Let's Take Over the World

here's a nice long one for you all, you sexy fuckers :p <3

Chapter 3

We went out that night and, sure enough, Danny knew just about everyone there. The bands were alright, I supposed, but none of them were really what we were looking for really. I wondered along beside Danny all night as he talked to the people he hadn’t seen in over a month.
We went back to Cam’s at around half eleven and went straight to bed. Again, I felt strange at the thought of sharing a bed with Danny. I couldn’t sleep. I lay awake for hours trying to puzzle it through.
It wasn’t that I felt awkward as such, and it wasn’t that I didn’t want to share a bed with him, but when, by three am I still hadn’t figured it out, I gave up, rolled over and tried to sleep.
I opened my eyes to see Danny’s looking back at me.
“Hey,” he whispered.
“Hey.”
“You couldn’t sleep either?” he laughed softly to himself and I joined in.
“No. I don’t know what it is. I usually have no problem falling asleep.” I pouted and feigned sadness. “Why can’t I sleep, Danny?” I joked, as if he could fix it.
“Aww, is poor baby tired?” I nodded at him, still pouting. He kissed my forehead and murmured, “Night, Ben.” before rolling over and going back to sleep.
I sighed and rolled onto my back. My forehead tingled. What the fuck was wrong with me? First getting worked up at the thought of sharing a bed with my best friend and now feeling weird because he kissed my face? It’s not like he’d never kissed me before. He kisses my cheeks all the time when we’re kidding around. Get the fuck over yourself, Ben, I told myself and tried to sleep.

Danny’s POV

I turned away so that I knew Ben couldn't see me. I touched my lips. They felt so strange, almost tingling. What was going on with me? I’d been feeling slightly apprehensive all afternoon, ever since Cam had told us we’d be sharing a bed. And I never get nervous. I looked over at Bens back again, suddenly wondering if he felt the same way. He didn’t, of course he didn’t. I watched him until he fell asleep, and then I was away.

Ben’s POV

I fell asleep after that, but I was acutely aware of Danny’s every movement. I heard him roll onto his back and the sound of his breathing lulled me into a slumber.
I woke up at around eleven am the next day, feeling oddly refreshed. I didn’t usually wake up feeling like this, no matter how much I’ve slept. I heard the door open and close and looked up to see Danny there, half naked, towel-drying his hair.
“Morning.” he smiled at me, searching for a clean t-shirt in his suitcase.
“How long have you been up?”
“Uhh, about fifteen minutes. Just went for a quick shower before going to eat some food.” he grinned like a child. “Cams mummy said she’s going to make me sausages.”
“So that’s why you’re so happy. Because you don’t have to work for your food now?”
“It sure is.” I laughed at the childishly ecstatic expression on his face. I pulled on some jeans and a hoodie and grabbed my cigarettes before heading out for a smoke, barefooted.
When I came back in, sure enough, there was two plates of sausages and eggs on the kitchen table. Danny--surprise, surprise--was already halfway through his, shovelling in mouthful after mouthful of sausage and eggs.
“I love you, Mrs Liddell.” he was saying through a mouthful as I walked in.
“Morning, Ben,” Cam’s mum smiled at me. “I made you some breakfast.”
“Awesome. Thanks.” I smiled back, grabbed a knife and fork and tucked in. It was just what I'd wanted. When I was done, I went for a quick shower.

