“I’m in the bathroom Jimmy!” you called out, sounding about as shaken as you felt.

“Hold on I’m coming. Don’t move!” you heard Jimmy call out as you laid very still in the tub, not wanting to move anyway.

You heard Jimmy race towards the bathroom and while you were very glad a part of your brain wondered how he knew where the bathroom was in the complete dark. And it didn’t hit you until Jimmy was almost in the bathroom that there was water on the floor and no bath mat.

“Jimmy!” was all you got out of your mouth before there was an explosion of expletives.

You could only barely see outlines but you could see enough that you watched as Jimmy hit the water and had his legs taken out from underneath him. Even with all the swearing you couldn’t have missed the sound of him hitting the floor with a loud thud and crash. But before you could offer anything to Jimmy a loud voice came out from the doorway as the apparently second person must have hit the water that had leaked towards the door and Jimmy’s body.

“Incoming!”

But before you could register the second voice your at the moment very dark world crashed down on you. Almost literally. A body crashed into the tub and onto you, shoving you down under the water. Panic took over and then that internal fight to live kicked in and you started thrashing. Part of your brain was shouting that you weren’t being attacked, but something big and heavy that was also thrashing was holding you under the water. With nothing dry to get a grip on you let your legs flail in hopes that would get you somewhere. It got you somewhere in a sense, your knee came in contact with something solid yet that yielded; a body. Apparently the knee had worked because all of a sudden you could surface enough to breathe.

“What the hell?” you gasped as you spit out water and bubbles, forgetting for the moment that you were completely naked in the tub full of bubbles. And apparently another person.

“Jimmy?” you asked carefully as you pulled hair out of your mouth and peered over the edge of the tub, ignoring the groaning, now soaking wet body, lying next to you in the tub.

“Down here,” Jimmy groaned softly.

“Are you in one piece?” you asked concerned for his welfare.

“I think I have extra pieces now,” you heard Jimmy whimper as you heard him move around on the floor, probably into a sitting position.

“Huh?” was the best response that you could come up with.

“I cracked my head Kailey Mae and now have an egg the size of a football on my head,” Jimmy said in a pained voice.

“Oh. Sorry. But um, why are you hear?” you finally asked, realizing you had no idea why he was here, or the person next to you for that matter.

“Zacky heard you scream when the lightning struck outside the hotel and the power went out with a bang. Literally. So we used your spare key that I have to, uh, rescue you I guess,” Jimmy replied sheepishly.

“Zacky heard me scream? Why would he care?” you asked Jimmy’s now sitting form that was starting to come more into focus as you got your eyes better adjusted to the darkness.

“I’m starting to ask myself the same question,” the person beside you in the giant tub replied.

“Zacky?” you yelped, half in anger and half in shock.

“Yeah,” Zacky replied not sounding to happy about his situation either.

“Get out, get out, get out!” you shrieked hysterically, trying to cover your body with your arms and the bubbles, even though it was too dark to see anything anyway.

Apparently your shriek worked as Zacky started to move out of the tub as quick as he could manage. But the problem was that he was standing, sopping wet, in a tub still full of water made even slicker by pounds of soapy bubbles. Not the best footing you found out as he stumbled and fell continuously as he tried to get out and not touch you. Which failed miserably right as he made it to the edge successfully and lost his footing, falling back on top of you.

“Jimmy! Help!” you shrieked as you tried pushing Zacky off you from underneath, hands placed in the middle of his back.

“I’m coming, I’m coming. Stop flailing, the both of you!” Jimmy shouted as you heard him stand and get his footing on the treacherous floor.

You stopped flopping and shoving about and felt Zacky do the same, thankful that he was on his back on top of you and not beside you anymore at least. Calming down and breathing steadily and trying not to think about the closeness of Zacky to your naked body you squinted your eyes and waited for Jimmy to get you out of this predicament. It took a bit of bumbling and cursing but eventually you felt Zacky’s weight lifted off of you and taken out of the tub. As soon as you heard Jimmy pop him out the bathroom and into the bedroom you let out a sigh of relief.

