Scattered

“What else do we need?” Candie closely speculated the grocery list she was holding. I exhaled, blowing a few strands of hair out of my face as I did so. My eyes nonchalantly roamed the area, hoping that something interesting might catch my eye. Three days later and no sign of that-one-band with those-three-guys. The last we’d seen of them was Wednesday when they’d visited the hotel for the first time. As far as I knew, they hadn’t returned in the days following. It was as if they’d completely fallen off the grid all over again.

I wasn’t sure if I was glad or not.

“Flower!” exclaimed Candie in a high-pitched shriek of glee, startling me and the poor souls around us. Candie delightfully ignored the curious leers she was receiving from the senior citizens with grocery carts that were filled to the brim with every bit of bread, milk, and other copious dairy products as if they were stocking up for the next World War, in which they’d probably already experienced the first two.

I cracked a sideways grin at the aged men and women as I passed while casting an inquisitive glance behind me just before leaving the aisle. I fully denied the idea of my actually searching for the Three Who Must Not Be Named, and instead convinced myself that I was double-checking the shelves for anything else we might need.

A thought occurred to me as we passed the candy aisle, cleverly grabbing onto Candie’s arm and swerving her in the opposite direction of the sugary goodness that she was attempting to approach. It was for the greater good, and for the sanity of every living creature in the building. “Why do we need flower?” I asked her once we were out of range of the dangerous section of the store.

Candie redundantly glanced back down at her grocery list, as if it had all the answers. She shrugged an indifferent shoulder. “Well, I know we’re out of pancake mix. And I thought we could either get the flower and make it from scratch, or just grab a big bag of pancake mix. I bet they’re in the same aisle.”

So I followed her, knowing fully well that she was in charge of the grocery shopping. It didn’t make me any nevermind; it was less work for me to do.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a whizz of blindingly bright blonde hair run past us on the opposite side of the freezers they usually kept in the middle of the store where platters, cheeses, and other items were held. I quickly turned my head to see what all the fuss was about, only to see none other than the back of a certain drummer’s head as he raced across the store with three large, what looked to be, TV dinners cradled in his arms.

My jaw slacked for a moment, noticing a lanky brunette male hurdling after him with a red light saber outstretched in his right arm that had most likely been picked up from the toy’s section. I watched the scene unfold with widened eyes, hearing a shrill of terror sound from somewhere in the aisles on the far side of the store.

I felt a slap on my upper arm and jumped, turning to face Candie who had a large grin on her face. I wasn’t quite sure if it was from the knowledge that those two hooligans were, indeed, Mike and Tre, or if their antics looked of interest to her. I was praying on the former.

My hopes and dreams were crushed as she darted into the opposite direction of the flower aisle, aiming for the children’s section. I stood there for a moment, dumbfounded at the sudden turn of events, and watched as her back retreated down an aisle, temporarily disappearing out of sight. Once my mind finally caught up to the situation at hand, I ran after her, determined to not have her seen by the two musicians that, from what I could hear, were still wreaking havoc.

“Why me?” I kept asking myself as I wildly peeked down each aisle in search for my crazy ass friend, but to no avail. Since I hardly ever took it upon myself to tag along with Candie on her grocery shopping sprees, I had absolutely no idea where the toy’s section was, since she’d vanished down the coffee aisle.

After dodging two grocery carts and a little boy who was playing with a green bouncy ball, I reached the front of the store where my eyes unbelievably widened even more. “Oh my god, why?”

A few feet in front of me, in between the magazine aisle and the express lanes, were Tre, Mike, and Candie, all of which had a light saber of their own color choosing in their hands. Tre held his three TV dinners securely to his chest in his left arm while he battled both Mike and Candie with his blue light saber.

“No, Mike! These are mine! Get your own!” howled Tre, who continued to keep a grip of death on his frozen treats.

Mike shook his head, a crazy look in his eyes. “I don’t think so! I had clearly stated that I wanted that pepperoni pizza since it was the last one they had, and you deliberately took it from me! I want it back!” Candie whacked him on the knee and he jumped back a bit, startled, and swatted at her a few times. “Hey! I don’t even know you!”

Tre cackled. “Oh, such large words, Michael.” Mike scowled darkly and left Candie to continue battling with Tre. Tre squealed. “I said I wanted a sausage, anchovy and pineapple pizza when we were on our way here, Dirnt!” Tre illogically exclaimed. The proof that Tre Cool had been dropped on his head as a child was just demonstrated in the form of a pineapple, anchovy, and sausage combo. “But since they didn’t have that, I picked pepperoni instead ‘cause it was the closest they had to what I wanted!” Tre took his eyes off the bassist for a moment to leer at the cashiers who were surveying the scene with blank looks. “Thanks a lot, you fucking cheapskates!”

Suffice it to say, their looks were no longer blank.

“But that’s not even close to what you wanted!” Mike protested, getting a clear opening to slap Tre upside the head with his light saber when his frozen dinners were slipping from his grip.

Candie took this opportunity to whack Tre on the ass, in which he turned to face her—Mike slapping him on the head again—while waggling his eyebrows. “Oh, you’re hot.” he grinned childishly and battled her for a while. I continued to remain in my previous position, shaking my head at the pathetic sight. Though, I couldn’t help the amused grin that slowly began to spread across my lips.

