Dancing in Black and White Photographs

It was the day of the after party, and I was already feeling a bit overwhelmed. I was having one of those ridiculous moments of ‘will they like me?’ when it really didn’t matter; they already hired me. If they don’t like me, well, it sucks to be them. I never did look them up, so now I have to search for someone in the dark without knowing what they look like. In about an hour I had to be out the door, but I was still feeling a bit queasy about the whole thing.

‘I guess I better get ready,’ I thought. Standing up from the couch, I quickly went into the bathroom. I started the shower; because I didn’t want them to meet me smelling like a tramp. I haven’t done anything since yesterday and it was now eight. I took out my ear rings; I had three on each side. When done with that I took out my eyebrows ring as well. Once I was done with all those, I took a brief shower.

I got out, dried myself off, and went into my bedroom. Once in there, I picked out my wardrobe for the night: A faded blue AC/DC shirt, light blue flared Levis, and of course, my black high top chucks. Obviously I put on under garments. What kind of girl would I be if I didn’t? I laughed thinking of Gemma. That would be the kind of girl who didn’t.

I went back into the bathroom and blow dried my hair. As soon as I was done with that, I put a heavy amount of smokey eye liner on, I put in all my piercings, making the ear rings match my blue shirt. I was finally ready to go.

I swiftly headed out into the living room, making sure Claudia had chow this time. Knowing that Claudia had food, I went out the door. I looked around for Mucho, not seeing him much to my relief. I skipped down the stairs two at a time, I was also thinking about why anyone would ever want an ugly little beast like Mucho.

I finally made it to Crappy, even though it didn’t take much time to get to him. I decided since Crappy is a piece of shit that it must be apart of the male gender. I started Crappy up and went out of the parking lot at a decent speed. I still don’t sing, ever since the incident with wannabe rock star. This time it wouldn’t have really mattered, since my windows would be rolled up. That had happened a week ago anyways.

I was getting pretty close to my objective. I was told that the press conference ended thirty minutes ago, it’s now nine-thirty. That excited-nervous feeling was starting to get annoying.

After what seemed like forever, I had reached the building. I only had directions but, not the name of the actual building since I never cared to remember what it was called. I was told that it’s the biggest building on the street, and this building looks like the biggest.

I found a parking spot and turned Crappy off, quickly getting out and heading towards the structure. There were a few people here and there, not quite sure who I was looking for. I decided to stand under the lamp post. ‘A really smart idea, this is when the rapist killer dude would come get me,’ I thought sadistically. I noticed that a blonde haired man who had it messily styled, kept glancing over at me. I was considering going over there to see if it was one of them. Then the rapist killer idea came into mind, so I stayed where I was. I had to admit, the guy was pretty cute, just not my type.

I was watching him through the corner of my eye. He finally came over here and stood next to me, averting my attention to him.

“Are you Corey Lane?” the man asked; the voice I quickly recognized. I smiled, feeling a bit relieved to know who it was.

“That would be me, you must be James.” I stated, not actually asking. He smiled warmly at me and nodded. He held out his hand which I quickly shook. I was impressed at how well he carried himself. He had the rocker look going for him, but he always smiled, so he didn’t look bad ass at all. I could very well picture him in my mind playing a guitar and singing.

He motioned me with his hand to follow him. Which I quickly did, not wanting to be left behind. We walked through the main door without a glitch. The atmosphere in this room was pretty calm. A few people here and there who seemed to be in deep conversations.

Then we went through another door which was the exact opposite. Loud rock music blasted through the speakers, and I could see tons of people having a time of their life. I was tremendously glad that I hadn’t been left to find the band by myself, considering I didn’t even know what James looked like until now.

People greeted him while we walked by. Most didn’t even acknowledge me, which suited me well; I wasn’t in the mood for socializing. We were just passing one of the many scattered tables, when a man stood up. He was fairly tall, kind of lanky, and wore a fedora. I actually knew who he was, given that my younger brother used to watch his TV show. Tommy Lee-- I just remember when he tried to march and couldn’t do it. That was great.

“Hey Man,” he called to James. James turned to look at him. I had already noticed him, so I didn’t have to. “Who’s the girl?” He asked, eyeing me up, I raised an eyebrow. It took all my energy to not say something smart ass.

“Corey,” I said for myself, not liking how is eyes were scanning me.

“She’s going to be our photographer for the tour,” James butted in, probably feeling my discomfort.

“Oh?” Tommy mouthed, completely backing down.

“Yeah, I should probably Get her to Nikki and DJ, so we can discuss the tour with her,” James said, while pushing me in another direction. I was starting to feel like a five year old lost in a shopping mall.

James and I walked away from Tommy, heading farther into the back of the building. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect after that episode.

“Don’t worry about Tommy, he doesn’t like messing with girls that are on tour with us,” He paused for a moment. “Especially with how much crap he gave Mick for dating a back up singer.” I nodded, not sure if to be confused or reassured.

