FicWad

“JOEY!” Robert calls out at the window on the fifth floor. Obviously he’s never really gotten over Joey, not even after Mick threatened to call the police. Robert was smart enough to not call the apartment again, but then he started sending him emails. Well, Joey blocked him. So he started sending Mick emails. Well, you know what I’m saying here, right? Anyway, he has his guitar with him and he just finished playing some love song. He sighs sadly. “I know you’re in there! I got another song for you! It’s called /In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida/!” He then grins. “I hope you like it!” He begins strumming on the guitar and sings, “/In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, honey! Don’cha know that I loooove you! In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, baby! Don’cha know that I’ll always be true!/”

His performance is interrupted by a football from the window, which hits the man hard on the head, causing him to yelp and fall on his back and dropping his guitar. He ignores the voice from the window that shouts, “Shut the fuck up!” Robert growls and looks up at said window, holding his head. Well, the man in the window was not Joey or Mick but Corey, who then shouts, “Quit butchering the classics!”

Well, this is embarrassing. “I’m not butchering the classics!”

“Yes you are, you loser! Stop trying to get Joey back.” Corey then leans forward and says, “Read my lips—/Joey does not like you/.”

Robert whimpers. “But he said he’d call me!”

“Go bother someone else!” One can hear someone else shouting at both of them to be quiet after that.

Robert growls as he grabs his guitar, and he looks down at the football. He picks it up and sees that there’s a signature on it. He grins. “Hey, there’s a signature on this!” He looks up at Corey. “Thanks, man!”

Corey slowly realizes that he had just thrown his prized signed football from a game last year out of the window to some fool. “Oh my god...HEY! Fucking give that back, goddammit!”

Robert sticks his tongue out and runs for it.

“Hey!” Well, Corey shuts the window and grabs his shoes, unwilling to give up that football. He trips as he hurries to the door and puts on his shoes at the same time, swearing loudly. He almost breaks a vase. He doesn’t even think about putting on his jacket. He opens the door, but then stops cold. See, there’s an old woman standing there, not looking very happy. He clears his throat, scratching the back of his head anxiously. “Uh, good evening, Mrs. Riddell.”

Mrs. Riddell, a neighbor, smiles sweetly at the man. “Now, Corey. You’ve been a wonderful neighbor here in these apartments.”

Corey chuckles nervously. “Um, thank you.”

“You’re welcome. But it is three in the morning. We’re all trying to sleep.”

“I understand that.”

“You do understand that? Well okay,” she then grins wider, and I don’t think anyone can detect any maliciousness in it, “then if you and your friend do not shut the hell up, I’m going to grab my heavy pan and bash your fucking brains in.” Her smile becomes sweeter. “Goodnight, dear.” At that, she heads back to her room to her three cats and her urn containing her husband’s ashes.

Corey stares cautiously at the woman, and then he shuts the door, deciding instead to drink and then head for bed.

____

Joey takes his earplugs out of his ears, resting on the chair with his body and legs on the armrests. “Is he done?” Alluding to Robert, of course. Mick is on the floor, looking over at his extensive porn collection. He sighs miserably. He’s seen then all. He fears that he might become bored.

“Yeah, I think so,” he replies, sitting on the bed.

Joey nods and looks over at what he’s reading. He sighs. “Good.” He doesn’t want to go to rehearsal Saturday. He’s a drummer in a house band for a daytime talk show, /The Lucia Jones Show/, and he usually rehearses on the weekends with the other guys in the band, simply because they’re doing the same three songs every weekday afternoon from four to five. He used to play in other bands before they all pretty much failed. He didn’t want to do this job, but at least he’s paid. And at least it’s doing what he loves—drumming. However, it’s not giving him the satisfaction that he craves, lately.

Mick looks over at the drummer and asks, “So, you wanna tell me about that guy—I mean his brother?”

Joey blinks at the man, wondering why he’s even asking. He sits up on the chair and replies, “I met the guy at the store, and Chris couldn’t pick me up, so I asked Nathan.” He taps the armrest and continues, “But Nathan had to go over to Geraldo’s house first.” He then looks up at Mick. “Mick, he made the first move, not me,” he pauses, “but then I went right along with it. God I’m so /stupid/!” He throws the magazine on the floor, frustrated with himself. Hey, you would be, too after all this happened.

Mick sighs. “C’mon, dude.” He goes over to sit at the couch by him. “You know that you’re not a slut, right?” Joey nods. And it’s true. Despite what Corey and Sid said—and despite anyone calling him that—Joey never saw himself that way. He still doesn’t. At least he tries not to. Mick continues, “I mean, I could’ve handled the tryst better, like not sleeping with the wrong people. But people need to understand that some people don’t want to be confined in relationships.” He turns to the smaller man. “Isn’t that what you told me?”

