When I woke up, it was to the sound of Teenagers by MCR blaring from my cellular phone. I groaned and rolled over, seeing it was ten fourty-two. I yawned, then I stood up, walked to my dresser, and answered the call.
"Hello?" I asked groggily.
"Gray!" my best guy friend, Richard, from England yelled. "Hey!"
"Hi, mate," I said, smiling. "What ever is your reason for calling?"
"Wanted to make sure my best friend didn't die on the plane," he said, shrouded in sarcasm.
"Damn! You figured out this is a brand new voice answering machine that'll have a conversation with you!"
He laughed. "How are you, mate?"
"Just horrid. America's so hot! It's so different than Wales! I might actually have to buy shorts!"
"God forbid!"
I laughed now. "I miss you guys like crazy already."
"We miss you too, Gray," he said regretfully. "But! Have you made any friends yet?"
Suddenly, I heard a tap on my window. I brushed it off. "Yes."
Yet another tap, and another. I walked to the window and caught Richard mid-sentence. "--and Veronica is bloody dying without you. She came over last night and--" I saw Andy, standing on the sidewalk in front of my house, throwing pebbles at my window. I smiled.
I cut Richard off. "Hey, can I call you back, love?"
Dripping with sarcasm, he said, "Pfft. I see how it is. Old friend isn't a match for new friend."
Another pebble. "That's not it! I just gotta' go, okay?"
He sighed. "Alright. Bye, Gray."
"Bye, Richard." I threw my phone on my chest in the corner, then I lifted the window up. It took a minute, since it was heavy, but I got it.
"Hi, Gray!" Andy called up, waving his arm widely.
"Mornin', mate," I shouted back.
"Get dressed and come down!" he yelled. "And dress lightly! Where we're going, it won't be much better than it is out here!"
I groaned inwardly, then I yelled, "Alright! Give me a minute!"
I shoved the window back down, then I went to the closet and grabbed down a plain black v-neck and pulled it on, then a pair of torn-to-shreds, black, skinny trousers. I put my leather belt with real bullets attached to it on. I found my dad's old work boots and slid those on finally. My dad has small feet, and I have slightly above average, so yes I wear his old boots. After doing my hair and make-up, I went back down the stairs, grabbed an apple, and popped out the door.
Andy was drawing something on the cement with a piece of chalk. I looked down at it, and it was the Batman symbol. "I bloody love Batman," I told him. "I'd wank him in a heartbeat if I could."
He looked up at me and smiled. "You'll learn that I have somewhat of an obsession with Batman," he laughed.
I smiled down at him, then I held out my hand to help him up. He took it and brushed himself off, then he threw the stick of chalk back in the box of chalk that was in the neighboor's yard. "Shall we go?" he asked, jutting his elbow out for me to take.
I smiled at him, taking his arm in my own. "Yes we shall."
He smiled, then he started walking us in the opposite direction of his house, heading towards the park. "So where are we going, mate?" I asked.
"To my drummer's house. Her name's Sandra," he answered, starting to grab something in his pocket.
"A chick drummer? Bloody sick," I said, smiling.
He smiled too, then he unhooked his arm from mine and pulled a cigarette out of the carton he had. He shoved it in his pocket again, then he took a lighter from his teal and black flannel and lit it up.
I glared at him, though he didn't notice for a moment. "What?" he asked.
"Smoking's an expensive way to bloody die," I sighed.
His eyes widened. "You have a problem with me smoking already?"
"Not just you." I shook my head and looked away from him. "I have a issue with smokers in general. And you're my new friend, so I have a bigger issue."
He sighed, took another drag, then threw it out. "Sorry. It's more of a stressed thing."
I stopped completely and held my arms out. Sarcastically, I said, "I'm a nuisance already? Bloody Christ."
He smirked and grabbed my arm to drag me along again. "It's not you. It's my girlfriend."
I swallowed hard. It's fine he had one, it wasn't a problem for me. I was just hoping he didn't. Now that I know he does, it doesn't matter. I have a new bloody friend! That's all that matters!
"What's going on between you and your girlfriend?" I asked.
He sighed. "I don't know. Her name's Scout. I actually have her name tattooed right here." He stopped and showed me the tattoo. "She's my entire world. I'm head over heels in love, nothing'll ever change that."
I smiled. "Scout sounds lucky."
He smiled and kept walking. "The thing is, she hasn't called me in a few days. She's an actress, so she's out in California. She's actually working with Rob Zombie right now."
"Other than the no calling part, that seems bloody awesome!" I told him.
He smiled again. "Yeah. The movie's coming out on the thirty-first this month, so I'm excited to see her in it. I know she's busy and all, but... Y'know. Still want to hear her voice."
I smiled. "Very sensitive of you, Andy."
