Daylight

Viv’s POV

Before the show that afternoon, I was sitting with Bobby and Steph, who apparently had made up: they were holding hands but otherwise keeping the PDAs to a minimum. Bobby looked my way a couple of times with a shy smile on his face. I winked at him and gave him a thumb’s-up.

We watched as the Daylight Bathers took the stage—three of them, anyway.

Tia, Mo and Petula looked more nervous than I’d ever seen them before. They were announced to the crowd, who began to cheer. The girls messed around with their instruments, killing time till Sal decided to make her appearance.
After a minute or two, Sal still hadn’t shown up. I saw Petula shake her head in what looked like disgust, and signal to Mo to start playing. Mo tore into the intro of “American Idiot,” and she stepped up to her mic, ready to sing.

Then, just before the start of the vocal, someone stepped up to the bassist’s mic.
For a second, my mind, expecting to see a tall blonde, couldn’t process what I was actually seeing. Oh, it was a tall blonde, alright—but it wasn’t Sal.
In fact, taking in the splayed-legged stance; the checked shirt; the worn jeans and the boots, for a moment, my brain said: Mike Dirnt!

Holy shit, even the hair looked right. How…?

Sal/Mike leaned forward and snarled,

Don’t wanna be an American idiot
Don’t want a nation under the new media
And can you hear the sound of hysteria
The subliminal mind-fuck America

I could tell the rest of the band were stunned, but like the professionals they were, they kept playing. In fact, by mid-song, they seemed like they were really getting into it, headbanging and laughing while they played. I guess it was kind of amusing to see Sal dressed that way. I stole a look at Bobby and Steph, and they were enjoying themselves.

Goddamn, I must be getting old.
Was I the only one shocked?
In a couple minutes, I sure wasn’t.

The ‘Bathers finished the song to more cheers from the audience. Sal especially looked elated, and grabbed the mic to address the crowd.
“Hey ya’ll, how ya doing?”
Laughter and cheers.
“We are the Daylight Bathers, from Chicago, and we’re here to ask you a question!” Sal roared. She looked around at the young faces of Warped.
“What we need to know is…do we look like guys to you?”
The girls in the crowd cheered in answer.
Sal unsnapped her bass’ strap and began shedding her disguise, first unbuttoning the shirt to many hoots from the young males in attendance. She threw it off, revealing a tank top.
“Did you know,” she continued, “that some asshole said we fucking play like guys?”
She then kicked off her heavy boots and pulled the wig from her head, allowing her hair to cascade down.
“Whoo, that’s better!” she crowed into the mic. “Now, where was I? Oh, yeah, we don’t look like guys, do we? And we don’t play like guys, huh? Do we?”
Mo punctuated Sal’s words with her guitar, unleashing an amazing solo that had nothing to do with Green Day—or anything else I could ever recall hearing before.
More cheers went up.
Sal nodded her approval. “That’s what I’m talking about—my girl Mo over here!” she laughed. “Baby, Mo, come over here, give me some sugar, baby. C’mon.”
Mo sidled over to Sal and, her guitar still strapped to her torso, put her hands on the taller girl’s waist. Sal leaned over and kissed her friend full on the mouth.

Over the crowd noise, I couldn’t believe I could actually hear Steph gasp, but there it was. I looked over at her and her mouth was open. Bobby was grinning and trying to capture as much of the action as he could on his cellphone camera.
Men are such pigs.

I have to say, it was a rather convincing show. In fact, it looked a little too real. But hey, who am I to judge, right?

All of a sudden I realized that Sal was unzipping her jeans and pulling down her pants.

Oh shit, now what? She wasn’t really going to moon the crowd, was she?

Apparently not. Sal and Mo continued their kiss while Sal shimmed out of her tight jeans, finally allowing them to drop to her ankles.
She was wearing her pajama bottoms: a pair of well-worn mens’ boxers. I’d seen them on her a few days ago when I’d been looking for Petula. But there was something odd about the front of them; something didn’t look right….

Oh shit again.

The two girls ended their kiss and Sal stepped back, fumbling with the fly front of the boxers. Mo looked down and started laughing hysterically.

