Stripes In The Devil
Chaptah Nineteen: "Same Shit Different Day"
It sure was a sight- me slinking into the apartment and dropping Aaron’s briefcase on the floor. It snapped open of course creating and explosion of demo tapes. I kicked a few of them into a pile before stalking off to my room. Minutes later Aaron called from the living room
“Thanks a lot whore face!”
My door swung open and Aaron’s eyes scanned the darkened room before slowly tracing my outline on the floor.
He flicked the light switch on and I flinched violently. “Wow” he said walking over and sitting on my bed “I haven’t seen you like this since Barney got cancelled.” “Ha ha” snapped. Aaron sighed “So do you wanna fill me in on what great tragedy I missed?” I spread out on my back making a carpet angel. I told him everything that had happened with Nick and the girls coming to visit but didn’t even touch the subject of Spencer.
Aaron was absolutely speechless with anger and shock about Nick. He got down on his hands and knees next to me and traced the bruises on my face with his finger tips. Suddenly he seized me by the wrist and pulled me to my feet. “You look like you haven’t been eating well” he stated. He grabbed the phone and dragged me out to the kitchen while he called out for pizza.
We sat there for about a half and hour talking and munching on our cheesy meaty goodness. We toyed with the idea of me getting a restraining order but in the end ruled it out. I just resolved to enjoy my non-vegetarian meal now that Sara was gone.
***
I guess by that point you could call me their manager. I worked with them just about every day and their improvement was starting to show. Spencer and I hadn’t been ignoring each other but of course we weren’t palling around either. No one else in the band seemed to notice we were having a riff. Hayley showed up to one band practice. That was the one where I mysteriously got sick and after tossing my cookies in the bathroom, went home.
That night when I came over for band practice, July 31st, Ryan was so sick we knew he needed to lie down so the guys and I just called the practice a bust. Just for fun we played with me playing Ryan’s guitar part. Brendon played his own and started singing. I was so shocked I stopped playing and dropped my pick. Spencer and Brent did the same and all four of us (Ryan from the couch) just stared at him in awe.
“Brendon” I breathed “why didn’t you ever tell us you had such and amazing voice?” he looked around the room at each of us and stared down at the microphone. “Honestly I’m not very good” he said bashfully. I looked to the guys for support. I got shrugs and digressed glances before Ryan finally chipped in. “You know” he said “I think I might be sick for awhile buddy.” Brendon paced over and sat next to his best friend. "Bud are you sure that’s what you want?” he look at us “What all of you want?”
Ryan never actually said that he wanted Brendon to take his place but he didn’t have to. We all understood. Ryan was a brilliant guy but he honestly didn’t have the courage to be a front man. Brent made the final decision for us by simply stating “Dude you have the voice of a fuckin’ angel.”
***
Lots of stuff happened that next week. We got all the separate parts recorded for the demo CD of ‘It’s Time To Dance’… all the parts that is except for Ryan’s.
Turns out: Ryan had mono
Turns out: He got it from Tara
Turns out: Tara got it while she was cheating on Ryan
Ryan was absolutely devastated when he found out. The guys and I all tried our best to cheer him up but it was no good. All he did was lie around in his mono-infested blanket. I still don’t know what he saw in her. Luckily or unluckily, I won’t say which, that only lasted a few days. Tara came crawling back saying she realized her horrible mistake. Of course he took her back in an instant.
Turns out: I was pissed
Suddenly that annoying piece of shit was at every band practice. When Ryan wasn’t recording stuff for the demo she was sucking his face off. It took about 2 weeks for us to get all the parts of the song recorded. By the time we got done it was August 14th. I took the next two days off of work to work on the CD.
There was only one song for me to work on but I used just about every moment of those two days sifting through all the recordings and editing it together flawlessly. About four of those forty-eight hours were spent sleeping. By the time I was done I was so excited for the guys to hear that I immediately called Ryan to tell him about it.
The phone rang a couple times before Ryan answered “Shh guys, quiet… hello?” “Hey Ry” I said “I’ve got a big surprise for you and the guys! Meet at Spencer’s house in about an hour?” Ryan let out and involuntary squeak. “Are you done with it?!” he demanded. “Mmhmm” I replied. “Listen” he said “I’m already at Spencer’s now but uhh… you can’t come over for about 2 hours. Oh and would you mind asking Aaron to come?” I told him I would be sure to bring Aaron and we would bed over in a little bit.
I got in the shower and let the hot water wash over my body as I thought. Why did I have to wait? Why did it seem like there were already a lot of people over at Spencer’s? I stepped out of the shower into the steamy bathroom. I walked over to the foggy mirror and swiped my hand across the glass revealing my face’s reflection. I touched the picture of a face that I didn’t recognize at times. The bruises were gone.
I applied a quick layer of makeup that was colorful but still seemed to emphasize my dark circles. This was my normal means of getting ready. I tugged on my black jeans that looked like they were painted on. My grey Elton John shirt fit like a glove. As soon as I was done straightening my plum colored hair I ran out into the living room to tell Aaron we were going out. He didn’t even ask where we were going before grabbing a hoodie and tossing me his keys.
