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After several beers later, Zack was too drunk to go home, and Lyric was too drunk to remember telling him he couldn’t stay the night. So he stayed, and before the night was over, the first shelf in Lyric’s fridge where all the beer had been was completely cleared off. The coffee table was covered in beer bottles, as well as the table outside where Zack had spent a good portion of the afternoon and night smoking cigarettes.
Lyric and Zack spent their time together catching up, telling jokes, laughing, and overall just having a good time. Just like it used to be.
It was around 1AM when Lyric heard Zack’s phone going off. He was passed out on her couch, so she carefully took his phone out of his pocket and looked at the screen. He had one missed call and one text message. She didn’t want to be nosey, but on his droid phone, the last half of the text message was scrolling along the screen.
…are you? We are all worried. Said you’d be home tonight. Call when you get this.
- Shadz
If her memory served her right, Shadz was A7X’s lead singer’s stage name. M. Shadows, Lyric remembers reading, and oftentimes shortened to Shadz.
Lyric decided to call Shadows and tell him Zack was fine, and passed out on her couch.
“Zacky! Where the fuck have you been, man?” Lyric heard Shadow ‘s voice booming through the phone.
“This isn’t Zack… this is his sister,” she said slowly, suddenly becoming nervous. Her tongue felt numb, and her legs were weak. She wasn’t even quite sure why she was nervous. Maybe it was because she was on the phone with someone famous, but she should be used to meeting famous people. How many times have I met famous authors? Or maybe it was because she knew nothing about Shadows, except for what she found on the internet, and knowing Zack, everyone in the band probably knew all about her.
“Lyric! This is Matt. It’s nice to talk to you! Where’s Zacky?” Shadows practically yelled, his voice grew more excited once he heard whom he was taking to. I’m glad he finally got up enough courage to go see her, Matt thought to himself.
“He kind of passed out on my couch a few minutes ago. I heard his phone go off and checked it. I saw the text you sent and just wanted to let you know he’s safe.” I hope he doesn’t think I’m a freak for looking at Zachary’s text messages.
“Oh. Thanks so much for calling back! We were all worried about him, since he told us he’d be coming home tonight,” Matt said.
“You’re welcome,” Lyric responded, and then remained silent, unsure of what to say next. Thankfully, Matt seemed to have something in mind.
“So… how would you feel about coming over to my house with Zacky tomorrow? The band is dying to meet you! We’ve all heard so things about you,” he went on, babbling about how Zack always talked about her (all good things, he assured her) and how much he missed her, etc.
So a half an hour later, when Lyric finally got off the phone with Shadows, plans had been set for the next day. After they both woke up, they were supposed to go to Matt’s house for a last minute party. A party to celebrate welcoming Lyric into the Avenged Sevenfold family, but of course that part was a secret.
Matt, Synyster, The Rev, and Johnny all stayed up for another hour with Matt’s girlfriend, Valary, planning this party for Lyric. Matt was super excited and wanted it to be the biggest party they’ve ever thrown, but thankfully Val was able to convince Matt that no such thing was possible to plan and prepare for in as little time as they had if sleep was also part of the plan. So he agreed on a smaller scale party, but made Val promise that one-day they would throw a big, kickass party for Lyric.
Where the fuck am I? Was the first thing that ran through Zacky’s head when he woken up. Why the fuck does my head hurt so bad? Was inevitably the second thing that ran through his head.
Once he opened his eyes and looked around, everything suddenly came rushing to him, and he remembered almost everything that went on last night. The only thing he didn’t remember was falling asleep on the couch.
“I see you’re awake,” said a gently voice.
The sound of Lyric’s voice scared Zack, making him sit up quickly, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. This only made his headache a thousand times worse.
“Here, take these,” she told him, handing him a few Advil’s and a glass of water.
Zacky eagerly took them from her and thanked her. He just wasn’t so sure he could wait twenty minutes for it to kick in.
“I made some breakfast if you’re hungry,” Lyric announced, walking into the kitchen and grabbing a plate out of the cupboard.
Zacky made his way into the kitchen, following the delicious smell of chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. Two of my favorite things growing up.
“When you’re finished eating,” Lyric started while Zacky sat down and helped himself to some food. “Matt wants us to come over to his house so everyone can meet me. So I figured since it’s still early, we can go to your house so you can shower and get ready, then we can head over to his house.”
‘Sounds great,” he said while trying to stuff a whole pancake in his mouth. Lyric giggled at him, and he ended up choking and spitting half of the pancake out. “Did you talk to him last night?” Zack asked.
“Yeah. You passed out on my couch and I heard you phone going off so I looked at it. I saw part of the text message from Matt and he sounded worried so I called him back. I hope you don’t mind…” Lyric said, worried that Zack might be mad at her for using his phone.
“That’s fine, thanks for calling him back,” he mumbled as he stuffed more food into his mouth. “Do you mind texting him and saying we’ll be there in an hour and a half?”
