I'm Into You

“You did what?” Pogo laughed, wiping off some of his makeup.
“I just went for it. I can’t wait to see what it looked like on film.”
“Dude, that’s messed up,” Daisy shook his head, glitter falling from his green hair.
We’d just finished shooting the music video for Dope Hat, and we were cleaning up to go back to the hotel. For some reason, I was bragging to my band mates that I’d just kissed Twiggy for the video. I was pretty sure it would end up being edited out, but I didn’t care. I’d done something bold. I felt like I’d made an accomplishment.
“Ooooh! Here comes your lover!” Pogo laughed childishly as Twiggy came into the room, still in his lime green dress and red tights, glitter covering the top of his messy pigtailed hair.
“Shut it,” I snapped at the keyboardist.
Twiggy picked up a towel, and quickly left the room. It wasn’t unusual behavior, but I could read my best friend pretty well, and I sensed that something was wrong. I went into the bathroom, and found him wiping at his makeup which had already been smeared all over, tear tracks covering the surface.
“What’s wrong?”
“I dunno,” he sniffled, obviously still upset.
“Yes, you do.”
He looked at me in the mirror. “I can hear, you know.”
“Yes, I do know. But I don’t know what I said that would’ve offended you.”
“You’re bragging to them like I’m some sort of conquest.”
I smirked. “So?”
“So, don’t okay? It’s not funny.”
“What crawled up your butt?”
He glared at me, wiping away the black smudge below his eyes. Wow, they were pretty red underneath from crying. He really was upset.
“Twiggs, I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Just like when you grabbed my head and forced your tongue down my throat in front of the camera?”
I was a bit startled, to be honest. I’d never suspected that he’d be the least bit surprised by my action. I was always trying to shock people, to confuse them, to play with boundaries. This time, I must’ve crossed one.
“It’s not okay, Brian.”
He rarely called me by my real name. That should’ve been a pretty good indication that he wasn’t in a good mood over what had gone down.
“You can’t just use me like that. I’m not your toy.”
“I never thought that you were.”
“I have feelings.”
“Of course you do. I’m sorry if I upset you. I didn’t think it was a big deal. Honestly, I thought you’d be into it.”
Now, he was really pissed. He turned around, his dark eyes boring into mine. “Why? Because I wear makeup? Because I’m wearing a dress? Because I didn’t punch you in the face the minute you lunged at me?”
He never talked to me like this. I wasn’t even sure that I’d ever seen him angry before. He was always fun and happy and peaceful. Very even tempered.
“Twiggy, I’ll have it edited out, okay? Calm down.”
“Calm down?” His eyes flashed for a moment, and I thought he was going to either break down or break me, but he did neither. He simply pushed past me and went back into the dressing room.
The cab ride back to the hotel was awful. Twiggy was still mad, and he was being very childish about it. He was practically sitting in Pogo’s lap in order to get away from me. No one spoke. We all just sat there like we didn’t have a clue what could be said that wouldn’t offend someone else. It wasn’t at all like the way we usually were around each other.
At the hotel, we split up for the night, Ginger and Daisy in one room, Pogo in his own room, and me and Twiggy in the third room. I hoped that since we were forced to share a room, he’d come around and realize that I really hadn’t meant to upset him.
He stomped over to his bed, grabbed his suitcase, and marched toward the door. “I’m going to stay with Pogo tonight.”
“Really? I don’t think he’ll much appreciate you skulking around while he’s trying to get laid.”
“Maybe I want to get laid, too.”
I laughed. I didn’t mean to, it just slipped out.
He pushed open the door, and was down the hallway before I’d even had a proper chance to try and stop him.
Pogo was in the room next to ours, so I heard the door open and shut, Pogo saying a whole lot of something that sounded angry, and the door opening and closing again.
I expected Twiggy to walk back into our room with a sheepish look on his face, but he didn’t.
A few minutes later, I heard the door to Pogo’s room open and close again. Maybe Twiggy really was going to stay with him. But then, I could hear a female laugh, and the unmistakable sound of bedsprings bouncing.
I opened the door to the room, and found Twiggy sitting next to his suitcase, crying again. I sighed heavily, and picked up his luggage. “Come on in. You’re welcome to sleep here.”
“I’ll sleep on the floor in the hall,” he protested through his tears.
“No, you won’t. Hotels frown on that sort of thing. Besides, someone might trip over you. Or, there might be a mass murderer on the loose. Maybe even a rapist.”
“In the hotel?”
I shrugged. “You never know. Do you want to take a chance? Especially when you’re dressed like that?”
I must’ve gotten through to him, because he got up, and followed me into the room.
I sat down on my bed. “You want to talk about this now, or do you want to keep on sulking?”
“I’m not sulking.”
“Yes, you are. What I don’t understand is why. Why are you so angry with me? All I did is kiss you for the stupid video.”
“That’s why I’m upset. You kissed me, and it was all this big game to you.”
I patted the bed beside me, and he sat down. “Why is this such a big deal to you?”
“Because I’m confused, okay?”
“Confused? More than usual?”
He didn’t laugh at my attempt to tease him.
“I’m being serious. We’ve been friends for a few years now, and we’re pretty close. We share a lot of things together.”
“You’re my best friend. So…?”
“So, lately you’ve been acting kind of different around me. You put your arms around me on stage, smack my ass, feel me up. Today, you give me this big, outlandish, passionate kiss, and I don’t know what to think anymore.”
“I do all of that stuff because I feel comfortable with you. If you don’t like it, I’ll stop.”
“That’s the problem. I do like it. And I’m not sure why.”
Now, it was starting to make sense. He had feelings for me, and he thought that I was blind to that, and that I didn’t feel anything toward him. No wonder he was so moody.
“I don’t want to stop being friends, and I don’t want to be more than friends. How do we go back? How do I forget today?”
“You don’t.”
“I know.”
I reached my hand over, and gently rubbed his leg through the tights. “Twiggs, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to confuse you or lead you on.”
He nodded.
“Am I that bad of a kisser?”
Now, he was starting to smile. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad, after all. I was capable of bottling up my emotions. He never had to know that I’d been looking for an excuse to kiss him for weeks. There was no reason to tell him that I’d felt a spark when our mouths had crashed together.
“Actually, you’re a sloppy kisser.”
“Yeah?”
He nodded. He sprawled out on the bed, his head resting against my leg. He was getting glitter all over everywhere.
“You want this bed?”
“I just want to lie down. I’m so tired.”
“Alright.” I moved to get up, but I felt his hand tug on my wrist.
“You don’t have to go.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I dunno.”
I absently brushed some of the glitter from his hair. He looked up at me, a warm glow in his brown eyes. They looked golden. Happy.
“You want me to kiss you again? For real?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely.”
I leaned back on the bed, and was startled when he suddenly shifted around so that we were lying together. He looked into my eyes, and ever so slowly brought his mouth to mine.
We kissed for only a moment, but I felt that spark again. I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew that I liked it.