Six Feet Under the Stars

“I hate your bosses.” I said to Dorian once we were back in his apartment. It would be the last time we would be there until after the tour. “Honestly, I don’t know how I’m going to survive the next few months.”

“That’s a little over dramatic, Mel.” Dorian rolled his eyes and flopped heavily onto the bed. The sheets were still crumpled from the morning. He worked on shrugging his work boots off as I searched through a pile of clothes for anything remotely close to an article of my clothing.

I sighed, picking up a crumpled Ramones shirt. “I’m gonna go change.”

“You don’t have to leave the room; we’re all adults.” Dorian spoke, making me feel childish.

“Fine then.” I snapped and started to pull the wet sticky mass of a T-shirt I had on. Dorian reached his fingers over and glided them across my stomach once I had the shirt halfway pulled up. “Cut it out.” I jumped from his touch.

“This game is getting real old.” He spoke harshly.

“It’s not a game,” I defended, “I’m just tired, that’s all.”

“Well, you’ve been tired for our whole relationship. It’s time to wake up.” He knocked on my forehead with his knuckles.

I caught his hand and brought them to my lips, abrupt pulling away again. “Just not tonight, okay?”

Climbing into bed next to him, I couldn’t help but feel awkward. It was almost like I was a child trapped in an adult’s body. I couldn’t make the full commitment to Dorian. It was a step I didn’t want to take. However I felt that if he truly pushed the matter of our physical boundaries I would give in, hoping to avoid an argument or more of his wrath.

Staring up at the ceiling I waited patiently for Dorian’s answer. When he finally spoke it didn’t ease my troubled mind one bit.

“Soon. Very soon.”

***

It was easy to spot All Time Low when Dorian and I pulled up into the parking lot where the tour buses were parked. From a distance up the road, I could make out for figures sprinting across the pavement playing Tag in the street.

“Do you think if you ran one of them over they’d cancel the tour?” I commented casually.

“Don’t even joke about that.” Dorian snapped. His fingers turned white as he gripped the wheel harder.

“Sorry.” I spoke quickly, trying to diffuse the situation. “I just don’t want any more of my things splashed with alcoholic beverages.”

Dorian didn’t answer and continued the short drive in tense silence. As soon as the car was parked I rushed out, eager to escape the suffocating atmosphere. I took deep breaths of air and enjoyed the sunlight on my face for an extended moment before it was interrupted.

“Hey, it’s our friend from yesterday.” Opening my eyes, I recognized Jack as the speaker.

“Um, hey.” I felt a little weird around them because we all didn’t really get off to a friendly start. I quickly decided that the rest of the band was okay; it was that guy Alex that I should be careful around.

As if hearing my thoughts, Alex ran up and joined the two of us. He sounded a little out of breath as he spoke, “Ready for the fun months ahead? I think we’ll get really close. Soon we’ll be watching Johnny Depp movie marathons and staying up all night.”

Determined, I held back my laughter. “This is a tour, not a sleepover.”

“You, asshole, that’s what we’re supposed to be doing; we’re best friends.” Jack directed his words toward Alex, faking anger.

“Just exchange friendship necklaces.” I suggested.

“We tried already.” Alex told me, turning his attention and eyes to me. “Jackie always took the ‘best’ part, and I was tired of getting the ‘friends’ half, so we gave up on that bullshit.”

Despite my initial plan of avoiding giving Alex’s ego a boost, I had to smile.

His eyes lit up, but he turned away and smacked Jack on the back of the head. “You’re It, by the way.”

“What?” Jack looked legitimately angry. “That was definitely a Time Out. It’s in the official Tag rule book.”

But at that point Alex had already sprinted away laughing. Jack grumbled something about Alex being a tricky son of a bitch and ran into the fray. I continued to stand there, hands on my hips.

In a matter of moments, Alex made his way back around to me. He ran up and paused to take shelter behind my back. “Be my shield.”

“I really value my life so I’m gonna have to pass on that offer.” Alex scrunched his body down behind me and held onto my legs for dear life causing me to stumble forward a little. “Shit.” I said, when I saw Zack, who was not ‘It’ in the game, coming my way.

Alex sprang up and before he ran away, he whispered something in my ear meant only for me. “I saw that smile of yours.” Referencing earlier when I had tried to hide it.

I scowled at him, “Don’t get used to it.”

“Sounds like a challenge.” Alex said. Before he sprinted off he added, smiling slyly, “I like challenges.”