“Not at all,” Lyric said, picking up Zack’s phone that he had just laid on the counter.
We will be over in like 1 & 1/2 hours. See you soon.
- L. B.
Change of plans. Meet us at Synyster’s house instead. Can’t wait!
- Shadz
“Matt said there is a change of plans, we are supposed to go to Synyster’s house instead,” she announced, taking a seat next to Zack at the bar in her kitchen. Zack nodded his head and continued to stuff his face.
“Aren’t you going to eat anything?” He asked, setting his fork down, his plate finally cleared off.
“I ate before you got up,” she answered. “I’ve been up since 8:30.” And Zacky just stared at her, eyes wide in disbelief.
“How do you drink all night and then get up at 8:30?” He questioned.
“Easy. I don’t get totally shitfaced and pass out on someone’s couch,” Lyric chuckled while Zack just rolled his eyes.
An hour and a half later, just like they promised, Zacky and Lyric pulled into Synyster’s driveway. Zacky’s headache had gone away and he was now bouncing with excitement. He couldn’t wait to introduce his sister to everyone. Lyric was extremely nervous. Zack had probably told them everything about her. And after talking to Matt on the phone, she knew that they were all happy they were finally going to meet her. She just hoped no one was going to jump on her when she walked through the door.
They were walking up the pathway to Synyster’s door when Lyric just stopped walking, a worried look on her face.
“Come on, everyone’s excited to meet you,” Zacky said, trying to get her to walk the rest of the way to the door.
“Zack… What if they don’t like me?” She asked nervously. He noticed that she was rocking back and forth on her heals again.
“Chocolate Pop, you’re related to the one and only Zacky V! They’re not just gonna like you, they’re gonna LOVE you! I guarantee. It’s something in our Baker genes, trust me,” he said, reassuring her.
Lyric took a deep breath in and walked the rest of the way to the door. Zack opened it and walked in first, while Lyric hesitantly followed.
Inside, there were 4 boys sitting on the couch while a girl was sitting on the floor in between Matt’s legs.
Matt was the first to stand up, nearly kicking Val in the process. Soon after, everyone else stood up and came running to the door. Zacky saw Lyric cringe as they all drew too close for her liking. Being the protective brother that he was, “Can you all just take a few steps backwards? Lyric doesn’t like to be crowded with people.”
“I thought she was a famous children’s author,” Johnny announced, obviously not impressed with what Zacky asked of them.
“That doesn’t mean she wants all of you making a circle around her,” Zack snapped, his eyes now fixed on Johnny.
“Zacky, why don’t you let everyone, one by one, introduce themselves to Lyric,” Matt suggested, leading Zack into the kitchen to get him a beer.
Johnny was the first to go up to Lyric. “Hey,” he said winking. “I’m Johnny Christ,” and instantly all of the guys started laughing.
“Johnny’s the sexual one. You can just ignore everything he says,” Synyster joked before stepping forward to introduce himself to Lyric. Johnny lightly punched his arm and then went into the kitchen as well to get a beer.
“Synyster Gates,” Syn said, sticking his hand out, and Lyric hesitantly shook it. “You can call me Brian if you want. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Lyric,” he told her, grinning.
Jimmy Sullivan was next, and he pushed Synyster out of the way to get to Lyric. “Hey! I’m Jimmy, or The Reverend Tholomew Plague, The Rev for short,” he half-yelled as he pulled her into a hug.
Lyric was surprised by Jimmy’s actions, but surely after a few moments, she hugged him back. “Hey Jimmy,” Lyric said, trying to find air to breath since Jimmy was hugging her a little too tightly.
“Rev! You’re crushing the poor girl!” A female voice said, walking up to them as Jimmy quickly let go of Lyric and apologized for squishing her
The girl held her hand out and Lyric shook it. “Hey. I’m Val, Matt’s girlfriend,” she said, smiling.
“Hey Val. Glad to know I’m not the only girl here,” Lyric said with a nervous giggle.
And with that, Matt came out of the kitchen, three beers in hand. One, his, was half empty already, and the other two were just opened. He handed on to Val and offered the other to Lyric. Lyric politely declined the beer, telling Matt that she preferred not to drink this early in the day, so Matt handed the beer to Jimmy before setting his own beer down.
“Well, I know we talked on the phone, but we never properly met each other,” he said. “So… Hey! I’m Matt, or M. Shadows, whichever,” he said, pulling her into a hug, but thankfully he wasn’t as forceful as Jimmy, and she was actually able to enjoy his hug.
After everyone finally came back out to the living room, drink in hand, Matt stood up and stood in the center of the room. “Now that everyone has properly met Lyric, it’s time to party!” He announced, looking over at Syn who was standing next to the large stereo system. Suddenly, music filled the whole house. Lyric recognized the song as an Avenged Sevenfold song.
“Welcome to the family!” Matt shouted, and soon enough, everyone pulled Lyric in for a group hug.