Unexplained Feelings *Most Likely on Permanent Hiatus*

Two hours later, it had taken two hours because Bam forgot which store he had ordered the poster from, but then realized, after visiting all three music shops in West Chester, that it was actually being shipped to his house, they had gotten the poster, which had been on the door step, and were now trying to find a place to put it in Bam’s bedroom.

“Just put it over your bed, it’s the only space left.” Dunn argued for the fifth time.

“But when Ville comes over, he’ll think that it’s weird because what friend has your picture hanging over their bed?”

One that wants to fuck his friend, Dunn wanted to respond, but he didn’t because that would be mean and it might actually piss off Bam. He observed Bam struggling with himself. Poor guy honestly couldn’t figure out where to put the fucking poster. He shook his head at the hopelessness of his best friend.

“You have a giant picture of them hanging above the fire place; I don’t think that he’d mind the fact that you have a picture of him over your bed.” Bam looked at him, not believing. “Fine, you go get yourself something to drink and I’ll hang it up, okay? If you don’t like it, I’ll move it, but just go away for a couple of minutes.” Ryan pushed Bam out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

“Okay,” Ryan sighed. The things he did for Bam.

--

Bam walked down the stairs to the pirate bar, grabbing a Heineken from the fridge and chugging half of it in one go. God, I’m such a miserable, fucked-up person, he thought, finishing the beer and grabbing another. How does Dunn put up with me? I would’ve ditched my sorry ass years ago.

“Bam!” Ape’s voice brought him to attention. Hide the beer was the only thought now coursing through his brain. Thinking quickly, he put it back in the fridge and pulled out a Mountain Dew and a bottle of water opening both and taking huge sips from both.

“I’m at the pirate bar,” he answered Ape, hearing her walk down the steps, followed by another lighter pair of steps. That was weird, usually Phil walked heavier than Ape. What was even weirder was the fact that it wasn’t Phil being pulled behind April, but, what seemed to be, a teenage boy with black hair, sticking out from underneath a blue beanie.

“You haven’t been drinking already, have you Bam?” Ape asked looking at his disheveled appearance.

“No, not yet, I don’t start drinking until, at least, after four.” In the morning, he added to himself. Lying to Ape had always been easy, this was no exception.

“Good.” Ape looked reassured. “Now, where’s Dunn?”

“Hanging up a poster in my room because I couldn’t decide where to put it. Why do you need him?”

“Well, you looked confused as to who Max was and I was wondering if he actually got around to telling you that Max would be spending a couple of weeks with you guys.”

“Oh, no… he didn’t get around to telling me, but that’s cool. I don’t mind extra people.” Bam stated, shocking April. Turning to Max, he held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Bam.”

“Max.” They shook hands, which was a little awkward. “Um, I left my stuff upstairs, could you show me where I’ll be staying?” Max asked.

“Yeah, cool. Will you be staying for a little while, Ape?” Bam asked, looking at her curiously.

“No, I have to get back to work. I’m on my lunch break. Thank you for being so accepting and letting Max stay here, Bam. It means a lot.” She gave him a hug before exiting through the back door.

Bam pulled his beer out of the refrigerator once he knew Ape was gone. Max raised an eyebrow, but didn’t question him, taking his own when Bam offered him one.

“How do you know Ape?” Bam asked, leading Max up the steps to the living room and dining area to grab his stuff and then up to the bedrooms.

“I’m the secretary in Maggie’s hair salon.”

Bam nodded, that was logical. Ape had probably taken Max under her wing as soon as he stepped into the building and Bam could see why. He was adorable in a cute, innocent way. Not exactly his type, nor Dunn’s, so he wondered why Dunn took such an interest in this kid.

“Hey, Dunn.” Bam pounded on his door. “There’s this kid here. His name’s Max. Ape said that he’s going to be staying for a while and that you knew about it, but you didn’t tell me.”

“Max is here?” Ryan stuck his head out the door. “Awesome, hey man. Bam’s being nice to you, right? Oh, hey wasn’t your hair brown?”

“April dyed it before we came here. I wanted a change. But it’s nothing new, I dye my hair a lot.” Max said, fiddling with some of the curls poking out of the bottom of his beanie. “And Bam’s being really nice.”

“Cool. I’ll come hang out with you guys later. I have to finish rearranging Bam’s walls.” Dunn shut the door.

“Oh lord.” Bam sighed. “That’s never good,” he added when he heard slight banging behind the door. “Anyways, you’ll probably stay in here. It’s right across from Dunn’s room.” He pointed at the door with the Jackass skull and crutches on it.

Max opened the door to his new room. The gothic interior and general darkness of the room were awesome to him. Placing his stuff down near the inside of the door, he took another sip from his Heineken and turned to look at Bam.

“Thanks for this.”

“It’s cool, man. So you have stuff to do or do you wanna chill? I could show you around the house.” Bam suggested.

“A tour would be great.” Max nodded mindlessly.

“Cool, let’s tour Castle Bam.” Bam pointed down the hall away from his bedroom. “Those are other guest rooms. I have H.I.M. coming to stay in a couple of days, so those rooms should be filled up eventually. But there’s nothing really special. Your room has its own bathroom, but there’s one next to Dunn’s room.” He led Max back downstairs.