We finally reached the back of the building, when I saw him. I felt myself freeze up. I quickly hid behind James, before he could see me. I was praying that the man I just saw wasn’t part of the band. James turned to look at me, so he could give me a perplexed look, not understanding why I was freaking out.

The black haired, tattooed man with the goatee was wannabe rock star. I was still hoping Wannabe wasn’t the real deal. That soon smashed into tiny pieces when James called out a name. The name I didn’t really care about, it was the guy who carried it that made me ill at ease.

I was starting to think of ways to escape from this place, when I felt eyes on my back. At the moment I could care less at who was staring me down. My jade eyes still narrowed at the thought.

James was bringing me too close to Tattoos. I decided, even though I needed this job, it wasn’t worth the humiliation. I hastily turned around, and saw bright blue eyes that scared the crap out of me. In the process of running away from the eyes, I tripped over James and fell flat on my back, squealing the whole way down. Yes, squealing. I’m not very proud to admit that.

When on the floor I just kept my eyes shut. If I could find any other way to embarrass myself it would be a miracle. I felt three pairs of eyes on me. I knew one of those sets were Vampire Eyes, Wannabe, and James. I probably should stop calling him wannabe and go by Tattoos instead.

I heard laughter, knowing all to well which one it was. I sighed, anytime with Tattoos is a dismal time.

I finally opened my eyes to see a hand held out in front of me. I looked up the arm which had tattoos and then to the face. It was Vampire Eyes. I had a tendency, when embarrassed, be mad at the person who was involved. I glared up at him and stood up by myself. He looked a bit taken back but shrugged it off.

I turned to Tattoos, Who was grinning at me rather wickedly. James was looking between everyone with a confused expression. “So,” he trailed off then went on. “I assume you two have met?” he inquired.

“Not quite,” I said my eyes glaring venom at Tattoos. Now Vampire Eyes was looking between us.

James nodded a bit uneasy before making introductions. “Corey this is Nikki, Nikki this is Corey,” Nikki gave me a smirk, while I just kept glaring at him. He made me late for work. I wanted to just slap it off his face, knowing I couldn’t since I still need a job, though moments ago I was about ready to run away.

James went on introducing me to Vampire Eyes. “Corey, DJ, DJ, Corey,” he said simply. This time I nodded at DJ, which he returned the gesture.

“I’m surprised you actually showed up,” Nikki said tauntingly, “If I remember correctly, you flipped me off.”

I continued to glower at him. “You were laughing at me, and you made me late for work,” my face unchanged.

He looked a bit surprised at first but went back to his original smirk. “How could I not? You were singing two songs completely off key, and how did I make you late for work?”

I scowled at him. “By laughing at me; you were a distraction,” I stated simply.

He looked amused this time, “I’m sorry that I couldn’t help laughing at someone who was singing the cops theme song and a Justin Timberlake song,” he paused to look me up this time. “By the looks of it I don’t think you’re a fan.”

Yeah, I’ll admit Cry Me a River was a little much. “What’s your point?” I asked, with my pierced eyebrow raised.
He looked at me for a moment, “Your singing is awful.” I gaped at him. It’s true, my singing isn’t that great, but he didn’t have to say it like that. This is one of those moments on TV where they would go, ‘oh, no he didn’t,' while snapping their fingers.

My eyes narrowed even more, if that was still possible. He continued, “I think you also owe me an apology, for calling me, what was it? Oh, yeah, a wannabe rock star?”

At least now it makes sense on why he has a better car than me. “No,” I said, “You’re being an asshole.” Everyone looked a bit surprised. DJ looked impressed, James was smiling, and Nikki kept smirking. ‘What the hell was it with this guy and smirking!?’ I mentally yelled.

James cleared his throat. “How about we go discuss the tour with Corey?” he asked. Nikki and DJ nodded. I knew I was way over my head in this. Nikki walked over to a table, which James followed him, leaving me behind with Vampire Eyes.

“Good job on not letting him bully you,” DJ said. I looked up at him, considering he was taller than me. Like Nikki he had black hair, tattoos, and facial hair. This is obviously a facial hair band that magically pulls it off. I also noted that he had Libret piercing and a nose piercing. Piercings were more of my calling.

“Why do you say that?” I asked, keeping pace with him.

“Most people just want to impress him, so once in awhile he’ll bully them around,” he said, looking down at me. I nodded, taking that in. I might want to try getting along with him.

“Thanks, Vampire Eyes,” I said, not completely realizing what I had just called him, I really didn’t mean to say that. I looked up at him and he wore an amused expression on his face.

“Why did you call me that,” he asked trying not to laugh.

I scowled at him,” Because you scared me half to death with them that’s why.”

He laughed, “Is that really my fault?” he asked. My cheeks flushed, I really knew how to embarrass myself. The look he was giving me was almost mocking. I just glared at him and walked the little distance to the table by myself. These guys really are going to be the death of me.