Tear Down the Cobwebs

I stared down at my open palms, the jagged pink lines painful reminders of my past. I’d come so far since that night. And tonight was another step away from the life I’d once lived. A step in my life that I’d only dreamed about, never thinking it could possibly come true.

The knock at the window pulled me out of my thoughts. I checked my make-up again in the small mirror before pulling on my fingerless gloves. The chipped black polish on my nails caught the fading sunlight. Why didn’t I redo them? I could have done it while sitting in the tent, better yet, let Aaron do all the work. I guess it’s too late now. Seriously though, it’s 2019. Why don’t my nails paint themselves?

Satisfied as I was going to be with my appearance, I climbed out of the van. I had to fight pretty hard to keep myself from grinning like an idiot when I saw Ricky already here waiting for me. It wouldn’t be a good start to our date if he thought I’d forgotten to take my crazy person meds. But it looked like he was having the same problem.

“So, I still don’t really have much of a plan laid out for us,” Ricky explained, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

“Not a problem,” I said. “Shall we go then?”

“Hailey and Ricky, sitting in a tree,” I heard someone singing behind us. Turning around, we saw Zack and Aaron sitting on top of the van. How the hell they got up there without me hearing, I have no idea. “K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” they continued.

Before they could react, I reached down and threw the largest rock I could find at the two of them. Which wasn’t really a big rock at all. Or even a rock, more of a pebble. Or a random piece of loose gravel. Whatever it was, it scared the two of them enough to make them dodge the nearly invisible missile and almost fall of the van. And stop their singing.

“And they like to say I’m the crazy one of the group,” I said as Ricky and I resumed our walk.

“No worries. I’m probably the most immature member of my band, so we seem like a pretty good match.” Was that a blush I saw creeping up?

Our conversation was pretty boring as we made our way down the road and eventually into a Panda Express. It definitely wasn’t anything fancy, but it worked for us. And like the saying goes, you don’t form a band to become rich.

Our conversation came to an immediate halt once we got our food. It seemed like I wasn’t the only one of us starving to death. We all but swallowed our plates whole, cause there’s nothing more romantic than turning into a pair of human vacuums on your first date.

“What the fuck is wrong with this place!?” I grumbled in frustration while we attempted to throw our trash away.

“I think thy skipped that day of kindergarten where you learn that a square doesn’t fit through a hole.”

“Yeah, I remember that day,” I reminisced. “My teacher got mad because I took the hammer from the toy tool box and made the shapes fit though the wrong holes.”

“A rebel from the beginning, I see” Ricky guessed, laughing as I finally managed to crush my Styrofoam box into the trash. Ricky continued, telling me stories from his childhood that had the pair of us laughing so much we couldn’t walk down the sidewalk straight. Not that I could walk in a straight line anyway; I always tend to weave back and forth a little like a dunk person when I walk.

“So, you now know about my life growing up,” Ricky finally choked out between fits of laughter. “I know almost nothing about you.”

This was the moment I’d been dreading about tonight. Other than when it had to come to an end. I took a deep breath, deciding where to start, what to share, what to hide. “Well,” I started, “I was born and raised in Las Vegas. My mom left when I was seven, so I was raised by my father.” That wasn’t the best word for it, but I couldn’t tell Ricky that I’d argued and fought with my father through childhood and the majority of the way to adulthood. “I’ve been friends with Aaron forever, and I met Hunter and the rest of our band when I was about nine. I ran away from home for the last time when I was fifteen. The guys became my family, and the rest is history,” I concluded. I was leaving out a lot, but now wasn't the time for those details.

We walked in silence for a few minutes. I could see Ricky lost in thought. Had I already screwed things up between us? I should have changed the topic, let this be something that came up later.

"I know you're not telling me everything, but I'm not going to force it out of you," Ricky finally said. He slid his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him. "I hope one day you feel comfortable enough to share, and I'll be here waiting when you do. But in the meantime, I'm just going to focus on what an amazing person you've become."

We came to a stop on the street corner as I turned and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tightly. "Thank you, I said quietly, leaning my head against him. So rarely had I felt this safe anywhere. Ever.

Unfortunately, the comfort didn’t last long. We both jumped, and I dug my nails into Ricky’s sweatshirt as something hit the wall just inches from us, followed by a shout. “Get a room fuckers! Nobody wants to see you having sex on our streets,” a passing car yelled.

“Assholes!” Ricky yelled after them, flipping them off. “They are right though,” he finally admitted, turning back towards me.

“About us getting a room?” Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Ricky Horror here is blushing. “I should have told Hunter to rent that room for a few more hours,” I joked, causing Ricky’s blush to deepen.

“No, I’m sure we could convince someone to give us privacy on their bus for free. But we should be getting back to the venue. Otherwise, we might be left behind by our bands.”

I nodded in agreement. “Either that, or they’ll send out search parties and get the FBI involved, telling them we’d been abducted by aliens.”

And so we managed to get back to the buses and found that only a few bands had already left, and fortunately, ours weren’t among them. I didn’t want this night to end, but I knew it had to eventually. “I had a great time tonight,” I said. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Ricky nodded. “Please at least tell me I won’t be the only getting the third degree about our date.”

“Nope. And now I’m beginning to rethink that alien abduction.”

“We’ll survive somehow. And if not, I promise that I will come back as a ghost and haunt you,” Ricky promised.

“Sounds good. I promise to do the same for you. But I won’ haunt you in the bathroom; that would just be weird.” With that, I climbed into the silent van behind me, leaving Ricky to stand there laughing.