Hand of Blood

"You are officially the most stupid person I have ever met," Jay sighed, frowning at me. I scowled at him in response and folded my arms across my chest, covering the word 'famous' scribbled across my shirt and turning away. I doubted any of the guys would come to my rescue either, considering I did have to be pretty stupid right now. For starters, I wasn't even wearing my own clothes.

It was about ten at night and I had been speaking with Kayla for most of the evening, before she had decided that we should get the sofa all sorted for us to sleep on tonight. That's when I realised I spent all that time in my house earlier, and forgotten my pj's. Moose and Padge were anything but happy with me after they made the discovery, especially Moose, but none the less, all the guys had chipped in to get me a full outfit, all set for any weather conditions. It consisted of Matt's shirt, Moose's shorts, and a hoodie Jay had offered me in case the music room decided to hit sub zero. The duvet that I was currently sitting on, that me and Kayla would be sharing, was a spare one, and the pillows had been given to us by Padge. On the whole, a group effort.

"Easy mistake to make," Kayla chirped, from her position at the other side of the sofa, wrapped in half of our double duvet. She was in her own night wear which consisted of pink tartan pj trousers and a faded band shirt. To be honest, it looked like it was one of Padges, not that it would surprise me.

"No; stupid," Moose grunted as his gaze stayed on the ceiling, considering he was currently laying on the floor a little way off from us. The rest of the guys were also randomly scattered about on the floor nearby.

"Shut up, Moose," Matt scolded, slapping his friends head lightly. "No need to be grumpy that Bri got your shorts. You offered them."

"Hardly my fault no one in this house has any clean clothes!" He exclaimed, turning to scowl at Matt. Moose liked to pretend he didn't care, but little comments like that told me different. If he didn't care, he would have left me with someone else's dirty clothes. I actually thought quite highly of the man, despite how rude he could often come across as being. He meant well, really. He just didn't want the rest of the world to know that.

I chuckled lightly at Matt and Moose arguing between themselves, as I pulled the duvet up over my knees, wrapping it around my lower torso. "That is a point, actually," I piped up, causing all eyes to fall onto me as they did every time I struck up a conversation. It had stopped being so unnerving now. "Do you all live here, or something?" I asked, curious as to how they all appeared to have their entire wardrobes here.

Everyone exchanged a glance before looking back at me. "Well, this is my place," Jay started, my gaze falling onto him. "But it was left to me by my parents, cause they moved out of Bridgend," he explained as I nodded.

"There's enough room for everyone, so we save a hell of a lot of money living here, Hun," Kayla added with a smile. "Some of the guys venture home on occasion, but for the most part we all stay here."

"Wow," I stated, looking around. "Don't you get... Sick of each other?" I asked carefully.

Matt chuckled. "Most of the time," he stated with a grin. "But it's just like a family, you know? You have to stick it out. We have our own rooms, usually, when we need space, and we can always walk out of our own free wills," he explained making more sense to me than I think he knew, and also raising some interesting thoughts in my head. You just have to stick it out, huh? I suppose that's what I did at home, and I suppose that's the complete opposite of what I was doing at the moment. Though for some strange reason I suddenly realised that I must need a family with me always. I think I realised that these guys were my surrogate family.

I smiled back as my gaze wandered around the group. It might of well have been the more parental Padge and Kayla with three crazy and completely individual kids. How awesome did that seem?

"That's... So cool," I said softly, with my smile never fading. At that precise moment, for just a split second, I received five shining smiles back, and I was jealous. This was more of a real family than my own dysfunctional one. It suddenly saddened me to know that by the time my real family was back, I would be saying goodbye to this one.

It was also in that moment I realised something else, that made me feel incredibly left out. "Do you guys have some piercing pact or something?" I asked with a grin, looking around the group. They all shared puzzled glances, before it hit them and they simultaneously started to laugh. Every single one of them had a labret piercing, and here I was metal free.

"Honey, it's a ritual thing," Kayla said with a grin.

"Yeah, there's fire, dancing and everything," Jay added, causing me to laugh, as he started making dramatic 'fire' actions. Or they might have been dancing, I couldn't be sure.

"Don't worry. You'll join it one day," Matt said sweet yet slightly patronizing tone. I scowled at him playfully and he smiled back as innocently as possible.

"Not if Moose has anything to say about it," Padge mumbled quietly, instantly triggering a cushion to be thrown in his direction from Moose.

+

I yawned and stretched backwards, my hands reaching behind the arm of the sofa I was leaning against, and my toes touching the opposite one beside Kayla. We had decided top-and-tail would be the best, and most comfortable way to sleep. I was also on the inside, considering I was extremely clumsy and knew I would end up falling off of the sofa if I was anywhere near the edge. Kayla didn't mind too much.

