Clash Of The Rockbands

[size-110]Finally, we were back in Indiana. The girls and I stared out of the bus’s few windows, joyous to be back in our home state. It looked as it would on any other mid-December afternoon. The trees hung bare of any green leaves; a thin layer of snow covered everything in sight. The bus slowed down and turned into a driveway in front of a familiar house.

I squealed in excitement as I pulled away from the window and sprinted towards the front of the bus. I shoved a hand into Jason’s chest, and he fell back into the driver’s seat as I rushed past and bounded down the steps. My feet landed on slippery gravel, and in my excitement, I lost my balance. My feet slipped out from under me sideways, and I landed hard on my side.

I attempted to scramble up, trying to be graceful yet urgent about it, but I couldn’t get traction on the gravel so I just gave up. The cold of the icy gravel filtered through my hoodie and t-shirt, since I had neglected to put a coat on before running off the bus like a fool. I heard laughter behind me, and looked back over my shoulder to see everyone standing at the top of the steps, laughing at me.

I gave them my biggest death glare and flipped them all the bird. It probably didn’t seem as menacing as I meant because I could feel the red heat rising up in my face from embarrassment.

“Melrose, what will we do with you?” James asked in exasperation. He stepped carefully down off the bus before reaching down. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me easily to my feet. He kept one arm wound around my waist, probably to make sure I wouldn’t fall again and land on my face this time. Because what a disaster it would be if I damaged my face before a concert.

Note the sarcasm.

“I just need my ice legs back,” I told him as we walked towards the front door. I almost slipped again as we walked, and grabbed wildly onto his jacket to keep myself upright. He just laughed and pulled me tighter against his body, like he was the person who’d walked across ice every winter his whole life.

Behind us, I heard a loud yelp followed by a thud. James and I looked around to see Rayne lying flat on her back in the driveway. Her black and turquoise hair covered her face, and lifted away from her mouth as she laughed.

“Looks like someone else needs their ice legs as well,” I called. I saw her head nod as she continued to laugh. Slowly, she sat up and grabbed a hold of Syn’s extended hand. He helped her to her feet, and we continued on our treacherous trek towards the house.

Finally, we reached the safety of the salted sidewalk leading up to the front door. I rang the doorbell, pressing myself against James’s side for warmth since I still lacked a coat. A couple moments later, the front door sprang open to reveal Daphne.

She didn’t look like a spitting image of me anymore. She had cut her hair so that it hovered right at her shoulder and framed her face in feathery layers. A smile broke across her face at the sight of me. Another squeal left my lips, and we hurtled into each other’s arms.

Once we pulled away, she stepped back and ushered us into the house. Everyone gladly stepped into the warmth of the living room. Rayne sat down on the couch, rubbing a hand over her ass.

“I watched your attempts at crossing the driveway.” Daphne told us with a laugh. “It was very entertaining.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Rayne grumbled. “My butt hurts now.” Daphne chuckled.

“Babe, who is it?” a male voice called from the hallway. An unfamiliar guy stepped into the living room. His eyes roamed over the ten of us before coming to a rest on Daphne.

“Everyone, this is my boyfriend, Felix,” she announced, waving a hand towards him. “Felix, that’s Matt, Jen, Brian—but everyone calls him Syn—Rayne, Johnny, Kim, Zacky, AM, Jimmy, and my sister Melrose.” She pointed at each of us before looking over at Jason and Matt B.

“Those two numbskulls are Jason and Matt Berry.” Matt told her, pointing at each of them.

Felix blinked, looking around at us all. I studied him, looking for anything that I didn’t like.

He was reasonably good-looking, with shaggy light brown hair in perfect disarray and sky blue eyes. He stood five to six inches above Daphne, about three inches taller than me. He wore casual blue jeans and a chocolate brown dress shirt with lighter brown, vertical stripes that wasn’t tucked in. I could smell a faint hint of cologne wafting off of him. From my first impression, he seemed a good enough kid to me.

