London Harmony: Roctoberfest (5 page)

I snagged the belt loop again and dragged her through he crowds to behind some bushes where we had some relative privacy.  She giggled the whole way because I was being silly and not letting her fully catch up.

We sat and started eating.  We sat cross-legged in front of each other and used our laps as tables.  She took an overly huge bite of her sandwich and sat it on her lap then stuffed the bite in further with her fingers.  Her cheeks puffed out like a squirrel's and she grinned and started chewing and said through her full mouth,  “You owe me one thing about you that nobody knows.”

I bit my tongue through my smile at her antics. Then made a show of taking a lady size bite of my meal.  She grinned through her chewing again.  I thought about it a minute.  There wasn't much that my band mates didn't know about me.  They were my pseudo-family.  I said slowly, “My band mates, my friends, think I'm three years older than I am.”

She stopped chewing with a confused look on her face and then swallowed.  “How so?”

I shrugged. “I ran away from home when I was fifteen.  I found Caroline and her band through a flier at Broken Note.  They were looking for a drummer.  They took me in.  They all took turns letting me crash at their flats the past ten years.  They are my real family.  Nobody ever came looking for me, and that lent some credence to me telling them I was eighteen and just looked young for my age.”

I stopped and looked down at my sandwich.  “God, this is the first time I've ever told anyone I was a runaway.  But it is sort of a relief as you said.”

She tilted her head at me, but not in a judging way.  “Did you finish secondary school then if you ran away at fifteen?”

I shook my head, feeling a little shame. “No...”  Then I quickly defended, “But I did take my GCSEs when I turned sixteen.  I passed.  I wasn't a bad student so it wasn't all that hard.”

She nodded then smiled and took a more human sized bite of her food.  I felt the need to let her know I wasn't a lounge about sponging off of friends.  “I have always helped with expenses and am in a program now, the Flotilla Project, to get myself into my own flat soon.”

She tilted her head and had a look of distress on her face as she reached out quickly to grasp my hand.  “Hey, there's no need to defend, no need to feel bad.  As I said, this is just two strangers sharing, no strings attached.  It's like a free ticket to drop some baggage.”

I was acutely aware of her thumb stroking the back of my hand and the heat of her fingers in mine.  I almost got lost in her dark eyes and then just nodded slightly.  Then she let go of my hand, I could feel the absence of the heat right away and felt sort of alone for some unfathomable reason.

She scooted closer so our knees were touching then she opened her mouth to take a giant bite of pulled pork again and I grinned. “Your turn.”

She chewed and swallowed, looked at me and the sandwich, then stuck her tongue out at me and set the sandwich back on her lap.  “Fine.”  Then she scrunched up her face in thought.  “One thing...”  Then she froze and stared at her hand.

She looked up at me and bit her lower lip then inhaled. “Okay.  I still have nightmares every night.  She looked down at her right side.  Everyone thinks they went away a few months after the accident.  And I hate that it is still punishing me.”

She flexed her one hand. “It took my joy away from me, my music.  My brother's band was mine, I loved being on stage and making music, seeing people having fun listening.  But now I get anxious in crowds, anxious around people, scared of sleeping and reliving it all again.”

I nodded at her and cupped her cheek.  She sighed and then exhaled.  She looked up suddenly with a forced grin.  “Let's eat.”  I bounced my knees on hers, smiled back, and took a Mei sized bite of sandwich which got her giggling.

We talked throughout the meal, just learning about each other.  A useless exercise really since we most probably would never see each other again.  I really liked her, liked sharing with her.  Part of me was sad.  It was nice sharing things with someone, no strings attached.  But the more she shared, the more depth she seemed to have to me.  I silently wondered if she would be interested in hanging out after today.  Plus, she was so bloody cute.

She kept making incidental contact with me.  My gaydar was usually fine-tuned, but she was putting off mixed signals, or maybe I was reading more into things than was actually there.  I figured nothing ventured, nothing gained as we walked over to listen to a band.

