Disasterpiece

Corey’s hand left mine as I stumbled back a few paces – Paul’s arms wrapped tightly around me. I tried to say something to him but my face was pushed into his bellowing chest, yep he was still the slightly overweight kid from high school; he even had the same cologne.

“Don’t kill her or anything,” I heard Corey chuckle. Paul quickly let go and stared down at me, a goofy smile adorning his overly adorable and yet aged considerably teddy bear face. I smiled back up at him and punched him playfully in the arm.

“’Sup Paul? Long time no see,” I said with a grin, it was entertaining to watch him standing there smiling like a lunatic, his face seemed to be torn in two – disbelief and excitement; quite a combination really.

“Vixen, jesus; where the fuck have you been?!” he asked, stepping forward he wrapped one arm over my shoulders and began to steer me towards the house. Corey followed us into the house and closed the door behind him as I tried to wrap my arm around Paul’s very wide waist.

“I’ve been around, not winning Grammy’s or anything nearly as exciting as that though,” I answered with a smirk, Paul snorted and squeezed me briefly.

“Grammy’s aren’t nearly as interesting as you’re making them out to be,” he replied with a roll of his eyes.

“It’s true, mines in my toilet,” Corey added from somewhere behind us. I unwrapped myself from Paul and turned to face Corey; I tilted my head on a side and raised my eyebrow.

“In your toilet?” I asked in confusion, don’t people usually keep trophies in cases or on display in the part of their house that gets the most visitors so they can brag about their win? I mean I’ve never been given a trophy or award or whatever for anything so I wouldn’t know, but really…a toilet seems a strange place. Corey grinned and shrugged his shoulders.

“I got it made into a toilet roll holder, it’s the only thing it’s useful for really,” he replied as he began to walk past us. I shook my head and turned back around, I had never ever been able to understand Corey’s logic – anyone who could obviously belonged in an asylum. Paul grabbed my hand and started to pull me after Corey’s retreating back; I looked around at our surroundings as we went – if this was a guy’s house than it was obvious that he was always on tour. There wasn’t a single thing out of place; the walls were adorned with various frames filled with awards Slipknot had won and all the furniture matched a deep red and brown colour scheme. We passed through a large kitchen complete with mahogany wood and a bay counter – it was the kind of kitchen that made you want to know how to cook, Daniel would be in heaven.

We soon reached some sliding doors and I was pulled back outside into the open. The backyard was massive and the grass was lush and green – it put our lawn to shame. There was a pool and a BBQ area and a patio where a group of people were hanging, all drinking and talking loudly. I watched Corey head over to a huge guy I recognised to be the one who was at the pub with him last night and man-hug him hello. Paul slowed his pace down, but did not let go of my hand as we got closer to the group. My stomach began to knot and twist around inside me, without knowing any of these people I was guessing this was Slipknot, and boy did I feel like an outsider right now.

“Is that fucking Corey fucking Taylor?!” I heard a familiar voice scream, I craned my neck in time to see Josie appearing from the depths of the group with a drink in her hand a look of ecstasy on her face. It didn’t surprise me that she was already here making friends by herself, she was the kind of person that could talk to anyone and everyone instantly loved her. If I was in her position I would’ve waited outside until I saw someone I knew and then tagged along with them – but I wasn’t Josie.

“Is that Josie fucking Stanley?!” Corey mimicked, Josie laughed and shoved her drink into someone’s hand, running up to Corey she jump-hugged him. They both stumbled around for a bit laughing before they let go of each other and punched each other playfully. “How you been doll face?” Corey asked.

“I’ve been fan-fucking-tastic, you’re friends have been entertaining me with stories from the road,” she replied, Corey looked up at the rest of his band mates who were watching the scene with amused expressions.

“Is that so, I hope they didn’t say anything too bad,” he said, more as a warning to his friends than a reply to Josie. Josie snorted and shrugged – you could commit the worst crime imaginable and the girl would be able to find some reason why you deserved forgiveness.

“Nothing we didn’t do in high school already,” she replied lightly, then turned to face me. “Vixen!” she screamed, running towards me she tackled me to the ground and kissed my forehead in true ‘Josie the lightweight’ fashion. “Can you believe this, I couldn’t really believe you last night…but now I do!” she squealed in my ear. I nodded with a laugh and watched Paul come up behind her and pull her up off me. Corey came up next to me and held out his hand, I took it and stood up next to him. He draped his arm around me and drew me closer to the rest of Slipknot.

“Everyone this is VJ, my estranged sister…VJ this is everyone,” Corey introduced; I bit my lip nervously and gave a small wave. Before us eight sets of eyes including Josie’s bore into me, moving back and forth between Corey and I. One guy snorted humourlessly and stepped forward from the group, pointing a beer in our direction. He had short brown hair with red tips and blue eyes; I noticed a tattoo on the top of his hand too.

