Catch Up With Fate

Work had been okay, not one of the best days, but also not one of the worst. Nevertheless I was exhausted when I got home and thankful that Jamison was picking me up, so I didn’t have to go on the goose chase of having to find the band room on my own without the ViktorNavigator. Viktor was getting back in the middle of the night, so he didn’t really need the car, but I was lazy.

can I hire you as a chauffeur? Could be your off day occupation I suggested to my roommate while I was lying across the couch, taking some well deserved lazy time between work and band practice.

Viktor: so basically you’d pay me for what I already do? ;)

Me: you’re right, you already have enough money, if anything you should pay ME

Viktor: for? Letting me drive you around?

Me: nah, just nothing. Less complicated. I love driving myself too...

Viktor: haha, awesome. Car still in 1 piece?

Me: duct tape’s doing its job, so yep

Viktor: lucky I know you’re joking, tash

Me: am I?

Viktor: not funny. When’s band practice?

Me: jay’s picking me up in a few

Viktor: :O you already have another driver?! I’ve only been gone for a day!

Me: he’s only during the road trips, no worries ;)

Viktor: he better! Gotta go, c u tomorrow

Me: score some goals, Stålberg! See you tomorrow

I had to admit that Viktor was a great guy and I had a lot of fun with him. Not that I’d ever admit it out loud to anyone, because they’d think there was something romantic to it and I was trying to avoid that. Which wasn’t easy, let me tell you.

Before, I’d never thought about how exposing living together is. With my family and CC I was just used to it, because they were exactly that, family. Now with Viktor I was noticing it a lot. It wasn’t just that guys and girls live and act in different ways. The spending a lot of time together part was surprising. It was true that hockey players were gone a lot, but Viktor was also home quite a bit. We’d watched a lot of TV together, mostly while I was exhaustedly draped over the couch after class or work. Viktor was never like that after practice, at least not that I’d seen. Then again napping was part of his daily routine... I was probably being a Jammerlappen (whine pot). Oh well.

Jamison came to pick me up and instead of asking him up, I raced downstairs. I didn’t want to give him any more reason to get an arrogant, show off impression of Viktor than he already seemed to have. Besides, jumping down the stairs was just what I needed to bring me back to an acceptable state of awakeness.

“Hi, Tasha,” Jay grinned when I hopped into the passenger seat and quickly closed the door to keep out the cold.

“Hey there, Jamison,” I replied and buckled myself in. “How’s it going?”

“It’s alright, just got up like an hour ago,” he told me. I snorted, very ladylike.

“I got up at 6.30 for work,” I countered, he made a face.

“Seriously?! Quit the job, it’s inhumane to get up before noon on the weekend!”

With a laugh I just shook my head. Maybe you could allow yourself that luxury when you didn’t have to work to keep yourself alive and with a roof over your head.

“It’s okay, I try to get up no later than 9 anyway. It’s better to have some sort of schedule,” I shrugged. He almost choked on the air he was inhaling.

“Are you serious?! What are you, Wonder Woman? That’s insane!”

I couldn’t help but laugh about Jay’s reaction, because that was just normal to me. He was just being a typical student though, while I was just not.

“I’m just used to it, it’s no big deal,” I chuckled. “Gotta pay for everything somehow, being an international student is not cheap.”

“You’d think your hockey player would pay, cause he’s making the big bucks...”

It took a lot to keep myself from rolling my eyes. Talk about how when you have a set view of someone, you only see the things that go with it. Viktor was not at all a big shot and he never really showed-off either. He wasn’t like Kaner in that way, if you will.

“I moved in like three weeks ago, so I wouldn’t really know, but he won’t let me pay rent if you must know,” I kind of snapped in a grumbly voice. “We’re just friends anyway, so...” Who was I trying to convince? Jay? Myself?!

“Okay,” Jay said, but I could tell he wanted to say more. I kept my mouth shut as well, because I really didn’t need tension with one of my new bandmates on the 2nd day. If this became a tense thing as well, I was going to snap. I desperately needed something easy, something fun, something that distracted me.

.

“I am never going to remember all of this!” I groaned, sprawling out on the floor, and covered my face with the lead sheets of the songs we’d been going over. “I’m going to need a teleprompter!”

“You’ll do fine, Tasha,” Jared assured me and played me some cheery tune on his e-piano.

Learning the setup and order of the songs themselves was not at all difficult. That stuff I just wrote on a blank bit of the sheets and marked the important parts and spots. Dillon and I had even developed little symbols for each other (he was a small triangle, I was a small circle and together was an x), so that I could mark when who sang and what lines. That was easy.

The lyrics were the hard part. Maybe I was pushing too hard after just one night of cramming, but next weekend was a lot closer than it seemed. Damn it.

The original songs were going to be the hardest, because there were no recordings of hem. The ‘regular’ songs I could play at home and learn the lyrics by listening and reading simultaneously. With the original songs it was harder, because I couldn’t acquire the right melody and pieces of the lyrics by listening only.

“Put them under your pillow, that way you’ll learn while you sleep,” Adam joked.

“I will actually do that,” I promised and chuckled with them.

“So,” Hayden said and I removed the papers from my face finally.

“So what?”

