A Helping Hand

Now into her fourth week of recording with the boys of Avenged Sevenfold, Indy finally felt at home in the studio. Without a doubt, she got along with Zacky the best, the pair spending nearly every day with each other, trying to figure out the guitar parts, yet she still got along with the other boys just as well. She and Brian had a close relationship, working together nearly as much as she worked with Zacky, yet not as closely as she used him more to check through her work and to get his ok before moving on to a new section.

With the other three, she stood on an even level of friendship; definitely friends, and able to talk and joke with one another, but nothing compared to the relationship she shared with Zacky, and even Brian. All the boys, and even the studio guys, welcomed her with open arms, seemingly accepting her regardless of her gender, which actually surprised her.

What surprised her even further was the invitation to attend one of the boy’s ‘famous’ barbeques at Matt’s house this afternoon. Sure, she thought she was close to them, but to be invited to a family-event, where girlfriends, parents, siblings and everything in between were invited, that really cemented the fact that they truly accepted her for who she was.

“Are you excited about the party tonight?” Zacky asked Indy, seemingly able to read her mind, despite the fact she was writing out the tabs to the verse they just created.

Over the last few weeks, Zacky had been mentally trying to distance his physical attraction from his friendship with Indy, and so far, had been failing. The more they worked together, the closer they became, the easier the conversations flowed and the more he realised how much they had in common yet how different they were. He was trying to convince himself that the attraction was only there because she was the only female he spent so much time with and that she shared his passion for music. What didn’t help was the fact that she looked gorgeous in anything she rocked up in. She had always dressed fairly comfortably while in the studio, but even in today’s outfit of jeans, a Doctor Who shirt, a black hoody and no makeup, she still looked flawless. It was almost as if the more comfortably she dressed, the more his attraction grew.

“Party? I thought it was just a barbeque,” she said, her heart fluttering upon hearing that it was not a simple get-together, but a party. She didn’t do well at parties.

“That’s what I meant. Same thing,” Zacky replied, casting a curious glance at her reaction. With his words, she seemed to noticeably relax, her shoulders sagging and attention once more on the paper in front of her as she continued to write the tablature.

“Not really,” she muttered, rolling her eyes and shaking her head. She took in a deep breath, and glanced back up to the guitarist on her right. “But yeah, I’m kinda looking forward to it.”

“As you should. Our barbeques are awesome. Plus, you’ll meet your new extended family,” Zacky spoke, deciding to ignore her mutter and continue with the conversation regardless.

“Speaking of that, who else is actually going?” She asked, curious to see who she would be meeting. When Matt had invited her, it was a very vague ‘come to my barbeque and meet people’. Somehow, that didn’t satisfy her curiosity.

“Well, I know my folks are. I presume Matt’s girlfriend as it is at his house and he is organising it all. I dunno about Brian, though,” Zacky told her, going through his band mates as he glanced around the room. “Gates! Is your family coming tonight?”

“Dad, Suzy and McKenna are. Why?” Brian replied, yelling back to Zacky without turning around from his position with Johnny. They were working on a bass line for ‘M.I.A’, the new project for the week.

“Indy was wondering who was coming, and I didn’t know about your family,” Zacky replied, his attention swapping from Brian and back to Indy. He couldn’t help but watch her as she concentrated, picking up the facial expressions she made when she was trying to think of the next numbers to write. “So there you go; Brian’s dad, step-mum and sister are coming. I think Matt also invited all of the studio guys as one giant family congregation.”

“That’s a lot of people,” she commented, writing down the last power chord for what they had created. At home, she had the full collection of written tabs of everything they had played, and she was slowly making instructional videos on how to play the songs for Zacky when he gets to play again. Though he was creating them, it didn’t guarantee that he could play them when he was able to play again.

“The house is pretty big, so it should be fine,” Zacky shrugged, relaxing back into the couch as Indy drew her legs up, holding her arms around her legs as she rested her head on her knees, yawning.

“Well that’s good, I spose. Do I need to bring anything to this? What’s the norm for these situations?” She asked, realising that she should be a polite guest and bring some food or something to drink. She hadn’t thought of this before, and cursed at herself. Now she had to not only go home, but stop on the way to Matt’s place to pick something up.

“Not really. Just bring any booze you want to drink. Maybe a six-pack or something for Matt if you want to be super nice, but who really is?” he laughed, paying out his slightly older friend. He noticed some of the others starting to congregate back in the den, and after glancing at his watch, he realised it was quitting time.

“Yeah, ok. I can do that,” she said, nodding as she spoke, almost talking to herself. It wasn’t that hard to stop at a liquor store on the way to Huntington, and it meant she didn’t have to take any extra time to prepare anything. Win-win in her eyes.

The pair fell silent while everyone awaited Mudrock and his daily wrap up, the group inching ever closer to the end of the album. Most songs were fully complete, still awaiting mastering, but they still had a few to play around with and record, so today was just another day in the office.

“Congratulations again, guys. Another day down. If we continue at this pace, we should be done in no time, so let’s not lose focus, and don’t party too hard this weekend. I expect you all back here Monday morning,” Mudrock spoke, entering the room to find everyone waiting on him. He was so proud of all the people in front of him, and more than proud of his daughter and the work she had done to catch the boys up to where they needed to be.

With his speech concluded, everyone started packing up and heading out, all eager to kick back and relax tonight at Matt’s barbeque. Indy purposefully packed her guitars away slowly, doing a triple check around the room to make sure she got all her stuff so she could speak to her father while no one was around. Once she noticed everyone had gone, she went over to him and rested her hands on his shoulders as he sat at the computer.

“You coming to Matt’s tonight?” She asked him, starting to massage the giant knots out of his neck. She could feel them littered throughout the top half of his torso, knowing they had all accumulated from the stress of this project. While she admired his hard working attitude, she also had to roll her eyes at the way he got carried away with his work.

“Yeah, I think I’ll go for a bit. It will be good to relax with everyone for once,” he replied, finishing off a final section that was still open on the computer while the pair spoke.

“Do you want a lift?” she offered, shaking her head as she watched him continue working. This job would be the death of him.

“No thanks, hon. You get going, I’m just going to finish this, go home and I’ll see you there,” he rejected, squeezing her hand that was on his shoulder as a thank-you gesture while he smiled warmly at his daughter.

“You sure?” she double-checked. “It’s going to suck driving back here afterwards.”

“I’m sure. Now scoot, girl. I know you’ll want to shower before you head over there,” he told her, knowing exactly what his daughter was like.

“You know me too well,” she laughed, ruffling his hair as payback from his remark. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” he replied, tilting his head to the left as she bent down and kissed his cheek.

Indy left the studio in a good mood, excited to meet the families of the boys she worked with and even more excited to have a weekend off, not bringing a guitar home to tempt her to work more on any songs, or record any video tutorials or Zacky. She already felt a weight lift off her shoulders as she let the studio door close behind her as she headed to her car, ready to get the weekend started.