What She's Doing Now (Sequel to The Great Pretenders)

Prologue

"Oh my God," Charlie gushed as she saw the members of Avenged Sevenfold step off their bus to mingle with fans "I cannot believe that I'm so close to them. I may faint."

Her best friend Kelsey laughed as they jockeyed for a closer position within the ring of screaming girls and excited guys. "What do you think Syn smells like?"

"Who cares? I want to know what Zacky smells like," Charlie gushed.

"Stand back," security said as they pushed the part of the crowd the girls were in back behind the line "Let those folks clear out before you guys move in."

Kelsey looked around "Charlie, you should totally tell them you're related to M Shadows. See if that will get us closer."

Charlie looked at her friend as if she was crazy. It's true she had similar eye color to the lead singer of her favorite band and she did have dimples but other than that, she didn't feel as if she could pass as one of his relatives. "That's funny. There are a lot of people with hazel eyes and dimples. Doesn't mean we're all family."

Kelsey shook her head. "You totally look like him. Too bad he's not old enough to be your father."

"He's the same age my mom is. Actually he's older than her," Charlie replied as if this was common knowledge.

"Okay, go through," the security guard waved them in the small roped off area backstage.

"Deep breath," Charlie said grabbing Kelsey's hand.

The closer they came to the band the stronger the urges to hyper ventilate became.

Johnny Christ came over and shook their hand first "Hi, I'm Johnny."

Both girls stood there speechless as he smiled and introduced the rest of the guys "This is Syn and Arin. That's Zacky and over there is M Shadows."

"Oh my God," Kelsey murmured "I love you guys. You are like my favorite band in the whole world. Can I hug you?"

The guys chuckled a bit. Charlie assumed they were accustomed to fan girls.

"Sure," Johnny said being the first to give a hug.

Syn moved to Charlie and motioned in a way to ask if she was part of the hug crew. "Yes!" she cried throwing herself into his arms. She took a deep breath. He smelled like sweat, cigarettes and like some vaguely familiar soapy scent.

She'd have to remember that for her and Kelsey's play back later.

When she reached M Shadows, he smiled and his dimples flashed. "You don't know how much I love your voice," she said sincerely.

"I appreciate that," he said nodding his head.

"Can you sign this for me?" she asked holding out her shirt and a sharpie.

"Of course," he replied moving to the table and spreading the shirt. "What's your name cutie?"

"Charlie ...," she said excitedly

"Charlie?" he asked curiously "Short for Charlotte?"

She blushed "Well, it's actually Charles...after my dad. It's my middle name. My first name is Madison but it's not as cool as Charlie."

"I don't think I've ever met a girl name Charles before," he smiled and the dimples made her heart stop.

"I know. It's kinda weird." She shrugged happily.

"It's a bad ass name," he said as he wrote.

"Thanks!" she said proudly.

"I'm sure your dad is happy you are named after him," he smiled at her again handing her the shirt and sharpie.

She shrugged "I wouldn't know. He left before I was born."

His smile faltered a bit, not knowing what to say. Something about her heart shaped mouth and smile tugged at his heart strings.

Charlie laughed "It's all good. My mom says I gotta have something to talk to a therapist about when I get older. But really so far she's done a kick ass job as a single parent. I mean she let me come to your concert, right?"

"Yeah, kid, she did a good job," he said looking at her strangely.

Charlie knew she'd made it awkward so she decided to leave him alone "Well it was really GREAT meeting you," she said walking toward Arin.

He watched her walked away toward where her friend and Arin were standing.

"Hey Charlie!" Shadows called."What did you say your mom's name was?"

She smiled at him unleashing her own dimples "I didn't. But it's Lucy. My mom's name is Lucy Bass."