“And you expect me to remember all of their names?” he asked Daphne with a laugh. His smile revealed perfect teeth, and his laugh sounded nice.

It looked as though my sister had snatched a really good catch.

Daphne laughed too before shaking her head.

“No, but I’ll help you try to remember them.” she answered. “Okay, the short ones are Kim and Johnny. The tall one is Jimmy, and the one who looks a lot like me is Melrose, my sister. Rayne and Syn are the dark-haired couple; Syn is the one with the fedora, if that helps any. AM is the one with mostly blonde hair; Zacky is...uh...the one who hovers next to her. Jen is the redhead, and Matt is her boyfriend. And then the two left are Jason and Matt 2, I guess.”

“That might help.” Felix admitted with a nod of his head.

“How old is he, Daphne?” I asked kindly.

“Nineteen,” she answered.

“What is it with you and nineteen-year-olds?” I said with a laugh. Daphne laughed as well.

“You should talk! You’re dating a twenty-seven-year-old!” she exclaimed jokingly. I just shrugged, pulling closer to James.

“A very cute twenty-seven-year-old,” I retorted. James laughed, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. “Oh, don’t laugh that incredulous laugh. You know you’re adorable.” I reached up and pinched his cheek. He smirked before reaching down and pinching my cheek back. Except his pinch actually hurt.

“Ouch,” I hissed at him, rubbing my cheek. “That hurt.”

“Sorry, I sometimes don’t know my own strength.” he answered with a shrug.

“Jimmy, you aren’t Edward. You can’t pull off the ‘I don’t know my own strength’ maneuver.” Kim said solemnly. James laughed.

“I tried,” he said, lowering his head.

“So, do you guys have a concert tonight?” Daphne asked. I looked over to see her and Felix standing next to each other: Felix’s arm was around her shoulder, and her arm had curled around his waist.

“Nope, it’s tomorrow night,” Matt answered.

“Do you mind if we hang out here tonight?” I asked. “We rarely get to stop at a familiar place on tour.”

“No problem,” Daphne answered instantly. “Make yourselves at home.” She looked over at me as she pulled away from Felix. “Melrose, I want to talk to you privately.” I nodded, and she led the way out into the hall. We walked up the staircase and turned into Mom and Dad’s room, which she had left exactly as I remembered it.

“I like Felix, by the way,” I told her. She smiled, walking over to the dresser where a whole bunch of framed pictures sat. I followed her, and studied the pictures as well. They were mainly family photos, or pictures of Mom and Dad. I swallowed back the faint tears rising in my eyes: Had it really been almost a year since they’d died?

“He’s a good man.” she replied. She stepped back from the pictures and sank down on the edge of the bed. “I’ve been doing much better, even better than I had been before moving back here.” I smiled happily before sinking down on the bed next to her. “Felix has helped a lot.”

“Where did you two meet, anyway?” I asked curiously.

“In the produce section at the grocery store,” Daphne answered with a grin. “I thought he was really cute. We talked a little bit, and he even walked me back out to my car! He’s such a gentleman...We exchanged numbers, and the rest is history.”

“Eh, that’s better than what happened with me and James.” I told her. She looked curiously at me, waiting for me to continue. “I confessed my love for him outside of a bar when I was drunk. I think yours was a bit better than mine.” Daphne laughed.

“You guys just started dating after that, then?”

“Nah, we avoided...well, I avoided him for a few weeks. We met in the recording studio, exchanged some words, and eventually got together.” I told her. Okay, so I told her that we exchanged words instead of kisses, but the story was close enough to the truth.

“I plan on taking flowers to our parents’ graves on the anniversary of their death.” Daphne said.

“I wish I could. But I’ll be long gone.” I replied. She shrugged.

“I’m sure they won’t mind.” she reassured me. I smiled at her.

“We better get back downstairs.” I told her as I rose to my feet. “Or something will get broken.” Daphne agreed, and we both walked out of the bedroom, closing the door behind us.