of shorts and a tank top before quickly getting changed. I made my way over to one of the sinks and set my bag down on it. Looking around I saw that each of the guys had a bag which was in the same place mine had been in. I opened mine and pulled out my brush. Once my wet hair was tamable I packed everything up.

"Alright boys I'm outta here. I'll be back on my bus."

"Okay. We'll probably be around before we head back out. Phoenix is our next stop." Jimmy hollered.

"Okay. Later then!" I made my way back into the room only to find it empty. There was a small note on the table that said they had gone back to the bus. I swung my bag over my shoulder once more and headed in the direction that I knew the buses were in. Once I stepped outside I was glad I chose to wear a tank and some shorts. Summer tours meant hot weather. It was warm, but a comfortable warm. As I headed to the bus I saw a group of fans standing behind a rope with several security guards.

"Kacie!" I heard one call out. I entered the code to my bus so I could toss my bag in, then I headed toward the person that had called my name.

"Hey guys." I greeted. I figured most of the fans were here to try and get Avenged signatures, but since some had called out to me I figured why not.

"You were amazing! I've never heard a girl scream like that. My name's Karen." A girl a lot shorter than me said. She looked to be about sixteen years old maybe.

"Nice to meet you. So you enjoyed the show?" I smiled.

"Of course! I have to say, I was so shocked to see that you guys were playing, I mean you being a girl and all. But you sure put on quite a show. And your performance with the guys was amazing!" Her eyes seemed to glow as she talked about the show. I remember those days. I'd be energized for days after a concert.

"I'm so relieved to hear you say that. When Shads asked me to sing with them I freaked. I was so nervous. But it was a blast." The girl's eyes shifted to something behind me but I paid no attention. Probably just someone else making their way to the bus.

"Boo." A pair of hands grabbed me by the shoulders and I let out a scream. The fans started howling in laughter as I turned to face Brian. I smacked him in the arm.

"How'd you get them all to stay quiet?" I asked. I expected the screams to start as soon as they stepped out of the door.

"Just being me. I am Synyster fucking Gates after all." He has such the ego sometimes. People were now screaming his name. He put his arm around my waist in a friendly way. At least, I thought it was a friendly way.

"Syn this is Karen. I was talking to her before I was scared shitless." He reached over and shook her hand.

"Hey. You like the show?" Her eyes grew wide as she nodded her head. It looked like it was going to roll right off since it was moving so fast.

"I loved it. Is there any way I can get a picture with the two of you?" She held up a small digital camera.

"Sure. Hey Mike. Come take a picture will ya?" Syn yelled to one of the security guards that were standing around. He walked over and Syn held up the rope for her to step under. She stood on the middle of us and Mike snapped the picture. She turned and gave me a hug.

"Thank you Kacie!"

"Hey what about my hug?" Syn asked. Her cheeks blushed fifty different shades of red as she wrapped her arms around him for a second. It was cute. You could tell she was a shy one.

She gave a small wave before running off into the parking lot. Brian and I stayed for a few more minutes. It was fun getting to talk to people. Eventually Brian and I said our goodbyes to the fans and headed toward my bus. Not him going to his bus, but both of us going to my bus.

"So how did you get out here so fast?" I questioned. It hadn't taken me long to get out here.

"I just shower quickly." He shrugged. We stepped onto my bus and were greeted by a loud ruckus coming from the back room. I groaned before rolling my eyes at Syn. He and I walked back and I cautiously opened the door to the room. Will and Drew were playing video games, but I could tell they were pretty tipsy. Adam and Garret were laughing as they watched the two of them.

"Great. They're already drunk." I muttered. Garret and Adam both gave me a sympathetic look. Drew and Will were anything but quiet when they were drunk, which meant I wouldn’t be getting much sleep tonight. And I was absolutely exhausted.

"You don't look too happy." Brian observed.

I led him back down the hallway and sat down on one of the couches. "They're just really loud and obnoxious when they're drunk. I probably won't get much sleep tonight."

"Well in that case, I'm going to sweep you away to our bus then. We'll all be having a few drinks since it’s the start of tour, but we aren’t obnoxious." He didn't even give me a chance to reply before he grabbed me by the arm and drug me off the bus, but not before yelling that he was kidnapping me to my guys. He punched in the code to their bus and led me up the stairs. It was still empty. Their bus was pretty much the same as ours. A beeping sound was coming from one of the bunks and Brian retrieved a cell phone. Whose it was I didn't know.

"You can go to the back room if you want. I'll be right back. Val wants Matt to call her." I just nodded and watched as he made his way off the bus once more. It was like my feet took control of my body and led me to the back room where I sprawled out on one of the couches. The quietness was so nice. Something I had a feeling would be rare on my own bus until things settled down in a week or so. It didn't take long before my eyes were shut and I was out.

~Brian's POV~

"So she might be sleeping?" Johnny asked as we all approached the bus after signing a few more things for some fans that were still hanging around.

"Yeah man. She looked dead tired. And the guys were being loud on her bus. She looked kinda pissed at Drew and Will for already being drunk." Poor girl. She reminds me a lot of Val. The only girl stuck with all of us. Val keeps us in line most of the time, and I could tell Kacie did the same to her guys. I entered the bus for the second time tonight and headed to the back room. The door was shut slightly. I gently pushed it open to reveal Kacie passed out on the couch. She was all curled up and looked so peaceful. I stood there for a moment just watching her breathe before Zacky stepped up next to me.

"She's something else." He smiled. "You have that look on your face." Zacky could always tell when I was interested in a girl. He wouldn’t be my best friend if he couldn’t.

"There's just something about her. Something I haven’t seen in a girl yet. But I can't quite pinpoint what it is. I don't know man." I shook my head before walking to one of the cabinets in the room and pulling out a blanket. I gently placed it over her before leaning down and giving her a small peck on the forehead. I tucked some hair behind her ear that was hanging in her face before turning back to face Zacky who had a grin on his face. I just shook my head at him as he made googly eyes at me.

"I need a beer." I brushed past him and retrieved a beer from the fridge before sitting down next to Jimmy.

Day one and I've already got myself falling.