Knowing fully well that Tre was no longer paying any attention to him, Mike brought his light saber down and jogged around him to grab his frozen pepperoni pizza. Just as he lurched forward and extended his hand, a nearly ecstatic look on his face upon realizing the particular box he wanted was sliding out of Tre’s grip and was prepared to catch it, Tre quickly turned around, causing Mike to grasp Tre’s groin and nearly fall forward.

Tre had a scandalized look on his face. “You little bastard, I don’t swing that way!” he readjusted his hold on the boxes and pulled them close.

Mike scoffed after regaining his balance. “Yeah, you do.”

I face-palmed. The mothers that were with their children gasped, bringing a single hand to their chest in outrage as they lead their kids out of the building with the other hand, not bothering to pay for their goods and instead left their full carts near the registers.

Just as Tre gave Mike a luring grin, a shout echoed from the other side of the store.

“Stop this foolishness right now!” A man, dressed about the same as the rest of the employees but with obviously nicer shoes and fixed hair, stomped over to the battle scene, a hard look on his face with such a deep frown that nearly caused his lips to fall right off his face. “I demand you to get out of this store right now or I’m calling the police! I cannot deal with your shenanigans costing me my customers! You are a disgrace to the community! Now get out!”

When all he received in return to his witty speech was a laughing Mike and Tre making kissy faces at him, he fumed and began chasing after the two, ordering them to “drop their items immediately and get the hell out”. Tre joined Mike in his hysteric laughter, as well as Candie who was beginning to get chased by the manager as well after he noticed the light saber in her hand, and they made for the exit.

Without dropping their goods, Mike pulled out his wallet as he made for the door, tossing a ten dollar bill on the counter nearest to him right before going out the door. “Keep the change!” he hollered over his shoulder just as the automatic doors were closing.

Other than the manager’s heavy breathing, the room was eerily quiet. Everyone in the vicinity exchanged silent glances at least once before they slowly began to mill about the area, a quiet chatter resounding.

The manager continued to keep his hardened stare at the closed automatic doors for a few more seconds before slowly turning away, as if he’d just fought in a massive war and won by a landslide. He glanced my way as he passed by, staring me down as if he knew I had accompanied the three.

“Um,” My mouth remained open for a moment. And when no response had come to mind, I simply turned away and attempted to calmly leave the store.

I mulled over the events of that morning, shaking my head at how it had drastically transitioned from calm and collected to disastrous and childish. “Unbelievable,” I muttered, more than once, as I finally lifted my head from the brutal stare I’d planted on my shoes as I walked. I murmured a few choice words beneath my breath as I glanced around the parking lot, not having a clue as to where Candie and the other two had taken off to.

The thought of having to walk on foot all the way back to the hotel if she’d taken her car put a nearly permanent scowl on my face. I could feel the pain in my feet already.

Just as I was about to suffer through the walk back home, I noticed a group of what looked to be teenagers huddling just behind the gas station across the street, leaning up against the colorless cement wall. I squinted my eyes, noticing a familiarity in the two heads of blonde hair and the abnormally tall brunette.

I narrowed my eyes.

The shortest blonde, who I could now recognize as Candie, lifted her head and caught sight of my unmoving form on the other side of the road. Even from where I was standing I could easily notice the large grin extending all the way across her face as she began to wildly wave her hands above her head.

I could faintly hear a “Beth, over here!” emit from that large grin of hers and began to make my way across the street after checking for any cars. Mike and Tre, who seemed to be having a tug of war contest with the frozen pepperoni pizza, looked my way and almost immediately I could feel the recollection in the air as they eyed my every move.

Tre’s sky blue eyes were the first to dramatically widen to the size of saucers. His mouth nearly formed a perfect ‘O’ as I approached the three figures. I heard a gasp, and then a cry of “Spencer!” as the drummer came bounding towards me.

Despite my previous irritation towards the three for getting kicked out of a grocery store, of all places, I could help but smile widely and outstretch my arms. And before I knew it, I received a mouthful of bleached blonde hair as Tre tackled me to the dirt ground, smothering me with kisses to the forehead and cheek, along with his entire body weight.

But before I could return any sentiment of the sort, I was also tucked beneath a certain Michael Pritchard, who also insisted on layering my face in wet and dry kisses alike. I laughed heartily, trying my best to wrap my arms around both of the boys.

“Alright,” I whimpered, beginning to lose the oxygen I much needed to live. “As happy as I am to see you guys again, I… really can’t breathe here.” I gasped.

Mike quickly jumped off of me, followed by Tre, and the both of them pulled me up to my feet, already beginning to dust me off. “Sorry, Spence,” Mike grinned sheepishly.

I laughed, brushing the sleeves of my jacket off. “No worries,” Once I was finished, I stopped to smile at them, watching as they mirrored my smile with equal enthusiasm. I extended my arms to them again, raising an eyebrow. “Now, let’s try that again.”