He nodded and chuckled a little. "Want to see a picture of her? I have one of us on my phone." He pulled his phone out, then he showed me his wallpaper. A girl, Scout, with golden-blonde hair was smiling brightly while a boy, obviously Andy, was kissing about a fourth of her lips. It was more a kiss on the cheek.
"Cute," I said, handing it back.
"Yeah," he said. "I love her to bits and pieces. She's supposed to come back to Ohio next month around the twenty-ith. I told her I was going to wait to see the movie 'til then so I could watch it with her."
"You're such a mushball," I laughed, pushing him a little in the other direction.
He laughed. "I guess I am."
Suddenly, his phone went off, playing an accoustic song. The singer sounded somewhat like Andy. His eyes got wide, then he ripped his phone from his pocket and answered it quickly. "Hello?"
I sat down on a bench. He followed. "Oh my God. Hey, Scout... I just missed your voice... Because I know you're busy... Babe, I love you and all, but your job comes before me... Well I appreciate that... I love you too... What's wrong, Scout?" After the answer, Andy's voice got weaker. "I... Of course that's fine... I know you will... It's okay, I promise... Well, I miss you. That's no big deal... I know, baby, but it'll be okay... I know... I'll call you tonight, okay?... Alright. I love you... Bye."
"What's wrong, mate?" I asked.
Andy sighed. "You can't stop this one," he said as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it up.
I rubbed his knee a couple times. "Andy, what's going on?"
He sighed and bit one of his snakebites. "Scout won't be coming home next month. More like October or November."
I sighed and moved my hand to rub his back. "It'll be okay, Andy," I said. "The important part is you'll see her later or sooner, right?"
He shook his head. "I miss her so much," he said softly, taking another drag.
I clenched my eyes shut and kissed his hair. "It'll be okay, mate. You always have me here."
He nodded. "Thanks, Gray," he said sadly. He took another drag of his cigarette, then he stood up. "Let's keep going," he said.
I nodded and stood up, but I forcefully pulled him into a hug. He stood there a moment before flicking his cigarette away and hugging me back.
There was a stuttered sigh, then Andy pulled away and started walking. I caught up to him quickly and forced him to slow down. "Andy, hold on," I said.
He sighed and started walking slower. "Sorry," he muttered.
"It's okay, mate," I said. "I know you're upset and all, but try walking at a normal rate."
He nodded and didn't respond. We kept walking through the park, then we finally came to a house like most others on the street. Andy knocked on the door a couple times, then he stepped off of the porch. "I'd stand back if I were you," he said.
"Why?" I asked, stepping away from him cautiously.
Suddenly, the door ripped open and a girl with the blackest sunglasses ever poked her head out. "Andy!" she shouted before launching towards him and attacking him in an embrace.
"Hey, Sandra," Andy said, smiling.
"How are you?" she asked.
"Good enough," he answered. "Anyway, I want you to meet someone." He grabbed my wrist and dragged me close to him. "This is Gray. She just moved in down the street."
"Lovely to make your acquaintance," I said, shaking her hand.
"Pleasure's mine," she said, taking my hand and kissing it.
Andy watched Sandra, but he asked me, "What's your sexual preferance?"
"Please, please, please!" Sandra said, crossing her fingers.
"Uh, I'm straight," I answered.
"Dammit!" Sandra yelled, stomping a foot in the other direction.
"Sandra's bisexual," Andy explained.
"Sorry, mate," I said to her. "I bat for the other team, so to speak, but if you want I'll let you feel me up every once in a while."
Andy and Sandra laughed. "I'll take you up on that," she laughed.
"Anyway, let's get inside," Andy suggested.
"Alright." Sandra grabbed us by the wrists and dragged us inside. Andy was right. It was just as hot inside as it was outside. I waved my hand in front of my face in some form of fan motion. "Sorry it's so hot," she said. "The air conditioner's busted."
"It's fine," Andy said. He led me to some room with a couch in it. "So when's Chris coming over?" Andy asked.
There were a few knocks at the door. "Right now!" Sandra said happily, hopping up to get it. We heard somewhat the situation that happened with us, then a new guy came in. He had sandy blonde-brown hair that dropped at his shoulders, brown eyes, and a tall and skinny frame.
"Gray, this is Nate. Nate, this is Gray," Sandra introduced.
"Hi." I waved once.
"Hey there, pretty girl," he said kneeling by me and Andy. "You say your name's Gray? 'Cause I'm thinking of a lot of other colors to describe you right now."
I giggled a little. "Well thank you, Nate."
"No flirting with my new friend," Andy said, pushing Nate away with his foot. "You're not screwing this one up."
"It's not my fault the last girl we hung out with turned lesbian! That was Sandra's fault!" he said defensively.
I laughed. "Dear me, you have such a fascinating life, Andy."
"She's British?!" Nate nearly yelled. "You can't expect me not to flirt with her!"