“Hold on my dear your chariot awaits, a.k.a. I need to get a towel. Zacky get her some clothes!” Jimmy yelled out at Zacky.

If the lights were on and you weren’t so rattled you’d have given Jimmy a piece of your mind about that little idea, but as it turned out you didn’t have to.

“How the hell am I going to get her clothes, I can’t fucking see!” Zacky shouted back from somewhere in my giant room.

“Use your cell phone dumb ass!” Jimmy shouted back as you watched his form search for a towel.

“I pretty sure it’s shot from my escapades in the tub with Kales the fucking mermaid,” Zacky growled.

“Use your hands and feel around for them then!” Jimmy shouted back as if he was on his last nerve with Zacky.

I knew the feeling, though he was lucky, I didn’t have any nerves left when it came to Zacky on a normal basis.

“Here. Stand. Arms up!” Jimmy ordered as if you were a three year old and an invalid instead of an adult.

But that aside you did exactly as he said, regardless of the fact that you were very much naked. This was Jimmy, it didn’t matter. Once wrapped in the giant fluffy hotel towel you felt a little bit better, at least you weren’t drowning with Zacky anymore. Which in your book, was a vast improvement.

“Feel better?” Jimmy asked as he wrapped an arm around your shoulder and escorted you out the destroyed bathroom.

“Much. Anyone know what’s going on?” you asked, even though part of it was obvious.

“I’m guessing the storm followed us from the venue and got a hell of a lot worse then was predicted on the forecast. Outside that I’m going to have to call Matt and see what he knows. Or I can leave you here with Zack and go head to the front desk and see what they know,” Jimmy supplied with a shrug that you felt more than saw as you were still under his arm.

“No!” was the only thing heard in the room for a moment as both you and Zacky replied simultaneously.

“Ohhhkay then. I’ll call Matt as I’m pretty sure my cell phone is intact. Give me a minute. Zack give her her damn clothes,” Jimmy ordered as he removed his arm from your shoulders and searched his pockets for his cell phone.

A soft bundle was pressed against your arm to your right.

“Here,” Zacky said gruffly as he handed you the bundle of your clothes and then stepped away once you took them.

“Wonder how bad this is going to look,” you grumbled as you took the random items he had grabbed blindly by feel.

The only response was a snort from Zacky that you sneered at in the dark as Jimmy was a few feet away now on his cell phone chatting to someone you presumed was your brother. Taking into account your options and even though it was dark people’s night vision would be kicking in so you opted to dress in the closet.

“No peeking!” you shouted over your should through the closet door you had left open to let what little light there was poor into the even darker closet.

“As if,” sounded like it came grumbled from Zacky but you didn’t care.

Keeping an eye over your shoulder, just in case the lights came back on, you slipped on the clothes Zacky had retrieved.

“Great, he pawed through my underwear,” you grumbled in your head as you slipped the items on. You followed it up and finished it up with a pair of sweats and a tank top.

“Done,” you called out as you used the towel that had been wrapped around your body to dry your still wet hair.

“Great. So we’re to head to Shads’ room. Apparently the lightning that struck outside hit not only the power but also the generator. That loud explosion that we heard was it being hit and frying. The manager is sending someone for a small generator and we’re to eventually head down to the entertainment area,” Jimmy rattled off as he closed his phone and slid into his front pocket.

“Why not the buses since there’s no power here?” Zacky piped in as you grabbed a hold of Jimmy’s arm since you didn’t know where your brother’s room was and he was the one with the cellphone slash flashlight.

“I want to sleep in a god damn bed that isn’t moving nor on wheels for one night Zacky god damn it,” you growled through clenched teeth as you left your room with your purse hanging from your hand that you had found by touch on the small table by the room’s main door.