“Thanks a lot whore face!”
My door swung open and Aaron’s eyes scanned the darkened room before slowly tracing my outline on the floor.
He flicked the light switch on and I flinched violently. “Wow” he said walking over and sitting on my bed “I haven’t seen you like this since Barney got cancelled.” “Ha ha” snapped. Aaron sighed “So do you wanna fill me in on what great tragedy I missed?” I spread out on my back making a carpet angel. I told him everything that had happened with Nick and the girls coming to visit but didn’t even touch the subject of Spencer.
Aaron was absolutely speechless with anger and shock about Nick. He got down on his hands and knees next to me and traced the bruises on my face with his finger tips. Suddenly he seized me by the wrist and pulled me to my feet. “You look like you haven’t been eating well” he stated. He grabbed the phone and dragged me out to the kitchen while he called out for pizza.
We sat there for about a half and hour talking and munching on our cheesy meaty goodness. We toyed with the idea of me getting a restraining order but in the end ruled it out. I just resolved to enjoy my non-vegetarian meal now that Sara was gone.
***
I guess by that point you could call me their manager. I worked with them just about every day and their improvement was starting to show. Spencer and I hadn’t been ignoring each other but of course we weren’t palling around either. No one else in the band seemed to notice we were having a riff. Hayley showed up to one band practice. That was the one where I mysteriously got sick and after tossing my cookies in the bathroom, went home.
That night when I came over for band practice, July 31st, Ryan was so sick we knew he needed to lie down so the guys and I just called the practice a bust. Just for fun we played with me playing Ryan’s guitar part. Brendon played his own and started singing. I was so shocked I stopped playing and dropped my pick. Spencer and Brent did the same and all four of us (Ryan from the couch) just stared at him in awe.
“Brendon” I breathed “why didn’t you ever tell us you had such and amazing voice?” he looked around the room at each of us and stared down at the microphone. “Honestly I’m not very good” he said bashfully. I looked to the guys for support. I got shrugs and digressed glances before Ryan finally chipped in. “You know” he said “I think I might be sick for awhile buddy.” Brendon paced over and sat next to his best friend. "Bud are you sure that’s what you want?” he look at us “What all of you want?”
Ryan never actually said that he wanted Brendon to take his place but he didn’t have to. We all understood. Ryan was a brilliant guy but he honestly didn’t have the courage to be a front man. Brent made the final decision for us by simply stating “Dude you have the voice of a fuckin’ angel.”
***
Lots of stuff happened that next week. We got all the separate parts recorded for the demo CD of ‘It’s Time To Dance’… all the parts that is except for Ryan’s.
Turns out: Ryan had mono
Turns out: He got it from Tara
Turns out: Tara got it while she was cheating on Ryan
Ryan was absolutely devastated when he found out. The guys and I all tried our best to cheer him up but it was no good. All he did was lie around in his mono-infested blanket. I still don’t know what he saw in her. Luckily or unluckily, I won’t say which, that only lasted a few days. Tara came crawling back saying she realized her horrible mistake. Of course he took her back in an instant.
Turns out: I was pissed
Suddenly that annoying piece of shit was at every band practice. When Ryan wasn’t recording stuff for the demo she was sucking his face off. It took about 2 weeks for us to get all the parts of the song recorded. By the time we got done it was August 14th. I took the next two days off of work to work on the CD.
There was only one song for me to work on but I used just about every moment of those two days sifting through all the recordings and editing it together flawlessly. About four of those forty-eight hours were spent sleeping. By the time I was done I was so excited for the guys to hear that I immediately called Ryan to tell him about it.
The phone rang a couple times before Ryan answered “Shh guys, quiet… hello?” “Hey Ry” I said “I’ve got a big surprise for you and the guys! Meet at Spencer’s house in about an hour?” Ryan let out and involuntary squeak. “Are you done with it?!” he demanded. “Mmhmm” I replied. “Listen” he said “I’m already at Spencer’s now but uhh… you can’t come over for about 2 hours. Oh and would you mind asking Aaron to come?” I told him I would be sure to bring Aaron and we would bed over in a little bit.
I got in the shower and let the hot water wash over my body as I thought. Why did I have to wait? Why did it seem like there were already a lot of people over at Spencer’s? I stepped out of the shower into the steamy bathroom. I walked over to the foggy mirror and swiped my hand across the glass revealing my face’s reflection. I touched the picture of a face that I didn’t recognize at times. The bruises were gone.
I applied a quick layer of makeup that was colorful but still seemed to emphasize my dark circles. This was my normal means of getting ready. I tugged on my black jeans that looked like they were painted on. My grey Elton John shirt fit like a glove. As soon as I was done straightening my plum colored hair I ran out into the living room to tell Aaron we were going out. He didn’t even ask where we were going before grabbing a hoodie and tossing me his keys.