Punch-Drunk Love

It was currently four days until Christmas, and I was doing merch for the band as they played a small local holiday show. The tour had been over for about 3 weeks, and this was their first show since being back. They were the second band to go on, which made me smile knowing they were growing in popularity.

However with their growing popularity came the growing of the fangirls in their fan base. While their fans had started out as people who truly cared for the music, they were now sprinkled with girls in low cut tops, and inappropriate concert attire.

“Do you have that v-neck in an extra small?” a girl with too much make-up, and a push up bra on asked while smacking her gum.

“Yeah, that’ll be $10,” I said reaching into the tub behind me.

“So like, how did you get to do merch for them?” she asked looking me over, “Did you sleep with them or something?”

“Uh, definitely not,” I said raising an eyebrow, “The bassist and brown haired guitarist have been my best friends since I was a kid, and the drummer since I was in middle school. However, if you must know, I am dating the lead singer.”

She just scoffed, obviously not satisfied by my answer and handed me her money before leaving. I shook my head at her stupidity, and excitedly waved at Miranda who walked in the front door.

“Finally a girl I can stand to be around,” I said throwing my arms around her, “The next girl to say ‘like’ to me more than once in a sentence and smack her gum is getting punched.”

“So, if I like, do this, will you like, punch me?” Miranda said smacking her gum and smirking.

“Bitch,” I said playfully while shoving her a little, “You’re still staying the night at my house tonight, right?”

“Of course, and last minute shopping tomorrow still?” she said as the band on stage finshed up.

“Yeah, I still don’t know what to get Brian,” I said twisting my face, “You’d think that after 6 months I’d have a better idea. But it’s so hard!”

“I can’t pick anything for John either,” she said as her eyebrows crunched together, “We’re going to have to really try hard to pick something out tomorrow.”

I nodded in agreement, and straightened everything that was lying on the table. I pulled one of the posters off of the pile, and set it in front of me uncapping the sharpie I had on the table.

“What are you doing?” Miranda asked eye balling me.

“Drawing on a poster?” I said raising an eyebrow, “I think John could use a crown and Jess could have a cool beard.”

“Josh needs to be a pirate,” she said as I doodled, “And please make Brian a fairy.”

“I’ll let you draw on Brian and Stephen,” I said as I finished up Josh’s eye patch.

She grinned from excitement, and patiently waited for me to finish doodling John’s crown on. When I was finished with my three doodles, she eagerly grabbed the sharpie and started on Brian’s fairy wings.

We were so preoccupied with our drawings, that we didn’t hear the band go on stage. The poster, which was vibrant before our drawings, was now covered in tons of black sharpie marks.

“Sadie, get your ass up here!” I heard John shout from the stage, “Everyone clear a path for our lovely friend Sadie!”

I hesitantly stood up, and walked through the parted crowd, and grabbed Brian’s hand as he helped pull me on stage. Everyone was staring at me, and I awkwardly smiled while looking at John with an expectant look.

“Since we first heard this song, we’ve loved it completely,” John said standing at his mic, “Stephen, Sadie and I have spent so many car rides screaming this song at the top of our lungs and I’d like to share it with you guys. However, Brian will sing the parts Stephen normally does, because Stephen can’t really sing. I wanna see all of you go crazy to this song. I know you know it!”

Josh started playing the opening chords to ‘Fat Lip’ by Sum 41, and I couldn’t help but to laugh and smile at Stephen and John. When the drumbeat kicked in, we were all jumping around the stage like crazy.

I sang Steveo’s parts, Brian sang Derek’s parts, and John took Dave’s parts. While Brian sang his long part, I stole a drink from his water bottle, and turned around to look at Jess. We made a few funny faces at each other, before it was time for me to sing again.

The crowd sang loudly, and danced along with us, and I couldn’t help but to have a huge smile on my face. When the song came to an end, we got a loud cheer, and I high-fived the band before walking off the side of the stage, and back to the merch table.

“Did you have any idea they were doing that?” Miranda asked as the band started their last song.

“None,” I said laughing, “It was so much fun though. I understand why they love being on stage.”

She smiled at my enthusiasm, and we readied ourselves for the fans that would be coming out to the table after the band finished playing.

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I stood with my back against the cold metal of the van while the band chatted with their fans. Miranda was next to me, and we both looked extremely tired. I had stayed at her house the night before, and we thought it would be a smart idea to pull an all-nighter.