The next few days passed in a similar fashion, save for that awfully awkward moment in bed. We went to gigs most nights, came home and crashed. Danny had visited his parents and they gave him some cash, so we were drinking too. Which meant sleeping until the afternoon and three paracetamol for breakfast most days.
I was starting to give up hope on finding anyone when, after we’d been staying with him for a week and a half, Cameron finally told us that his band were playing a show at a small theatre just around the corner.
“Dude! Why did you not tell us this before?!” Danny yelled at him.
“Because,” he started, “you already have two guitarists! You don’t need a third.”
“But are any of the other guys any good?”
“Well…James is the best drummer I think I’ve ever heard, but--”
“But nothing!” Danny snapped, playfully. “You should have told us of your secret band with your secret best drummer in the world!”
“Well, if I’m honest, I didn’t think you’d want him. He’s really into, like, death-core metal and everything he plays, he uses a double bass pedal.”
“Well, let’s hear him play before we make any decisions about him.” I interjected. “When’s this gig, Cam?”
“Tonight. At eight.” I saw Danny getting riled up again.
“Sweet. We’ll be there.” I winked at him and Danny and went to shower and change. It was five thirty and I had made no effort to get dressed, let alone get ready to go out. If the concert was starting at eight, we’d be leaving in only about an hour. Call me a girl, but I liked spending time on my hair.
I had just enough time to dry and straighten my hair from the shower (I’m not gay, I swear) and quickly pulled on my jeans and a t-shirt and hoodie.
“Fucking hurry up, princess!” Danny yelled from the bottom of the stairs as I pulled on my vans and ran down to meet him. He seemed really fucking eager to get going tonight. I wondered why.
“Yes, yes, I’m ready to go!” he grinned at me.
“Let’s make a move, shall we?” he spoke very regally and offered me his arm and I took it, not really caring what people thought as we skipped down the Liddells' driveway.
I let go of his arm and we started walking to the theatre and I was surprised to find that it was literally at the end of the road. “Huh, well, would you look at that, Danny. We didn’t really need to leave quite so urgently did we?” I said dryly. I noticed a strange smell surrounding him, but just wrote it off, assuming that there was just a strange smell in here.
“I wanted to make it here for sound checks. Cam said we could come watch.”
I had nothing really to say to that; there was no point.
We walked into the place and gave the guy on the door out two pounds entry fee. Sure enough, they were in the middle of sound checks. I saw James sat at the back of the stage, hammering on his drums. Cameron had been right; he plays really heavy metal-type shit, but I think it could work.
They finished the song. The tech guys had sorted out the levels pretty quick, apparently, so they were free to just hang around until the show started.
They were one of four bands playing tonight, so there was a shit ton of amps and guitars set up on the stage. They’d already done their sound checks so I bought a beer and sat and watched as people filed in. The first band started only twenty minutes after we arrived, and I couldn’t help but notice one kid who was pretty fucking talented on the four string. He was moving in the same way as I’d seen Cam move earlier.
“Hey, guys,” I jumped. Cam had come up behind us and I’d been so busy studying this kid that he’d taken me completely by surprise.
“Oh, hey, Cam.” I started. “Who’s that kid there? On the bass?”
“Oh, that’s Sam!” Danny said from beside me, obviously just recognising his friend. “He was in my other band.” he explained.
“Yeah,” Cam interjected. “This is James.” he introduced us.
“Hey. I saw you playing just now. You’re pretty sick!”
“Thanks.” he seemed awed and a little cocky at my compliment.
“Hey, I know you!” Danny chirped up again. “You went to my college!”
“Oh, hey, yeah! I’ve seen you around a few times, I think.” James had a very heavily accented voice. He was a couple of inches shorter than me, but slightly taller than Danny. He had a mop of light brown hair that fell in his face. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and struck me as the kind of guy who rarely did.
He and Danny spoke as I watched the band. As soon as they were off the stage, I went and found this Sam guy.
“Hey, man!” I yelled over the music that filled the gaps between the bands performing. “You were pretty fucking good up there tonight!”
“Thanks." he held out his hand and I shook it. "Sam."
“Ben.”
“Nice to meet you.”
