A New Beginning

Call me a sinner, call me a saint
Tell me it’s over I’ll still love you the same

I screamed along with the singer of Shinedown while I was hiding backstage. This had become routine for me to sit here and watch this band. They had an amazing live show and they were all so charismatic. A pair of arms snaked smoothly around my waist and I didn’t have to look to see who they belonged to. Jimmy was the only person who knew this was my go to spot for concerts. My head leaned to the side and I left a small kiss on his arm.

“How you doing babe?” he whispered into my ear.

“Better now that you’re here.” I answered softly.

We had been married for three weeks now and it was great. None of the horror stories about feeling regrets came our way. It still felt like day one. Getting married had its benefits that we were still finding out about. Jimmy and I could be all lovey-dovey in front of Johnny and he could do nothing about it. Lately a few fans had been getting a bit, touchy, with the guys and all I had to do was flash my ring and glare which would send them packing. One thing that I really wanted to change was my name. I wasn’t sure if the Las Vegas wedding legally changed my name from Townsend to Sullivan. Jimmy said that if I waited another week he would take care of it in Chicago on our break.

“Come Layla, lets go chill in the dressing room for a bit.” Jimmy suggested.

I nodded while grabbing his hand so that he could pull me after him. Dan, one of the guards, let us into the back room with a grin and just as soon as I walked through the door I was attacked by Zacky. He wrenched my body from Jimmy’s arm and set me in the middle of the room. All he did was tell me not to move while he was working. A few of the VU guys jumped on me with tape measurers.

“Don’t worry Layla.” Sean from the clothing line told me. “We just need to take some measurements for some new gear and you have the perfect size.”

They soon unraveled me from their tape and let me go back to Jimmy. I looked at him with curiosity but he just shrugged his shoulders. Zacky was always an oddball. Buckcherry was now on stage so we only had another twenty minutes before the guys went on.

“You’re so beautiful when you smile you know that?” Jimmy whispered in my ear.

I had been watching Brian talk to Lexi on the phone and found it adorable when she made him talk like a toddler. This always put a smile on my face. Spinning around in his arms I gazed into his eyes to see that he was watching me intently.

“Well, you know that you look handsome when you do everything. You could be eating a plate of spare ribs and I would still think you are the best looking guy on earth.” I said with a serious tone even though I wanted to laugh heartily.

“You have a way with words don’t you?” he said with a chuckle.

I nodded aggressively before he devoured my lips in a kiss. His tall frame swung easily on top of my smaller frame hiding me from the other guys in the room. Our tongues fiercely fought for dominance; however, being the wife I always won. Even though I knew that he let me win I still smiled into the kiss with the sheer bliss of being in control. I’m pretty sure that at this point I had given him a complete oral examination so I pulled away.

“Hun, you gotta go now.” I said out of breath.

“Fuck it, let JBDizz be the drummer. No one will know the difference.” he suggested in between the kisses he left down my jaw line.

Despite his whining and the fact that we both would rather have like to continue this I forced his shoulders up so that he could sit up straight. He grabbed his drumsticks, still with his pouting face, and left with the group. I pretended to catch the kiss he blew towards me before the guys walked out the door. The couch supported myself as I melted into it. This was heaven. I get to see places that other people only dream about, I have my best friends around me, and I get to spend every waking moment with the love of my life. In the quiet of the room I went back to the conversation that Jimmy and I had last night before falling asleep in each other’s arms.

“I want to know everything there is to know about you Layla. Absolutely every little detail.” Jimmy asked as he spun my ring around my finger.

“Jimmy, that’s a lot. You know basically everything anyway.” I giggled softly.

“I want to know the little things. What your dreams were before we came into your life.”

“Well,” I said sitting up a bit and placing my chin on his chest so that I could see his face, “I’m not sure where to start. For years Lexi and I said that we wanted to be business partners together. One day we wanted to own a coffee shop the next it was going to be a tattoo parlor. I was thinking about going to college for marketing or something of that nature.”