"Yes I can," Andy laughed. "No flirting."
"Then who's gonna' flirt with her? You have a girlfriend, and obviously she's straight, otherwise Sandra'd me all over her right now," Nate laughed.
I laughed too. "You can flirt, just don't expect anything to come of it. I'm saving myself for another sexy Birtish person."
"There's someone back home?" Andy asked.
"No. I only had mates back home," I explained. "But I know somehow someone from England's going to come to America and sweep me off my British feet."
Andy laughed. "We'll see."
"We should rehearde today," Nate said. "Seeing as how Phil and Chris stole our shit."
"Nah, I just want to hang out today," Andy said.
"Oh. What's your band's name?" I asked. "You told me you had a band but--"
"We named it Black Veil Brides," Andy answered.
"Bloody rad." I smiled at him.
He smiled back. "Anyway, yeah. I just wanna' hang."
So, indeed we hung out. We sat around for hours, talking about music and life. Preferances and such. After about four hours, Mum sent me a text message telling me to be home in an hour. So, fourty-five minutes later, Andy and I left.
"You guys are fun," I said, laughing a little.
"I suppose we are," he said, smiling. The sun was already going down, slipping down into the horizon, turning the sky orange and pink. A breeze went by, making me shiver.
Andy noticed, then he slid his arm around my waist, holding me closer. I leaned into him, stealing his warmth and appreciating him letting me. "Thanks," I said quietly.
"Not a problem. Wouldn't want you to get a cold," he said.
I just nodded gratefully. We walked through the park, catching glares from a couple people, 'til we finally got to my house. Having exchanged numbers at Sandra's house, Andy said, "I'll text you tonight."
I nodded and pushed hair from my face. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
He nodded and smiled a little at me. "Mm-hmm. See you tomorrow, Gray."
"Bye, Andy."
We stared at each other a long moment, then Andy forced himself down the porch steps and he walked back to his house.
I went inside, ate dinner, then went up to my room. There was a large box in the center of the room. Frowning from confusion, I want to it, took out my keys, and cut the packing tape open. I got all the packing styrofoam peanuts out, then I gasped.
I pulled out the black cherry-colored Stratocaster. It shined in the dim twinkle lights of the room. I gasped at it again and sat on the floor. It was already tuned, it sounded like a champ. I started playing Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana. I smiled brightly, then I pulled my phone out of my pocket and texted Andy. "I got a bloody guitar!"
"cool as fuck! what kind?"
"Stratocaster. Black cherry colored."
"lucky! I'll have to come check them out tomorrow!"
"Want to sleep over? If it's alright, of course."
"give me a min." There was a pause from him. "all good. I'll come over around noon?"
"Sounds great. See ya then mate."
"bye Gray."
I smiled as I put my phone back into my pocket. I rested the guitar against the wall, then I climbed into bed, still fully clothed. I smiled again, then I let sleep take me.
"Gray!" Mum shouted.
"Oh what?" I asked, waking up.
"Your new friend Andy is here!" she chirped. She walked over and pulled the curtains open, causing me to hiss. "He introduced himself, and I think he's absolutely terrific!"
I smiled a little and rubbed my eyes. "That's good. It's okay that he sleeps over tonight, right?"
"Of course!" she said.
I smiled again. "Go downstairs and tell Andy he can come up, please. I'm gonna' get dressed."
"Sure, love," she said walking towards the door.
I smiled at the fact that Mum liked Andy already. I got up and walked to the closet, grabbing my only pair of shorts and a white v-neck. Yeah. I like v-necks. And the shorts were dark but acid washed. I got those on and walked into the bathroom as Andy came in.
"Hey, Gray," he greeted, walking into the bathroom too.
i turned on my straightener and smiled. He pulled me into an embrace, then he ruffled my hair. "There. All done," he said.
I smirked at him and patted my hair down. I stared up at him a moment, then I messed with his perfectly done hair. "Perfect," I said sarcastically.
He laughed and pushed his hair down and into place. I got my straightener heated up, then I started straightening my hair. "Why's it so damn quiet in here?" he asked.
"Go turn on my CD player," I responded, pulling the straightener down.
"You still use CD players? Pfft." He walked back into my room and started fiddling with something.
I poked my head past the door. "What are you doing?" I asked. I saw him on his knees in front of my CD player, fiddling with a wire. "You better not be breaking my CD player!"
"I'm not," he said. Suddenly, a song by Alkaline Trio called My Little Needle came on.
"How'd you get that to play?" I asked. "I don't have that song on my CD."
"It's on my iPod," he explained, standing up. He walked back to me, then he said, "I just plugged--" I have no idea what an of that meant-- "and boom. My iPod'll play."
"Pfft, of course," I said, walking back into the bathroom.
"You have no idea what any of that meant, did you?" he asked.
"Not at all," I laughed.
