Are We Out of the Woods?

~*~ Rock am Ring~*~
Some bands choose to come early for the festival. Get a lay of the land. Sight see. Get checked in to their hotels and just have some down time before the craziness starts. Because with any festival there is a lot of busyness that band members and singers keep during those two to three days. Meet and greets. Interviews. There's a lot. So when Avenged Sevenfold got the word they were going to be on this years Rock am Ring, they as a whole decided to arrive early. Their latest tour had ended less than two weeks ago. So they were able to do so. Their set was on Saturday along with other acts such as Alter Bridge, Bullet For My Valentine, Lacuna Coil, Eighteen Visions and none other than Metallica. Aside from some interviews, they had Friday to themselves and to check out the bands. They were pretty excited about seeing some of these bands. Even if they've seen them before. Stone Sour and Korn were always great to watch. And so they had decided on catching their sets. It was perfect because they could all meet up side stage and catch the show for either of them.

Matt had gone back to the hotel to drop off some shirts and merch he had bought and was tired of carrying. He texted Brian to tell him he was almost to the side of the stage. Matt knew he had the wrong stage when he heard Deftones in the middle of Beware. He was not at all at the stage he had intended to go to. He had made it half way up the stairs before he had realized that. He turned to leave when he caught sight of two girls in a group of guys. One was slightly taller than the other. Her brown highlighted hair swayed in the middle of her back. The other girl's dark blonde hair reached just above her ass. Even in a ponytail. The girls had their hands locked as they swayed with the song. Both were dressed in dark looking tank tops and jeans. He could just make out some ink on the dark blonde girl's wrist. He turned to head back down. Not wanting to be noticed for hitting the wrong backstage. But the brown highlighted hair girl had looked back as if she knew he was staring and smiled slightly. He knew he had to go over and meet her. But he would wait until after the set. Because yelling out a greeting was not what he wanted.

~*~

He heard laughing as he sat up a little straighter on the stairs. The girls were laughing about something and the guys they were with followed behind. He stood and waited.

“Hey,”he said as they passed.

The girls stopped.

The dark blonde smirked,”Wouldn't have pegged you, M Shadows, to be at the Deftones' stage when Korn is playing.”

He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck,”I went to the wrong one.”

“Went to the wrong one huh?”she raised an eyebrow.

He nodded,”Yep.”

“Hey, it's cool if you're a closet fan and you were just hoping no one would notice,”she shrugged. “But I so did not think this was your scene.”

“I came in on a different side than I left,”he defended himself. “I thought this was their backstage.”

The other girl laughed,”She's just messing with you. Weren't you, Penny?”

She sighed,”Why do you insist on taking all my fun away?”

“I'm not the one that told you no on kidnapping Germany band guys,”The girl laughed. “Your boyfriend did. I was already coming up with an alibi.”

“That's because he's a Debby Downer,”she threw up her hands.

“I am not. You're not helping things, Ce. I just don't have the bail money right now because we have more shows to do. And because I don't like sharing,”he chuckled.

Matt watched with wide eyes.

“We're just joking. I'm Cecelia. That's Mark, Penny, Myles, Brian and Scott.”

“Ex-Creed members that formed Alter Bridge, right?”he asked. They nodded. The girls looked at each other. He chuckled,”I did research on bands we cross paths with more than once this summer that we didn't know.”

“We're just going to grab some drinks at the bar. You wanna join?”Mark asked.

“Let me call my band mates to let them know,”he chuckled.

Matt stepped away to make the call but he was still within ear shot.

“You know Ce has a huge lady boner for Shadows,”Penny whispered. “And you invited him to join us?”

“Lord Penny, announce it to him why don't ya?”Cecelia groaned.

“Ce, the whole fair ground can see it from here,”Penny said. “You're so protective of her and yet you're inviting her favorite rockstar for drinks. All of you guys have been guarding her like she's a virgin. Which news flash she's not.”

“It's her first time here,”Mark said.

“Be that as it may,”she said. “You all are gonna have to let up. She's not dating anyone. She's a grown woman. So be prepared if she slips away.”

“Penny,”Mark's voice held a bit of warning.

“She's been very cool with us dating. Her bestie and her brother. So I'm gonna be cool with her slipping away if she wants to,”she shrugged. “And so are you guys.”

Matt rejoined them,”They're gonna meet us there. I'm never gonna live it down with them that I missed Korn.”

Penny laughed,”As if I were going to let you off the hook so easily.”

Matt shook his head but a smile was spread across his lips,”I'm gonna hear it all night.”

She grabbed Mark's hand and smiled,”Of course closet fanboy.”

Mark and Penny took up the lead as the now group of seven made their way to the hotel bar. Matt had never felt as comfortable with strangers as he did with this bunch. He was extremely glad he had gone to the wrong stage.