“There’s no fucking way she’s related to you dude, her neck is petite and her hair doesn’t sit like a mass of straw on her head,” he said with a laugh. Corey rolled his eyes and pulled me tighter against him.

“We aren’t blood related Sid and if you even think about having a go with her I will rip your balls off,” Corey retorted smugly. Sid laughed his remark off loudly and shrugged.

“She’s all yours dude,” he replied, turning around he stumbled past the others towards a blue tub full of what looked like beer bottles and ice. Corey loosened his grip again as the group began to spread out once more and directed me towards Paul and two familiar looking guys who had been at the bar with Corey. They all looked up and smiled as we approached, the largest of the three holding out two beers for us. I took mine gratefully with a weak smile and took a large gulp, the cool amber liquid rolling down my throat uneasily – I had always been more of an alco-pop fan.

“VJ this is Mick and James, they were at the bar last night,” Corey said to me. I nodded and grinned at the one Corey had pointed out to be Mick, I noticed now that he had ‘seven’ tattooed down his left forearm, and some kind of Asian on the other.

“You were getting some real uneasy looks last night,” I said him. The guys chuckled together and Mick shrugged carelessly.

“Comes with the size,” he replied, his voice was deep but not foreboding like you would expect, I could tell once you got to know him he was a really nice genuine guy – Corey never made a history of hanging out with assholes I guess; that was my department.

“I would imagine it works to your benefit,” I added lightly, he tilted his head in agreement and raided his beer in the air with a smile. “So what’s the occasion anyways?” I added quickly, pointing around me aimlessly. I felt the need to keep the conversation going for as long as possible without any awkward moments, I guess I was afraid of the inevitable question of “why?”.

“Reunion,” Paul replied shortly.

“Oh?” I questioned, obviously this wasn’t a reunion for Corey and I as that would be pointless with people I don’t know, for the moment any way.

“We’re going back into recording to do our forth album,” the one called James explained, he wore glasses and had longish messy brown hair; him and Mick would be a force to be reckoned with if someone were ever to get into a fight with them I would imagine. Thinking about it, all the guys here had a rough edge to them that only came with living in Iowa – it took another Iowan to see the softness behind the masks.

“That sounds like fun, do you guys like not see each other between albums or something then?” I asked in interest, having no idea how bands operate except that somehow if they can manage to come out with some decent tunes then they get to tour and promote said tunes.

“Most of us have side projects and stuff we’ve been working on for a couple of years,” Corey answered.

“You’re in another band?” I asked excitedly – it was fun finding out about Corey and how great his life had turned out, even though I hadn’t really had much part in it for a while, it still made part of me feel successful too.

“I am with James, and Joey is in another one and Sid has this DJ gig and the others have other shit going on,” Corey explained. I was about to ask who Joey was when a big wet, sloppy and extremely noisy, kiss was planted square on my cheek. I squealed and turned to find Sid’s retreating back running wildly towards a cackling Josie – of course the two drunkest and evidently most energetic people were going to partner up. I scrunched my face up and ran my palm over my cheek, wiping away the residue.

“He’s going to make a game of it now you threatened him dude,” Paul said to Corey who sighed and let his arm fall from my shoulders.

“I know I know,” Corey groaned dramatically – the grin on his face said he knew it was all good natured though.

“Why’d you threaten him?” a voice came from behind, I turned with Corey to find a guy with long black hair and piercing blue eyes standing there holding a plastic bag filled with a suspicious dried leafy substance.

“Cause its Sid, and where the fuck have you been?” Corey asked the new arrival who rolled his eyes and shook the plastic bag in the air obviously. “Looks like it’s gonna be a long night,” Corey grinned stupidly. “Oh yeah since you missed the introductions this is my sister VJ,” he added, pulling me against him again. The guy turned to face me straight on and cocked his head; my eyes went wide as a memory hit me suddenly.

“Nicest part of this whole place don’t you think?” a deep voice said from above, startling me and causing me to jump in surprise. I looked up at a figure standing a few feet away from me, staring at my grave with a longing look in his eyes.

“I do think,” I replied quietly as I took in his appearance; long black hair, some of which was dreadlocked, piercing blue eyes, an eyebrow and a lip ring. From where I was sitting he looked quite short as well, probably around the same height as me. But under this look there was a definite air of superiority emitting from him, a kind of cockiness that kept his head in the air and his casual stance just slightly pose-like. He looked away from my grave and straight at me, a weak smile tugging at the side of his lips.

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said; then he turned and walked away. I watched him pass through the cemetery gates and head down the street silently, my brows tugging together in confusion – what a strange little man.