The Only Thing I Ask

The first thing Brian did once he got up every morning was fooling around with his guitar. Fiddling random chords, fetching ideas for new materials and so forth. But today was just not the day. He got up in a massive hangover and his head was pounding he can barely walk. He simply stood behind the counter and wait for the world to stop spinning.

Thank God the other members of the band hadn’t woken up yet otherwise it would be noisy as fuck. The five of them didn’t really stay together under one roof, this place was actually Matthew’s. They just got used to sleeping over, hang out here and eventually made it as their ‘headquarter’.

Brian didn’t even remember how much he drank yesterday. When he suddenly cleared enough to open his eyes, he walked off to the medicine cabinet in search for aspirin.

“Morning!”
He flinched to a high pitched girly voice behind him. He turned to find…
“Michelle?” that was the first name that came to his mind. He’d almost forgot that Michelle has a twin, and the twin dated his best friend.
“I’m Valerie, Syn.”
He raised his eyebrow. Nodded, he continued searching for aspirin.
“You want some coffee?”
“Jeez, quit being so loud.”
Valerie gaped at him. “I’m not, you’ve hangover. Everything sounds loud to you. Even when I’m whispering.” Valerie attempted to whisper near him, but he brushed it off coldly. Taking his aspirin, he walked away.
“You know, a morning greeting would be nice!” this time Valerie did shout at him, intentionally to drive him insane.
“Morning, bitch!” Brian gave off his middle finger and went upstairs.
Valerie didn’t mind his rude callings to her. At least they were on speaking terms now. Even last night when Brian was actually sober, he talked to her about so many things, about Michelle.

*******************************************************************
“Hey Brian.” Valerie made a brave move to approach this angry looking creature and sat next to him at the bar counter while the others were busy playing pool.

Brian raised his eyebrow and his glass.
“We’re okay, aren’t we?” Valerie nervously placed her glass on the counter.
“Yeah. Why shouldn’t we be?”
“Well, the fact that you’re being cold to me,”
“I’m being cold to everyone, Val. Don’t take it personally.”
Valerie smiled. It didn’t do much damage to Brian’s heart as her twin sister’s smile. Michelle’s smile and lip-biting the other day made his heart leapt like crazy.
“Are you always this alone, and not joining them?” Valerie asked, pointing towards the other band mates, mainly Jimmy who was now dancing on the pool table.
“That motherfucker. Heheh…” Brian laughed a little watching Jimmy acting like a stripper.
“It’s nice to see you smile, Brian.”
Brian glanced at her, smiling. His cold attitude wore off.
“I can smile. I’m a human being.”
“Really? But I rarely see it.”
“Well that’s because you’re staring at M’s ass all along. The world moves on you know.”
Valerie smiled. Brian was definitely a perfect pair for her sister.
“Where’s your sister? Why didn’t she come with you today?” like reading her mind right now, Brian casually opened the topic which he’d been dying to ask since they were in the studio.
“She had something to do. Are you missing her already? Aww…”
“Fuck off. Don’t try that with me. It’s enough that M has something up his sleeve.”
“Don’t blame him! He just wants to see you happy!”
Brian gave off a smirk and took a sip.
“You guys said the same thing. No wonder you date each other. It’s like you guys came from the same factory or something.”

Valerie laughed. She was getting comfortable with this conversation, and she found Brian wasn’t so bad at all. He was a fine and charming guy once he let loose. She just can’t wait to spill it all to Michelle when she gets back later.

“That reminds me. How the hell did you end up in that groupie the other day?”
“Umm, you know Rose Hartley?”
Brian’s eyes rolled up, searching something in the back of his mind.
“That groupie leader for Avenged Sevenfold? Yeah.”
“Well, she was recruiting right after your show in Florida. I was totally into Matt, I gave up everything to come to your show. I must meet him, even once in my lifetime would be enough. I had to tell him that I loved his singing. So I figured what the hell.”
“Aren’t you one lucky bitch?”
“Why, yes I am. Never in a million years would I imagine that M. Shadows…” she paused to get a good look at Matthew who was leaning over the pool table, ready to take a shot. “…would go for a girl like me.”
Brian smiled and chuckled. “You’re not so bad yourself. He looks happy.”
Valerie returned his precious and expensive smile. “It’s nice talking to you Brian. I have a feeling we could be best friends.”
Brian’s smile died off instantly. His cold face was on again.
“Keep dreaming, bitch.” Then he spun around, concentrating on his glass of vodka. Only after Valerie left, he smiled slightly to the idea of being best friends with Valerie.

Later that night, well let’s just say, someone’s got lucky, finally.

***************************************************************

Michelle was helping a little kid finding his first classical guitar when a group of bosses came into the store. A group of her bosses. There were three of them, all dressed in Hellwin tshirts and speaking all formally to a tall guy who came with them. Apparently they’re not alone. They were accompanied by flashes of cameras, a group of reporters.

