FicWad

Ray

We were going out tonight. It had been a while since we'd all gone together, though, admittedly, it had probably happened one of the nights I was holed up in the bus working on something. Tonight was just one of the few nights I couldn't get away with that.

Frank had chosen the location; he has a feel for that kind of thing. We came to the club in clumps: Frank with Declan and Marshall from the Warring States, Gerard with Isaac and Will, Mikey and Danielle, and Bob and me. The roadies, mostly nameless to me at this point, trickled in by twos.

Mikey looked like he was already partially-smashed---eyes covered in thick sunglasses, half leaning against Danielle, who had her arm wrapped around his shoulders. I was surprisingly not jealous at that; in fact, I couldn't help but smile. It confirmed what I thought already. Underneath that skin, she was sweet. Underneath that skin.. Crap. Shouldn't have thought of that.

Mikey was mumbling something in her ear and straightened up. I followed the direction of his eyes to the two girls walking up to us. Apparently, Amy and....some other chick.

Gerard walked over and enveloped her in a hug. "Hey, guys. This is Amy." Awkward hellos. "And you are?"

The thin girl replied with a soft voice. "Marianne. Nice to meet you."

Even awkward-er hellos. We filed in the club.
*
Gerard

To say that I was nervous would be to say that the music in the club was shitty--an understatement. When I banked the entire future of our potential relationship on one night out with my friends, I must have been suffering from temporary insanity. What the fuck was I thinking?

For now, she seemed okay. I didn't know what to expect with her. A part of me figured she'd want to run screaming from the building once Frank started grinding with a roadie. The other part was expecting her to join them, yelling at me to take my hand off the small of her back, she didn't need to be babysat.

But neither happened. At the moment she was sitting next to me in a booth, leaning back into the crook of my arm comfortably. I relaxed a little hearing her laugh. Things were going to be okay. Things were going to be okay.

I took a moment to scan the room with my eyes. Frank was dancing with Danielle, now a circle of roadies surrounding them. Bob and Ray were at the bar. Mikey was talking to Marianne in a booth opposite us. It was funny. This was the first time in weeks he appeared to not be moping. I really needed to check on him.

Amy turned to me. "So, average night on tour--crazier than this?"

I considered. "Uhh....on-stage? Yeah, we get a bit rowdier. Off it? Not so much."

"Hmmm," she murmured. "And here I was thinking that you were a rock star."

Teasing? More fun than getting yelled at. "Here I was thinking you were innocent little schoolgirl," I countered, indicating the short hemline of her skirt.

"Oh, shut the fuck up," she said with a smile on her face. She leaned up and put her hand on the back of my neck.

Kissing? More fun than everything else.

When we broke apart, the music was changing to something softer. I grabbed her hand, saying, "Come on. I've got a rock star persona to ruin before the night's over."

Feeling her hips on my fingers, her hair brushing against my face was awesome...for the ten seconds it lasted.

On our left, a female voice was saying, "Hands, Rick. Hands, Rick!"

Amy pulled apart and stopped moving. Danielle was pushing the arms of that roadie guy, Rick, off of her. She was red in the face, more flustered than I had ever seen her.

He stepped closer to her and tried to put his hands on either side of her face. She slapped his hands away, but he just clasped her wrists so that she couldn't move.

Amy reacted before I did. "She told you to back off, asshole," she said with that familiar edge in her voice, pulling at his arm until he yanked his hands away from Danielle.

"Whatever," he grunted and walked away.

Danielle's composure came flying back. She smiled at Amy. "Thanks. But I can handle him."

After she walked away, Amy turned back to me. "I can't stand guys like that. Self-entitled little fucks." She paused a moment. "Is he your roadie?"

It took me a second to respond. There was a lump in my throat the size of a grapefruit. I
used to be that guy. "Yeah. He's allegedly legendary... But, I mean, if you feel uncomfortable..." I'll fire him. Just say the word, I wanted to say.

She shook her head. "Not up to me. Ask Danielle."

Something I wish I'd done a little faster, a little sooner. Too late now.
*
Mikey

"You and your brother close?" Marianne was asking.

On the dance floor, that roadie guy was storming off after Amy said something to him. Must have been harrassing Danielle. That's my girl.

"Sort of," I answered after a long pause. "We fight over...stuff."

"I'm an only child. I always thought it would be nice to have a sibling to fight with," the girl said.

Color me bored. "Yeah, I guess." I thought that to be enough of a signal to stop talking, and the hint was taken.

"Well, it was nice meeting you," she said, walking away from me. I kind of felt bad at that. She was clearly feeling out-of-place. She looked out of place.

"Hey!" I interjected before she got too far away. "I wasn't boring you, was I?" I said, flashing my best fake smile.

She responded accordingly. "Only a little."