We chatted for a little while about music and shit. I was wearing a low neck vest tonight, so he could see my “Family First” tattoo on my chest. He asked me about it and I explained what it meant and how I planned on getting swallows tattooed on my breast bones and other designs around them to frame the lettering and to symbolise that, no matter where I am in the world, I always spend Christmas time and new years with my family.
After a short while, maybe five or ten minutes, I finally broached the subject with him.
“So,” I opened. “Me and a mate of mine are getting a band together and, after watching you on stage tonight, we just have to steal you away.”
“Really?” he questioned.
“Yeah. Once we get it all sorted out, we’re going over to America to hopefully get signed. We’re gonna break it there first, then take over the fucking world.” I grinned and he grinned right back.
“Sounds cool. I’m in.” now, that I was not expecting.
“Really?” I asked, disbelieving. Was it really that easy? “I thought I’d have to do a bit more convincing than that.
“Nahh, I was getting a bit bored with them anyways. They never wanna write new shit, they just keep playing the same three songs over and over. Every gig’s the same.” he rolled his eyes.
“I feel you.” I put my hand on the smaller guy’s shoulder in an overdone sympathetic act. Sam was about five foot ten. His dyed black hair was straightened and swept across his forehead, sticking to his face where he was sweating. There was a cheeky glint in his dark eyes that reminded me of myself and the kindred spirit I’d found in Danny.
“So…what kind of music do you play?”
“Umm, well, we don’t really have a sound yet, but Danny, over there,” I pointed him out to Sam, forgetting that they were already friends, “is trying to chat up James to be our drummer, and what he plays is a lot heavier than we usually play, so we’re just gonna see how it works out, I guess.”
“Oh, yeah, I know them.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. I was in a band with Danny and I went to college with the both of them.” he said. He looked at me, perplexed. “Did he not tell you that.”
“Oh, right. Yeah, he did. I’ve had a few beers is all; forgot things momentarily.” I laughed and Sam joined in. I wasn’t drunk, not nearly; this was nothing to me. Danny and I often would go through a whole crate--sometimes two--in a night and not even feel it. No, when I’d had a beer or two, my short term memory wasn’t at it’s best is all.
We went back to where Danny was stood talking animatedly to James about something I couldn’t understand.
“Sorry, mate.” he said. “I have to go…be onstage now.” James left and Danny turned to look up at me. His pupils were constricted. He had clearly gotten a hold of some weed and smoked it while I was still upstairs. Now that I thought about it, I could recognise the smell on him.
“You’re high.” I stated. I didn’t have a problem with him smoking weed, but he was gradually doing it more and more and I was sure it wasn’t good for him.
“Maybe.” he bobbed around on the spot like a six year old drinking fanta.
“Did you talk to James about the band?”
“Uhh…nooo.” he strung out the no, almost as if it were a question.
“Well it’s a good thing that one of us is doing the job we came here to do, hey?” I grinned at him. He looked confused.
“Huh?” his face was completely blank.
“Fuck, Danny, how strong was that weed?”
“I ran out of baccy.” well that explains why he was completely off his head, then.
“Oh, for fucks sake, Danny! I hope it was just a small one, not the monsters you usually roll.”
“Well, duh! I don’t want to die!” he said it like it was obvious. Sometimes...some of the things he does...it's not always obvious.
“Good. Well, anyways…Sam agreed to be the bassist for us.” his eyes lit up.
“Yay! Sam’s awesome!” as he said it he sounded almost uninterested, and his eyes were glassy and blank, but I could tell that he was just really fucked on weed.
“And I can see that I’m going to be recruiting James when they’re done on the stage.” I muttered to myself.
“Okay.” Danny agreed. “I love you, Ben.”
“Love you too, Danny.” he hugged me and I turned to watch Cam and James perform. Man, James was really fucking talented; more so than I’d realised before. And I watched Cam. It really was a shame that we already had two guitarists because he would be a really great addition. But Danny didn’t really want to sing.
He’d admitted to me one night after we’d had more than a few that, if we couldn’t find a singer, he’d step up for the vocals. He liked to sing, he'd explained, but he’d been the vocalist for every band he’d been in and wanted a change. But I wasn’t sure that was the right decision.
Watching Cam then, I didn’t think I wanted to find a singer. Watching Cam then was when I knew we’d found our band.