Kiss Me, I'm Contagious

“And finally, that was our new song...” Trevor interrupted Nate.

“Try really new.” He spoke into the microphone and his squeaky voice echoed throughout the studio. The audience cheered excitedly.

“As I was saying, that was our new song. Like, we just wrote it yesterday!” Nate exclaimed in mock surprise and pointed at me.

“Yeah, Nate and I wrote it together. On the kitchen floor.” I laughed into the mic in front of me and grinned at the crowd. “You all should be honoured!” The audience hooted again.

“Yeah, so buy our CDs. And our next album. And our merch.” Nate added on.

“This is a propaganda, I tell you. A propaganda.” Jeremy shook his head and commented dramatically.

“Our album isth hot!” Trevor yelled into his mike and it screeched loudly. However, the fans below managed to overcome it with a massive hooting. Sigh, Trevor and his ego problems.

“Thank you all for coming.” Nate said into his mike as he adjusted his guitar randomly.

“Peace!” Jeremy hollered and the crowd went crazy again. I managed to wave at the fans for a bit before being gestured to leave the stage by Seth from backstage.

“That crowd was awesome.” I breathed as Seth took hold of my red bass. He grabbed my bass carelessly from me.

“Dude, take care of the dude!” I gasped as I stroked my bass. My bass has feelings, he’s a he, not an it.

“Did they like, start moshing before we even began?” Jeremy declared loudly and Nate began chuckling. Trevor was busy wiping his sweat off his face with a towel.

“Eh, Summer.” Seth tapped my shoulder. “That woman has been waiting for you ever since the show started.” I walked over to the figure sitting on the chair in our dressing room. What the hell is she doing here?

“Summer!” Mrs Merrick stood up from the couch and beamed at me. I couldn’t call her Mom; it’s just...wrong.

“What are you doing here?” I asked monotonously, arms folding across my chest defensively.

“I just wanted to see you.” She spoke softly and gently. I noticed she was twiddling her fingers randomly in nervousness.

“How could you act like everything is perfectly okay when you damn well know it’s not?” I hissed at her and she took a step back startled. “For all I know, you should be with Zack because I’m sure he’s having a shittier time than me.” Suddenly, she dropped her handbag on the floor and its items rolled all around. I sighed and helped her retrieve them.

“I just...Summer, I owe you too much. I’m sorry.” She mumbled. It was honestly quite surprising to see a middle aged woman that emotional. “But you have to know that ever since I left you there, there has been this heavy weight in my heart. How many times I’ve wanted to go see you, invite you to be part of our family but I didn’t. I was afraid of this, I was afraid that you would reject me.”

“Technically, you rejected me first.” I shot back instantly.

“All I want today is to spend time with you, know more about you and for you to know more about me Summer. I’ve wasted 18 years, I want to make up for it.” She pleaded sadly, waiting for an answer. I just stood there and stared at her in silence.

“It’s okay. I understand how you feel. I didn’t expect anything. Goodbye, Summer.” She finally mumbled, and turned around, hobbling for the exit. I watched her disappear as the door shut behind her. Slowly, I inched towards the chair she once seated on, sat down, and rested my head in my hand.

“Go.” I looked up and saw Nate. “Go with her, you idiot.” He repeated again, shoving me hard.

“But there’s so many reasons for me to hate her. Didn’t you say the truth hurts more?” I reasoned, angry at how hypocritical he was being.

“Look, I know what I said. But she does seem pretty remorseful. Come on, she waited for nearly three hours.”

“You think so?” I asked again, unsure if I should follow her. There was so much I wanted to know about, honestly.

“Yeah, I think so. Quick, before she leaves!” He jumped up and down excitedly and pulled me up. I grinned and hugged him.

“Thanks buddy!” I rushed as I grabbed my bag. “Bye guys!” I hollered across to Jeremy and Trevor.

“Yo, where we going?” Jeremy screamed and I turned back.

“Making up for lost time.”