Protruding from the boxers was a strap-on of rather impressive size.

“See? I told you, we are so not guys!” Sal hollered into her mic triumphantly. “I’ve never seen any guy attached to anything this huge!”

Pet’s POV

Sal finished that show in her tank and boxers and strap-on, barefoot. I’m not entirely sure what point she thought she was making, but I can’t honestly say it was bad for business. She was pleased, anyway.

A few hours after the show, we were drinking at a local bar. Aunt Viv got me away from everyone else into an almost-quiet corner so we could talk.
“Honey,” she said, “I think you should call your mom. She’s worried about you.”
I burst out laughing. “She’s worried about me?” I howled. “I’m not the one who was onstage today in boxers, and wearing that…thing!”
Viv looked at the rim of her glass and smiled faintly.
I sobered immediately. “She’s been calling you, hasn’t she?”
My godmother nodded.
I shook my head. “Why?”
She shrugged. “We’re sisters,” she offered in explanation.
“She still thinks I’m gonna lie to her,” I said, amazed. “What did I ever do?”
“I don’t know, honey,” Viv answered. “But…considering what happened today, you may want to wait a couple days to call her.”
She looked serious, but then neither one of us could hold back our laughter at Sal’s behavior.

The woman of the hour lurched up to us right on cue, while hanging onto Tom McCullough’s arm. “Hey,” she slurred, “what a night, huh? That was so much fun….”
“Am I going to be holding her hair, or is it your turn?” I asked Tom.
“I’ll do it,” he replied, stroking Sal’s head affectionately. “After all, I helped her out today.”
My mouth dropped open. “Those were your clothes!?”
He smiled back at me. “Of course, darlin’,” he said. “Don’t forget, you didn’t ask me when I’d last seen her, or why, just if. At least she came to me. It could’ve gone much worse.”
I rolled my eyes. “Worse than her wearing a dildo onstage?”
“Hey now, that wasn’t mine,” Tom objected.
Joe joined our little party. “It wasn’t mine either,” he interrupted pleasantly.
“I should hope not,” his brother commented while Sal laughed hysterically.

About an hour later, Tom, true to his word, had assisted Sal with what he termed her “nightly emissions.” Joe and I were then free to hold hands and walk like a normal couple, instead of two people desperately trying to take care of a drunk. It was nice not to have to look after Sal for awhile.
I wasn’t sure why, but I felt comfortable with Joe and Tom, even though I hadn’t known them long.

As we walked back to the buses, Joe asked, “Pet, luv, what’re you doin’ tomorrow?”
I tilted my head. “Oh, I don’t know…playing a show?”
He shook his head. “Ah, no, yer not. Tomorrow’s a day off, and I have plans for us.”
“What sort of plans?” I asked suspiciously.
He smiled. “Ah, but you’ve got such a dirty mind for such a sweet girl,” he chided me. “I was thinkin’, you, me, a duvet, and a basket o’ food, under the stars.”
“What, like a nighttime picnic?”
“Supposed to be a full moon tomorrow night,” Joe remarked. “We won’t even need a torch.”
I had to ask. “What if it rains?”
He considered for a minute. “Well, then, we’ll take the torch into that huge bunk in the back o’ yer bus and pretend we’re outside.”
“You’re just trying to get me alone,” I accused him.
“Fair enough,” Joe agreed. “But it’s not all about that, luv.” He leaned closer to my ear and spoke more softly. “I promised I wouldn’t pressure you, Pet. That don’t make me not wanna spend time with yeh, though.”
We’d stopped walking by now. Joe was standing on the sidewalk, holding both of my hands in his. He looked me directly in the eyes. His were a beautiful warm light brown.

It was giving me a strange feeling I didn’t recognize…because I’d never felt it before.
I trusted him.

How could anyone resist a guy who’d look them right in the eye, with such a pleading look on his face? I sure as hell couldn’t.

I leaned up to kiss him. It was a light kiss, but damn, it felt as great as those huge ones we’d shown off in front of the girls. Then Joe picked me up off my feet.
When he set me down, he said into my ear, “Is that a yes then?”
I nodded.