Daylight

Pet’s POV

The show that night, our first Warped date in Cali…well, it smoked. I think we were all pretty jazzed from having met Gerard Way. It was maybe the coolest thing that had ever happened to us so far.

Sal set us up right away as soon as we hit the stage. “How you doing, Los Angeles!” she yelled into the mic, like the rock star she is.
The crowd roared, of course. Sal could always amp them up—and the Warped crowd, of course, was mostly younger kids, who didn’t really need an energy boost. But she gave it to them anyway.
“Hey! Hey everybody, hey, pipe down a little, okay? I got something to tell you all,” Sal went on. The audience got a little quieter.
“That’s better. You know, hey, I don’t know if you know this, but my dad’s in the military, right?”
Some of the kids yelled back at her.
“Yeah! Right! Listen, me and my dad and mom, we’ve been all over the fucking world! I have lived in some places you guys wouldn’t fucking believe, right?”
Sal took a swig from her water bottle and continued.
“But, you know, as cool as that was—living in Japan, Germany, fucking Guam, man—even living all over the place, no place is as great as right here, right now! You hear me?”
Mo laughed and shook her head.
“And there’s no place I love like this place—because I was born in California—so I’m a native! And Cali natives fucking know this is the greatest place to be from, right?”
The kids started cheering and waving their hands.
“All right!” Sal hollered, satisfied. “Now let’s fucking tear this joint down!”
She led us into “Money (That’s what I Want)”:

The best things in life are free
But you can give ‘em to the birds and bees
Just gimme money (that’s what I want)
That’s what I want (that’s what I want)
That’s what I want, yeah, yeah
That’s what I want

Your lovin’ gives me a thrill
But your love can’t pay my bills
I need money…

Damn, we were on fire, if I do say so. It was amazing. It was one of those shows when you’re pretty sure you had a better time than the crowd did.

After most of the night was over, I was walking near the buses when I heard some noise behind one of them. Yeah, of course; it was a couple groping each other in the darkness. That kind of activity had become a pretty common thing to see and hear.
This sounded like two girls, though. Not totally out of the realm of possibility, of course; maybe a little unusual here, but hey, whatever blows your skirt up, so to speak.
I wasn’t trying to, but I could hear them, murmuring to each other and kissing. The voices sounded kinda familiar, but I wasn’t really eager to (a) surprise whoever it was and (b) deal with the possible embarrassment of both myself and them that that kind of a surprise would bring. So I kept walking, a little faster, anxious to find myself back in the light.
Then my phone vibrated, and I checked it to see a text from Joe:

meet me behind our bus 5 min sweet luv u

I didn’t reply; I just put the phone away and kept walking. My heart was already beating faster than it had a few moments before. I climbed our bus steps and dumped my bag into my bunk. It was quiet, for a change; everyone else was still at the post-show party.
I stopped in the bathroom for a few seconds. My face looked flushed in the dimly-lit mirror. I snapped off the light and went back outside.