"So honey," Kayla said with a smile. "How are you finding our motley crew?"

I returned her smile, my gaze turning to the shadowed ceiling, the only light in the room seeping in from the hall way. "I think you're all pretty cool," I said honestly, glancing back down at her. "The whole band thing still amazes me, to be honest," I added, as I remembered fondly all of the guys' songs I had heard recently.

Kayla chuckled lightly. "That's good, then," she said, her eyes sparkling at me in the low light. "It's great having you around. Especially for me, but I know the guys do too," Kayla said somewhat coyly. I grinned back at her as I felt a spark of happiness shoot through me.

I really was getting attached to this family. To know I was just as welcome to them made me feel so... Good. For some reason I felt comfortable around every one of the guys, like I belonged here, or something. Perhaps I had just let my guard down a little too much, but hey, I had to live a little.

"Matt does, certainly," Kayla added after a moment, breaking me from my thoughts. My eyes met with her gaze instantly, as my expression grew blank. Kayla chuckled lightly, "I love how naive you still are, honey."

"W-what?" I replied stupidly.

"Matt's been my best friend for... forever," Kayla said with a grin. "I would know."

I frowned at her a little. "Okay," I replied simply, not knowing where she was going with this conversation. Maybe knowing, but not admitting. "Wait, you and Matt are that close?" I asked, suddenly finding that perhaps I didn't know half of the group dynamics as I had originally thought.

Kayla nodded. "Yeah, I've pretty much grown up with the whole band, but I was always closest with Matt," She explained, her gaze wandering the room. "He really is like my big brother," she added with a chuckle.

"So what, you all went to school together then?" I asked, interested but confused to how this would work. The only two of the group of the same age were Moose and Matt, which secured my assumption they had been closest. They had probably grown up in the same classes.

Kayla smiled back at me, lowering her gaze a little. "It's a funny story," she stated. "But as it's you, I'll tell it," she added, winking at me. I smiled back and folded my arms across my stomach as I watched her. Kayla's gaze turned to the ceiling in thought before settling back on me.

"I was best friends with Rachael Tuck since we were about six years old," she started, looking thoughtful. "I would always go over to her house and hang around with her, you know, the usual," Kayla mumbled, waving off her own comment. I smiled briefly before she started again. "Well, we got to about twelve I would say, and suddenly I found I had a hell of a lot more in common with her older brother, than her," Kayla said with a grin, her eyes settling on me.

"Rachael wasn't a rock fan?" I inquired, tilting my head.

Kayla chuckled. "Exactly," she stated. "So somehow, gradually, I found myself hanging out with Matt rather than Rachael. I'd still visit it them with the intention of seeing my best friend, but I usually end up talking to Matt," she said thoughtfully. "Me and Rachael actually fell out over it in the end; we're okay now, but I suppose she got bored of me having more interest in someone that she really didn't."

"So, you met Padge through Matt, then?" I asked, considering Padge was, again, older than everyone else.

Kayla nodded as her gaze wandered again. "Yeah, I met the guys through Matt on occasion when I was younger, but I really met the band in my last year of school, by which time Matt, Moose and Jay were in college," she continued to explain as I nodded continuously. "I'm not boring you, am I?" She asked with a grin.

I shook my head instantly, "No! It's really interesting," I replied easily. "So, Padge didn't go to college?" I asked, showing Kayla that I was still listening to her.

"No, he had already left it!" She said with a grin. "Me and Padge are actually the only ones who finished college. The other three dropped out in their second year, Jay in his first, to get the band going," Kayla explained, smiling broadly. "I was still always there with them though, and when I graduated I kind of just tagged along altogether. Thats around about when me and Padge got together... And we all started living here!" Kayla said with an air of finality, waving her arms around to signal the house around us. I nodded and smiled back at her. It really was interesting to know how everything started, considering I felt like I had just jumped into the middle of something. Kayla must really know everything about these four guys, and probably vice versa. One big family, in every way.

"That's really cool," I said honestly, smiling at her as I tugged the duvet up over my shoulders. "You guys just seem to have luck on your side, or something."

Kayla's eyebrows knitted together, though her smile didn't fall. "How do you mean, Hun?"

"Well, just that you happened to become such good friends with Matt, and then the rest of the guys, and then they ended up in a band, and you and Padge are perfect," I reeled of quickly, explaining my point as I suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

"Interesting," Kayla chuckled lightly. "So its down to luck that Mattie found you, then, hey honey?" She inquired, her gaze meeting with mine. "I think we must have some pretty amazing luck."