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

Unholy Confessions

By Avenged Sevenfold

I wish I could be the one,

the one who won't care at all

But being the one on the stand,

I know the way to go, no one's guiding me.

When time soaked with blood turns its back,

I know it's hard to fall.

Confided in me was your heart

I know it's hurting you, but it's killing me.

Matt left Lucy's house with a good feeling that things were going to work out between him and Charlie. It wasn't until his mother in law called him and asked him if he'd swing by and get River who was asking for his mother. Matt tried not to alarm the woman by tipping her off that he didn't know Val had dropped his son off and headed somewhere she probably shouldn't be and agreed to be there within the hour.

Val came pouring in after two am smelling of alcohol and cigarettes. She didn't turn on any lights and tried to creep past the living room without being spotted. Matt had been sitting on the couch sleeping when he heard her move by.

"Val?" he called sleepily.

"What?"she said lowly

"Where have you been?"he asked with a sleepy voice.

"Out," she deflected.

"With who?"

"Does it matter?" she said moving into the light of the television.

"Fuck yeah, it does," he said "Why would you leave River with your parents without telling me?"

She looked rough, her eyeliner smeared and her hair tousled "I needed a girls night."

"That's bullshit," he said lowly. "I came home to spend time with you and then you take off and I find out you dumped our son with your parents so you can go out with God knows who and do God knows what."

"Like you spent the evening by yourself," she accused and Matt bristled.

Did she know where he'd been? She couldn't have. "I'm sure you called up Brian and hung out playing stupid beer pong or actings like complete assholes. Isn't Zoey out of town still? Touring with that group of pretty boys."

"Yes she is but that's besides the point," he pressed on. "It doesn't have anything to do with us."

"Of course it does," she pulled off her heels one by one reducing her height by four inches "Zoey spends months with different guys and Brian doesn't have a shit fit. I'm out one night and you're ready to have a fucking cow."

He stood and ran his fingers through his hair. "Who were you with?"

She frowned "I was with Michelle."

A likely story and one he knew Michelle would back up to her grave. "Val, what's going on?" he implored her. "What's happening between us?

"What's going on?" her eyes narrowed "What's happening between us? I'll tell you what's happening between us. You came home and told me you have a daughter...with a girl that you were hung up on for years."

"I wasn't hung up on her," he replied

"Of course you were!" she cried "It took years for you to wipe her out of your memory. Hell you wrote a song about her. A song you guys used to end your shows with for years. And even now you still play it."

Matt had never considered that Val might be hurt by that. It was a therapeutic way to get over Lucy but after singing it a few hundred times, it became just another song in the setlist. "That was a long time ago."

"And seeing her now? Can you honestly stand there and tell me that didn't

affect you?"

He thought back to his gaze being drawn back to Lucy's lips every time she spoke. Memory and wanting combined, wondering if they were as sweet now as they were back then. Not that he'd ever do anything about it. He was married. And this wasn't about Lucy. She was evading the subject at hand.

"Things have been fucked up between us long before I found out about Charlie."

She sneered "Geez, she named the kid after you, didn't she? How quaint."

"Okay," he said huskily "Now you're just being a bitch."

"Fuck you Matt. I'm tired of this shit."

"What shit?" he said raising his voice. "That's what I want to know."

"You want to know?"

"Yes, tell me, please," he pleaded.

"I'm tired of being home while you go off and play rockstar every night."

"Since when?" he asked "You used to love it."

"Of course I did, when I could go with you. But with the baby I'm stuck. Stuck here having to deal with things all by myself. Having to raise my son all by myself. Constantly having to explain why daddy can't read him a story or why daddy can't tuck him in at night."

"Val..."

She stomped her foot "Let me fucking finish."

He was startled at her action and nodded quietly.

"I'm lonely Matthew. Tired of being alone. I didn't mean for it to happen, it's just so God damned lonely."

"You didn't mean for what to happen?" he asked slowly.

She shrugged nervously "Nothing really. I stopped it before it went too far."

"Yet?" he said feeling the anger rising. "Who is he?"

She shook her head. "Like I'd tell you."

"Are you fucking kidding me Valary?" he spat

"No I'm not Matthew. I need some time...to find out what this means. The fact that I can be attracted to other people. I need to follow my feelings."

"What are you trying to say Valary? What do you mean?" he said wanting to smash his fist into the wall but reigning it in, mostly because he didn't want to scare his son who was sleeping in the small portable crib in the room.

"I means that we should call the next few months of the tour what they are really are."

"And what is that?" he asked borrowing his daughter's sarcastic tone.

"A good long break." she said, a few tears escaping her eyes. "A separation."

He didn't know what to do or say but before he could say anything at all, she lifted the baby from his crib and took him into the bedroom closing the door softly behind her.