Arcane Guardian ↣ Avenged Sevenfold

10 ☼ satellite

April 2007

"Always hate going back home," Noelle said to Amanda, shutting the trunk of her car. 

"So when are we picking them up? Are they actually hot? Are any of them single? Are any of them Virgos because I hear I'd be really compatible with a Virgo--" Noelle cut off Mandy's rambling. 

"We're going to the studio to pick up Jim, Brian and Matt, I guess they're actually hot, they're all miraculously single so you can have your pick, and I have no fucking clue if any of them are Virgos. And that's all the questions I'm answering. These are my colleagues currently, Mands. They're really cool but I still have to maintain some kind of work/friendship balance with them."

"God, have you seen their singer? Fuck whatever I originally said about STD's, get all of them from these motherfuckers." 

Noelle had been stressed. She didn't want to see Travis. She never wanted to see Travis again. In fact, she moved as far away as she could so she didn't have to see anybody she didn't want to again. Usually during these visits she just dropped by David's place, spent time with him and her foster sister, and then booked it.

However, Brian, Jim and Matt offered to come with for the road trip. Which she thought would be pretty fun--she never truly bonded with anyone who she helped with a record. But the relationship between her and the band had gotten so amicable she had started spending lots of time with the guys as friends. 

She avoided telling Mandy that the drummer is the one her hyperactive ass should be going for. 

"Get in the car dumbass!" Noelle yelled at her friend, taking a huge sip of her coffee and getting passengers seat. "You know every time I get into a car with you driving I fear god again?" 

Mandy ignored the words, turning up the radio and letting Noelle be her GPS to the studio. 

☼

"Goose!" Jim ran up and squeezed the ever loving shit out of Noelle. Old habits die hard, and he would find a way to call her that nickname no matter if she could remember it or not. 

"Jim!" She squeezed him back as hard as she could. Brian and Matt followed after with small bags of their belongings. "Hey, uh, guys, this is my roommate and best friend, Amanda. Amanda this is the fantastic Jimmy Sullivan, Brian and Matt." 

"No shit they are," She said, extending her hand. "You're all tall as fuck." 

The guys all laughed, finding her entertaining enough. As Noelle predicted, Mandy and Jim hit it off immediately and did not shut up to each other. A conversation started between them about Terminator and the other three were exiled from it.   

Noelle replaced Mandy driving, and her and Brian sat in the front seat. "On the road again?" Brian joked. 

"Sadly. I love my foster dad, and I love Darien, but I hate my hometown. Too many bad memories." She said. And he could remember why. Her mom, Uncle Danny, Travis. That place was chalk full of bullshit. 

In Los Angeles she was a different person. Noelle Hillis, producer and engineer, known for her work with The Used and Escape The Fate. Back home she was Ellowyn Clarke, a burden to the state until she was adopted, the girl with the dead dad, and the girl who still talked to imaginary friends. 

He wondered if anything happened after he left that could've been worse. 

"So the guy who returned the notebook," Brian feigned stupidity, again. "What's his deal? Ex boyfriend?"