“Wait, did we stop you from doing that? Am I in the way of you going to school?” he asked with full concern.

“Let me ask you this before I answer that.” I stated. “What would you be doing right now if I wasn’t in your life?”

“You want me to be honest?”

“Yes, I don’t care what you say to that.” I laughed because I knew what the end result to my question.

“To tell the truth I’d probably be doing a lot of drugs and a lot of women. But now that I have you those things don’t have a place in my future. Well, maybe a few illegal substances here and there.” he said with a smirk.

“See, you have completely reshaped my life. I can always go to college later but right now I want to focus on us, maybe even a family.”

“In that case, lets get on that family thing right now.” he demanded before his lips engulfed mine.

The door to the room that I was in was thrown open and a few of the Saving Abel crew members walked in. I really wasn’t sure of their names but I knew what they did on stage. The man who took care of the basses came up and sat next to me holding a white bakery box.

“What’s up Lady Sullivan. You like cake right?” he asked me.

“Ah, yeah, I guess I like cake. Who doesn’t?” I said.

“Try these then.” he ordered as he opened the box to reveal several small pieces of cake. Each one was different and it would look like something that you would get at a taste testing.

I picked up one piece and as soon as it hit the tip of my tongue I spit it out. Coconut. I absolutely hated coconut. Shaking my head at that piece I continued my way through the samples. The banana crème cake was ok. Something funky was in the chocolate cake which threw me off a bit.

“Oh, what’s this one? I love it.” I exclaimed through a mouthful of food.

“You like the red velvet?” one of them asked me.

“Yeah, it’s the best in the whole box. Why are you making me eat these?” I wondered out loud.

“No real reason. You’re the only one who looks like they can make a solid choice.” the guitar tech said.

Without another word the guys left me alone. Confusion wracked my brain as I watched the door close. Why was everyone being so weird? I’m used to the Berry’s and Avenged being all stupid and whatnot, but now that the other crews were catching their attitudes I was beginning to get worried. Speaking of the devil, the door burst open again. This time it was Matt Berry. He grabbed my arm and yanked me up from the couch. I didn’t have to ask what he was doing because he went right into his explanation.

“Jimmy wants you on stage with him while they play A Little Piece of Heaven. I’m not sure why.”

A look of panic spread across my face as he said this. Last time they did this they made me sing. This was a much larger crowd and I really wasn’t up to being center stage. Matt shoved me through the curtain and I fell right behind Jimmy. Gazing up awkwardly I saw Jimmy grinning down at me. He helped me up and gave me a wink while Matt was talking to the crowd.

“I just wanted you here for the last song.” he said quietly away from his microphone.

I smiled up at him and sat up a bit so that I wasn’t in my weird position anymore. It occurred to me that if I sat directly behind him in the Indian style then no one could really tell I was there. Getting into position I made eye contact with Johnny while he got a quick drink of water. I gave him a little wave and he just rolled his eyes and went to his usual territory on stage. Matt said the words which was Jimmy’s signal to start the count off for the backing track. A sly smirk spread across my face as I watched him from behind, his muscles rippling every time he reached for the cymbals. Forgetting where exactly I was I absent mindedly wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my head against his sweaty lower back. When it got to the part where it was mainly just the background track he picked up my hand and placed a sloppy kiss on it. This gesture just reminded me at how unique our relationship was. Most couples go out on dates or stay inside and watch a romantic comedy, but not us. We cuddle up on the couch and watch our friends pull pranks on each other. I released my grip on Jimmy so that he could quickly chuck his drumsticks into the sea of fans. After he got done with this he linked arms with me and escorted me back to the bus before he could be swarmed. I wouldn’t even let him take a shower because all I wanted to do was lay in his arms and just relax. A few minutes later I started to fall asleep and the last thing I saw before it overtook me was the serene blue of my husband’s eyes.