Bonfire Boys

"Lyla?" Gina sang, "You okay there, babe?"

Lyla stirred, and groaned.

"Aw shucks," Gina cursed, "Fraser's gonna kill me for bringing his daughter here to get squashed. Not to mention Gwen."

Lyla slowly moved a hand to the back of her head and felt around until she found a large developing lump. She groaned and rubbed her eyes with the same hand.

"Hello? Lyla, can you open your eyes? Look at me."

Lyla froze, and slowly moved her hand so it no longer covered her eyes. She knew that voice.

"Come on, Lyla. You know you can!"

Slowly, Lyla opened her eyes, and found herself looking up at the face of the legendary Harry Louie. She gasped in alarm and quickly sat up, only to collide into Harry Louie's forehead.

"Aagh!" she groaned, clutching her forehead as there was yet another stab of pain to her head.

"Ah," Harry Louie said nervously, rubbing his own head lightly, "it seems like I've bruised your friend front and back."

"Oh," Gina squeaked, giggling, "I'm sure she won't mind. I sure don't."

"Bitch," Lyla hissed to herself.

"I have one of those, you know," Harry Louie said lightly, "10 months Border Collie, she's a bit of a grump."

"Oh, I love Border Collies," Gina gushed, "especially the grumpy ones."

"Gina, you hate dogs," Lyla stated, sitting up slower this time and avoid Harry, "which explains why you kicked Bonfire's butt this morning."

"Bonfire?" Harry Louie asked, a small smile creeping up the side of his lips, "seriously?"

"Yes, after you guys," Gina said quickly, "she only got the little cutie today, I helped her name her."

"It's a male!" Lyla pressed, giving her friend a WTF look, and moaned as the jerk of her movement made her dizzy.

"Wow, that sounded erotic, do you normally moan like that?" Harry joked. Lyla shot another WTF look at him, and he swallowed, "anyway, what really matters is that you're okay."

"You are okay, right?" Gina asked.

"Yeah," Lyla dismissed, "but what happened, exactly?"

"Well," Harry said, looking apologetic, "I kind of fell of stage and fell head-first onto you."

"Ouch," Lyla cringed, eyeing Harry's muscles, "consider the fact that I was knocked out, you must be awfully heavy."

"You were out for only 10 minutes," Gina shrugged "enough time for us to get you in here."

"You hit her head on the corner of the stone seats," Harry explained, "but if you weren't in the way, I would have cracked my head open on that corner. That stage was pretty high, around two meters?"

"Where am I now?" Lyla asked, crossing her legs, at the same time trying to keep the image of Harry Louie's cracked head out of her mind.

"Backstage," Gina announced happily, making a large ta-da movement, and nearly whacking Harry over the head.

"When you fainted," Harry said, edging away from Gina, "I completely freaked out. Thank God the others took over, the show must go on."

"Oh my goodness!" Lyla exclaimed, horrified as she made a move to get off the table she was lying on, "the concert! What're you doing here?!"

"Checking that you're all right," Harry said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "do you want me to go back?"

"No!" Gina interrupted, rushing to him, "no no no, stay."

"Your audience needs you," Lyla insisted, "you're like the voice of the band. You're the lead singer!"

"Aw, don't worry about it," Harry dismissed, "no one needs me more than you right now. The boys sing as good as I do anyway. Plus, you guys scream so loudly I can't even hear myself sing."

"I never screamed," Lyla corrected.

"You didn't?" Harry asked, looking confused and slightly upset.

"I did!" Gina chirped, half-clutching Harry Louie's arm.

"You and that blonde," Harry noted, "she had a nice butt. Too bad her man's as bulky as Jackson, or I would have no problem whisking her away."

"Nice to know," Lyla cheered sarcastically, getting off the table, "and nice meeting you too."

"Hey, Lyla," Harry said, taking her hand to stop her, "I was joking. I don't like blue eyes. I like dark brown, they're mysterious."

