Clash Of The Rockbands

Jen’s POV

I inched away from Matt as a small group of ecstatic, bug-eyed fan-girls distracted him. He put on a polite smile and let forced politeness seep into his voice as they drunkenly slurred at him. He glanced suspiciously over at me as I sidled cautiously away, but turned his attention back to the fans as they shoved Sharpies in his direction so he could autograph their chests or something. I gleefully turned and strode quickly away, deeper into the grinding, pulsing crowd on the dance floor.

Matt had been hovering over me ever since we’d entered the club. I think he meant to keep me protected from any drunken assholes who would force themselves upon me. And I knew he meant only the best, but I felt like he was smothering me. I felt sort of like a teenager at prom, being watched by the chaperones so I stayed an arm-length’s distance away from my partner. I hated it. I wanted to just let loose and dance.

After getting a good distance away from Matt and his ogling fans, I stopped, having found a good place to dance. Swing by Savage featuring Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em blared from the speakers. The dancing crowd went wild with screams and yells of glee. I sunk into dance mode, and began to dance.

Fact of life: In a club, whether you are fat or skinny, light-haired or dark-haired (or even bald), tall or short, ugly or gorgeous, pale or tan, nice or mean, hot or not, nerdy or sluttish, single or taken, divorced or widowed, bitter or sweet, happy or sad, famous or not, you will get hit on. It’s inevitable. Most of the people present in a club have their beer goggles on. You will look like a gorgeous supermodel no matter what you actually look like to some beer goggled fellow or gal, and some person will hit on you.

Now, I’m not exactly bad-looking. And let’s face it: The Better Halves is decently famous. It’s not bragging, and I’m not being conceited: I’m just making statements of fact. So, with the influence of those silly beer goggles, I probably look like this gorgeous goddess of a chick.

Which was exactly what the guy who invaded my personal bubble with his drunken self thought.

“Hello, beautiful,” the man slurred, leaning closer to me. The flashing lights of the club didn’t reveal many details of him, but I could see the lecherous glint in the man’s dull brown eyes. I rolled my eyes. Of course. I should’ve been expecting this.

“Hi,” I replied curtly. I felt the man’s fingertips grazing against my hip. He wasn’t grabbing anything; he was just feeling, which was twice as creepy.

Suddenly, a fist flew out of nowhere and slammed against the guy’s jaw. He stumbled back as a hand closed over mine. Someone dragged me through the glut of bodies towards the edge of the dance floor. I instantly knew who it was.

“Matt, he didn’t even grab onto anything!” I snapped, feeling a little bad for the unassuming drunk back on the dance floor. Matt whirled around and stopped abruptly: I almost walked into him. His hazel eyes narrowed and flashed with anger at the drunk—and probably at me too for escaping from his smothering protection.

“He was about to, I’m sure!” he exclaimed. I shrugged.

“What if he wasn’t? You just punched him for no reason.” I reasoned calmly. Matt scowled before turning back around and pulling me toward the exit.

“C’mon,” he slung angrily over his shoulder at me, “we’re all heading back to the bus.”

We stepped out into the cold early-January night. A cruel breeze blew my dark red and navy blue hair away from my face, whipping it against Matt’s shoulder. I pulled my dark green coat closer to my body, shivering as the cold seeped up my sleeves and down the collar of my coat. And, of course, the bus was parked all the way on the edge of the parking lots, as far from the club as possible. Even though I knew Matt was a little pissed off at me, he released my hand and wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me against his side for warmth.

I smirked, tilting my head down so he couldn’t see it. The poor man could rarely be mean to me, no matter how angry he was with me. There must be some reflex in his brain that flashes and says HELP JEN when I’m uncomfortable, cold, upset, unhappy, whatever. I guess I took it for granted, just a little bit.

We reached the bus after the long, cold trek across the parking lot. We stepped up onto it, and the warm air felt glorious against my bare face and hands.

“Guess what!?” Rayne said excitedly, her eyes bright with happiness.

“What?” I asked, sinking into the warm couch, crossing my arms over my chest for more warmth.

“Mattberry got us hotel rooms!” she answered happily. “We can sleep in full-sized beds tonight! And not all in one room!”

“Finally!” AM exclaimed, throwing her arms up. “I don’t have to hear Johnny snoring now! Yes! Thank you, lord!”

“I do not snore,” Johnny grumbled.

“Yeah, you do, babe,” Kim said quietly.

“Is it a nice place?” Melrose asked Mattberry.

“Yeah,” he answered. “One of the finest in Pittsburg.”

“And do we get separate bedrooms?” Kim asked.

“Well, there’s two hotel rooms with two queen-sized beds. There’s one with one queen-sized bed, and another with two twin beds, which is where Jason and I will sleep. And we figure Kim and Johnny will get the hotel room with one bed, so you guys will have to figure out who will share with who.” Mattberry explained.

“I’ll share with Rayne and Syn.” “I’ll share with Melrose and Jimmy.” Melrose and Rayne said simultaneously. They blinked over at each other before laughing.

“Looks like it’ll be me and Matt with you and Zacky, then.” I said to AM. She scooted closer to me on the couch, wrapping an arm around me.

“I hope it won’t be too awkward if you and Matt sleep in the same bed.” she said to Zacky seriously. “Because when given the option of sleeping in the same bed as Jen, I’m choosing her over you.”

Zacky huffed and crossed his arms. He looked away, clearly pouting.

“Nope, sorry AM, she’s mine.” Matt’s gruff voice said from beside me. His arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me against him and out of AM’s arms. She snarled at him before scooting back down to Zacky.