“Yeah, Mick. But I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about fucking up The Safari Club, after I swore I’d do anything to help Shawn. Now it’s all going down the fucking toilet!” Joey runs his fingers through his hair, utterly frustrated about this. “Shawn probably fucking hates me now,” he whispers.

“Well, why don’t you talk to him tomorrow?”

“I have to be at the studio,” the drummer mutters, resting on the chair. “I’ll have to see him very early.”

“Well, then see him early.” Mick then stands up. “Think I’m gonna go jerk off.”

Joey slowly turns to Mick, wondering why he would even say that. “Mick, did I even need to know that?” he asks softly.

Mick smirks. “C’mon, you should know how I am by now.”

Joey sits up then. “You need to stop masturbating to your porn. I know you’ve seen them all, like, a thousand times. You should just go and find a nice girl for you, already.” He shrugs while Mick rolls his eyes. “Just a suggestion. What happened to that girl you were seeing?”

“We weren’t compatible.”

Joey nods. “Oh.” He smiles at his roommate. “Well, at least you’re not having problems with people that you sleep with.”

“Yeah.” He then grins. “Besides, none of the girls I date compare to the women in the videos. You do know that, right? I’ll just buy more.” He heads to the bathroom and grins. “Night, fucker.” He pauses, trying to make sure he already fed his cat. When he realizes that he did, he smiles. “Anyway, night fucker.”

As Mick closes the door, Joey smiles and shakes his head before he begins reading again.

____

Robert grins at the football, but then he realizes that he needs to find Joey’s room. Chris is just taking out the trash, and he sees the guy walk by. “Robert?”

Robert blinks at the man calling out at him. “Who are you?”

Chris smiles lightly. “Well, I’m one of Joey’s friends and—”

Robert brightens up at that. “You are?!” He hurries over to him and gets down on his knees, startling the other man. “Can you tell me how I can win him back? /Please/! I’m just madly in love with him. I can’t live without him at all....”

Chris blinks at that, and he takes a deep breath. “Robert, let’s go in so that we can talk.” Robert nods at that and follows him. They quietly go into the apartment (Chris had told him to be quiet because Melissa is asleep). Chris then hands Robert a bottle of beer and sits down next to him. He sighs deeply. “Well, um...you know there are people who want to love and t be loved. They want to have someone by their side, and they want intimacy with their significant other. They want to be able to give their trust, life and body to the one they love, and they want to give them their soul. Basically they want emotional attachment along with the sex. Hell, I know people who prefer emotional attachment over sex completely.”

Robert grins. “Yeah, I like the sex, but I want the emotional attachment as well.”

Chris chuckle quietly, but then he frowns and mutters dryly—and rather quickly, “Well Joey isn’t one of those people.” Robert sighs sadly as Chris continues, “I know it hurts, but doing what you’re doing isn’t going to win him back. In fact,” he shrugs, “well shit, I don’t think anything will. He doesn’t do relationships. I honestly wished he could handle his affairs better. But what you have to understand is...you’re just one of his many, many trysts. Nothing else. Maybe you can be friends?”

“But I don’t wanna be friends!” Robert whines. “I wanna be with him...”

Chris sighs, wondering if Robert will ever get the message. Some people seriously take “no” pretty hard—and some will not take no for an answer at all. “Well...” he clears his throat. He speaks slowly, “I would suggest...finding someone else. Someone that wants you as much as you want him or her.”

“Him.”

“Uh, yeah. Find a man who wants to love and cherish you.” He then smiles. “Find someone who likes being sung to.”

Robert sighs. “I don’t think I’ll ever get over Joey.”

“You will one day. We all have to get over break-ups.” Chris then says. “I used to, um, date this guy. We were so in love with each other. But then years later we realized that it wasn’t working, so we broke up. We were best friends after that, actually. Best buds. Both found someone else. He was going to be a dad.” Then, he stops there, sighing sadly. He looks over at Robert. “Well, that was him.” Of course, he knows that Joey doesn’t even want to be friends with Robert. “But, you’ll find someone better than Joey will ever be.”

Robert sighs. “I hope so.” He stands up, then. “Well, thanks for the talk, um...”

“Chris.”

“Chris...”

The guy grins and stands up, walking Robert over to the door. “Remember that, all right? You’ll be fine!” He opens the door and lets the latter out.

“I guess. Good night.” He then groans and places his hand on his forehead. That football got him real good on the head. Aspirin should do the trick.

