Zacky and the Lawyer - An Avenged Sevenfold Story

Chapter 2: Green Eyes

I woke up the next morning to the feeling of the bus rumbling beneath me. I groggily rubbed at my eyes, slowly becoming aware of my surroundings, and blinked several times. I could hear hushed voices coming from the outside of my bunk. Apparently, everyone else had woken up before me.

I raised an arm to peel back the curtain slowly, light from the bus interior and the outside world hitting my face, and squinted. It was already bright outside, and I figured I must've slept through a good bit of the morning. I could see trees and fields rolling by through the window; it looked like we weren't anywhere close to a major city.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty!" someone called much too peppily. I turned my face towards the voice to see Johnny sitting in the den, grinning at me. His usual mohawk was flat against his head this morning, devoid of its usual suite of styling products, and the jeans and t-shirt he was wearing made him look much more casual than he did when performing on stage. I craned my neck further to see that he was sitting with Val, Brian, and Brooks, and the four of them appeared to be drinking coffee.

I grumbled something incoherent in response to his cheery mood, before I shifted my legs over the edge of my bunk and hopped down to the floor. After making sure I had steady footing on the moving bus, I looked at the other three bunks and noticed the curtains were all pulled back. The bunks were empty. I frowned slightly, and Val, seeming to notice my confusion, provided an explanation.

"We did a kid swap this morning, Christa," she said. "Matt and Zack are on parent duty on the band's bus, and the rest of us decided to come over here for some peace and quiet."

I nodded in understanding, the fog of sleep slowly fading from my mind, and walked over to the kitchen. I poured myself a mug of coffee from the pot that had been left out, and carefully carried it over to sit down next to Johnny.

"Good morning to you, too, Johnny," I said, nudging his shoulder playfully as I finally answered his greeting. He chuckled slightly at my delayed response. "You're almost always up before us," he observed. "Long day yesterday?"

I nodded, taking a sip of my slightly-cooled coffee. "Yeah, lots of phone calls yesterday. And those kids can tire you out!" I exclaimed, looking over at Val, who nodded knowingly. "How was the show last night?"

"Show was good, though this one fucked up his Afterlife solo again," Johnny said casually, placing a hand on Brian's shoulder. The taller man sighed in a kind of bored frustration at Johnny, rubbing his temple for added effect, and I laughed. "That's okay. The kids know it's a tough one, and I bet most of them don't even notice the little mistakes. They're just excited out of their minds to see you guys. At least, I know that's how I felt the first time."

Brian's expression went from tired to vindicated as he nodded his head firmly in my direction. "Thank you! It's nice to have someone around who doesn't focus solely on my mistakes all the time. These guys are dicks." He shoved Johnny, who shoved him back. "We don't focus solely on your mistakes, Brian, we just focus on mistakes you make in your solos."

I laughed at them as their shoves grew smaller and smaller until they were just poking one another repeatedly, both wanting to have the last jab. I turned my attention to Val and Brooks sitting across from us to address them. "Say, what time is it, anyways?"

"It's almost eleven," Brooks answered. My eyes grew big, and he continued. "But, you've been working early during the day when we're usually asleep, and staying up late to see the shows, too, so it was probably good you caught up on some rest."

I nodded, grateful for his excuse. Hopefully no one thought I was too much of a bum. If it was already eleven, though, I had work to do. I drank the rest of my coffee quickly, and stood up from the couch. "Okay, guys, I'm going to go do some work for a while. I need to see if I can find any precedent for our case."