I took my finger out of her belt loop, where it was starting to feel natural and crossed over to throw away my empty beverage can into a bin.  Then held my breath and took her hand.  Good lord almighty, I may have melted into a puddle when she just stared intently forward as she laced our fingers.  The black and grey striped knit sleeve was between our palms and the heat of our fingers warming each other.

I was all kinds of bashful as we stopped to listen too, and dance to Rayleigh singing with two bands.  They were pretty good and I wasn't sure they awarded the win to the right band.  But then Mei explained to me, “The other band was maybe technically superior with their instruments, but they were playing over her.  The concept of a backup band is to lend support to the artist, not to draw the focus away from them.”

Huh.  I didn't even think of that.  We just sort of instinctively played to the strength of Caroline's vocals.  She had such a great voice.  I started wondering if we played over her but doubted it.  We had been together for so long we all instinctively played to her strengths.  Well except el douchebag who stormed off.  Good riddance.  I worried though that he'd have the last laugh.  I was afraid that we were going to see the last of the competition today.  It was all going to hell.

Then we made our way back to Caroline, with me holding onto my belt loop.  Oh lord, I was claiming her belt loop now.  Like she was reading my mind, she grinned down at my hand then bashfully at me as we rounded the back of the other stage.

We flopped down beside Carol on the grass.  “Hey,”  I prompted as I handed her the bag of food.

She made a relieved sound as she grinned eagerly into the little sack.  “I love you woman, I'm so bloody hungry.”

I made a silly face and then we all just sat there taking in the park around us as she ate.  I remembered to take a breath every once in a while as Mei sat back to back with me, supporting each other.  Caroline kept looking intently between the two of us with a smarmy smirk. 
I'll have to remember to kill the woman and bury her in a flower bed later.
  I blushed at the scrutiny but just basked in the heat of Mei's body contact with me.

To my delight, she hung out with us until it was time for our second performance.  She was funny and kept me laughing.  If you didn't know better, you would have thought the three of us were old friends how she seamlessly added to any conversation.

I was nervous up on stage with Tabby Cat.  I was in my element though, Tabby had that awesome fusion of thrash and pop that reminded me so much of Penny Franklin.  That meant lots of drums and cymbals!  I was in the zone as I wailed on the skins and bass.  I friggin' loved playing!  I caught a nod of appreciation from Tabby.  It made a silly smile spread on my face.

My smile doubled when I saw Mei hiding in her corner at the front of the stage, rocking out with us, with a smile for me on her face.

We were first to perform this time, and that compact Tabby Cat showed us why she was a superstar.  Every single note was pitch perfect, her tempo was spot on.  And she had more projection than a little thing like her could possibly possess.  There probably wasn't a band in the world that could play over that woman.  She strutted around the stage with a big smile on her face the whole time.  Her copper hair and eyes that matched, giving her an exotic look. 
They had to be contacts.

Caroline played the best I had ever heard her, she had a look of determination on her face the entire performance.  Her solo was a little flat though, it was a bit too fast, to intricate for her and she simplified it.  She always said she was rhythm guitar because she just couldn't pull out the dynamics needed for lead.  She came close though.  So we hoped we scored high enough to move on.

When we finished and the crowd was applauding, we all swarmed Caroline to give her a group hug.  She was nothing but grins.

The other band, Audio Brush played, and our hearts sank.  They were good.  Really good.  We cheered with the crowd and gave them little head tilts of acknowledgment.

We stood there and closed our eyes and nodded as the judge, that huge Wookie from before and Tabby handed the win to Audio Brush.  We scored a respectable four point seven though to their four point eight.

Tabby gave the winners all hugs then walked over to us and gave us hugs too.  She was such an outgoing person.  I blushed when she said to me, “That was a kickin' beat.  Good job.”

It was like a funeral march from there.  As we started clearing our gear from the stage.  Mei again was right there by my side, helping us.  She said to us as we lashed our equipment to the cart, “Chin up.  You lot have an impressive combined total.  You may still move on at the awarding of the Half-Js Sunday night.

