Catastrophic Happenings

“Cade is like…one of those bratty, asshole three-year olds. You know what? That’s probably it. His brain probably stopped growing at three, but his body kept on going. That would explain why Cade is such a dickface.”

Ben laughed at Azalea’s comment. “Dickface? I don’t think you’ve ever used that term before.”

“Good. Wouldn’t want to upset Cade with the idea of sharing anything with anyone.”

The two were sitting on the steps of Ben’s pool. Azalea had went straight there after the whole debacle with Cade, leaving before Rick and the rest of the band even had the chance to exit her house. She was thankful for the opportunity to cool off both her body and her mind from the heat.

“Believe me, from what you’ve told me I’m sure Cade is just as bad as you’ve described.”

Azalea nodded in affirmation.

“Still,” Ben added with a much more serious face. “I can’t believe he made that comment about your dad.”

The mere reminder made some of the anger seep back into Azalea’s veins. “Oh, I know. The fucking nerve!” she exclaimed. “But on a brighter note, it was reassurance that my father is still a pretty sensitive topic for me,” she finished sarcastically.

Ben reached out and put his hand on her knee. The two were not a couple when Azalea’s dad’s infidelity was first discovered, but he was present for the separation and divorce. He knew how badly the whole ideal had hurt her.

He decided to change the subject, “Did you really mean what you said earlier? About quitting the band?”

Azalea thought about the question, and released a long sigh when she had her answer. “I don’t know.” She began to kick her feet in the water. “I love being in this band. Singing almost every day, the performances…it’s taken singing to a whole new level for me.” She paused before going on, and Ben didn’t rush her. “But Cade is absolutely awful. I hate being around him. The thought of quitting wouldn’t even cross my mind if anyone else but Cade was in the band.”

“But he wins if you quit,” Ben argued. “You wouldn’t want to give him that satisfaction, would you?”

“He makes me feel bad about myself,” she confessed. Azalea was able to talk about anything with Ben; beside her mom, he was one of the few people who she never feared being completely vulnerable with. “Sometimes the shit he talks gets to me, and sometimes I feel like I really don’t deserve what I’ve been given. I hate how he can make me second guess something that I love so much.”

“But you know that you’re an amazing singer.”

“Thanks, babe.”

Seeing that her spirits were still down, Ben scooped her up and sat her in his lap. “You sure you don’t want me to administer that ass-kicking he’s earned?”

Azalea laughed loudly, “He’s probably earned fifty ass-kickings by now.”

Ben grinned, “I’m okay with that.”

She leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks for the dedication, but I would miss you terribly when you get thrown in prison for accidentally killing his scrawny ass. And considering your looks, your ass will never get a rest,” she added.

He chuckled, “Very funny, babe.”

“I thought so,” she grinned sheepishly.

To get the conversation back on track, Ben then asked her, “So have you decided what you’re going to do?”

After thinking about her options, Azalea answered, “I don’t want to quit. That’s for sure. But things need to change. They need to. And if they don’t, then I just have to accept that it isn’t worth it.”


“Call her.”

“No.”

“Call her.”

“No!” Cade pushed away Austin’s arm, which was being shoved in his face with a cell phone in hand.

“Come on, Cade,” Sammy pleaded.

“No. I don’t owe that bitch an apology.”

Austin threw his hands up in frustration, “You’re fucking hopeless.”

Cade crossed his arms in response, looking like a brooding child on Mrs. Under’s couch.

He wasn’t sure if he had ever felt so much anger and resentment at one time. Cade knew that on the outside it simply looked like he hated Azalea because she was lead singer and he wasn’t. But there was so much more to it than that on his mind.

When Azalea became part of the band, everyone started liking her better than they did him. Sammy started spending more time with this new best friend Azalea than he did with Cade. Austin was always upset at Cade when he hurt Azalea’s feelings. And even though Cade knew that Rick was never the most found of him, he felt that Rick absolutely disdained Cade now since he practically looked at Azalea as the band’s savior.

He felt replaced, inferior. Deep down he knew the truth—it wasn’t as if Azalea was out to get him and doing this on purpose. But that attitude of hers made it so much easier to hate her.

Not as talented of a singer as Azalea, not as likable of a person as Azalea. Probably not even good enough for this band and my friends anymore, he thought to himself.