It didn’t take long to fnd Joe, or rather, for him to find me. As I walked along the Madmen’s bus, a hand reached out and grabbed mine. I jumped a foot in the air and almost screamed, but then I saw the line of Joe’s face in the shadows.
“Jesus, what the hell?” I panted, damn near terrified.
Joe must’ve seen how he’d pretty much scared the life out of me. He pulled me in close, gently.
“Sorry, luv,” he murmured, stroking my hair.
I relaxed a little, but I was still shaking. “Did I ever mention how I really don’t like being scared?”
He smiled. “So, no horror movies, then?”
I shook my head against his chest. “I’m a big coward.”
“Hm, I’ll have to remember that,” he remarked.
I leaned back against the bus and started to say something, but Joe just laid a finger against my mouth and drew it down over my chin, slowly. Then he bent to me and kissed me, just once.
Oh holy shit.
Joe’s hand moved slowly down, tracing a path along the side of my neck, running his fingers across the top of my chest. I took a deep breath and tried to slow down my breathing. It didn’t help.
He laughed, very quietly. “Not afraid of me?” he whispered.
I couldn’t speak, so I shook my head, wishing I could see his eyes.
Joe snaked his hand around the back of my head, cradling it before pulling me closer. “That’s my girl,” he murmured.
I was shaking again, but it wasn’t from fear. It was so dark that even though he was so close, I kinda didn’t see him coming. When his lips touched mine, his tongue already brushing against them, I was jolted. He smiled against my mouth then, but a second later he was too busy to make any further comments.
Oh, my God, have I mentioned what kind of a kisser he was? Maybe the trouble with me was that I’d just been aroung guys who weren’t into the kissing part of the program.
Joe was most definitely not one of those. That first kiss was just a test, as it turned out. He started with just brushing his lips against mine, until I almost couldn’t take it anymore. Then he kept kissing me, but just all around my mouth and face, completely ignoring my lips. I’ve had guys call me a tease (mostly for not agreeing to sleep with them), but I’d say Joe was the bigger tease of the two of us. He seemed to know just the way to make me want to beg him to kiss me.
So I did; not in so many words, but by turning my head in whatever direction I thought he might be headed for next. But goddamn him, he faked me out pretty much every time.
I was getting frustrated…and this was just us kissing. I couldn’t even think of what he might do to me that would be considered teasing in another situation.
“Joe…” I finally managed to whisper.
His mouth was at my ear. “What?”
I gritted my teeth. “Stop….” I was trembling.
He pulled away by an inch or two. “You want me to stop?” I could hear laughter in his voice.
I shook my head. “No…” I hissed, “just…just stop…teasing me…I….”
He chuckled. “But, but it’s so much fun,” he murmured back, running his fingers along my neck.
“Maybe for you,” I groaned.
Joe pulled back further to look at me (as much as he could in the dark). “D’yeh mean to tell me, Pet, that you’re not enjoyin’ yerself?” he asked cheerfully. “Because to me, it seems you are.”
To prove his point, he nuzzled his nose along the skin right under my ear. My brain was shorting out; every touch from him was making me crazier. I was tingling everywhere. That time I moaned.
“See what I mean?” he murmured.
I couldn’t answer him. I tried to grab at his head and turn his face to mine, but instead I felt his tongue on my neck, followed by the scrape of his teeth. I shuddered.
Then Joe did something I wasn’t expecting: he slid his hands under my thighs, picking me up slightly, trapping me between the bus and his body. My head thumped against the side of the bus, but it didn’t hurt; and if it had, I don’t think I would’ve cared.

Joe’s POV

Oh God, what the fuck am I doing?

That’s what I was thinkin’, but I couldn’t stop meself. Jesus, but I was this close to just havin’ Pet up against the side of the bloody bus. The worst bit was that I was pretty sure she wouldn’t even fight me. I wanted her so bad right then I could barely think.
The only other thing in the back of my clouded brain was that somehow, Pet’d become vital to me, like, I dunno, food or water or air. I know: that don’t make sense, but I dunno any other was to explain it. Otherwise, what else could I be doin’ in the dark, with her legs wrapped round me, feelin’ like I couldn’t bloody breathe without her?
Then Pet moaned, and pressed hard against me, and all thoughts went out of me brain. I went on pure instinct, pullin’ her legs up higher, tryin’ to pin her against the bus without killin’ us both—her from being squashed, me from just wantin’ her.
“Joe, oh my God…” she whispered. Her arms wrapped round my neck, pulled me in tighter.
I rubbed up against her, slow, like that would help me control meself, right? She shuddered and rubbed right back. I licked her neck, smellin’ the last of the scent she must’ve used in the morning, tasting salt; feeling nothin’ but her heat that made the rest of the whole bloody boilin’ summer days feel like a cool breeze.
Pet clutched at me tighter again, and I heard and felt her sharp inhale; then she cried out in my ear. She trembled against me, and I didn’t bloody care anymore, I just let go, panting against her cheek, tryin’ to hold both of us up when all I wanted to do was melt into the ground with her.
After a few minutes, I felt her relax, and helped her back onto her feet again. She swayed a bit when her feet hit the ground. “I…uh…wow,” was all she said.
“Right,” I agreed, grinnin’. Tom was gonna fuckin’ kill me: tomorrow was his day to do the washing. “You alright then, Pet?”
She nodded, though she was still breathin’ hard. “Yeah, I, uh…Joe, what was that?”
I chuckled and ran a hand through her damp hair. “If yeh don’t know, luv, I’m not sure I can tell ya.”
“Ha ha, very funny,” she answered. “I know what it was, I just—I never really did anything like that before, that’s all.”
I got serious for a minute. “I know. It’s a bit of alright, innit?”
She nodded. “Oh yeah.”
“And there’s more where that came from,” I murmured. “More for me to show you, Pet.”
“I can’t wait,” she whispered back. “I wish we could stay together tonight.”
“Can’t we?”
“No, remember? Shoshi’s husband’s here,” she pointed out, tracing lines down me shirt.
“Right then, let’s get you…off to bed,” I agreed, kissin’ her one last time. “Big day tomorrow.”
Pet smiled. “Like always.”