Together we went to the crowded booth into which most of the two bands squeezed. Danielle sat on one side of me, Marianne on the other--for a moment, I forgot about Amy and felt quite the lady's man.

Frank was saying, "Clearly I'm the best fucking dancer here."

"Oh, yes, clearly the best fucking dancer," Danielle teased. At the tail end of this, that dude Ric squeezed in on Danielle's other side and laughed. She immediately tensed up.

Frankie was saying, "I don't know, girl. You were giving me a run for my money out there."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rick trying to put his hand on her thigh; she pushed him away calmly and said, "Yes, well, my bladder calls."

Rick's arm stopped her path. "Need any help?"

"Not from you." She walked away.

I immediately looked toward Ray. To be honest, I really didn't know what to think about his attraction to Danielle. I had known her for a long time, and she always had a strong personality. She was generally the loudest, the one with the biggest smile, the one who always tried to show others how beautiful they were. She praised living openly because it was something she struggled with. She was the one the happy facade, and I always thought that she needed someone who was happy enough without her support, someone who would allow her to be sad when she needed to be. As much as I love the guy, Toro....just didn't fit the bill.

But it was still hard not to recognize the look in his eye as she passed him by.

On my end, Rick was seething. He waited till she was out of sight, then said, "Anyone know what's up her ass?"

Oh, you better be thankful Amy's not here to hear that, bud. "No idea."

The table was awkwardly quiet a moment. I thought I could count on Frank to change the subject, but he was texting someone and giggling to himself, entirely unaware.

"You know, I fucked her. About a year ago."

"Oh," I replied awkwardly.

He apparently mistook that for an invitation to tell the whole story. "Yeah, yeah, she had just broken up with her boyfriend, right? And so she called me, asked me if I wanted to come over. I go over, she meets me in the driveway, says her sister's in the house and that I can't come in. And she's, she's wearing this little leather get-up. Tight. Hot."

Beside me, Marianne was squirming uncomfortably.

"We did it in the back of my van. Three times, boom boom boom. She just bent over and pulled down her panties. Fucked her from behind. It was the hottest thing imaginable."

Again, nobody said anything.

"That's probably why she's being such a bitch to me now. I know what a little slut she really is."

"You mind shutting the fuck up?"

We all looked up to see who had spoken. Ray was standing up with his mouth still agape, his face red. Pissed off.

"Why, you jealous, Toro? I get it, man, the way she acts, half-way slut, half-way tease. You'd think she'd fuck anybody. Guess not, huh?"

Oh, God. Oh, God. Ray spoke again, his voice leveled, steadied. "Whatever happened, it's none of our business. And you don't get to talk about her like that."

"Speaking of none of your business, how 'bout you shut the fuck up, then?"

Ray had gotten out of the booth and walked around to face Rick. "You don't want to fuck with me, man." Ray seemed taller, wider in that moment than ever before. He looked, in a word, intimidating.

"Clearly. Neither does anyone else. Something tells me this is less about defending that slut's honor and more about.."

Shuk.

That was the first sound I heard.

Next, came the sound of a bouncer. "Out! Out, get out!"

Then, Frank was saying, "Be cool, man. Be cool!" before it registered to me that he was holding Rick's arms back, that the bouncer was trying and failing to contain Ray's fists--that our serene guitarist had just given Rick the Dick what would surely form into a black eye in the morning.

Within the next sixty seconds or so, we were all outside. Bob was attached to Ray's shoulder, talking to him in a low voice. Frank was saying, "You just need to go, man. You need to go," trying to keep Rick at a distance. Marianne had her back to the brick of the building, shaking.

Gerard and Amy came out, the former's face was horrified, the latter's was blank.

Then came Danielle. "What the fuck is going on?!"

I walked over to her. "Um. Something bad happened."

"What? Mikey, what?!"

"Oh, Danielle!" Rick's voice yelled from a distance. "Everyone knows you're a whore. My bad." He started laughing then. "Apparently that pissed Chewbacca here off."

Ray broke from Bob's grasp and went toward him again. "Get the fuck out of here, asshole! Before I--"

But Danielle cut him off and stepped between them, addressing Rick. "I know you like to think that you were important enough to embarrass me. But, guess what, babe! You were shit. Now go jack off thinking about me, and don't even think about coming on tour."

"Whatever, bitch," he grunted before walking away.

I could barely make out Ray saying, "Are you okay?"

"You," Danielle said, her voice now more weighted with anger. "You actually did embarrass me. This wasn't a fucking helpful gesture."

"I just---"

"Wanted to beat your chest and save the little girl from the other caveman? I'm over it."

As she was walking past, I tried to grab her hand, stop her from storming off. "FUCK OFF, MIKEY!" she screamed, taking off her heels and running away.

Then, the bus swerved around the corner and opened its door. "Where to?" our bus driver Ned beamed at us. Ray climbed the steps quickly. "Anywhere."