The Beach (Mimmy)

Chapter Fourteen: Fights and Tour Talk

“As uncomfortable as it might be, I refuse to let the comfort of being agreed with suffocate my opinions.”

-          Mokokoma Mokhonoana

Arin went home that evening, and Matt and Jimmy watched Batman: The Dark Knight and ate popcorn. About halfway through, however, Jimmy began kissing Matt’s neck, and the movie was soon forgotten.

They were whispered words, slow, sensual movements, soft touches and kisses. Jimmy murmured quietly in Matt’s ear about how perfect he was, how much he loved him, which caused the younger man to melt against the drummer, moaning softly and panting and losing himself in absolute heaven.

Afterwards, they couldn’t bother themselves with moving from their position on the couch. Jimmy pulled a blanket over them and reached to turn off the TV, then wrapped his arms around Matt, and they fell asleep, quickly and soundly.

They woke with a jolt in the morning to the sound of a loud knock on the door, and the loud woofs emitted by Bella. Matt groaned, stretching and moving Jimmy’s arm so he could stand up. He pulled on his boxers and pants, before wandering sleepily to the door.

He opened it, rubbing his eyes groggily, then jumped slightly at the sight of Brian. And Zacky. And Johnny. Arin was beside them too, and he gave a small smile and an apologetic wave.

“Oh, uh, hey, guys…” Matt began awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. “What’re you-“

“We thought we’d all come over for a while. You never answer your phone, or we could’ve actually planned it instead of coming unannounced.” Brian said, looking at Matt with a little bit of hurt. “We came anyway, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Oh!” Matt said, a little louder than he needed to, hoping to wake Jimmy and have him hear it. “Yeah, of course I don’t mind. Come on in.”

He stepped aside so the guys could all tromp inside, then closed the door behind them, making his way into the living room. Jimmy had disappeared, along with all the clothes of his that had been discarded from last night.

Matt motioned for them to sit, and they all crashed down on the couch, looking up at the vocalist. “So, did you speak to Larry?” Brian asked, which of course, Matt hadn’t.

“We’re gonna do another tour.” Johnny piped up, “Get our mind of things, and give Arin a chance to get used to the kit. It won’t be a huge tour, I think Larry planned out 17 dates.”

Matt frowned, unsure of what to do. A tour? But he couldn’t go, he couldn’t leave Jimmy alone when he had such precious little time with him.

“When?” he asked warily, sitting down in a chair beside the couch and rubbing a hand over his face.

“In a couple weeks.” Zacky replied. “We were just told about it a couple days ago, or I would have told you when you and Arin came over.”

Matt sighed. “Guys… I-I can’t. We can’t. Why does it have to be now? Maybe we could do a summer tour or something…”

“Why the hell not?” Brian asked, “You’re turning into a hermit, Matt, you either come on tour, or we start working on another fucking record.”

“It’ll do you good to get out there and sing again.” Johnny added. “The fans will help you to feel better.”

“Yeah, it’s just…” Matt chewed his lip nervously, “Damn, guys, I didn’t get that much of a notice…”

“Neither did we.” Zacky replied, “We have just as much notice as you do. Apparently Larry’s already contacted Stone Sour and Hollywood Undead to see if they can open for us. And they said yes.”

Matt began to get a little desperate. He had toured with both of those bands before, and he liked them, they were nice guys, but he didn’t want to leave when Jimmy was still around. “I don’t want to tour, guys. We just released Nightmare last year, then we did Uproar, and I just wanna not do anything for a while.”

“Matt, you’ve been ‘not doing anything’ since October.” Brian countered. “I’m getting restless! Haven’t you ever thought about anyone else in this band besides yourself? I, for one, am looking forward to the tour, no matter how soon it is.”

“Me too.” Johnny agreed, nodding his head.

“Wait, guys…” Arin spoke up meekly for the first time since the guys arrived. “Maybe, if not everyone’s on board with it, we could possibly push it back a month or two…”

“But it’ll be the Nightmare After Christmas tour.” Zacky replied. “It can’t be that if it takes place after fucking Valentine’s Day.”

“And besides, everyone is on board with it, except the twat who wants to wallow around in his self pity!” Brian added harshly.

“What the fuck?” Matt stood quickly, causing Brian to do the same. “What the hell brought that on?”

“Why the hell do you have to be such a douche and try and postpone the tour like that just so you can sit around and do absolutely nothing?” Brian spat back.

“Why does it matter if we push the tour back a month? As long as they haven’t released the dates, I can’t imagine how it would matter! We could change the fucking name, for Christ’s sake!”

“Because it’s time for you to stop being a pussy, Matthew, that’s why. All you want to do is sit here and ignore us and that’s not okay. If that’s what you want to do, then why are you even in the band?”

“I don’t ignore you!” Matt replied.

“You have been for the past few weeks! We’ve called and texted and tried to reach you in any way that we could, and finally we resorted to having to go straight to your house! It seems like all you want to do is hang out with Arin. Why the fuck is that? Is he your replacement Jimmy, Matt? Is that all?”

Matt lunged for the guitarist, slamming a fist into Brian’s jaw and knocking him over. They began to brawl, and Matt could vaguely hear Zacky and Johnny and Arin shouting, trying to pry them apart.

When they finally settled down, Matt had a bloody nose and a black eye, Brian was nursing a bruised jaw and split lip. “Maybe I don’t want to be in this fucking band anymore.” Matt snarled,

“Good.” Brian snapped back. “Maybe we don’t want you either.”

“Get out of my house.”Matt hissed. “All of you! Get the fuck out!”

“Matt...” Arin began softly, “Maybe we could-“

“I said out!” Matt roared, causing the younger man to flinch and step back.

The guys complied, shuffling out the front door. Brian paused in the doorframe, turning to look at Matt. “I hope you're happy.” He spat, before stepping out and slamming the door so hard it rattled the house.