A Life Better Than Reality Lies in My Dreams

BAM BAM BAM! I must had fallen asleep because I woke with a start to someone knocking excitedly at the door. Amber was already on her way to the door when I lifted my head. "Ahh! What's up? Did you have fun with Matt last night? Tell me all about it!" I heard Eryka squeal! Amber just laughed as they walked in the room. Eryka sat her things in a chair and bounced on my bed. "Wake up sleepy head we have a party to get to!" I laughed and looked at Amber. "This feels oddly similar to yesterday." I laid my head back on my pillow and listen to Amber tell Eryka her and Matt. I giggled at Eryka because she would squeal and put her hands over her mouth at certain points. "You guys are so lucky." She said pouting. I sat up and said, "You get to meet them tonight." "I know. I don't mean that, I mean that Matt and Zacky really like you guys." She bowed her head. "Eryka, the way this trip is going I wouldn't be surprised if one of them fell in love with you!" Amber said shaking her head and smiling. Eryka gave her a small smile and then I said, "It's going to be great! I need to get in the shower though and then we'll pick out an outfit for you." I left Amber and Eryka to take a shower. When I got out I heard my phone ringing. I wrapped a towel around me and was met at the door by Amber holding my phone. "It's your mom." "Hello?" I asked. "Hey honey are you having fun?" My mom asked. "You have no idea." I said with a grin. "Well what have you girls been up to?" "Oh nothing. So far we've met 2 guys from one of our favorite bands and I got to meet Avenged Sevenfold." I said excitedly. "Wow. I'm glad you are having such a great time." She said. I laughed knowing she hardly knew who any of my favorite bands were. "Did you meet up with Eryka yet?" She asked. "Yeah she got here about 30 minutes ago." I replied. "Good." She said. "Is everything all right?" I asked. It wasn't like my mom to sit and make small talk. "Yeah." She paused. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright. I'm just worried having you out there all by yourself." I laughed. "Mom I'm 22, I gotta be out on my own sometime." "I know. Well tell Amber and Eryka I said 'Hi' and I love them. Call me if you need anything." "I will. Love you mom and it's only 2 weeks." I said. "I know. Love you. Be careful." I hung up the phone and changed into my clothes. My mom always worries so much about me when I'm away. 'I am her baby girl though.' I thought to myself while drying my hair. I finished straightening my hair and started on my make up when my phone rang again. "Hello?" I answered. "Hear anything from Alex?" Ryan asked. "Well he said they are still waiting on the record company." I said while balancing the phone and putting my eyeliner on. "Damn." Ryan said almost in a whisper. "Why?" I asked pulling away from the mirror and focusing all my attention on the conversation. "I don't know how long I can keep this from the guys. Seriously April I've almost told Michael like ten times." He said with a frustrated tone. "When's the next practice?" I asked "What? Why?" Ryan asked confused. "When is it?" I repeated. "Tomorrow at 7 our time so 5 your time. Why?" He asked again. "Well when you get there call all the boys in the room and I'll call you. You can put me on speaker phone and I'll tell them. Plus I have a surprise for all of you." I said "What is it?" Ryan asked excitedly. "I'll tell you tomorrow but right now I have to go because I'm getting ready for a party." "Who's party? What's going on?" "I'll tell you tomorrow! Bye Ryan." I hung up the phone not letting him ask any more questions.

I walked out of the bathroom and Eryka and Amber's mouths dropped. "What?" I asked. "You look....GREAT!" Eryka said running over and circling me. I was wearing tight low rise jeans with a black, with white accents, corset top that slightly showed my lower stomach. "April, if you still don't want to sleep with Zacky you better change because he's not going to be able to keep his hands off of you in that." Amber said raising her eyebrows as she looked me up and down. I rolled my eyes and turned to Eryka who was still gawking at me. I couldn't help but laugh. "Ok so what are your outfit choices?" I asked trying to change the subject away from me. "Oh. Well there's this." She laid out a pair of jeans and a vintage Kiss shirt. Her second outfit was the same jeans but a green spaghetti strap shirt. Then she laid out a black halter dress. "That one." Amber and I both said at the same time. We all laughed and Eryka picked up the dress. "You sure?" She asked. "Oh yeah." Amber said. I gave her a push towards the bathroom. Zacky called and said he was on his way up to the room. "Oh my God." Eryka said looking at me with wide eyes. "Eryka, breathe. He's just a normal guy who happens to be in our favorite rock band." I said laughing. The knock on the door made her jump. I walked towards the door and looked back at her over my shoulder. "Breathe." I reminded her. I opened the door and Zacky's mouth dropped. I rolled my eyes and put a hand on his chest and pushed him out in the hall. "Hey! What's up?" He asked. I smiled and said, "Well my friend Eryka is in there." "Oh the screamer?" He asked chuckling. "Yeah. So I told her to act cool but I'm not sure how she's going to react. She really loves you guys." He grinned and said "Alright lets go." He tried to walk forward but I didn't move. He looked at me and quirked and eyebrow. "I also wanted to do this." I said slowly inching my way to his lips. He caught on to what I was doing and wrapped one arm around my waist and put the other one behind my neck. "Ok let's go." I said smiling and grabbing his hand.