“I’m still a rock star, I got my rock moves, and I don’t neeeeeeeed you!” Dillon started singing and everyone laughed.

“You live with Stalberg, right?” Hayden looked at me. From the corner of my eye I saw Jay shaking his head.

“Yup. Let me guess, tickets?” I put out there. Hayden grinned and nodded. “I don’t go to games at the moment, but I can ask.”

“Why would you not go to games, if you could, for free?!” Hayden gave me a look like I had just admitted to committing murder. If the reason hadn’t been so... serious, I would have laughed.

“Difficult to explain, let’s just say it’s complicated,” I offered slowly.

“Did you dump one of them?”

“Jeeze, what are you guys? Gossip central?!” Adam rolled his eyes at Dillon’s question.

“I did not dump one of them, because that would require having dated one and I don’t do that.”

“Don’t do Blackhawks or do men?” The only thing I was left with was to give Dillon one of my raised eyebrow are-you-serious looks. He was too much like Diane.

“What if I said neither?” I challenged, just for the heck of it.

“Then you’d be into girls,” Dillon shrugged. “Fine by me, as long as you’re not aiming for Di.”

I laughed. “You wish. No, no. Guys for me. Anyways, how about we go back to practicing?” I suggested.

“Nice save and change of topic,” Adam grinned, but we did get back to business then. Whew.

.

After several hours of practicing together we went out for some dinner. I could already see that hanging out with 5 guys all the time was going to be fun (most of the time at least...). Right now we were still trying to get to know each other, but hopefully we’d become a unit. I was actually looking forward to it.

“If we hurry, we can catch at least the 3rd period!” Hayden hurried us eventually. We moved on to a sports bar not too far from the diner we’d eaten at. Watching the game on TV like this was okay, there was some distance to you-know-who then. It helped that everyone was really into it, so it wasn’t hard to join them. Everyone seemed to be in a trance while the play was going, so I went to get some more drinks on my own. Not like I was going to carry 6 drinks at the same time, but the ordering I could do.

“So, what’s a pretty thing like you doing here with a bunch of guys? One of them your boyfriend? I hope not, you can do better than that.”

I turned my head and looked at the guy that was talking at me from the side. Excuse me?

“Let me guess, ‘better’ would be you?” The words slipped past my lips before I could stop them. It was usually best to ignore guys like him, to not give them an in, but I involuntarily just had.

“Exactly,” he grinned cockily. ‘He’ was an about 6 foot tall brunette whom I might have deemed attractive if there had been less alcoholically induced cockiness, if not to say assholeness, about him.

“I don’t think so,” I deadpanned and turned back to the bar to wait for the drinks.

“Oh come on, don’t be like that, baby,” the guy laughed and squeezed in next to me. “We could have a lot of fun together.”

“The only fun I’d have, would be sticking a couple of steak knives between your ribs. Alternatively I can offer you practicing penalty shots on you. Without padding or a mask of course.”

The guy blinked at me a few times.

“Not into that? Sorry, then not a chance. Bye.” Abandoning the bar I turned to leave, only to see Adam and Hayden standing a few feet away, laughing their asses off.

“You are... girl, you owned his ass,” Hayden got out between laughs and pulled me against his side with his arm around my neck.

“Never gonna take you out for a steak after this, Tash,” Adam grinned, I grinned back.

“Hello? Did you see him? He was ugly as hell. Penalty shots on his face would have not changed a thing,” I joked. From then on steak knives were an insider joke within the band. One of many to come.

.

“Swanky neighborhood,” Adam commented, nearing Viktor’s apartment building. Jamison had had a few more drinks than I was comfortable with to be in his car, so Adam, the bassist, was on chauffeur duty.

“Guess so,” I shrugged, expecting another Jay-ish comment, but Adam didn’t make one.

“Pretty cool,” he nodded approvingly. “You’re going to have to have us over some time.”

“I probably won’t live here too long,” I told him slowly. “It’s just a temporary solution.”

“Solution for what?” Adam asked. I let out a sigh. “You don’t have to tell me, Tasha,” he told me honestly. “We don't mean to pry so much, you know, it’s just that you’re new and we want to get to know you asap. Asking you a ton of awkward questions is how we do that, I guess. We’re not as savvy as Diane, who does it in conversation.”

“I know, right! It’s like you can never get anything past her! The exact thing you didn’t want to tell her would be the first you blurt,” I exclaimed and Adam laughed.

“Exactly. It’s worse when Dill’ and Di are together though. They’re so in tune, it’s disgusting.”

“I think it’s sweet,” I admitted, pushing that part of me down that was longing for something similar. Now was not the time.

“You’re a girl,” Adam stated like that explained it all.

“So?”

“Girls always think that shit’s cute and sweet and adorable and what not. All that Twilight-y Edward-ish bullshit.”

“Sounds like someone’s frustrated,” I teased with a smile. “And for the record, I prefer Jacob. Or Paul.”

“Paul?! Who the hell is that?!”

“The hot headed wolf, he’s, well, hot,” I laughed. Adam just made a face and pulled the car into a spot.

“Thanks for dropping me off, Adam.”

“No problem, can’t have our new singer disappear overnight, y’know?” he grinned. “Tell Staly, nice win.”

I chuckled. “Maybe I will. Good night.”

“Night.”