{Avenged Sevenfold} Help Me Find My Way {Book 2}

{Avenged Sevenfold} Help Me Find My Way {Book 2} [11]

I reached in the bowl and grabbed another handful of popcorn as the ending credits for another Rob Zombie movie scrolled up the screen.

“This was an awesome idea Sis.”

“Thanks, I have to admit that I do miss this.”

“Yeah we should make this a regular weekly thing,” Jimmy said grabbing another handful of popcorn and munching noisily.

“Sure, so did you hear that De and Riley made it official?”

“Yeah,” Jimmy’s voice sounded a little dark.

“What?”

“I don’t like him.”

“Jimmy you don’t like any of the guys that take an interest in us.”

“Not true. I like Dylan. I think he’d be good for Ash. I just don’t like Riley. I don’t think he’ll…hey wait! What do you mean us?”  His eyes narrowed in suspicion.

I rolled my eyes. “Relax. I’m pretty sure by now guys know to stay pressed up against the lockers on the opposite side of the hall when I walk by. I mean if one ever had the nerve to speak to me he’d probably be struck with lightning on the spot.”

“You’re my sister and I want to protect you. I’m a guy their age Sis. I KNOW what they want.”

I giggled. “Matt’s happy he said he was going to have to thank you for keeping the guys away.”

“Does it really bother you that much?”

“Well I guess not. I mean if they aren’t brave enough to face your wrath than they aren’t that interested in the first place it just seems to me to make going to parties and stuff pointless.”

“Well it gives you a chance to socialize with Ash, De and me.”

“True, I guess but the band does that as well.”

“Yeah, but this gives you other people to talk to.”
 
“I know,” I sigh.

“You are coming this weekend aren’t you?”

“I don’t know Mom’s not really feeling that much better.”

“Aww Sis come on!”

“Jimmy we agreed earlier this week about this.”

“But it’s not fair! I mean you need to get out too.”

“What’s not fair?” Matt asked shutting the door behind him.

“It’s nothing. I’ll get your dinner.”

“No, Andy, I can get it. I want to know what Jimmy thinks isn’t fair and what it has to do with you getting out. We did agree that you need to be able to get out and socialize with your friends more.”

“Yeah but this is not about Mom pushing family time down my throat. It’s about my family needing me.”

“We need you but you need to be a teenager too. So what’s going on now?”

“Jeremy is having a party on Friday night, but she won’t come because Mom isn’t feeling up to watching Dakota.”

“Are Jeremy’s parents going to be home?”

I coughed trying to hide my smile and Jimmy just looked down scratching the back of his neck.

“I see. Well Andrea you go with Jimmy. Try to keep him out of trouble.”

“But Dakota…”

“I’ll come home early Friday.”

“Matt….”

“Andrea it’s fine. I want you to go, just be careful ok and promise me that if you need me even just as a DD you’ll call ok?”

“Ok, I promise Matt.”
Jimmy grinned at me. “I’m gonna call Ash and tell her you should tell De.”

“Are you seriously gonna stay mad at her?”

“I’m not really mad at her. I’m just worried about her. I really don’t like Riley. He’s bad news Andy.”

“Just because he’s part of the crowd labeled bad boys doesn’t mean that he’s bad for her. I mean Matt was labeled with that tag in high school and look at him now.”

“I don’t think Riley is going to turn out like Matt.”

“Let’s just give him a chance ok? Please Jimmy. De’s happy right now.”

“I’m giving him a week. If he can’t change my mind I’m telling Brian about him.”

I gasp. “Jimmy you wouldn’t!”

“If she won’t listen to me then her Dad is the only one that I’m going to trust to get through to her.”

“Jimmy she trusts you.”

“And I don’t trust him. You know Dad, Uncle Johnny, and Brian all trust me to keep you guys safe too.”

“I know but I mean still.”

He shrugged. “If it makes you feel better tell her about the deadline. If she’s smart she’ll dump him before that.”

“I will tell her.”

He shrugged and grabbed the cases for the DVD’s to put them all back in the media cabinet. I grabbed the popcorn bowl which was now empty and took it to the kitchen where Matt was eating his dinner. I rinsed the bowl and put it in the dishwasher.

“You know your love of drumming and your commitment to your family and friends you got from your Dad.”

“That’s what Uncle Johnny and Zacky always say.”

“You know what Jr. gets?”

“His good looks?” We both chuckled. It felt nice to be more at ease around Matt.
“Well that and his ability to read people. It was a gift your dad had. He seemed like he was always able to judge a person’s character correctly.”