“Chill. It was just a suggestion,” Zacky snarled back at you before storming off down the hallway, obviously knowing where Matt’s room was.

“Douche bag,” you muttered under your breath.

“Give him a break Kales. He was the one that heard you scream and said to rescue you,” Jimmy sighed from above you.

“Great rescue plan that turned out to be,” you replied with a scowl as the two of you walked down the dark carpeted hallways.
-xXx-
“Popcorn?” Johnny asked as he held a gianormous bowl out to you.

“Grassy ass,” you replied with a chocolate filled grin as you grabbed the huge bowl and dumped some into your bowl in your lap.

After you had all gathered in Matt’s room, including Bert and Dan and Katie, you had waited for the go ahead from the manager of the hotel. He had eventually returned for you all, offering his apologies for the circumstances and offering full comping of the cost of your rooms while you stayed. He also told you that they had set up the emergency generators and had food and other stuff for you in the entertainment room. And food indeed! Apparently the chefs had worked via flashlight to prepare some quick food to feed you all, using everything they had that could be cooked without a full stove range. What they had managed to produce impressed everyone, including the manager. The popcorn on the other hand had come from the buses. In large quantities nonetheless. Most of The Used had decided to stay bus side which suited you just fine. As had most of the rest of the tour, which while didn’t affect you one way or another too much, also made things nice. It was just the guys, you, Bert, Dan, and Katie.

One generator had been set up so you could watch movies, and every movie anyone had stored in the bus for entertainment while on tour had been brought in. You had never seen such a motley assortment of movies and porn. There was everything from animated kids movies to historical to fetish porn. It definitely raised the eyebrows of everyone present to see the selection. You decided that the people you knew were beyond weird and that there was no amount of medical help out there to fix them.

The giant over stuffed couches, love seats and automans had been gathered all up into a giant geometric mess that made it so everyone could curl up or stretch out as desired. Blankets had been brought down from the rooms and in from the buses and the movie watching had commenced. It was sort of like a giant demented sleep over for adults and mental institution escapees.

“So I heard you tried out for the part in the next big block buster? Mermaids in Distress I believe it’s called?” Bert asked from his curled position next to you, where he was snuggled close to your side.

Surprisingly enough the garishness of your outfit didn’t burn his retinas or turn the power back on. Nothing like teal sweatpants that have orange lettering with a purple tank top and an orange bra. You didn’t think Zacky could have done a more outrageously clashing outfit if the lights had been on!

“Ha ha ha. Very funny Bert,” you scowled at him, flicking a piece of popcorn at him before eating the rest of your handful.

“I think it’s fitting, very new age. And with the dashing Jimmy charging to your rescue as if on a heaven sent mission,” Bert cooed as he did his best at fluttering his eyelashes and looking demure.

“Actually it was Zacky who rescued our very own mermaid,” Jimmy leaned over from beside Bert and whispered.

“Really? Huh,” Bert jeered at me before looking over at Zacky at the end of the blob of fluffy furniture, next to Syn.

I couldn’t help but follow his gaze and look at Zacky myself. He seemed to be momentarily distracted from Alice and Wonderland on the screen and showing Syn his impression of the Walrus. Using celery nonetheless. Whatever he was saying as he had the vegetable stuck up under his top lip and his eyes crossed and bugged out seemed to be working and Syn was in stitches. You felt the corner of your mouth turn up in the corner just a little. This must have been what your brother and everyone was talking about when they talked about the other side of Zacky. The side that apparently you were blind to, or just immune. In your musing and smiling Zacky must have felt your eyes on him because he paused and looked you dead in the eyes. He looked startled for a moment, as if he was deciding on whether or not to remove the celery from his mouth before you saw too much. Apparently he decided against it because he just hesitantly smiled back at you for only a moment before going back to watching the movie, munching on his tusks.

Notes

Pig pile movie night with no power!
Woo hoo!!!