Life Is For Living

“Finally,” Johnny rolled his eyes as the two appeared in the lot. They strolled over, now separated, and came to a halt next to the gathering of men.
Brian squinted over his cigarette at Jimmy, “Dude, you’ve got… oats in your hair?”
“Yeah, I had an accident,” Jimmy replied, vaguely, grinning as he shrugged.
“How the fuck do you have an oat related accident?” Johnny laughed, craning his neck to try and see the aforementioned oats unsuccessfully.
Jimmy ignored him, turning to Matt, “So what’s going on?”
“We’re just waiting on Pinkie’s band to arrive,” Matt replied, “but come over here and I’ll fill you in.”
Beatrice watched curiously as Jimmy was led away onto their bus without explanation.
“So,” Brian approached her, flicking his cigarette end away, “been spending time with the Rev?”
“Yep, we went for pancakes,” she offered, hoping the previous night wasn’t about to be brought up. ‘We were busy hooking up’ wasn’t really the kind of information she wanted to volunteer.
Brian frowned, playfully, “And you didn’t invite anyone else? Man, I’d kill for some fucking pancakes right about now.”
“You can come next time,” she promised him, laughing lightly.
“We didn’t get to see much of you last night,” he remarked. Oh, here we go, she thought, doing her best not to grimace. He smiled, “I wanted to compliment you on your drumming.”
“Oh,” she exclaimed, taken aback and blushing slightly. “Thank you so much, but I’ve got nothing on the Rev.”
“No one’s got anything on Jimmy,” Brian laughed, “but you could certainly give him a good run for his money.”
“I’m flattered you think so,” she beamed, glowing at his praise. The Synyster Gates was complimenting her drumming, and the very idea made her giddy with excitement.

“Yo, Bea!” a voice boomed across the parking lot. Beatrice turned away from the brown-eyed guitarist’s smile to find her band mates strolling towards her.
“Hey, guys,” she chirped, giving them a cheerful wave.
“Where’d you disappear to last night?” Chris asked, giving her knowing smile. “Noticed someone else disappeared with you.”
“Shut up, Birdie,” she giggled, the heat rising to her cheeks. She nudged him playfully before comfortably situating herself beneath one of his arms. He draped it across her without question and pulled her in.
“Have fun?” he asked, squeezing her.
“You bet,” she replied, giving him an impish smile.
“So what’s going on?” Tanner asked, looking around at the gathering in the parking lot. The question had no sooner left his lips when Matt and Jimmy reappeared.
Jimmy grinned over at them all, his smile giving Beatrice’s heart a jump start. His eyes fell upon her, tucked under her bandmates arm. He couldn’t help but feel the tiniest sting of envy, but he pushed it away, focusing instead on the upcoming excitement. She tilted her head at him, full of questions as he joined her side again.
“Now that everyone’s here,” Matt announced, “we’ve got a proposal for you guys.”
The five members of ChemCon looked between each other, mixed expressions of confusion and curiosity fleeting across their faces.
“I want to start off by congratulating you guys on an explosive show last night, fucking good stuff,” he began, a murmur of agreement coming from his band mates. “We couldn’t have asked for a better stand in.”
“Thanks, man,” Tom called, giving a nod of appreciation.
Matt waved him off, “Where credit is due, bro… Anyway, our support act is having to bail on another show, and I know there’s travel costs and shit involved for you guys, but we’ll cover them if you’d like to come along with us?”
Beatrice’s jaw dropped, sleep entirely forgotten. A chance to perform again for such a huge band, with one of her idols no less. She turned to her band mates and saw her own shock and elation mirrored in them.
She nudged Birdie with her elbow and he grinned at her.
“Are you kidding?” Tom stuttered, “we’d fucking love to.”
“Awesome,” Matt smiled, stepping forwards and shaking the other vocalist’s hand. “Do you need us to arrange transport for you guys?”
Tom shook his head, “Thanks, but we got it covered.”
“Where are we headed?” Birdie asked, trying to ignore Beatrice’s excited jittering from beneath his arm. Brian flicked his lighter at his cigarette, looking at them from over the sparks.
“North of Idaho,” he answered, exhaling a puff of smoke.
“Nice,” Beatrice beamed. She broke out from under her band mate’s arm and turned to face Jimmy, who was looking at her in amusement. “Did you know about this?”
“Yes,” he nodded with certainty, “about five minutes before you did.”
She gave him a playful shove as she giggled, before rounding back on her music family with bubbling, incessant chatter.