“Are you going to tell Brian?”

“No, I’ll leave it up to Jr.”

“But you want me to be careful and to make sure De isn’t getting in over her head?”

He got up from the table and put his dirty dishes in the dishwasher before wrapping an arm around me.

“I want you to be careful and help De protect her heart. If you have to help her mend it. You girls are very precious to us. I know that sometimes it seems like we are a little to overprotective of you but it’s because we love you so much we don’t want to see you go through any unnecessary pain.”

“Alright, I’ll tell her about Jimmy’s warning and I’ll try to stick close to both of them at the party.”

“Try to enjoy yourself too kiddo ok?”

“I will.”  I said as Matt placed a kiss on the top of my head. He released me and I walked out of the kitchen as he sat down to make a call.

*****

I walked out of my bathroom after I finished fixing my hair to find De sitting glumly on my bed playing with the strap of a stiletto she hadn’t put on yet.

“He’s going to tell my dad isn’t he?”

“De he promised he’d hold any action until Wednesday.”

“Yeah but he couldn’t even sit more than five minutes with Riley at lunch today.”

“Well maybe the party will help them find some common ground.”

“Right, St. Jimmy will go to the party and magically find some common ground with the devil incarnate Riley.”

“De, don’t be like that. Jimmy’s just worried about you. I mean at least he doesn’t have every guy in the school afraid to even breathe in your direction.”

Delilah chuckled. “Very true, I’m sure one of these days you’ll find a boy with some balls though.”

“Maybe.”

“Hey look at it this way you know if they won’t stand up to Jimmy they don’t have a chance in hell of standing up to Matt.”

“Do you think Matt would really do the whole father/date meeting thing?”

“Of course he would. You are his baby girl. Maybe not biologically but he has raised you as his daughter for the last fifteen years.”

“True, I’m just wondering what it’s gonna be like if I decide to go to college or what if we could get signed by a label?”

“Well the only way we would get signed is to come clean.”

“Why we’ve been playing shows.”

“Yeah, but without Rodney we were short and even with you taking over as drummer to get signed we’d have to draw a bigger following which means we’d have to attract more attention and….”

“And our parents would find out.”

“Can you imagine my Dad seeing me playing in a club?”

“He would go through the roof but we’ve got a couple more years before we’re able to even get into the clubs. At least during drinking hours.”

“Still he’d know where it was heading and probably lock away all of my guitars.”

“Maybe, or maybe they’d be proud of us.”

“Yeah, but let’s not push our luck right now. I’m still worried about Jimmy telling my Dad about Riley.”

“Do you really like him that much?”

“Yeah, I do and let’s face it. I may not be Jimmy’s sister but they still know that Jimmy is protective us, me and Ash like we were his sisters.”

“Yeah, and Riley’s been really nice although maybe that’s just because he witnessed what we did to Rodney.”

“I don’t think so. He’s not been pushy or anything. Our first kiss he even asked if he could kiss me first.” she giggled. “He said wasn’t Rodney and that he respected me and hoped he would never have to end up like Rodney did.”

We both chuckled at that thought until a knock sounded on the door.

“Come in.”

Jimmy’s head popped in the door. “Ashlyn just showed up and Dad is downstairs.”

“So we’re ready?” De said slipping her stilettos on and fastening the straps.

“Yep,” Jimmy said popping the p.

“Alright then let’s go,” I said and we all filed out of my room. Ash was waiting for us downstairs by the door and Matt was standing there as well. Ash had chosen to dress like me with just a nice pair of jeans and a tank top. De on the other hand was wearing a dress that looked like it came straight from her mother’s closet. Short, tight and showed every asset off to her advantage. It was just barely on the right side of not being whorish. I saw Matt’s eyebrows lift.

“Your dad let you out of the house in that.”

“Of course not Uncle Matt. I changed when I got here.”

“Uh huh. Jr.?”

“I know don’t let her out of my sight.”

De rolled her eyes.

“Don’t push it young lady. I could call your father right now.”

“Uncle Matt,” she whined.

“I’m not but I want you to promise to be careful.”

“I will now can we go.”

“Yes, but I have a feeling I’m going to regret this.”

“We’ll be fine Uncle Matt. Think about how many times you did this at our age,” Ash said.

“Yeah and a lot of those times we got into serious trouble that could have ended so much worse.”

“Matt I promise I’ll call if there is even a hint of trouble ok?”

“Ok but how are you guys getting to the party?”

“Oh Dylan’s driving.”