“No,” Zacky told her, scooting farther away from her. He still wouldn’t look at her. “You chose her over me. There’s no forgiveness for that.”

“Zacky-Poo, don’t be that way!” AM cooed. She turned and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. “You love me, and you know it!” She coiled her legs around his waist, setting her chin on his shoulder and staring at him.

“No,” Zacky repeated, shaking his head. He still didn’t turn his head back towards her.

“Zacky!” AM whined. She reached around and pressed a hand to each of his cheeks. She forced him to turn his head towards her, but made a whining noise when she saw that he had closed his eyes. “Fine!” She leaned forward and bit his nose.

“Ow!” he exclaimed, his eyes shooting open. He grabbed his nose, leaning away from her. “You bit me!”

“You deserved it!” AM replied. AM glared at him as he rubbed his nose, still leaning away from her. He couldn’t escape her completely since she still had her legs wound around his waist.

“I love you,” he said in a small voice after a few moments. AM smirked.

“Better,” she told him. She leaned in for a kiss just as Jason pulled into the hotel parking lot.

**********

[suze=110]Fifteen minutes later, Matt, Melrose, Jimmy, Jasonberry, and I all stepped into the elevator. It was a little cramped because we each held a duffel bag of clothes, but it wasn’t as cramped as it could have been because we left most of our stuff out in the bus. Melrose leaned against Jimmy, her eyes closed. She’d gotten one quarter drunk at the club, and now the alcohol was wearing off and just making her tired. I could hear Jimmy humming with the annoying elevator music. It shocked me that he wasn’t just rocking out to it. I held back a laugh at the vision of him banging his head in an empty elevator, playing an air guitar, bouncing off of the walls.

“This elevator is slow.” Melrose announced. “I am seriously about to fall asleep, even though the music is annoying.”

“Don’t diss the elevator jam.” Jimmy told her solemnly. “You’re just jealous you can’t replicate it on the drums.”

“And you can?” Jasonberry asked.

“You betcha,” Jimmy answered with a nod. The elevator doors opened, and we all stepped out. “This place isn’t bad ass!” he complained, looking around with a disgusted look on his face. “We are fucking rockstars! We deserve a bad ass hotel!”

“Fuck yeah we do,” Matt agreed.

“What qualifies as ‘bad ass’?” Melrose asked, forming quotes with the fingers of one hand. Her other hand was entwined with Jimmy’s as they walked.

“Hm...Stripper poles complete with strippers, a fully-stocked fridge with lots of beer, dark colors (the olive green really isn’t doing it for me), humongous beds that will swallow Johnny and Kim whole, and flat screen TV’s everywhere—even in the shower—that are longer than I am tall.” he answered. Melrose gasped and slapped his arm at the stripper comment. “Okay, stripper poles, and you can just play stripper then.”

“Typical,” Melrose grumbled.

“That would be a big TV, if it was as long as you are tall,” Jasonberry commented.

“Here’s our room,” Melrose said, pointing at a door.

“Yes,” Jimmy added happily, pulling out the card. “We can get funky before Syn and Rayne get here.”

“Don’t count on it,” Melrose mumbled. Jimmy glanced at her as he slid the card in. Matt, Jasonberry, and I all continued to the next door, which was our room. Jasonberry walked farther down the hall as Matt opened the hotel door and led the way in.

We sat our stuff at the foot of one of the beds. I sank down onto the edge of the bed, testing out how comfortable it was.

“That guy would’ve grabbed onto something if I wouldn’t have stopped him.” Matt muttered as he put the card on the little chest the television sat on and sat down on the bed as well. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

“You’re still thinking about that?” I asked.

“Yes,” Matt answered. “Why did you even try to get away from me, anyway? It’s not like I was hovering over you all night, not letting you do anything.”

“Actually, you were,” I snapped angrily. “You were hovering over me all night. I felt smothered. I had to get away.”

“I was just trying to protect you,” Matt told me, his tone angry as well.

“I can handle myself!” I growled. “I’d been handling myself long before you came along! I don’t need you hanging around me all the time!”

“I don’t want something to happen to you!” Matt yelled in frustration.

“Nothing will!” I retorted. “I’ve survived twenty-four years just fine without you! Just because I’m with you doesn’t mean that’ll change any!”

“Famous last words,” Matt mumbled beneath his breath.

“Stop being so over-protective!” I screamed, shooting to my feet. His mumbled response sent me over the cliff of restraint into the dark abyss of anger. “I don’t NEED you hovering over me everywhere we go! I can handle myself just fine! I’m not as fragile and petite and delicate as you think! I can take care of myself, and just because we’re dating it doesn’t give you any reason to watch over everything I do like I’m a kid doing something for the first time!” Matt glared up at me from where he still sat on the bed. I glared back down at him, breathing heavily. I’d never been so angry at him before.

But it seriously pissed me off. I wasn’t a little kid anymore; I didn’t need to be babysat. I definitely wasn’t the stupid, defenseless little damsel in distress either, who needed a hero to come along and save me. I could defend myself. Men never get that. Some women don’t mind when their male counterpart protects them day and night; as for me, I mind. A LOT.

“I just want you to be safe,” Matt said quietly, his voice shaking with restrained anger.

“I know you do,” I snapped. “But it would be better if you let back on the protecting a little bit. It’s starting to really piss me off.”

“Clearly,” Matt replied. I spun around and strode over to my duffel bag. I opened it with fumbling fingers shaking with anger and dragged out a pair of pajamas and clean undergarments and the stuff I needed for my nightly ritual. I straightened up and walked into the bathroom, not once looking back at Matt.