“Night.” After Robert leaves, Chris shuts the door. He sighs heavily, relieved but hopeful that Robert will listen. He turns to see a smiling Melissa leaning against the doorframe. “Well, hopefully he’ll leave Joey alone now.”

Melissa smiles sweetly at him. “God, you’re such a Romeo, you know that?” she whispers, pulling him close after he walks to her. “You should try and give love advice to everyone.”

“Oh shit, I can’t do that...” he chuckles nervously, scratching the back of his head. He then nuzzles against her neck, placing his hands on her hips. “Right now, we should just get some sleep,” he whispers, planting a soft kiss near a pulse on her neck. Melissa nuzzles back.

“Yes,” she whispers as she gently pulls him toward her, shutting their bedroom door.

____

Shawn is at home with Chantal. Their children have been in bed a long time ago, and she was overjoyed to see her husband, but then was dismayed to see him so miserable. They both sat at the dining room table while Shawn explained what happened that night. The woman sighs, shaking her head at the sad news that Geraldo will do anything to put the Safari out of business. “He can’t do that, Shawn,” she whispers, looking up at him. “He’s probably just bluffing.” But there’s that overlying fear that he probably isn’t joking at all. “And if he isn’t, don’t let him get away with it. Just...please don’t let him get away with it.” She looks down sadly. It pains Shawn to see her look this upset, and for good reason.

Because how else can they support their children?

Shawn shakes his head then. “I’m not. I...I just need to figure things out, you know.” Chantal looks back at him, the sadness in her eyes fading only slightly. “The guy had no right to threaten any of my friends, even if Joey did something that wasn’t exactly smart.” He rests his chin on the palm of his hand. “I dunno. I really should’ve known this would happen anyway. I think he was just looking for an excuse to put us down, anyway.”

“You could be right.” Chantal nods. “We’ll be able to think clearer about this after we get a good night’s sleep.” She leans over and kisses him softly. “You get to bed, all right? I’m gonna take care of things down here before I join you.”

Shawn reluctantly gets up and nods before he slowly trudges up the steps. Well, when he opens the door, he blinks at the person sitting on the bed.

Well, I can’t really say that he’s a person. Well, he’s more like an angel. “Hey, man,” the man says, “I’m just here to check on you.”

Shawn simply blinks before he looks over at the steps, to see if Chantal is coming or not. He slowly shuts the door behind him. He shakes his head. “Do I wanna know how you ended up in my room, Paul? I mean, really.” He almost smiles at the last bit.

Paul simply jerks his thumb at the window. “Because Chantal was at the living room. I can’t really open the door, you know.”

Shawn sits on the bed. “You could just poof.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening.”

“I’m actually glad you’re here. I need some advice.”

Paul nods slowly at that. He sighs deeply. “I had stop by earlier at the Safari. I saw everything.”

Shawn looks up at him. “You did?”

“Yeah, I mean. Joey’s pretty much getting worse, and...”

“No, don’t blame him. He made a mistake. Geraldo was trying to bring me down anyway. I’m pretty sure he was looking for an excuse. That or he’s a cousin of Fred Phelps.” He looks at the guardian angel. “What the fuck am I supposed to do?”

“I don’t know,” Paul simply whispers. “I would get to him before he gets to you. Expose him for doing something illegal.”

“Nah, that won’t work.”

“You can always go and try and make amends.”

“I’m not sure that will help, either,” Shawn replies, sighing deeply. Paul nods at that. Paul was never really good at situations like that. Had he been alive right now, he’d go up to Geraldo right now and try to get him to stop. But alas...

“I wish I could be there to help you guys,” he whispers.

Shawn smiles faintly at that. “You already helped me get this club going so far. It would’ve died a lot sooner without you.”

Paul doesn’t really like that answer. “It’s not gonna die. It’s gonna live...okay? You’ll be able to support your family, and it’s going to be the best club in fucking Des Moines. C’mon, man. I have faith in you. In all of you. I’ll try to help you out as much as I can, but you know me...” he gestures at himself. “Unfortunately, all I can do is give advice anymore. And sometimes I’m not even good at that.”

Shawn nods at his old friend. “I understand.”

Paul opens his mouth to say more, but then he hears Chantal coming up the stairs. He sighs. “Well, I guess I better go, then. I don’t want people thinking that you’re talking to yourself.”

“Hah-hah,” he replies dryly. Paul chuckles at him and walks over to the window, opening it up.

Shawn really has to ask this, “So, do you fly when you’re out?”

