The Only Thing I Ask

Matthew inhaled the nicotine and exhaled the smoke two seconds later. All he can think about right now is Valerie. The girl who stole his heart from the moment he saw her. At first he resisted because she came as part of the groupie, and he saw how Brian acted in front of her. He wouldn’t dare cross his best friend’s chance to get on with a girl. Besides, Brian is difficult to please. He rarely becomes attracted to their fans. Last month was somewhat an exception. But Matthew couldn’t control himself either. He couldn’t take his eyes off Valerie when they went out for a drink together as a whole band and a group of fans.

It was when Valerie made the first move, she admitted that she had been his fan from day one, made Brian backed off. He no longer tried to offer her drinks, or showed off his amazing drinking skills or whatever. He just backed off.

Matthew felt guilty about it but he knew Brian wasn’t really into the girl. He was just fascinated by the fact that she is not his fan. Matthew sighed heavily. That friend sure is full of himself.

“Hey, sorry I’m late.”
Matthew threw his cigarette away and smiled at her. “No you’re not. I was here early.”
They hugged, Valerie kissed his cheek out of greeting courtesy.
“Were you now? Eager to see me huh?” she teased, made him grinned broadly.
“What’s with all that peck on my cheek?” Matthew reached for her arms and pulled her closer. “You call that a kiss? Come here.”
Their lips met and soon entwined in a perfect sync. It has been a month since they saw each other. Avenged Sevenfold just ended their USA tour and all Matthew could think of was meeting her. So here they are.
Valerie smiled as they parted. “How long will you be off?”
“A couple of weeks. We’ve got new materials to write on. Hang with us at the studio?”
Valerie hesitated. She’d rather not. The thought of Synyster Gates staring at her that he could drill a hole to her head was scary.
“He’s forgotten about you already, don’t worry.” Matthew, as if he can read Valerie’s mind persuaded.
“Um, can I bring my sister?”
Matthew raised his eyebrow. “You have a sister?”
“Yeah, a twin sister,”
His jaw dropped. He had something else on his mind right now. Purely for the sake of his best friend.

*******************************************************************
Michelle gaped at her younger sister, wondering why she would take her, the geeky and older twin to see some band recording some stuff. She doesn’t even listen to that kind of music. The kind where the singer mainly screams than sings, the guitar is too heavy to handle, and the drums are like heartbeats.
“Please, Michelle? You’re gonna love them, trust me.”
“Hmm. I take it you’re really serious about this...guy?” Michelle pointed to a guy in an Avenged Sevenfold poster which hung on Valerie’s bedroom wall.
“No, that’s Syn. He’s a cold motherfucker I’d tell ya. The one that I like is…him.” Valerie pointed to M. Shadows who’s wearing an aviator glasses in that poster. “In fact, I think I might be falling for him,”
“Oh please Val. How long have you known him?”
“A month. So what?”
Michelle sighed, continued to curl up in her armchair with a Stephen King book on her hand.
“Are you coming, Michelle?”
She rolled her eyes. Of course she would come. She had to. It’s Valerie, her dearest twin sister, who always has a thing for rock stars.

The building in front of them was pretty huge. It probably had six stories, and the backyard was a fucking beach. Well, that’s expected when you live in Huntington Beach, California.

“Don’t worry, you look nice.” Michelle muttered lazily to Valerie when she saw her fixing up her hair before they went into the building. At the front door, someone was expecting them. It wasn’t M. Shadows, it was a short guy, with a spiky hair, two lip rings and a pair of massive sleeve tattoos.
“Hi there.”
“Hey, Johnny.” Valerie hugged him warmly, like they’ve known for years.
“Wow…there are…two of you Val.” Johnny frowned when he saw Michelle behind Valerie, smiling.
“Hi, I’m Michelle.”
“Hi there, Johnny Christ here.”
“So Johnny, you play guitar?”
Johnny raised his bottle of beer which was kept in his left hand all this while.
“Yeah. It’s a bass. I play bass in this band.”
“Oh, I see! Are you any good?” Michelle seemed impressed. But who would have a first great impression towards bass players though? Only her.
“Hell yeah I am! You like bass players?”
“I love them. My favorite is from MUSE, Chris Wolstenhome. He’s a beast, that one.”
“Oh yeah! He’s amazing. Never met him though. But I’ve heard him play.” Johnny and Michelle clicked so quickly.
“Shall we come in?” Valerie asked, so eager to see his guy.
“Huh? Oh of course! M asked me to come and fetch you guys. Come on I’ll show you the way.”
Their studio wasn’t really far from the main entrance. Just two flights of stairs and they’ve arrived in the first room. It was a dimly lighted room, with so many cables, and papers everywhere. Not to mention guitars standing on the sofa, beer bottles and ashtray full of cigarettes. Surprisingly, there was no one there. Only a machine with so many buttons on it but no one was handling it.

“Hey, M! They’re here!” Johnny walked towards a small room, which now clear to Michelle that there were people in there. The sound of drums became a lot louder once Johnny opened the door. Matthew walked out of it. He simply hugged Valerie and kissed her briefly before turning to Michelle.
“Glad you can tell which is which.” Michelle greeted him sarcastically.
Matthew smiled and held out his hand. “Hi, I believe we’ve never met before. I’m Matthew. You can just call me M.”
“Hi, M. I’m Michelle. With an M too.”
Matthew laughed. “I didn’t know your twin sister is funny.” He addressed Valerie. But deep down, Matthew sense the similarity between Michelle and Brian. He’d hoped his plan would work, hooking up Brian with Valerie’s twin. Erasing all the guilty feeling he had for him.
“Let me introduce you to the guys.” Matthew led them into the recording room, and Michelle met everyone.

“This is our drummer, The Rev. He’s fucking crazy, you girls should be careful. Beware.”
The Rev smiled creepily at Michelle. This made her laughed rather than looked away. She finds him funny.
“This is Johnny. You’ve met him. Moving on.”
“Hey! I deserve a proper introduction too!” Johnny protested.
“You think me calling The Rev crazy is a proper intro?”
Mouth opened, Johnny thought for a while.
“Anyway, this is Zacky V. Call him Zacky. He’s our guitarist.”
“Hi.” Zacky shakes Michelle’s hand. It seemed Valerie already know them so she didn’t shake any of their hands.
“And finally this is Synyster Gates. Our lead guitar.”

Michelle turned to a guy who was sitting on an amplifier, staring lazily at her with his lazy sloppy eyes. He too, had a pair of massive sleeve tattoos. In fact, all of them did.
“Sinister? Like, sinister laugh? Like ‘muahahaha!’” Michelle really needed to tone down her sarcasm a bit. But it made her looked like she was really joking. They were all laughing. Brian the Synyster also laughed quite a bit.
“You can say that. He sometimes laughs like that.” The Rev replied. Michelle walked towards Brian and held out her arm.
“Hi, I’m Michelle.” The second their hands touched, a gasp of electricity ran through both of their palms and made them withdraw too quickly.
“Woah. Buddy, you’d better get off that amp.”
Weirdly, Brian agreed. He stood up and completely towered over her. Michelle gulped at the fact that he is so fucking tall and built and tattoos everywhere.
“So, how bout you guys chill at the front, we’ll finish this up and then we can take you around?” Matthew suggested, mainly had his eyes on Valerie.
“Okay, babe. We’ll wait for you outside.” One last kiss from Valerie and out they went to the front. Little that they knew, what kind of conversation held for the guys once they left.