The Dive – Thread 3 (Back Stage)

[brian_campo]

The Fraying Nerves had another twenty minutes or so until their set, so a couple of the band members hung out behind the stage, a little off to the side, where they could see the crowd. Maddy sat down on a guitar case and picked at her fingernail polish. Brian noted that the case wasn’t hers, but didn’t care enough to point it out and start an argument, because he was pretty sure the brunette had PMS. He flexed his fingers and sat over a low wall that separated the crowd from the staging area, swinging his feet.


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[valerie_vause]

“Talk to me, please? What’s bothering you? You can tell me, and ask me, anything.” Valerie watched his face, saw the frown and chewed the inside of her lip. Relationships weren’t something she formed with people. Seperate had been the implied life once she’d been let loose on the world. It had stuck. “I’ll never lie to you Brian. My life might be complicated but I don’t want our relationship to be.”

Lips quirked into a smile at the apology and she shrugged lightly, “Me too. And I like Maddy, she seems like a lot of fun to be around.” Though she paused to catch his chin with her finger tips to make sure their eyes met before she continued softly, “You are not an idiot.”

Valerie brushed a few strands of hair off her cheek and took in a slow breath. There was no reason to let some random awkwardness ruin the rest of the night, granted she wasn’t the type to dwell on things like that anyway. “So can I join you guys before you take the stage and have to endure me dancing my support?” She eyed him curiously and leaned in with a slight grin. “What do you do back here anyway, pre-show rituals?”

[brian_campo]

Brian ran one of his palms up and down Valerie’s arm. She wanted him to talk; he wasn’t great at that. Usually, when he tried to explain himself, he experienced a crippling loss for words, and all he could do was stand there like a mute, fiddle his hands, do something inappropriate like laugh, and then hide in a corner with a drink. But he was willing to try. Just on another night, when his buddies weren’t staring at them from ten feet away.

“I’ll show you.” Here was an opportunity to share his passion, on his terms, on his turf. “C’mon,” he said. Brian put his hands around her waist and lifted her onto the wall. Then he snatched his hands back. Uh oh. Was that a massive screw-up? Was it better to do the manly thing, even if she didn’t need it?

‘Fuck it. You second guess everything, you’ll look pretty dickless.’

He hopped up beside her and spun his legs to the other side. As he jumped down, he started talking. “That guy beside Maddy is Seth. He sings and plays guitar. He’s kind of a rage-a-holic but he’s harmless. Like a hamster on steroids. The guy with the drumsticks is Mikey.”

[valerie_vause]

Brian felt like a mystery to Valerie, sometimes he barely said anything at all and still managed to captivate her entirely. His body said things his tongue either couldn’t or wouldn’t and it fascinated the blonde to know there was so much more to him than he probably thought himself. She was ready to follow him anywhere when his hands found her waist, the slightest little intake of breath, as electricity left her insides fluttering.

He picked her up like she weighed nothing at all and placed her down gently. Valerie moved her hands to reach for his but he took them back too quickly. The blonde tilted her head with a smile. Was it her strength that made him nervous? “I like when you do things like that.” She said encouragingly, albeit coy. “You make me feel...” She paused, searching for a word. “Delicate. I’ve never felt like that before.”

Valerie took in the other two band members and waved cheerfully before she slid off the wall to catch up with Brian. “I’m picturing a hamster lifting weights now. With a little sweat band on and shorts.” When she reached his side she slipped her hand into his back pocket to give a playful squeeze as much as be close to him. Though she hadn’t intended to raid his pockets her fingers caught onto a little plastic baggy and she held it up curiously, “What’s this?”

[brian_campo]

Brian thought about the baggy, just as she reached into his pocket. He had only enough time to flinch before Valerie’s fingers held up the crinkly object. “Ahh… that— ” How was he going to play this? As he stood there studying Valerie’s face, he thought about the only woman in his life who’d been vested enough to comment on it. His mother hadn’t been a big fan of substance use, not in his dad, not in him. There was always a heap of guilt – ‘What if your sister saw you do this?’ – like he would ever be that stupid. Madeleine didn’t use, but she didn’t care who did.

‘Just be straight with her.’

“Right now, I’m relieved it’s not a condom,” he said, cracking a lopsided smile. “Because that would be uncomfortable.” His fingers floated through his hair and scratched lightly at his scalp. “Those are, uh… those are my pre-show ritual. Not tonight. I won’t.” He reached out his palm in case she wanted to give them back; getting arrested for carrying probably wasn’t on her to-do list for the weekend.

[valerie_vause]

One golden eyebrow raised at the condom remark and she resisted the urge to quip that he could carry a whole pack providing her name was written all over them. Instead she grinned a little and watched as he held out his hand. Valerie twirled the little bag in her fingers and brought it up to view more closely. Several pills resided inside, and from what Brian said she doubted they were prescription medication. From the time they’d spent together she knew he wasn’t an addict, he had no signs of it, which meant they were purely recreational.

The blonde dipped her head as she played his words over in her mind, then took a step closer just to gaze up at him through her lashes. “Why not, because I’m here?” Valerie lifted her chin up to look at him. “What do they do?” Careful fingers pulled the plastic open and dipped inside to fish out two, then she sealed it again and slipped it back into his pocket with a lingering touch to his hip.

“I’ve never taken anything before.” The words were soft, curious, as she studied the small pills cradled in her palm. She plucked one up to place into his hand and held the other between her finger tips. “You’ve embraced everything about me.” Valerie looked up at him, offered a smile and a shrug, “I can do the same. No judgement.” To prove it she slipped the pill between her lips and worked up enough saliva to swallow it without coughing.

[brian_campo]

Brian opened his mouth to protest, but just like that, Valerie had popped the pill, and he wasn’t going to pretend she was a kid or pet and pry her mouth open to fish it out again. His knee-jerk reaction was to be worried she’d taken it –because he didn’t want any harm to come to her. Some people didn’t like how drugs hit them, and he’d pretty much kick his own ass if Valerie had a bad experience. If he’d known she would be downing one of those pills, he would have scrutinized his dealer a little more.

But she was a big girl. Probably had ten times the constitution he did. He swallowed the angst party at the same time she swallowed the pill.

“I can’t believe you did that,” he said, laughing nervously.

“Alright.” He took his, too, and leaned in to kiss her as the pill went down his throat. Both of his hands held her head, a possessive gesture that told his band mates anything they hadn’t figured out when Maddy yapped (which she had undoubtedly done). Brian ran his thumbs across her cheeks. He realized it was the first real public display of affection, and he had a paranoid feeling that everybody was staring, but it was still awesome. He ended the kiss and leaned into her ear. “This one makes me feel like you do. Kinda warm and loose and blurry around the edges. Then the room turns colors.”

On stage, the other band wrapped their set. The small crowd cheered. Immediately, Maddy flicked a guitar pick at them. “Let’s get a move on, Loverboy,” she called. The speed with which it happened meant that she’d been waiting for the right moment to do it.

“I’ve gotta help set up,” he said. “Don’t go anywhere, okay?”