Getting Surreal

Five minutes after the bus had started rolling, and they were still arguing, the room split in half, Becks leading her and Mikey’s argument for Two, and Bob leading Ray and Frank for Four.

“No, no, no!” Becks shouted. “How do you not get it? Pro Skater Two is the best!”

“No fuckin’ way!” Bob disagreed. “Four is the best!”

“Yeah, Four’s good,” Becks acknowledged, “but Two is better. Two has the best soundtrack, so it wins, hands down.”

“You kidding me?” Frank asked, incredulous. “Four has Iron Maiden, Bouncing Souls, and AC/DC, that soundtrack is fuckin’ prime!”

“Yeah,” she acknowledged, “it’s good. But Two has Bad Religion and Millencolin, and I mean, come on, the game fucking starts with that Anthrax collab song in the first level. That alone wins it the title.”

“Fuck yeah!” Mikey shouted, raising his cup and staring at her with nothing but shock and respect. She whipped around to look at Mikey beside her, eyebrows raised-he hadn’t said too much so far, other than teaming up with her in the beginning of the debate, letting her do most of the work. “You like Anthrax?” He asked, his eyes big behind his glasses.

“Fuck yeah,” she repeated to him, smiling hugely at him holding her hand up for a high-five which he quickly obliged. “Spreading the Disease is one of the best thrash metal albums ever. You’re a fan?”

“My favorite fucking band!” The smiled at each other, then, the debate long forgotten. Becks was just about to ask him another question when her thoughts were interrupted.

“Shots?!” Frank yelled out excitedly. She heard Bob and Ray chorus out an agreement but didn’t take her eyes off of Mikey.

“You’ve gotta finish that, first,” he said, tapping the drink in her hand.

“You, too,” she retorted, seeing his cup still had something in it.

“Bottoms up, then,” and they ‘cheers’ed their cups and both downed the rest of their drinks.

“So,” Becks said, looking at Frank. “Shots, then?”

---

“So what’s your real name, then?” Bob asked Becks as they all finished up their third shots, the burn considerably less noticeable at this point. Somehow, their arguing over which video games were better turned into a round of something like twenty questions directed at the guitar tech who was curled up in the corner of the wrap-around couch.

She let out a sigh, not sure if she wanted everybody to know that secret, knowing for sure that some people would take pleasure in calling her by the name she wasn’t too keen on.

“Whaddya mean?” She asked flirtatiously, trying to put off the question until her alcohol-ridden mind could find an out for this one.

“Your real name can’t just be Becks. Like, your first name? No fuckin’ way,” Ray jumped in, taking a healthy swig from his drink.

“Okay, it’s not my first name,” she said with a placating shrug.
Seeing that they weren’t pleased, she added, “m’ last name’s Beck.” Frank was giggling in his corner of the couch-he seemed to find this all very amusing.

“Okay, okay,” Ray said, seemingly taking that as enough. Bob wasn’t.

“So what’s yer first name, then?”

Becks sighed, then, taking a sip from her cup, she simply stated, “That’s for me to know and you toooo…..not.” She could almost feel Mikey’s eyes boring into her with that stare of his. She’d told him this little secret of hers twenty minutes after she’d met him. Becks still wasn’t so sure exactly why she felt like she could tell him and nobody else, but she was glad he was keeping his mouth shut.

“Oh, come on, you’re telling me you won’t tell anybody your first name?” Bob questioned.

At this, Becks hesitated for a second, not being able to stop herself from meeting Mikey’s eyes dead on.

“Oh, fuck no!” Frank shouted, his giggling ceased. “You fucking told Mikey!” It wasn’t a question, he could clearly read the look Mikey and she had shared. Becks tried and failed to find any sort of explanation for this, her mouth just opening and closing, and Mikey just smirked and took a drink. “I am so wounded. Becks, I thought we were tight? You’re supposed to be my friend, here!”

One look at Frank’s overly dramatic, faux offended, drunken face, and Becks just lost it, busting out in laughter and everybody else but Frank joining in. “Sorry bro, but Mikey wins this one,” she said, reaching over Mikey to give him a pacifying pat on the knee.

“You’ve been burned bad, Frank,” Ray said with a laugh, looking at his friend’s pouting face.

“Yeah, yeah,” Frank said, rolling his eyes. “You owe me, Becks.”

“Sure, Frank,” she retorted smartly from behind her cup of alcohol.