“He’s got his license?” Matt arched an eyebrow in my direction.

I sighed. “He’s technically already sixteen but he’s in our grade.”

“And how did that happen?”

“He’s a military brat. His father was stationed overseas until he started high school and something about the class criteria being different resulted in him having to repeat freshman year here.”

“He’s really nice,” Ash added in nervously.

“We’ll see when he gets here,” Matt said affectionately ruffling Dakota’s hair as Dakota came in the front door.

“What?” we all chorused.

“If he’s driving you guys to a party I’m going to meet him,” Matt stated firmly.

“Well we could walk,” De said looking at Ash who bit her lip.

“And have him pick you up a half mile down the road? I don’t think so De. I wasn’t born yesterday.”

We heard a car pull up out front and the engine idled. Matt raised an eyebrow and I sighed. I walked out the door and saw Dylan’s look of confusion.

“Am I early?”

“No but Matt is insisting on meeting you before he’ll let us leave.”

“No problem,” Dylan said shutting of the car and stepping out. I was relieved to see that his party wear was pretty consistent with his normal school dress. His jeans were clean fit properly not down around his knees and his shirt was a vintage Misfits shirt. His blond hair was gelled in the bed head look but you could tell he’d taken effort with making it appear that way. I lead him inside to find all of the kids still standing where I’d left them with the addition of Dakota at Jimmy’s side. Matt was still standing in his spot and he was giving Dylan a critical eye.

“Hello Mr. Sanders,” he said politely extending his hand for Matt to shake. I tried to hide my smile knowing he’d just scored points with Matt.

Matt took his hand in a firm grip and shook it.

“So Andy tells me that you have your license?”

“Yes Sir. I actually learned in England but I had to retake the test here when we moved back a couple of years ago. Passed with flying colors Sir.”

“Any moving violations?”

“No sir, no tickets of any kind and full insurance.”

“Drinking and Driving?”

“No sir. I don’t drink.”

Matt raised an eyebrow.

“My father would skin me alive,” Dylan elaborated. “He’s a big believer in following the letter of the law.”

“Well then, I think everything will be ok. Andy remember to call me if you need me.”

“Yes Matt.”

We all filed out the door and loaded ourselves into the car.

“Well that wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be,” De sighed.

“Nope and you know Dylan that’s one down and honestly if you can handle Matt you can handle my Uncle Johnny,” I giggled watching a slight blush creep onto Dylan’s face as he navigated the car down the quiet streets. The party was closer to the line between the good and the bad side of town and I had a feeling that the geography would also be represented in the mix of people at the party tonight.

Sure enough as we pulled up we could see the eclectic mix of high school students and what appeared to be college students as well as some people who had clearly not attended a school in a while even if they were the right age to be there. I glanced around nervously at the people openly drinking and smoking on the lawn. Jeremy’s parents had a lot of acreage so there wasn’t a neighbor close by. The house itself seemed to be thumping and shaking with the loud music pouring out through the open door and windows. I kept glancing around as we walked slowly up the pathway towards the house my muscles bunching more and more tightly until a hand slipped in mine.

“Don’t worry Sis, it’s going to be alright. I promise you’re going to have fun and we’ll all be safe here. I promise.”

I relaxed a little and Jimmy squeezed my hand before releasing it. I glanced to my left and saw a group of men sitting around a bong. I was going to just turn around and then I saw him. I shuddered and nudged Jimmy. He gave me a curious look and I nodded my head towards him. I watched his eyes narrow and he pushed me towards the door gently.

“Get everyone inside,” he hissed to Dylan who nodded and guided Ash and De inside the house following me.

“What’s going on?” De asked.

“De sweetie,” I started only to see Jimmy walking in with an arm around Riley. What the hell?

“De, Riley here has something he wants to tell you.”

“Yes Riley?” De said tears filling her eyes.

“I love you and you know I don’t want to hurt you so I’m going to do my very best to be my very best for you.”

De dashed the few feet to him and threw her arms around his neck burying her face in his neck sobbing lightly.

“Are you crazy?” I whispered to him in hushed tones.

“Nope, I’m gonna let De see for herself that he can’t keep his promises.”

“Without her getting hurt by his activities?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna keep an eye on him Sis. Dylan?”

“I will keep an eye on her,” Dylan said slipping his free arm around my shoulder. I smiled when I saw his other arm wrapped around Ash’s waist.

“Alright I’ll be back soon,” Jimmy muttered as he headed off trailing behind the happy couple.

I had a bad feeling about this split, about Jimmy being so close to Riley and about the night in general.