There was a slim chance she was right.  We tried to cheer up as we loaded the equipment into Mick's truck then headed back to watch Mei's brother play.  Mick held us back as Darin led the way to the proper stage, people just instinctively parted the way for him.  Then our black-haired friend asked in a hushed voice,  “So, Animal would be a good catch right?”

My face hurt so much with the huge smile I was sporting.  “I knew it!  You're sweet on him!”

Caroline looked worried, and I understood why, knowing Mick's propensity for sleeping with someone and discarding them.  But there was something in the way she was looking at Darin.  It reminded me of how my breath was catching every time Mei touched me.  She truly liked him.

She caught Carol's hesitation and said, “It's not like that.  The past few month's I've sort of... I don't know.  He's...” Then she got a soft look on her face I had never seen before. “I'd let him call me  Michalea.”  She smiled.

Carol blurted out, “Bloody hell!  You're smitten!  I never thought I'd live to see the day the great Mick was tamed.”

Mick stepped closer to her and gave a smoldering, suggestive look down at Caroline that would have melted even the straightest girls panties and Carol swallowed and blushed.  Mick said in a purr, “Nobody tames me.  But I'm thinking I really want to tame Animal.”

Then she got a look on her face like she was unsure of herself for once in her life and she asked, “I mean, he's cute right?”

I was nodding.  “Yes, he is.  I think you'd make a smart couple so long as you don't dump the poor bloke.”

She grinned in relief then turned and ran to catch up with the man, yelling, “Hey you sodding plonker, slow down.  It's like your head is always somewhere else.  I swear you need a keeper to knock some sense into you!”  She looped her arm in his.

We all shared a grin. Mei's face got serious and she whispered to us, “Was it just me or did anyone else have the sudden urge drop their knickers with that look she just gave Caroline?”

Carol grinned sheepishly and admitted, “I thought I had.  Bloody hell.”  We all laughed and followed Mick as she pulled her man along.  He didn't know it yet, but he was her man now, heaven help the poor bloke.

We snuck behind the stage.  Well, not much sneaking was involved since we had our badges.  Then peeked under the backdrop as Mei's brother played for J8.  They won, so would be moving on to the next round for sure.

Then all too soon it was time to head out before the last performance and traffic got insane.  Mei walked us to the truck where Animal headed off to his car.  But not before Mick told him firmly.  “You're picking me up at my place at eight.  You are taking me to dinner.”

The poor man didn't know what to say so he just smiled and nodded.  We waved to him as he headed off.  Then we started laughing as Mick said to herself,  “I'll have him trained up in no time.”  She looked around at us.  “Hey now, don't make me start on you lot too.”

Mei comically said, “I'd say 'yes ma'am' if I didn't think you'd take it as permission.”

Mick winked at her. “Wise woman.”

Mick and Caroline slid into the truck, leaving me alone to speak with Mei in private. I was suddenly bashful.  She said, “Well I guess this is goodbye.”

I nodded and looked down.  “Unless... unless you want to hang out sometime.”  Then I rushed out.  “We have a gig at O' Riley's tomorrow night if you want to come.”

I glanced at her and she was smiling.  She nodded once and held her mobile out.  I typed in my number.  She said, “I don't really like clubs. Too many people, but sure, I'd like that.”

We both smiled and looked down then I almost jumped out of my skin when Mick honked then hung her head out the window.  “Good lord, do I have to do everything?  Now kiss and say goodbye and we can get going before I die of old age.”

I stared at Mick in shock, could she possibly embarrass me any more than... bloody hell... what was I thinking?  Wait, how does my brain work?  All I knew were the bright lights swimming in my vision and I felt like I was on fire.  It was all heat and desire as I realized Mei's delicate lips were on mine.  I sighed into the gentle kiss and she was gone.

I stood there for a few seconds with a silly grin on my face watching her almost skip off, her arm swinging.  Until brain function was restored with Mick honking again.  I flipped Mick off, to her delight, and slid in beside Caroline, who looked like she wanted to run around hugging teddy bears and draw little hearts on everything.  I whispered, “I hate you both.”