“We’re so sleeping tonight,” I said stifling a yawn.

“We were stupid not to last night,” she said yawning slightly as well, “While I’m super proud of the band’s success, I wish there weren’t so many fans waiting after. I just want to say goodbye to John properly, and head to your place.”

I nodded, itching my nose, and we stood in silence for a little longer. I let my eyes linger over the crowd, which was mainly teenage girls, and watched as the band interacted with them.

John was off to our left, and was casually leaning against the wall as a girl in a low cut top shamelessly flirted with him. Her friends were also in the conversation, and it was easy to see that he could care less about the girl’s attempts at flirting. He noticed me looking at him, and raised his eyebrows in a pleading way, that made me chuckle.

“You may want to go save your boyfriend,” I said nudging Miranda, who was zoned out.

“Time to do some slut damage control,” she said pushing off of the van and sauntering over to John.

I watched Miranda from my spot against the van, enjoying the show from a distance, but quickly pushed off of the van when she was pushed.

“Like I said, back the fuck off bitch,” the slut said turning back to John.

“No, you back the fuck off of my boyfriend, whore,” Miranda said clenching her jaw tightly.

John opened his mouth to interject, but was cut off by the slutty girl pushing Miranda yet again. Miranda, who was completely fed up, brought her right fist up and planted it square on the girls nose.

“Jess, I need backup!” I said attempting to push the girl away from Jess, but getting pushed by her friend.

“Are you guys fucking retarded or something?” I asked the girl who had pushed me as I grabbed her wrists and twisted them behind her back.

My actions only angered the third friend, and by the time Jess had gotten there, it was an all out girl fight. I had released the girl I had held back, and it didn’t take long for us to fall to the ground in our struggle.

Miranda and the slutty girl were throwing the most punches, and from the blood on the girls shirt and chest, I knew Miranda had broken her nose with the initial punch. Jess had the third girl pinned to the ground, and kept yanking her twisted arm if she tried to escape the grip.

During the struggle, the girl was able to get a clean right hook into my cheek, and from the stinging I felt I knew it was bruising. My one bruise, however, was no match to the black eyes she was sure to be sporting the next day.

I was so into the fight, that I didn’t even hear the boys frantically yelling at us, or the crowd forming around us. Miranda and the girl she was still fighting were the most verbal, and I could hear Miranda utter curse words with every hit she made.

I was mid swing, when I was being yanked up by two people and shoved backwards. I stumbled, and slightly glared at Josh and Brian who had pulled me off. I went to walk back, but Brian wrapped his arms around me, restraining me. Stephen and Josh were able to pull Jess off of the girl she still had pinned, and the girl scampered up quickly and kept rubbing her shoulder.

Miranda, however, wasn’t as easy to pry off. It took John, Stephen, and Josh to pull her off, and restrain her successfully. The girl’s friends came to help her up, and while they were walking away, the girl spit at Miranda’s feet.

“You better watch your fucking back bitch,” Miranda said writhing in the guys arms, “You’re so lucky they’re holding me back. I hope daddy can pay for a nose job.”

The girls rushed to the white BMW in the parking lot, and peeled out of the lot. Luckily, the fight took place at a venue with no near neighbors, so the cops wouldn’t be called.

“Are you girls fucking insane?” Stephen asked once we were all let go, “Seriously, what the fuck was that all about?”

“That bitch started it,” Miranda said as Jess and I chimed in with agreement.

“Regardless of who started what, I doubt there was a reason for it to turn into a brawl!” Brian said joining in, “Imagine if the cops had been called. You’d all be in the back of cars on the way to the station right now.”

“Well they weren’t so you don’t have to worry about that,” Jess said with a snarky tone and look.

“Also, I’m glad you’re so worried about our injuries,” I said wiping the blood on my lip away.

“We are Sadie, but Christ,” John said looking at Miranda.

“Uhm, guys, my hand shouldn’t be this swollen,” she said looking up from it.

“Shit, we have to take her to the ER for an x-ray,” Josh said looking at it as well.

We all nodded, and piled into the van before driving across town to the hospital.

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Three hours later, we were leaving the ER with Miranda’s hand in a cast. She had fractured a few of the bones, and bruised the others. She was a giggly mess, considering they had prescribed her vicodin for the pain.

The boys drove us back to her car, and Stephen ended up driving us back to my place. I thanked him for driving us, and Jess and I hoisted Miranda up the driveway before putting her to sleep on the futon.