He laughed too, then he took my straightener from me. "I'm doing your hair today," he said, pulling a piece of hair and running it once over.
"You better not make me look stupid," I told him, pouting my lip a little.
"I won't," he said absently. He was actually concentrating. After about twenty minutes, he said, "Now look."
I turned towards the mirror and gasped. My layers had been styled out and Andy had used hairspray to keep them that way. It was jagged and edgy.
"I love it, mate!" I shouted, hugging him around his neck.
He laughed a little and hugged me around the waist. "Thanks, Gray. I usually do that to my hair when I do a show."
"I'm doing it every damn day," I said, falling back to my heels.
"Well I'm glad." He smiled down at me. He got an idea suddenly. "Hey, I want to go to the store. Want to do something?"
I frowned but smiled at the same time. "Sure?"
"Where's your eyeliner?" he asked.
I picked up the jar of eyeliner. "I have a brush that goes with it."
He grabbed the brush, then he said, "May I?"
"Uh, sure?"
He started doing my eyeliner, but I felt him dragging some of the lines out. Then, he dipped the brush down to the right corner of my lips and he dragged it across my cheek. He added a few lines, then he said, "Look."
I turned and looked. I looked like a member from blood Kiss! With the exception of the stitches on my cheek. Andy did the same for himself, then he said, "Now we can go out."
I laughed. "Alright, let's do this."
He laughed and took my arm in his, then we ran down the stairs. I yelled at my mom that we'd be home later and we exited. Andy walked us to his house, then we got into his El Dorado and started driving into town.
"That's the school," Andy as we passed by. "Also known as hell."
I chuckled. "Do you not like school, Andy?"
He shook his head. "School doesn't like me."
I frowned but didn't question it. School had always been good to me. I'd never really been teased for being a "punk" at my school. Not the entire school talked to me, but that was understandable. I had my niche of friends.
Andy parked in front of a store called Wal Mart. "C'mon, Gray," he said, getting out.
"I've never heard of this store before," I told him.
He slid an arm over my shoulder. "Really? They don't have those in England?"
"No, not really," I answered, easing an arm around his torso. "Must be an American thing."
"When you say American, you sound so British," he laughed.
"Really? Not like I'm... y'know... British or anything," I said sarcastically.
He chuckled. "C'mon. We gotta' get junk food for tonight."
We walked through the store, freaking people out as we went. We grabbed multiple bags of chips, soft beverages, and boxes of candy, including Junior Mints since that was Andy's favourite. Sooner or later, we came across this thing called "Hostess Cupcakes." Andy picked up a box. "What's that?" I asked.
He looked at me like I was an alien. "You've never heard os Hostess Cupcakes?" he asked.
"Nope." I stared up at his piercing blue-gray eyes.
"Dude, you're in America now. You shall learn these things," he said as he handed the box to me.
"Learn what things?" I asked.
He looked down at me as we started walking. "Hostess Cupcakes. Tapatio. Taco Bell."
"What in bloody sake is a Taco Bell?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The place we're going for lunch," he said. We made our way to the front of the store and paid for everything. The cashier looked at us like we were insane, but that only made us laugh.
Andy and I climbed back into the car and he started driving down the street. We came upon a place with a blank sign, then he had us get out. "Where are we going, Andy?" I asked.
"In here," he said, opening the door for me.
"Where exactly is here?" I asked as I entered.
"Hi! Welcome to Taco Bell!" someone greeted before seeing our make-up.
Andy walked up to the counter and ordered a couple things, then he had me sit down at a booth with him. "So Taco Bell is a restraunt?" I asked.
"Yes," he answered, taking a sip of his soda through the straw. "This is the greatest place to get fast Mexican food. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
"Um, okay...?" I took a sip from his soda, since we only had one.
A few minutes later, Andy got up and brought us our food. There was a lot, so most of that would be his. He handed me something that was wrapped up. I gave him a skeptical eyebrow raising, but I opened it and took a bite.
"Oh my," I said, trying to keep the bite in my mouth.
"Heaven, right?" Andy asked, smiling.
"What's this called?" I asked.
"A burrito," he answered. "Meat, cheese, refried beans, and lettuce on a hot tortilla."
"Bloody fantastic," I said before I took another bite.
He chuckled. "You're now learning how to be an American."
I laughed and took another bite.
The rest of our day was easy. We went to the movie theaters and watched a movie called Superbad. Bloody hilarious. After that we went home and ordered a pizza. Bloody delicious. We hung out in my room, me playing my guitar since I could, Andy singing to the songs he knew. He had a wonderful voice. By the end of the night, I had my head hanging off the edge of the bed and Andy was resting his back against it.
I yawned. "Night, Andy," I said.
"Night, Gray," he said, yawning himself. "Sweet dreams."
"You too." I rolled over. My arm hung off the bed, but I didn't care. I fell asleep.