Learn to Spell, God!

Brian’s POV.

It had been around half an hour since our set had finished. Pure Poison had decided it was safe to go and ‘collect’ their friends from the arena without having hordes of fans coming after them. I had just gotten comfy on one of the sofas in our little lounge – bar - dressing room. It was a bit early to be heading back to the confines of the tour bus, and we didn’t need to move for a few days. This meant we could head home and get some laundry done, and sleep in a familiar and comfy bed.

“Should we follow the girls? In case they get . . . raped or abducted by some fans.” Johnny had a very good point – there was one sign in particular, besides that of their friends, which had stood out especially to us guys; ‘We will haveVengeance Pure Poison.’ There was also a sign saying ‘Booty-Call’ near by. Were there sex driven Pure Poison fanatics in our audience?!

“Definitely!” Jimmy choked, remembering the same signs as I had.

We left, still holding our beers, and headed for the stage. We knew the fans were having a laugh with us, but these girls were technically our responsibility on this tour, not to mention out girlfriends. We really needed to stop worrying so much.

It wasn’t a surprise when we saw the girls, still in their ‘Scream’ outfits, jumping around and squealing on the arena floor hugging two people. I had expected maybe a few more friends . . . we were so close to home that there should have been more people. Taking advantage of the serious lack of friends, we slowed our pace so it was almost silent and made our way over the stage to the edge.

Negotiating the side of the stage without our feet slapping on the ground was a little harder, so much so that Matt started getting the giggles as he attempted dismount it. The girls had separated a set of barriers in their rush to greet the people and we were able to sneak up on them. We each pressed a finger to our lips so the mysterious blonde and red-head would give away our position. I flung Sophie over my shoulder, twisting her in the air so her stomach cushioned the impact with my shoulder.

Instead of screaming and fighting, all I got as a reaction was:

“Ooo, ass!” I felt a pair of hands in my back pockets and a slight squeeze. She was too used to this by now – I needed a new attack.

Like Sophie, Layla and Jenn were slung over Zacky and Jimmy’s shoulders, where as Pippa and Danni had been tackled to the floor and were currently being made a part of the hard floor by Matt and Johnny. The two girls just stood, staring at us bewildered by our behaviour.

“Hi!” I waved, nearly dropping Sophie whose protests had finally stared. The skirt she was wearing revealed just a little too much as she wriggled, trying to regain a ‘safer’ position on my shoulder.

Before either of the star-struck friends could answer, my jeans had slipped further down my legs. I was now balancing Sophie over my shoulder whilst trying to keep my jeans above my boxers. The two girls blushed violently, and I could see them suppressing giggles.

“My bad!” Sophie apologised, hoisting the back of my jeans up.

“Anything to get Synyster Gates outta his pants . . .” The blonde shook her head mockingly.

“Shut up Peace!” Sophie laughed. “Have you not seen Pippa on the floor with Matthew? You can make rude comments towards me as soon as I am on my feet and able to hurt you.” ‘Peace’ merely rolled her eyes and wandered over to help Pippa up from her current bundle on the floor.

*

“I think proper introductions are called for.” Zacky stated from his place next to Layla. Another show, another bar to hit. But this time we were in more than familiar territory.

“Lets keep this really simple, ‘cus you guys are gonna get drunk and forget if we don’t.” Danni stated.

“Peace,” Pippa pointed to the blonde girl. Her thickly outlined eyes flickered in excitement, though she looked positively terrified to still be in our presence. “PJ,” And Pippa then signalled to the red-head.

“I’ve just realised!” Sophie sat up in my arms, smiling widely. “I’m not the only ginger here any more! Sweet . . .” The smugness was radiating from her as she sipped at her coke.

“Ginger? What are you on about, Sophie?” Johnny frowned, wrinkling his nose. “You’re quite blatantly blonde! So is PJ.” This triggered laughter from the rest of us, leaving Johnny with confusion playing on his lips before he spoke again.

“Sophie is a red-head. Always has been, always will be.” Layla shrugged.

“What? That can’t be right . . . They both look like blondes to me.” They say you learn something new everyday. I had learnt two things; one, Sophie is no longer surprised when I put her in a fireman’s lift. And two, Johnny was not only vertically disabled but colour blind too. Well, he couldn’t tell the difference between a red-head and a blonde.

As if we didn’t have reasons enough to take the piss out of Johnny before, we continued slating him for most of the night. Even when the girls did their group toilet trip, we didn’t stop. I’ve never understood why girls don’t just go by themselves, and why they take so long. Guys are perfectly capable of having a slash on their own; it’d just make it worse if you went with your friends because they probably try and check what your tackles like. Weird.

When the girls returned, instead of re-joining the conversation like they would normally, they all stared into their drinks, not acknowledging any of the concerned looks we were giving them. They didn’t even make conversation among themselves.

“W-what’s wrong?” Zacky was tentative with his approach.

“Hmm? Oh nothing.” Layla replied, in barely a whisper. The atmosphere in our booth was very tense; so much so that if anyone had tried to punch the air, they would have probably broken their fist. We all exchanged slightly scared looks, then caught Peace and PJ’s eyes. Maybe we could break them down.

I stood to go and buy the next round of drinks, catching Peace by the elbow ready for an inquisition.

“What happened?” My eyes bore into hers, and I could see her slowly cave.

“It’s just this guy, from school.” I nodded, not seeing the big deal. “He was new this year, and he had . . . caught Sophie’s eye before they came on tour with you guys. But she’d got over it and stuff, especially with you around . . . just, when we went to the loo’s he passed us and pulled Sophie over to one side. When she came back to us she said he’s asked her to dinner tomorrow . . .”

“What did she say?” I was meant to be raging right now, wanting to kill who ever this guy was for going after Sophie. But I wasn’t.

“No! Geesh. It’s just a little . . . awkward. Y’know.”

“Oh. Okay . . . You know you didn’t have to make me have a heart attack back there! I thought you’d like seen a ghost or . . . something.” I laughed. This wasn’t a threat at all.

When we got back to the table, I pulled Sophie close to me, arm around her waist.

“You got worried for no reason.” My lips travelled to her jaw line and pressed against her soft skin.

“Really?” She turned to smile at me. I nodded in reply, happy that it hadn’t been anything like the Ail situation.

It looked like Peace had explained to PJ, who had informed Pippa and so it went on around the table causing that awful tense atmosphere to melt away.