“Obviously dining and then the living room,” he pointed at each respectively. “Then another bathroom.” Walking over to the sticker-decorated door not too far from the bathroom, he opened it and let Max see inside. “This is where all the Radio Bam stuff goes down.” Closing the door, he continued to where Max assumed the tower started to go up. Another door, with several ‘Do Not Enter’ and ‘Warning’ signs decorating it, opened. “This is my editing room. You should just avoid this room if I’m in here.” Door shut. He pointed at the steps and then up to the ceiling. “Tower. Ville likes to write up there when he’s here. If you see him go up there, I would try to avoid it.

“Downstairs now, I guess.” He led Max back to the stairs going down to the Pirate Bar. “Obviously, this is the Pirate Bar. All night drinking fests go on here. If you finish a bottle,” he pointed at the liquor bottles decorating the bar, “just let me know. You don’t have to go buy more unless you feel that you should. And don’t feel shy; you can eat whatever you want out of the fridge. Restock it if you want to, but it’s not necessary. I don’t really care if you do or don’t. It’ll get restocked, eventually, when I get hungry. Anyways, over there is the game room.” He pointed back to a darkened room. “Whenever the crew comes over on a rainy day that seems to be where they usually tend to exist. That’s really it, except for one thing, but I need to know that you won’t tell anyone about this room.” Bam looked at Max for confirmation.

“I have no one to tell.” Max shrugged. “Besides you of all people should be allowed something secret in your life.”

Bam nodded. That answer seemed fine.

“Okay, follow me.” Simple enough.

“Your shows, movie, and jackass-y acts make you seem like a real asshole, but you don’t seem to have a problem with me invading your space, for however long, without any notice.” Max stated.

“Yeah, well that’s the problem with media. I just enjoy pretending to still be a teenager. Those were the easy years. And the fact that I could make money while just hanging out with my friends and doing random, dangerous shit was such a bonus that I couldn’t say no.” Bam said. “And, I’m glad that didn’t say no because if I hadn’t said yes, I wouldn’t have all of the benefits and friends that I do now.”

He pushed open a door that was behind the fireplace. Max couldn’t even tell that the door was there, it was that well hidden. There was another set of cement stairs covered with a dark velvet-red carpet.

“You’re not going to murder me are you?” Max asked jokingly. Bam laughed.

“Nah, I might do a bunch of stupid shit, but I’m not crazy. Down here is my secret cave. It’s got one giant pool, spring-like thing, that’s heated all year round. Somehow, I talked the contractor into getting the floors down here heated too, so when it’s cold like it is now and you get out, you don’t immediately get cold. There’s a TV, a DVD player, an iPod plug-in and there’s a computer down here, so you can do, actually, whatever you want pretty much.” They reached the bottom of the steps and Bam flipped a light switch, which turned on a chandelier, filling the room with a velvet-colored light because the light bulbs on the fake, partially-melted candles were colored.

Max looked around the alcove in awe. It was a picture perfect, gothic cave. Candles decorated what seemed to be rock walls. Heartagrams decorated the area, of course. In a corner, there was a bar-like area that looked like it’d been modeled after an Ice Bar. Of in another corner, there was a computer and sound system set-up. Right ahead of them on the opposite wall hung a sixty-two inch television screen. In the middle of the whole basement was a pool, a huge pool. The whole set up was crazy and Max couldn’t stop staring.

“I think this is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in a long time.” He finally spoke. Bam looked at him and laughed lightly.

“Ville and Dunn had the same reactions. Want a drink?” Max nodded, finishing off his now slightly-warm beer. He followed Bam to the faux Ice Bar, sitting on one of the bar stools.

“Why do you have this down here?” Max asked.

“I had a hidden basement that nobody knew about and I guess I just wanted some place in my own home where I could hide from everyone. And that place is here.”

Max nodded. It made sense. Bam was so televised; all he wanted was some space from the media hounds and insanity of partying wannabe friends. No one was built to be in the spotlight twenty-four seven.

“Anyways,” Bam pulled two beers out of the refrigerator, handing one to Max. “You can come down here whenever you want. The door over there,” he pointed over by the computer, where Max could just see the outline of a door, “is another entrance from the garage and there’s a bathroom down that way with some extra swimsuits, towels, and stuff. Do you smoke?”

Max nodded.

“There’s always Marlboro Reds and Lights here and ashtrays.”

“Cool. Thanks for the tour. If you don’t mind, I think I’ll go take a nap, as long as you promise not to give me a rude awakening.” Bam laughed.

“Nah man, I won’t wake you up. You look tired as shit.” Bam smirked. “If you see Dunn, let him know I’m down here?”

“Sure. Thanks a lot, Bam.” Max walked back up the stairs as he drank more of his Heineken. Walking out into the Pirate Bar, Max studied Dunn’s back. It was surprisingly muscular, he decided. Man, I’ve had way too much to drink already if I’m thinking about him like that, I just fucking met him. Max thought back to the three JD shots he had had earlier that morning, plus two beers. And it was only around three in the afternoon. “Well, fuck.” He murmured aloud.

“Holy shit!” Dunn said turning around. “Fuck Max, you scared the living shit out of me.”

“Sorry.” Max shrugged. He wasn’t really. “Bam wanted me to tell you that he’s down in the basement, cave thing. I’m going for a nap.”

“Okay.” Dunn nodded. He walked past Max and started down the stairs. “Have a good nap.” He closed the door.

Max nodded absentmindedly. Walking to the refrigerator, he grabbed a bottle of water, dumping out his beer, and headed upstairs to his room. Pulling his pillow and blanket from his bag, collapsing onto the bed, he grabbed his iPod from the pocket on his sweatshirt and plugged his ear buds in, turning on H.I.M. Letting his eyes close, Max felt sleep drift over him.