As Paul climbs out, he shakes his head. “Nope, I’m not even doing that right now. Bye.” Unfortunately, Paul’s foot misses a tree branch, and he ends up falling down to the ground.

Shawn hears the guy swearing out loud. He snorts.

“That’s not funny, Shawn!” Paul sits up and rubs his ass. “Fuck...” he whispers. He makes a mental note to go back to Selena and teach him how to fly. She’s actually pretty good at it. Tupac can fly really well, too. Then again they’ve been doing it for a long time, right?

Shawn smiles up at the window before he smiles at Chantal as she enters the room.

____

The next morning, Joey manages to wake up and take a walk by the Safari. He thinks the it’s too early for anyone to be here. He has to go to rehearsal though, so he won’t be able to talk with the older man until much later in the evening. Well, Shawn has just opened the door and turned on the lights. He really wishes he could sleep right now. He misses staying in the bed all morning (well, at least up to noon) with his wife. The fact that he and the others stayed up until three the night before did not really help anything. Well, he forgot his checkbook, and so he’s come back to get that. He yawns, and then he catches sight of Joey looking up at the sign. Shawn sighs and opens the door. “You wanna come in?”

Joey blinks, surprised that the guy is here. “Shawn? Wh...what are you doing here?”

“Forgot my checkbook,” he replies simply, stepping away to let the shorter man in. “I wanted to get it before someone stole it. People rob, you know...”

Joey slowly nods. “I see,” he whispers.

Shawn glances over at the place. The silence is becoming a little eerie. He then realizes something. No one ever did set the tables back. He needs to do that. Coffee. “You wanna help me set the tables up?” he asks, giving Joey a faint smile.

“Sure.” He brushes his hair back behind the ears. “At this point I’d do anything.” Joey looks for one such table, and he walks over to pull it back over near the front. Shawn does the same. Neither of them says anything while they’re setting the tables back. Soon, however, Joey breaks the silence as they start putting back the chairs. “I know what I did was stupid, Shawn.” Shawn glances up at him as the drummer continues, “I shouldn’t have slept with that guy’s brother. I mean, I’m usually careful with who I sleep with, but lately...” He then sighs. “I vowed myself to help you, and now I just fucked it up...”

Shawn sighs deeply at that, and he sits down at a chair. “Geraldo was looking for a reason to bring me down, anyway, even though he said he wasn’t. I know guys like that. You made a mistake. You didn’t know his brother was going to tell him anything.”

“I sure didn’t. I didn’t think Geraldo was gonna make a big deal of it, either.”

“Well, and we were all riling him up, anyway.” Shawn then chews the bottom of his lip at his friend. “We’ll be all right. You’ll be all right.” Joey nods, hiding the relief in his expression and thankful that Shawn forgives him. “I think the person you should really apologize for is Corey, though. And vice versa, you know.”

Joey sighs. “You wish.” In truth, he knows that he went over the line last night with him. It’s kind of strange. They were never really close friends, like he was to Paul, but they were friends. They never fought like that, not until recently. And he can’t figure out if it’s because of him, or Corey. “If he’s willing to apologize to me, I will to him.”

“Jeez.”

“He shouldn’t have called me a slut,” Joey mutters.

“Sit down,” Shawn commands softly, and Joey does so. “You never let that bother you before.”

“It doesn’t, but...” he sighs. “Maybe it does. I’m sick of being called that, when I merely just want to, you know, not be trapped. I love the freedom. I don’t think I’ve ever been in love with anyone. Then again, I don’t know if I am capable....” He trails off, looking at his shoes. Now that Shawn mentions it, he is a little bothered by it. See, if he were in a relationship, he wouldn’t be sleeping with the wrong person. But then again, you can be in a relationship with the wrong person. That’s happened too many times for him. “Like I said,” he finishes.

“Well, I’m just asking you to apologize to Corey. You know his job is really getting to him, lately.”

“Yes, I know.”

“Maybe you guys can try and get along again?”

“If Corey’s willing,” he replies.

“Well, he’s having that one thing for Thanksgiving, soon.”

“I know.” Joey then asks, “What time is it?”

“It’s almost nine.”

Joey sighs exasperatedly. “I gotta meet with the band, soon...”

Shawn smiles supportively. “Well, let’s finish these chairs. I’ll drop you off there after we get some coffee.”

Joey shakes his head, and he zips up his jacket. “No, you don’t have to do that, man. I can manage.”

Shawn’s smile fades slightly. “Well, I want to. Beside, we both need coffee anyway.”

Joey contemplates the offer for a moment, before he finally smiles at him. “All right.”

Shawn’s smile returns. “All right.”