When Happily Ever After Fails

"Guys, I gotta say, I have never heard anything suck as bad as that," Alex said with his head down as if he was ashamed by the admission. They were only at their second band practice, and Ricky was already halfway to throwing in the towel. For the second time since they had started, they took a break. "I don't mean to be rude, but there's just something off about it..."

"What's off about it is that we suck," Ricky said bitterly as he stalked out of the room. He chugged back a glass of water and got a second from the tap as Tucker entered the room. Sighing, he turned towards his friend and just stared at him. They both knew that this wasn't working, but neither one of them wanted to say it first.

"We have a gig tonight," Tucker said. Ricky dropped the glass and they both jumped as they heard it shatter. Silence nestled down between them as the shock electrified the air. It wasn't often that it happened, but Ricky was unaware of how to react. Tucker was fully aware that, not only were they unprepared, but they were extremely untalented in this regard. "If we're so bad they we get booed off before the song is even done, then we'll call it quits... I just want it to be final."

Displeasure was growing on his face rapidly, and Ricky could sense it. What he hated most about it was that Tucker was right. Without a single word of protest, he nodded and returned to the cramped living room that they had managed to shove all the people and equipment into. Cautiously, he leaned against Alex; he had to careful of his actions around him.

"I take it he told you the wonderful news, then?" Alex murmured into his ear. The two had developed a bond that was difficult to describe in words, and appeared to others to be a lot more than it was. Even though Alex would never protest if Ricky had been willing to push for more, he also understood why Ricky could never do that. For the moment, he was content to play the part of the father; the older brother; the protector. Though it never showed through in his demeanor, Ricky was still vulnerable and terrified. "If it makes you feel better, you aren't singing something that you wrote. Tucker's idea of a gig is a cover-band competition..."

Ricky started to laugh and everyone's eyes soon turned to face them. A creeping scarlet pushed out through his normally pale skin, but his smile did not deteriorate. Alex slid his arm around Ricky's shoulders and quietly cursed when the boy froze, and then pulled away in a very obvious manner.

They played quite a few more songs and it got to the point that they all started to run together for all of them. By the end of the evening, the majority of the words, chords, and beats were either ill timed or they belonged to a song that was not supposed to be playing at that instant. Frustration huddled in clouds above their heads and made the atmosphere acidic

"Can we quit now?" Ricky whined as he flopped down onto the couch. His complaints were met with a chorus of resounding "No's", and he stuck his bottom lip out to accommodate his childlike behavior. Without another word, he rolled off of the couch onto the floor and crawled over to the CD collection like a toddler would. As he sorted through them, he left several stacks of unwanted disks all over the floor.

Danny headed into the kitchen, and when he returned a moment later, he almost tripped over one of the stacks. Swearing vehemently, he found it extremely difficult to not kick the carefully balanced tower over like an enraged older sibling. It took all of his power to not lash out when Ricky looked up at him with wide eyes; feigning innocence.

"Okay Ricky, it's time to clean up your toys," he said snidely. For a moment, Danny thought that he was honestly going to cry and put everything back, but any thoughts of Ricky simply complying were bleached from his mind as Ricky smirked and shook his head. Raven hair flew in every direction as he continued to do so while giggling. "Grow up," Danny chided.

Ricky lay down on the floor and curled up by the couch, giving the appearance that he was about to go to sleep. The majority of the others crawled over him and onto the couch, but Danny sighed and started putting the discarded Cd's back on the shelf. When his back was turned, he felt a swift, slight pain in his lower back, and he whipped around to see Ricky shutting his eyes quickly. He looked all around for the weapon of choice, and then he saw it.

"You just threw a fucking CD at me!" Danny cried incredulously as he picked the case up off of the floor. Had it not been for the large red line through one of the songs, Danny would have tossed it back at him within the second. "That's the song we're doing?"

As Danny stared dumbfounded at the song choice, Ricky retreated further back against the couch and yawned before actually falling asleep. Awkwardly, Danny crawled over his crumpled frame to show the others what song Ricky wanted to do. Tucker immediately groaned.

"At least if we're going out, we're going out with a bang," he muttered.