Amber gave Zacky a small wave with a smile when we walked in. He smiled back and nodded his head towards her. Eryka sat on my bed with wide eyes. "You must be Eryka, I'm Zacky. Nice to meet you." He said giving her his hand. She shook it slowly and then blushed. "Sorry for screaming in your ear earlier." She said with a shy smile. "It's cool." Zacky said then he looked at me. "So you girls ready?" We looked at Amber and Eryka who both nodded and then we all headed down to the parking lot. Zacky and I trailed the girls a little when we were heading towards his car. "You look amazing." He said looking at me sideways. "Thanks. You are handsome as always." I said watching the ground as we walked. "I know." He said shrugging his shoulders. I rolled my eyes at him and laughed. Johnny's house was a few miles out of town right beside the beach. It was a large one floor house with a lot of windows. There were about 12 cars already parked in the drive when we pulled up taking the last open spot. "Are we late?" I asked Zacky looking at all the cars as we walked up to the door. He laughed and said "No, these are the early birds. There will be a few more on their way." I spotted Matt's SUV closer to the door, Amber obviously did to because she smiled over at me. We didn't bother knocking because there wasn't any way it would have been heard over the music that was coming from inside the house. "Hey!" Matt said walking towards us when we walked in. He grabbed Amber in a hug and gave her a quick kiss. He kept an arm around her waist as he turned to Zacky and I. "What's up?" He asked us at the same time. Zacky gave him a head nod and I just smiled at him. He looked at Eryka and asked "Eryka?" He stuck out his hand and she shook it. "You ready to party?" He asked us all. Without waiting for and answer he and Amber led the way through the crowd towards the kitchen. Rev was leaning against the counter when we walked in. "Hey newlyweds!" He said to the couples. He saw Eryka and asked "What's this? A new girl?" He walked over to her and took her hand then got on one knee in front of her. Eryka looked at me nervously and I shook my head and smiled. "Oh beautiful girl that I don't know, will you do the honor of taking your first shot with me?" Eryka giggled "Yeah! I'm Eryka by the way." "Nice to meet you." Rev said pouring them a shot. "CHEERS!" He said clinking his glass to hers. "Pour me one too!" Syn said walking in behind them from the deck outside.

Eryka's eyes widened and she looked at me keeping her back to Syn. "Breathe." I mouthed to her. "Who's the new drinking partner?" Syn asked. I was about to answer for her, but Eryka turned and flashed him a smile. "Eryka, I'm April and Amber's friend." Syn raised his eyebrows and smiled down at her. "I'm.." "Synister Gates." She cut him off before he could finish. "Yeah." He said with a nod. "Well Eryka, let's take the shot!" He said handing her a glass. "To new friends!" Rev said holding his glass up towards all of us. Eryka, Syn, and Rev clinked classes and drank. Matt took Amber over to the corner of the kitchen where all the alcohol was. "You want something?" Zacky asked following them. "Nah. I'm good." I said jumping up to sit on the counter next to Rev. I looked back and Eryka and Syn were involved in a conversation. "So how was last night?" Rev asked leaning towards me where only I could hear what he was saying. "He hasn't told you yet?" I asked smirking. "Pshh. Zacky is pretty hush hush about his sex life." Rev said taking another shot. "Well then why would I tell you?" I asked with a laugh. "Oh C'mon April! We're friends. I won't tell a soul." He said crossing his heart with his finger. "Nothing happened. I wasn't ready yet." I said looking at the floor. He put a hand on my knee and said, "Good. He really likes the ones that aren't after him for his fame." I smiled sideways at him and he patted my knee. "Now let's get some alcohol into you!" He poured me a shot and Zacky walked up to stand in between my knees. "Me too." Zacky said looking up at me with a smile. Rev handed out the shots and held his in the air. "To beautiful women." He said smiling and giving me a wink. I smiled and we clanked our glasses. Zacky set his glass down and put his hands on my waist. "You are the most beautiful girl in the world." He said in a whisper and we kissed. "That's my cue." Rev said grabbing the bottle of Jack and walking into the living room where the crowd was. I laughed and looked back down at Zacky. I rested my forehead against his and stared into his eyes with a smile. "So what do you want to do now?" I asked. He gave me a sly grin and said, "Well since you asked." Then he pulled my body against his and ran his hands slowly up my back.

