Zacky and the Lawyer - An Avenged Sevenfold Story

Chapter 3: Raising Suspicion

I woke up the next morning with an unpleasant start to what sounded like a jackhammer going off. With a scowl coming over my face, I threw the bed covers aside and tramped over to the window, pulling the curtains back. I looked down. Sure enough, there was a crowd of people with construction equipment right next to our hotel. I sighed, my expression turning from one of anger to jaded disappointment. Why did there always seem to be construction going on near the hotels we were staying in? And why did it have to start so early in the morning?

I turned and walked back over to the bed, shaking my head and muttering to myself about noisy jackhammers, and checked the time on my phone. It was 9:04 AM, so it was probably just as good that I was awake, if I was being honest. Checkout was at ten, so this gave me an hour to get ready. Rolling my shoulders back, and resigning myself to the fact that I wouldn't be getting any more sleep, I walked over to my suitcase to find some clothes for the day.

I finished making myself presentable with a couple of minutes to spare, and quickly repacked my suitcase with the few items I'd bothered to take out. Just as I was zipping it up, I heard a knock at the door. I stood to my full height, set my suitcase upright, and opened the door to see Matt.

"Hey Christa, you just about ready to go? I think everyone else is already downstairs. Well, except for Brian..." his voice trailed off, eyes sliding to the side.

I laughed. Brian was always the hardest one to get out of his hotel room. Probably because he was the most resistant to waking up in the first place, and also because he took the longest to get ready. "Yeah, I'm ready." I grabbed the handle of my suitcase and pulled it up beside me, showing him it was packed. I took one last look around the room to make sure I hadn't left anything, and stepped out into the hall with the singer.

"So, are we going to fetch Brian?" I asked. Matt chuckled, hands sliding into his pockets as he started off down the hall. "Well, if you don't mind coming with me, it might make things easier." I nodded my head and followed him. Brian had no problem telling his bandmates to fuck off and throw a pillow at them, but I was still new enough to the group that he was a bit more inclined to go along with what I asked.

...Well, at least sometimes.

We stopped in front of a door at the opposite end of the hall, Matt rapping against it with his fist. "Brian, we need to go! It's already ten!" His voice was firm and left no room for argument.

A distinct grumbling could be heard from the other side of the door. It cracked open to reveal half of the guitarist's face, one visible eyebrow drawn down into a frown."I need, like, five more minutes."

"Dude, no you don't. We'll have a stylist to fix your fuckin' hair before the show tonight, no one cares what it looks like right now." Matt's voice was exasperated, and I giggled at the two of them. It would be so easy to just listen to their conversation and pretend I wasn't here, but I was supposed to be helping Matt.

"C'mon, Brian, we need to go. They stop serving breakfast at ten, so if we wanna grab anything we need to get it now." I added. The door opened the rest of the way suddenly, revealing an incredulous-looking Brian.

"What the hell? Who eats breakfast that early?" Matt and I looked at each other, but didn't bother to answer the guitarist's question. Brian sighed. "Fine, I'm coming, I'm coming."

We followed Brian into the hotel room and watched him gather up a surprising number of hair care products. Matt snorted. "Shut up!" Brian said, grabbing a final can of hairspray off his bathroom counter and chucking it into his duffel bag. When everything was packed up, he walked back out the door with us and pulled it closed behind him.

We got to the lobby at 10:15, and found everyone else already waiting there. A few rolled their eyes jokingly; they knew it wasn't Matt or I who'd held things up. Once Matt had managed to check us out at the reception counter, he turned to address everyone else. "Have you guys eaten?" They nodded. The three of us who'd shown up late walked to the other side of the lobby to the breakfast room. All the hot food had been cleared away at this point, but I did manage to grab a muffin to go. Matt and Brian grabbed bagels, and once the three of us had breakfast in hand, we all left the hotel.