Beatrice’s eyelids flickered open. She ran her tongue around the inside of her mouth. Dry as a fucking desert. She groaned, removing herself from Dom’s shoulder and cracked her neck.
“I fucking hate it when you do that,” Tanner complained, shuddering.
“Bite me,” she giggled as she rubbed her eyes. She squinted into the front of the van, trying to work out where they were.
“About thirty minutes away,” Birdie smiled, reading her mind. “Hungover?”
“Mm,” she mumbled, grimacing. Her expression quickly shifted though, “Oh fuck, I need to call Terry.”
“You’re meant to be working today?” Dom asked, a smirk pulling at the corner of his lips.
Beatrice nodded with a groan, “Help me out, dude.”
She swivelled herself around in the seat and hung her head backwards over the edge, stretching her legs up against the wall as Dom steadied her with one hand.
“How do I sound?” she questioned, the invert suitably thickening her voice.
“Very sick, and you look ridiculous, too,” Tom quipped from the corner of the van.
She let out a throaty laugh, “Fuck off, Tom.”
Scrolling through her contacts until she found her boss’ number, she thumbed the call button and pressed the phone to her ear. There was a collective snicker, along with an eye roll from Tanner, as Terry answered her call. Beatrice let out a soft groan before rolling into full theatrics.
“Hi Terry,” she croaked, pitifully, adding in a pathetic cough for good measure. “I’m really sorry, but I’ve woken up sooo sick today.”
“Oh, have you?” he asked, pointedly, clearly struggling to believe her. “And I suppose you’re too sick to come into work?”
“That’s right,” she confirmed, giving an audible sniff. “I really am sick, Terry. Every time I go to the toilet, it’s coming out of me like-”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he interrupted her quickly. “You can have the day off, but I’m docking your pay, Bea.”
She winked at Dom, who was shaking his head, as she wrapped the call up, “Thanks, Terry. I’m so grateful. Oh, and I won’t be in tomorrow either, okay? Bye.”
She hung up before he could reply and swung herself back upright, holding her hand out to Birdie for a high five.
“You’re absurd,” he grinned, slapping his hand against hers. He dug around in his bag and offered her a can of Red Bull. “Here, a pick-me-up for the infirm.”
“You do take care of me, Diff,” she smiled, fondly.
“Don’t call me that,” he grumbled back at her as she accepted the can.

Feeling mostly refreshed by the time they arrived at the hotel, Beatrice dug through her bag to make sure she had everything. Ticking everything off on her mental checklist, she smiled at the contents.
Tom slid the door open on the van, “I see Avenged are already here. Think we’ll get a dressing room again? That was swell.”
“I hope so, I was quite getting used to the good life,” Beatrice giggled, threading her arms into the straps of her backpack.
“Imagine how much publicity we’ll get from this,” Tanner piped up, hopping out of the van excitedly.
“And new fans,” Dom added, as he followed him out. “Don’t forget those.”
Tom snorted, “Maybe Bea can get some new shoes.”
“My shoes are just fine, thank you,” she retorted, raising an eyebrow as she turned her feet, inspecting them. “I like them worn.”
She yanked the door shut on the van behind them.
“Hey, you made it!” Matt called, sauntering over from the grand tour bus. “I thought you guys would beat us. You know, as we had to wait for a replacement bus and all.”
“Yeah, well Tanner takes ages to get ready, like a girl,” Beatrice grinned wickedly as the bassist passed her with a scowl.
“Who was busy picking the ‘perfect outfit’?” he returned, flipping her a middle finger.
Matt smirked at their bickering, “And what, pray tell, is this mystical ‘perfect outfit’?”
“Why does everyone keep saying it like that?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. “It’s just a dress… With eyes on.”

“Of course it is.”
The lisped voice caused her to whirl around in excitement.
“Hey,” she smiled, warmly, as Jimmy approached her. Despite the whirlwind nature of their relationship over the past twenty-four hours, neither of them seemed uncomfortable around each other. They were each grateful for the other’s laid back attitude, especially given the extra time they had been allotted together. It could easily have been awkward.
“Hey,” he grinned back. “I’m surprised you dropped everything to come. I thought you guys might hang back as we’re not playing until tomorrow.”
“Are you kidding? I wanted to come explore,” she bubbled, taking in her surroundings. “Speaking of which, is anything happening tonight?”
“I don’t know,” Jimmy shrugged, “I think everyone was planning an early night, but I’m always up for shenanigans.”
Beatrice’s eyes twinkled, “I love shenanigans. You know the area at all?”
“Nope,” he shook his head. “Wanna check it out?”
“Lead the way,” she beamed.
“Hey, Bea,” Tanner called over, holding up her bag at her. “Don’t be too eager to get away. I’m not carrying this up to our room.”
“Ugh, I’m sharing with you?” she tried to pull a face, though it quickly cracked.
Tanner rolled his eyes, “Ha-ha, very funny. Come on, you clown.”
“You hear that?” Beatrice widened her eyes at Jimmy. “Clown.”
“Despicable,” Jimmy shook his head, smirking as his lisp teased the corners of her mouth into a smile.
“Wait here,” she grinned at him, “I have to go do this, and then?”
“Explore,” he nodded, firmly, watching as she turned and waltzed over to Tanner. The two wandered off in the direction of the hotel, Beatrice occasionally nudging Tanner for a reaction to whatever silliness she was attempting to subject him to.
“Hey Romeo,” Brian teased, getting Jimmy’s attention just in time as he swung his large bag at him. “You have to do shit too.”
Jimmy caught the bag at the last second, and gave Brian a nod. Turning back and watching the pink-haired firework disappear into the hotel foyer, he smiled to himself. Who was he to pass up more fun?

Notes

It's really weird writing cute stuff...