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]

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?”