Shattered By Broken Dreams

Chapter 12

A few hours after the bus had stopped to pick up the guys from Avenged Sevenfold and Trisha after the Great Tampon Incident, Savannah had retired to her bunk to read and to get away from everybody.  Her plan hadn’t quite worked, as after about an hour Jimmy had come to join her.  She had been mildly irritated at first, but Jimmy had always had a calming influence over her and after a short while she had relaxed against him whilst she read.  They hadn’t felt the need to speak, although she knew that Jimmy was bristling with questions about what had happened with her father.  Like a true friend though, he was patient enough to wait until he felt that Savannah was ready to talk about it.

He contented himself with putting his arm around her, and watching as she rested her head on his shoulder whilst she read her novel.  He drifted off to sleep next t her, snoring lightly.  Savannah glanced down at him with a smile as she heard movement going past the bunks.  As she was on the bottom bunk all she saw from the knee down was a pair of jeans with rolled up cuffs and patterned socks.  They paused momentarily, let out a sigh, then continued on to the back of the bus.  Savannah bit her lip as she recalled just exactly who had used to wear their pants that way and she stirred restlessly.  Jimmy lifted his head off her shoulder, his blue eyes looking into her brown eyes.

“Are you OK, Vannah?”, he asked her softly.

“Not really”, she replied honestly.  “I’ll be OK though”, she added.  She had known before she had agreed to this venture that it would be difficult, however she could not have imagined just how hard it would be to see Zacky’s face again.  Every time she saw him, her mind was transported back to a time when they had been lovers and she still couldn’t bring herself to understand how she had read him so wrong.  Sure, she had been young, but she didn’t think she could have been so far off in her estimation of him.  Maybe her father had been right all along?  Shaking off thoughts of her father quickly, Savannah glanced up at Jimmy.

“How much longer until we’re in Utah?”, she asked him.  He fumbled for his glasses which were resting on the small shelf above Savannah’s bunk and peered at his watch.

“About an hour I guess.  It’s nearly 7.30pm.”

“I suppose I better get ready if we’re going to get something to eat and stretch our legs a bit.”  Jimmy grinned at her.

“Pancakes!!”, he yelled.  She glanced at him as she pretended to clean out her ears.

“Sorry Jim Jam, I don’t think you screamed that in my ear quite loud enough”, she said with a smirk.

They busied themselves with getting out of the bunk, and Savannah wandered into the bathroom to freshen up and brush her teeth.  She was just finishing up and putting her toothbrush and toothpaste back into her toiletry bag when the door to the bathroom was flung open and a figure rushed in.  She stepped back hurriedly to avoid getting shoved into the sink, and came nose to chest with a Guns ‘n Roses t-shirt.  Glancing up, she raised an eyebrow at Matt.

“Sorry, need to pee”, Matt shrugged.  His large frame was taking up most of the space, and Savannah tried to squeeze around him.

“Move your hulk ass”, she said with a smirk.  “There’s barely enough room for you in here on your own, Captain Dimples.”

“Hey, I got a hot woman cornered in a bathroom.  Go me!”, Matt said with a waggle of his eyebrows.  A loud huff was heard going past the bathroom and Matt smirked at her.

“He’s going to kill us by the time we get to Utah”, he sniggered.  “First Jimmy in your bunk, and now me in the bathroom with you.  Should we crash around for a bit and pull a “When Harry Met Sally” moment?”  Savannah chuckled with a shake of her head.

“He’s going to think I’m doing half your band”, she sighed.

“A little jealousy goes a long way”, Matt laughed as he maneuvered around so that Savannah could slip out of the bathroom.

When she emerged back into the living room, Jimmy was holding Johnny on his back sideways and was bouncing him up and down.

“Ow ow ow”, Johnny was shrieking whilst trying not to laugh.

“So where are we going to eat?”, Savannah asked as she sat down on the couch and began to pull her boots back on.

“I dunno”, Brian replied from where he lolled against the couch with Trisha in his lap.  “What does everyone feel like eating?”

“I could probably go some tacos”, Trisha replied.  Matt came sliding back into the room in his socks, overshot the couch and grabbed the edge of the kitchen counter to stop his forward momentum.

“TACOS!”, he screamed. 

“Yes, we all know you love tacos”, Erica smirked at him. 

“I want tacos!”, he announced, bouncing up and down on the spot like a demented pogo stick.  His hazel eyes were wide and he looked like a kid on Christmas morning.

“Yes, I think we’ve already established that”, Savannah laughed.  She turned toward the front of the bus.

“Stan, where are we stopping?”, she called out.

“Truck stop in Duchesne!”, he called back to her.  She turned back to the others and shrugged.

“If it’s only a truck stop there’s probably just going to be fast food, but if you’re lucky Mr Hulk they might have a bit of everything.”  He frowned at her.

“But I want tacos”, he whined, his bottom lip stuck out.

“It’s pretty much the middle of nowhere”, Stan called back to them.  “I think they got a Subway and some other fast food place.”

“Oh well, I could probably go a sub”, Johnny added.  “I just want to stretch my legs for a bit and get some fresh air.”

When the buses pulled up in the truck spot, they spotted Avenged’s bus parked off to the side.

“I hope they got it all cleaned up otherwise it’s gonna be a stinky ride to the next stop”, Erica smirked.  Trisha frowned at her.

“Don’t remind me of that smell, it was awful”, she moaned.  Stan hopped out of his seat and stretched before he unlocked the doors of the bus and they opened with a soft “whoosh.”  They all trooped down the stairs and stepped off onto the tarmac of the truck stop.

“Well, there’s a Subway and a convenience store”, Trisha sighed as she looked around.  “Man this place is in the middle of nowhere”, she added as she glanced at the empty paddocks on the other side of the road.

“Ooh, they got pizza in the convenience store”, Brian grinned.

The roadie bus had just pulled in behind them and as the crew were alighting from the bus, Tommy, who had quickly run to the bathroom, was just emerging from Crimson Sins’ bus.  He glanced up and did a double take at the tall strikingly beautiful woman with long light brown hair who had stepped off the bus after Matt Berry.

“That must be Lee”, Erica commented.  She heard a crash from behind her and turned to look at Tommy, who had been so transfixed at the sight of Lee that he had missed a step and nearly catapulted himself down the steps.  Savannah and Erica both giggled at his awestruck expression.  Erica glided over to him and placed her hand gently underneath his chin and closed his mouth.

“You’re catching flies their honeybunch”, she smirked.  Savannah glanced over and saw the smirk on MB’s lips and realized that he had seen the entire thing.

“I think I’ll go Subway”, Jimmy announced before he grabbed Zacky’s collar and began walking with him.

“What the…”, Zacky sputtered.

“You and me are having a little chat”, Jimmy said as he looked down at Zacky and dragged him over to the Subway. Zacky began to grumble under his breath as his taller friend manhandled him over toward the Subway store.

Behind the two of them, Savannah and Erica shared a glance.  Savannah bit her lip worriedly.

“Try not to worry too much hon”, Erica said, placing her arm around Savannah as they began walking toward the convenience store.  “If anyone can get to the bottom of this and find out just what the hell is going on in Zacky’s brain it will be Jimmy.”