Rebel Yell

I clasped my hand around hers and lead her through the little room we had rented out, underneath the venue. It was similar to the one back in Florida but it was much brighter, as if it was suppose to be a conference hall but was long forgotten about. She grunted her way towards the room, knowing fully what we had all planned for her today. It was her birthday and we all wanted to celebrate it with her because, even though she believed she was this nasty bitch of a boss, we all loved her. But it was even more than a celebration of her birthday, it was a celebration for what we had all achieved in over such a small amount of time, the tour, the relationships we had formed, the hills we have climbed and overall what we were going away with.

“this is very mean, Billie Joe” she snarled at me and I clicked back to reality, squeezing her hand tightly and tugging her to the two large chestnut brown doors ahead of us.

“And obviously, that is what makes me so great” I kissed the top of her silky soft hair that she had finally managed to wash, after an hour’s worth of torture from yours truly between our bed covers. “Now then, I had to do something here” I began to play dumb, as I let go of her hand and wondered slowly behind her. A breeze of her perfume wafted up my nose and I rubbed my nose into her hair taking it in, it was so unique to Marci because there was no distinct manufactured smell there- there was no, Ms Dior or musk, just pure Marci. I placed my hands into her hair and felt my fingers glide softly through each strand before meeting them together over her eyes. “eyes closed” I whispered into her ears and I could feel her skin become tight around where my hands were placed.

“Yes sir” she placed her hands around my own and I felt the softness of them against my rough fingers. I pushed her forward, towards the door and kicked the door open forcefully enough for us to quickly get into the room.

“Surprise” everyone shouted and I let my hands fall away from Marci’s bright eyes, as she glanced at everyone happily. So much for hating birthday surprises I thought, as her face told a different story and although she mischievously glared at everyone, her smile stayed firmly fixed onto her face with a glint of pure happiness. She took hold of my hand again and pulled me close to her, kissing me only very quickly on the cheek,

“its still very mean of you too do” she smiled, as a group of people ran up to her, patting her on the shoulder and passing their birthday messages, cards, presents ect over. I decided to leave her to deal with all the attention that every single on of her crew members wanted to give her and headed over to where Adeline was debating with Mike.

Now, I could tell this was a debate rather than a fuelled argument for several factors; 1, she was letting Mike have his say in the argument, 2, Mike isn’t spitting feathers at the ridicule of the how pathetic Adeline is being, 3, Mike is sitting calmly down on a beer barrel whilst gripping Adeline’s waist in a loving way.

“What’s up” I nonchalantly asked and both their eyes dodged to me quickly, smiling brightly as if I was their MC2 to their E. I mentally applauded myself in my head for not choosing to go speak to bar master Tre, in the other corner but instead picking the two people who looked at me like they had struck gold.

“What would Marci prefer, The Clash, The Who, The Cure, Pat Benatar, our albums; which I’m apposed to playing today or something like Journey? Adeline seems to think she’d like Duran Duran or Irene Cara” Mike rolled his eyes to his girlfriend, who stood looking at me innocently as if butter wouldn’t melt.

“Personally, after seeing what happened the last time we played Journey, I suggest we play something that has a Joey in it” I left the decision wide open with numerous of my favourite bands having a ‘Joey’ in it.

“see, I told you she wouldn’t like Irene Cara” Mike stuck his tongue out at Adeline and in one swift movement, Adeline began to kiss him. Erguh, that was a little bit sick and that image of them, back on that tour bus played in my mind. Disgusting.

“Ok, well I’m going over there” I pointed over towards Tre and weaved through the now dispersing people, who all stood around, waiting for something to begin to play on the speakers.

“Marci, you’ll look beautiful in it, go on wear it” I heard somebody demand of my girlfriend and I cringed, knowing well that I had left her there to face that alone. The consequences though would be reap worthy, I had been through enough of these situations with Marci to know that it always ended in sex. She was always so sexy when she disagreed with me and most of the time I knew that she was only playing devil’s advocate in order to get a rise out of me....quite literally.

“What can I get you today sir?” Tre asked me, a towel thrown over his shoulder as he held a glass in one hand. This bar tender image he had going, with his white shirt and black bow tie seemed right for Frank Wright but none the less, he was still the infamous Tre Cool, with drum beats and Green Day running through his blood.....

“Tre, that’s just-“ I looked stunned at my best friend, who had just spat into a glass and now complemented the old bar tender look by rubbing it into the glass with the towel.

“you were having a mental moment, I asked you what you wanted but since you didn’t answer i figured I do some cleaning” he spoke innocently and shook my head, why did I expect anything differently. “So what are you having today?” he asked again, slamming the glass down in front of me.

“Another glass first and then I’ll just have a beer” he pulled a disappointed face that I wouldn’t be the first to try one of Tre Cool’s cocktails and instead picked up a beer bottle from the stack behind him.

It really did look like it was going to turn out to be a good party and even though we all knew we had a show to do, in little under six hours, it didn’t make a difference. I glanced around the entire room and if I could have taken a picture as a metaphor of how I felt, this moment would be it. There were groups of people gathered together, best friends forever after meeting only a few months ago, as well as their smiles, which seem to give the atmosphere an almost glittering glow and then there was my best friends. My two stilts holding me above water, throughout all my crisis and I wouldn’t want them any other way but obviously, I wouldn’t want the two people that contained their boyish behaviour to ever fade away from my minds sight. There was Adeline, somebody I had always come to battle with over the stupidest things, as well as the newest addition to our harlequin family, Debbie. She had taken Tre by the balls and brought him down enough to make even Romeo look like a tight ass geezer but most importantly, she had given me the advice and the guts to go for Marci.......Marci. She was stood like a glittering ball in the middle of the room, bombarded with a mount of presents and looking fantastic, she was the light of my life in more ways than one and I thought that even before Cheri, I was doomed to ruin every relationship...but I showed everyone who ever doubted me, wrong.

There was a blast of static from the speaker before the tinny sound of ‘Time of my Life’ began to play; I looked to Adeline who shrugged her shoulders at me before running to look for Mike. I’m sure I said something with a ‘Joey’ in it.

“Fancy a dance?” Marci kissed my cheek before grabbing my beer in one hand, drinking the rest of it and slamming it on the side.

“Obviously” I smiled at her sudden burst of energy and enthusiasm for drink before grabbing her waist and dragging her, to where a lot of the roadie’s had begun to their best dirty dancing routines. I hooked my hand around her entire waist and pulled her close, clasping my other hand around hers. I began to sway my legs in time to the beat and she bit her lip in amusement of my dancing, “So I’m no Ren McCormack” I twisted her around and she laughed even louder at my dancing.

“You’re fine” she rubbed her nose against mine before resting her head against my shoulder, her hand grabbing at the back of my neck. I looked down at her and brought her face up to mine. She smiled brightly, as I brought her closer to my face, she was beautiful and I pushed a loose brown curl from her face before I hesitantly lingered on her lips. I wanted to memorise this feeling, of this whole day and even more so having these innocent kisses with Marci.

There was nothing more I wanted than to be here with her, nothing and as I kissed her for what seemed the entire song, I found a will in me to never fuck this relationship up....I loved her too much.