Oh shit. Why didn’t her supervisor warned her about some rock stars coming to visit the store? He even brought his entourage of make-up artist and stylist with him. Who the hell is he? Michelle ran to the back of the store, and peeking behind a wall.

Cameras were flashing and recording and they were interviewing this guy. Damn it, Michelle couldn’t get a good look at him. Her view was blocked by a big ass guitar display cabinet.

“Who’s that?” She asked Wendy, her co-worker who happened to pass by her.
“Oh, Marty didn’t tell you? That’s Synyster Gates. The awesome guitarist from Avenged Sevenfold. He’s making his custom amp from Hellwin.”

Michelle froze and jaw dropped. She couldn’t take her minds off this guy all week and there he was, taking questions and proudly announcing his custom-made amp is finally being launched. She drew closer to the scene, but made sure Synyster didn’t see her.

He talked in a lazy tone, but he knew what he was doing, and he was good at it. His charming but cold eyes sometimes glinting warmly when he talked about how he wanted his guitar sound to be like. He even played a bit, to satisfy a reporter’s request.

“There were so many Hellwin branch in this country. Why this one?” a reporter asked.

Michelle thought so too. Yeah, Syn. Why this one? This small Hellwin music store that doesn’t even conduct amplifier production.

Brian smiled slightly to the question. He knew why, he just hadn’t found it yet.
“It’s my hometown. This is where I used to buy my old instruments. There were so many memories held here.”
“That is such a lie,” Michelle whispered. Of course he lied. Brian got his gear from somewhere else. Certainly not here.
“What did you say?” Wendy curiously asked when she heard Michelle behind her.
“Nothing.”
Luckily the answer got Brian off the hook. After all that interviuew, the reporters requested to take pictures of him. He allowed it and patiently went along with it.
“Can we get some of the workers in here to be in the picture?” one of them asked.
Oh shit. Brian will see me. Michelle thought. Wendy and her are the only workers left, considering it’s a shift-time job.
“Of course, come here Wendy, Michelle.”
Brian’s glance quickly went to the direction where Michelle were. From behind a wall.

Michelle saw Brian’s eyes gleamed, but still staring at her. While Wendy excitedly stood beside Brian, Michelle awkwardly settled beside her.

“It’s a bit unbalanced. Could you let Syn be in the middle?”

That means Michelle have to stand beside him. She saw Brian still staring at her, but his lips twitched into a smile.

When she finally stood beside him, he touched the small of her back, sent shivers down her spine. They felt that electricity again, but Brian just let it be.

How can a small touch from an unknown man could do this much to her, is all Michelle could think off during the brief photo shoot.

“All right, that’s all I think. Thank you, Syn. It was such a pleasure..”

Those reporters shook his hands and he greeted them back warmly. Not like the cold Syn that Michelle once met. She tried to get away from the scene, but Brian blocked her way and she was stuck in the corner with Brian towering beside her, having brief conversation with the reporters and amplifiers behind her. She saw that Wendy already took off to the back.

“Excuse me, excuse me,” she tried to make her way away from there but they couldn’t hear her voice. In the end she gave up courtesy and just wiggled through the reporters, but Brian’s hands were fast. Boy they were really fast and discreet.

He pulled her wrist and hide it behind his back so that she stucked standing behind him instead of getting away. Amazingly, without the reporters noticing.

Michelle was an inch from grabbing his delicious ass anytime. But she resisted, shut her eyes and pray for them to quickly go away.

“Hi.” Finally, Brian turned to her. All the reporters were gone. Like the wind. There were some entourage people still lingered around making their way touching instruments and not bothering to look at their own star.
“Hi.” Michelle simply replied. His hands still on her wrist.
“So. We’re dating now. You and me.” Without turning his piercing gaze away, he said this.

Michelle froze, once again. “Excuse me?”
“We’re dating.”
“A-Are you crazy? Do you always go to some random store, pick some random girl and date them?”
“No. Just this store. And this girl.”
Michelle really couldn’t believe this. Who does he think he is? They’ve only met once, and he was being cold as fuck to her and now he wants to date her? What kind of game is he playing at?
“Let me go.”
Brian frowned. He was really not winning anything with this girl.
“Let me the fuck go.” Michelle muttered under her breath, careful not to let anyone hear it. Eventually Brian let go of her wrist. Michelle went to the back of the store with her heart pounding like crazy and some weird tingling sensation in her stomach.

Brian on the other hand, what an idiot. He tried to flaunt his popularity and still it did nothing to her. That was actually made him even more turned on. It was like he has a thing for rejection now. That’s messed up, he thought.
But what made him changed his mind about wanting to date Michelle? After all this no-go attitude towards Matthew and Valerie who supported him fully, what really happened?