Rick then stormed in from outside. “Well, Azalea isn’t answering her phone,” he said, clearly frustrated. “She just texted me saying that the only way she’s answering her phone is if it’s Cade’s name on the caller ID.”

“Just call her and apologize, Cade,” Sammy suggested. “You don’t even have to mean it.”

“As usual,” Austin added.

“No,” Rick declared. The three boys looked at him with intrigue. “The meaningless apologies and disputes that never really got resolved is what got us into this mess in the first place. The problem got bigger because we kept ignoring it.”

“So what should we do?” Austin questioned.

To answer his question, Rick placed the ottoman at Cade’s feet and sat down. Looking directly at him, Rick asked “Does this band mean anything to you at all?”

Cade looked offended. “Of course it does,” he answered immediately.

“Then why are you putting it in jeopardy? Azalea’s going to quit—“

“No she won’t,” he contested. “She was just bluffing.”

“Are you totally certain of that?” Rick tested.

“She did seem really pissed off,” Sammy said. “And she’s never threatened to leave the band before.”

“Should we be worried?”Austin asked Rick, the realization that Catastrophic Happenings may actually be losing another lead singer just hitting him.

“We won’t have to be if Cade realizes that he owes Azalea an apology.”

“Am I going to get one back?”

“Is that all you care about?” asked Austin. “Always getting what you think is fair? If you have to give something up you think someone else should make a sacrifice too?”

“You know, for once since Azalea’s been here I’d like to be able to say something without getting attacked in return,” Cade lashed.

“Azalea is totally right!” Austin fumed. He started pacing the length of the couch. “You’re so selfish. This isn’t your band you know.”

“Yeah, I do know that,” Cade defended.

“If we lose her than the last three months will have been a total waste.”

“I’m aware of that,” Cade started to get angry at Austin’s patronizing tone. “I’m not stupid.”

“You sure could have fooled—“

“Maybe Azalea should quit.”

All three heads immediately turned to Sammy, who had been quietly leaning against the wall, nearly in the background. The last person anyone would have thought thinking Azalea quitting was a good idea was Sammy. He and Azalea immediately hit it off when they first met and soon the two became inseparable.

“We never fought like this with Jason,” Sammy recalled with a sad face. “Ever since Azalea joined it’s been fight after fight. I don’t want us to break up over her.”

The others in the room were shocked by his answer. While none of them enjoyed the arguing, Sammy never let it appear as if it got to him. They thought that his upbeat and nearly childlike demeanor made him almost apathetic to the drama within the band, so they were more than surprised that he thought it best to cut Azalea out.

“I thought you two were best friends?” asked Cade, unsuccessfully masking the jealously he felt.

“We are,” Sammy clarified with a shrug.

“Look,” Rick stepped in. “Azalea was admitted into this band unanimously and the only way she’ll get thrown out is unanimously.”

“Maybe that’s our problem,” announced Austin. The other three men turned to him to find out what he was talking about. “We’re still looking at ourselves as if we are Catastrophic Happenings and Azalea is just a person filling in as lead singer. We don’t treat her as if she’s in the band, it’s like she’s an outsider. I mean,” he raised his hands and gestured at the meeting, “Look at what we’re doing right now. It’s us against Azalea. You can’t have a unanimous vote if not all of the band members are here. Last time that I checked she is a part of this band. Or at least, she’s supposed to be,” he ended smartly before spreading out on the end of the couch next to Cade.

The band members turned to Rick to see his reaction to Austin’s words, but he needed time to process Austin’s accusation. Rick’s mind was reflecting on the last three months, starting from the present going all the way back to when Rick first heard Azalea’s voice through her kitchen window.

He closed his eyes in shame when he realized that Austin was right. There were undeniable occurrences from the last three months that showed it, and even worse, the meeting they were having at that very moment was the loudest proof of it.

Rick looked up to where Sammy was standing. “Do you know where Ben lives?”

“Yeah, Azalea had me pick her up from there once. Why?”

Austin smirked when he saw Rick fishing for his car keys. “If the mountain won’t come to Muhammad…”

“Come on, everyone,” Rick said as he pulled Cade off of the couch. “We can’t have a band meeting without every member of the band.”