"Get a room! I have 5 for you to choose from including the pool house." Johnny said walking into the kitchen. Zacky and I turned along with everyone else to look at him. "Well I might just take you up on your offer." Zacky said looking back at me and kissing me on the cheek. He walked over and gave Johnny a handshake/hug and I jumped down from the counter. "Glad you could make it." He said smirking at me. He looked at Eryka questioningly. "Eryka." She said sticking her hand out for him to shake. "Johnny." He said shaking her hand. I'm not sure if it was the alcohol, but she had obviously calmed down. Matt and Amber walked over to join the group. "Ok people, the party is in here!" Rev said from the door way. We all went into the living room where everyone was either dancing, drinking, making out, or all three at once. "ZACKARY!" A tall dark haired guy with said walking towards us. "Jason what's up?!" Zacky said hugging him. "Not much, it's good to see you man!" He said smiling. He noticed me and asked "Who's your lady friend?" Jason asked throwing an arm around my shoulder. "April." I said smiling up at him. "Well April, rules around here are that all new girlfriends have to make out with me first." I gave him a smug look and then said "Well good thing I'm not a girlfriend yet." I gave Zacky a wink. "I think you got a keeper here Zack. Make her your girlfriend fast so I can make out with her." Zack grabbed me around the waist and pulled me away from Jason. "You know you only get to kiss Johnny's girlfriends not mine." We left Jason when a drunken girl came up and asked him to dance. We found Eryka and Syn standing at the back of the room next to the wall of glass that was a window. "Having fun yet?" I asked grabbing Eryka's arm and giving it a squeeze. "You have no idea!" She whispered to me. I laughed. "Saw Jason trying to steal ya from Zacky here." Syn said laughing. "Yeah, but it's going to take a lot for someone to steal me away from him." I looked at Zacky sideways with a smile. Syn chuckled and Zacky smiled at him and grabbed my hand. "You are going to have to excuse us."

I looked back at Eryka and Syn and waved as Zacky led me back into the kitchen. We went out the back door onto the deck where we were alone. He turned and pushed me against the wall. We tangled our arms around each other as our lips crashed together. He started kissing down my neck and across my colar bone. I let out a slight moan and I felt him smile against my skin. "Maybe we need to take this somewhere a little more private?" He asked bringing his face up to mine. "There you are! Come on Zack they're doing a toast for us." Johnny said from the back door. "Yeah, coming." Zacky said not taking his eyes off of mine. He sighed heavily and said, "Let's go." I just smiled and pulled him into the house by the hand. We went in the living room and Matt handed us both a shot. A guy I hadn't met yet stood in the middle of the circle that the guests had made. "I just wanted to make a toast to 5 of the greatest guys I've ever met in my life. They are my best friends, my family. Congratulations on all of your accomplishments thus far and here's to many more to come. HERE'S TO AVENGED SEVENFOLD!" He raised his glass and we all did the same saying "TO AVENGED SEVENFOLD!" The guy went around hugging Rev, Syn, and Johnny who were on his side of the circle. He came over to Matt and said, "I love you man, thanks for inviting me on this adventure with you." They hugged and Matt said, "Aww Cam I love you too man. Thanks for always being there." Cam then turned to Zacky and said "Get over here dude." Zacky smiled and they hugged and then Zacky said, "Cameron I want you to meet April." We smiled and shook hands. "Nice to meet you April." He said. "You too." Cameron walked off to talk to some people and I turned to Zacky and asked, "That's the guy that does art work for you guys?" "Yeah, Cameron Rackam." Zacky said. "Let's get a drink." I said kissing his cheek. We went into the kitchen and made ourselves mixed drinks. "Come on." I said walking back out to the deck with Zacky following. There was a couple out there making out when I opened the door. I turned around quickly before they had a chance to see me. "Occupied." I said to Zacky. "C'mon." He said walking past me out to the deck. I started to protest when he went down the stairs and I followed. We walked down to the beach and stood next to the water. He stood behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I leaned back into him. He kissed me under my ear, on my cheek, then my shoulder. Suddenly there was a crash from the house and someone screamed "HOLY SHIT!"