Not two seconds later, I had two pairs of arms around me, and their separate scents engulfed my nose. I inhaled, smiling to myself as I embraced two of the men I could hardly find myself to live without. I held such a strong feeling of familiarity when I was in their arms. And I realized that after they left to go on their way, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to handle life without them all over again. The feeling I was currently experiencing was too amazing to let go of so easily.

After they pulled away, they held me at arms length, both equally observing me. I took a moment to admire their much thinner faces and even more rugged hair. Their smiles and eyes were still the same—so full of adventure and passion.

“I can’t believe,” Mike began with a laugh, pulling me into yet another tight hug. “That of all the places we could see each other again, it was at a Miami grocery store that’s kind of in the middle of nowhere.”

I rubbed his back, joining him in his laugher. “I couldn’t agree more with that. I’m so glad you guys are here,” I admitted.

Mike pulled back, his eyes dancing. “We’re glad to see you.”

Tre began to jump up and down. “How’ve you been, stud? We’ve missed you tons and tons and lots and lots! And your hair!” He brought his hand forward to tug at a strand of straightened, short black hair. “You look hot!” he exclaimed.

I laughed, tucking the strand he’d pulled back behind my ear. “Yeah, well, I figured I could go with a change. It’s been this way for some time now. And what about you guys? I heard you were touring again. How is that?”

We began to walk forward, Candie silently taking up the rear of the group as she allowed us to talk. “Wait, how’d you know we were going on tour again?” Tre asked, confused, as he eyed me suspiciously.

I raised my eyebrows. “Dude, Tre, you called me on Wednesday and told me.” I informed him, cleverly leaving out the fact that I worked at the bar they had attended. For the moment, I didn’t feel as if it was necessary to mention.

Tre furrowed his eyebrows, looking as though he were thinking very hard. It looked painful. “I did?”

I nodded, smirking a bit at the blonde-haired male. “Yes, you did. Do you not remember that?”

Tre continued to concentrate on his thoughts for a few more moments before laughing childishly, nudging me on the side. “Hell, I don’t even remember ten minutes ago.”

As we continued walking up the street a ways, catching up and sharing old memories, I noticed a faded blue, beat up car approaching us from down the road. I thought nothing of it until the car began to slow down, gradually pulling over to our edge of the sidewalk. I was close to running away in terror that it was some sort of axe murderer, serial rapist, or both, but when Mike and Tre happily greeted the driver, I relaxed.

“Well hello there, kind sir,” Tre batted his eyes, stepping forward to lean his arms against the window that was rolled down. He jutted his hips outward as he stood, raising his eyebrows at the driver. “It’s gonna cost you a hundred dollars, unless of course your little friend wants to join us,” He waved, wagging his fingers at the passenger. “Then it’s a hundred and fifty and we'll call it even.”

There was a laugh, followed by a tssk. I halted, nearly choking on my breath. I knew that laugh. “Oh, you sexy little thing. I’ll give you two-hundred if that delicious brunette over there tags along.” Billie Joe said, motioning towards Mike who, upon noticing he had become part of the conversation, struck a pose.

“But of course!” Tre squealed, grabbing the handle on the backseat door and flinging it open. “We have lube!” he said happily, tossing himself in the back while lifting his shirt a bit, smirking at the girl—Adie, I believe her name was—in the passenger seat. His jaw dropped. “Oh! And I forgot!” he leaned out of the car a bit to snatch the light sabers from Mike. He brought them forward to show Billie and Adie, fiddling with the tips of them and sensually licking and nipping at the plastic. “We have these.”

Billie raised his eyebrows. “Kinky.” he chuckled. He turned towards his window to face the remaining adults, as if just now remembering we were out there. Once his dazzling green eyes had landed on my frozen form, an irresistible grin tugged at the corner of his lips. “Hey, I know you.”

The sudden tension in the air could’ve been cut with a butcher knife. My jaw slacked for a third time that morning as Tre dropped his light sabers and Mike’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

I cleared my throat, feeling much like I was going to collapse as my knees began to tremble. “You… you do?” I asked breathlessly, stunned.

Billie seemed to find amusement in this and his grin enlarged. “Yeah, I do. From back in ’90, down at Christie Road. I remembered. Just like you told me to.” He raised an eyebrow, tapping his fingers along the cracked paint just below his window.

My heart sank. Of course, when I’d had an unexpected encounter with him as I was leaving Rodeo. All things considering, I was quite surprised he’d actually remember that. After all, it was three years ago.

“O—Oh.” I didn’t know what to say. This was the first time in years that I’d gotten the chance to officially talk to him again. And the idea of actually forming a coherent sentence at a time like this was quite laughable.

Billie winked as Mike joined Tre in the backseat after asking if we needed a ride. Candie simply pointed out that our hotel was just down the street and we’d manage the distance.

Just as Billie revved the engine, a hand already on the steering wheel, he pointed towards me. “I like your hair.”

And before I could react, he pulled into the correct lane and sped down the street, Tre sticking his head out the window to howl, much resembling a dog.

Candie and I exchanged looks as the faded blue car disappeared out of sight.

Only one word seemed necessary.

“Wow,” we muttered.

And even though the car was far out of sight, I could faintly hear Tre singing along to “Highway to Hell” by ACDC.