Lyla stared, her mouth slightly open at her hand, clutched within the famous Harry Louie's tanned hand. Gina stood there, jaw dropping.

They stood, frozen, like that for a while until a large man with shades came along.

"I have been told to escort two young ladies back to their seats once one has been brought back to earth," he said gruffly, "come along please."

"No," Harry said quickly, slowly easing Lyla to sit back down and released her hand, "this one stays, that one can go."

Gina's mouth dropped even lower as the man began to escort her away.

"I'll come find you later!" Lyla yelled, "Just stay in the seats until I come find you!"

Gina shot Lyla an evil look as the man pushed her out the door into the auditorium.

Lyla glared at Harry, "what?" she asked.

"Nothing," Harry said, grinning, shoving his hands in his pockets "just wanted to talk to you. Spend a little time together..."

"Interesting idea," Lyla smiled, putting on a fake grin, "what'd you wanna talk about?"

"You," he answered simply, "I want to know all about you."

"Why don't you talk about yourself?" Lyla asked, "I'm sure it's much more interesting than my life."

"As if you don't know my biography already," Harry chuckled.

"No"

"Well then, it's not your taste of literature then, since you don't know it,"

"Fine," Lyla said, "tell me about your band. The other guys."

"Alright," Harry smiled, "anything to start a conversation. Well, they're five of us. Jackson, Lucas, David and me."

"That's four"

"Oh, right. I forgot about Milo. Little Milo," Harry said, "the group's drag down. Literally the group's little boy."

"Okay, so you don't like Milo"

"Nah, we get along fine," Harry shrugged, "he claims he can do so much, it annoys me. But anyway, he's like the runt of the litter. So he's 14, turning 15 soon. Sort of like a little annoying brother."

"Poor Milo"

"Then there's David," Harry continued on a happier note, "he's Chinese like yourself and Gina. Loves animals, loves them so much he gets all his bruises from when those horses decided he was
annoying. Used to work at a zoo as well, what a dare devil."

"Wow, I'm surprised he doesn't bring'em in here"

"He's got a couple of trained parakeets excreting on the audience," Harry chuckled, and then continued, "He's a great animal-lover, David."

"That's sweet, what about the big scary one?"

"Jackson?" Harry laughed, "He's no scary thug, and he's the joker among us actually. He's great. He goes to the gym nearly every day; he says his life depends on it."

"Probably does to him, what about Lucas? Why's he so pale? Does he wear foundation or something?"

"Foundation!?" Harry chuckled, "no, Lucas is albino. But he's probably the one with the style around here. He's poetic, loves drama, musical. And that rose he gave Gina just now, he's been chewing on
for days."

"Ew, and to think Gina slobbered over it"

"So that's my band," Harry concluded, "what about you?"

"Well, I'm 15," Lyla began, "and I live down the road in the small red house with the broken back door. My father just remarried and they're going on their honeymoon soon."

"Nice, are you okay with it?"

"Yeah, Gwen's such an amazing person, she sings like an angel," Lyla smiled.

"What about you? Do you sing?"

"Yeah," Lyla said, shrugging, "but no one ever wants to hear me apart from dad."

"Well go on then"

Lyla stared at Harry, "what?"

"Sing, I wanna hear you sing"

"What, why?" Lyla asked, trying to laugh it off.

"Because I just want to hear you, see what you sound like"

Lyla looked at Harry, looking slightly confused. But she knew this was her chance. Harry Louie, the famous Harry Louie, asked her to sing for him, who wouldn't? She took a breath:

Here in your arms while it's raining,
I don't care if I'm soaked.
Because in inside me I am singing
I feel the warmed within your coat
And even if the rain turns to snow,
I won't go.
I will stay here until it's over
Until its o---

Lyla hadn't even finished when Harry lunged towards her and pressed his lips firmly against hers, his hands wrapping around her waist.