After that, conversation rolled on to what everybody thought of the first show of the tour and what they were all expecting. Becks listened in quietly as the guys all spoke animatedly, enjoying the company, the excitement, and the alcohol that was now flowing very strongly in her system.

“Shit,” Bob said sometime later.

“Wha?” Frank slurred back to him.

“We’re outta mixers.”

“I’ll get ‘em,” Becks offered, standing up slowly to avoid falling over. As she made her way out of the lounge, she heard someone call out a thanks to her, though she couldn’t quite make out who.

When she’d made it to the little kitchenette area, the bus took a turn and she held onto the counter to keep herself from falling over.

“Ah, fuck,” she heard a sharp whisper and turned around to see Gerard reaching around on the floor for something. She saw a pen roll her way and bent to pick it up, bringing it to him.

“This what you were lookin’ for?” she asked him.

He looked up and saw the pen. “Yeah,” he smiled. “Thanks.”

As she watched him straighten up his seat and shuffle through the papers on the table, a thought hit her.

“Hey, Gerard?”

“Hm?”

“Why, uh, why aren’t you back there celebrating with us?” He looked up at her with a soft expression. “I mean…did you want to? I could get you a drink?”

He shook his head and smiled kindly at her. “I don’t really drink,” he stated, watching as she eased into the seat across from him. “I, uh-I had a problem with it and it, uh…it got bad.”

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry,” she said, flustered that she had accidentally invited him to do something that he struggled with. “Do you want me to not, uh, drink, I mean, here, and stuff?”

Gerard smiled at her genuine concern and offer. “No, you’re fine. If it’s fine for you, whatever,” he gestured towards her with his hand. “It just doesn’t work for me.”

She waited for a second, sluggishly taking that all in, then gave a small smile. “Okay,” she said, nodding. “You’re still having fun, right? I mean, if you want some company…?”

Giving a small laugh, he shook his head. “I’m fine, really. Actually,” he spread his papers out a little, “I had some great ideas that I really wanted to get out, so this is good.”

“Gotcha, gotcha,” she said, nodding all the while. She was really drunk, but was also really enjoying the time with Gerard.
“What’re ya doing?”

“Uh, drawing. I, uh,” he passed her a paper, “I draw comics. I hope to get one published someday.”

“Shit,” she whispered. He was good. No, beyond good. She really wanted to tell him how amazing his sketches were, but all that came out was, “Well thas’not fair,” which pulled a sharp laugh out of him.

“What’s not fair?” He asked, crinkling his nose in amusement, watching the drunk girl in front of him shuffle through his drawings, looks of awe and some serious contemplation on her face.

“Well, I mean…” She paused and looked up at him with her eyes narrowed, thinking. “You’re too talented. I mean,” she held up some papers, “you can do this, but you can also sing and stuff, and you’re just…just…” she put down the papers and looked at the ceiling as if it would have the next words written out for her. It didn’t, so she sighed and looked back at the singer. “You’re really awesome, Gerard.” She nodded her head at her own words, as if agreeing, a lazy grin across her face. “Yeah. Awesome.”

“Well…” he wasn’t terribly sure how to respond to her open and drunk compliment, so he just smiled. “Thanks, Becks.” Her grin just grew in response. “So, not that I’m not enjoying our chat, buuuut…did you come up here for a reason? You kinda seemed like you were on a mission.”

Before she had a chance to answer, another voice cut into the room. “Becks!” She and Gerard turned and saw Mikey making his way toward them.

“Oh!” She said, looking wide-eyed at Gerard. “The mixers!” And with that, she went to stand and continue on with fetching them, but the bus took another turn at that moment and her motor skills were severely diminished from all the ‘celebrating’ of the night, and she found herself flying a few feet, straight into Mikey.

“Hi!” She said drunkenly, looking up and smiling at him from the awkward almost hug they were in. “Glad you were here.” She patted his chest.

“Was wondering where you went-thought you disappeared!” He smiled back at her then looked over at his brother. “Talking with Gee?”

“Yeah,” Gerard answered for her as he watched her try to disentangle herself from Mikey. “I was showing her some of my new stuff.”

“He’s reeeeallly good, Mikey!”

Mikey laughed and looked back down at her. “Yeah, he is.” He wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders to try and keep her steady. “We should probably get back before Frank freaks out. His drink’s gone,” he explained and she laughed.

“Little diva,” she joked, letting Mikey lead her to the fridge to grab some sodas then towards the back lounge again, her arms wrapped around his waist for balance. “Bye Gerarrrd!” She shouted over her shoulder, hearing him chuckle in return.