Fish Out of Water

by Alethea Kontis

  “Tetra, right? Oh, I’m so glad you came!” She opened her arms and pulled Tetra into a giant hug, as if they’d been friends forever and not just meeting for the first time.

  The sheer kindness of Kara’s gesture made Tetra almost burst into tears—she’d been following 10mm Conspiracy online for years and sharing their music all over social media. She’d seen countless numbers of their sets via streaming video, watched radio and television interviews, but the time and place had never been right for her to catch a live show.

  She’d exchanged more than a few emails with Kara in particular. 10mm Conspiracy’s music—and Kara herself—had ushered Tetra through one of the worst times in her life, and for that she would be forever grateful. But until this moment, it hadn’t occurred to Tetra that the keyboardist of her favorite band might also think of her as a friend, too.

  “So what’s going on?” Tetra asked calmly, reminding herself not to jump out of her skin in excitement.

  Kara rolled her eyes so hard her head rolled with them. “Ugh. You wouldn’t believe it if I told you—heck, I still don’t believe half of it. Here, let’s stand in the shade.” She pulled Tetra to where the trailer cast a sliver of protection from the sun. “The short version of the story is that Hedge isn’t here with us. Some kind of family emergency.”

  “Oh no,” said Tetra. “I hope everything’s okay.”

  “The emergency isn’t with his family,” Kara clarified.

  “Wait…what?”

  Kara put her hands on her hips and shook her head at the ground. “Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction, too.”

  “So who’s playing bass?”

  “Justin Zatarain. Know him?”

  The last name could only mean that Justin was rock legend Donny Z’s nephew or cousin or something, but if she’d seen a picture of him somewhere before she didn’t remember it. “Not really. I assume he can play bass guitar?”

  Kara shrugged. “We’re about to find out. Want to stick around to see if sound check is the dumpster fire I’m afraid it’s going to be?”

  Tetra relaxed a bit. It wasn’t sneaking in if she’d actually been invited to the concert. “You sure it’s all right? The tour schedule listed this as a private event.”

  “It’s a wedding, actually.” Kara twisted her very long hair up and pulled it into a loose knot on top of her head.

  “Seriously?” There was no way for Tetra to hide her level of surprise. A small dive bar, sure. An underground rave, absolutely. Some sort of exclusive house party, maybe. But 10mm Conspiracy headlining a wedding?

  Kara shrugged. “I don’t know what kind of favor Xander owed Donny Z. It must have been a doozy, because we’re all paying for it.”

  Tetra smirked. “I’m not exactly dressed for a wedding.”

  “‘Always a funeral, never a wedding,’ right?” Kara quoted, and then hugged Tetra again.

  This time, Tetra did feel a rogue tear slip down her cheek. The quote had been something she’d written in her emails to Kara. Tetra had been to so many funerals, so close together, that she had joked about never bothering to wear anything but black for efficiency’s sake.

  Only it wasn’t really a joke.

  “Don’t worry.” Kara squeezed her shoulders. “I’ll make sure it’s okay, even if I have to twist the arm of His Majesty Donny Z himself.” Kara reached into the trailer, grabbed a handful of colorful cords, and tossed them to Tetra. “Here. Will you help me get all this up to where we’re performing?”

  Tetra had no problem helping out—now if anyone asked, she could say she was “with the band” and it wouldn’t be a lie!

  Kara led her up the stairs from the parking lot to the deck and crossed the floor to where a slightly raised stage had been assembled. The entire deck was covered in a canopy of silk and outfitted in white and lace and pastels. It was a successful mix of casual, understated, and still very extravagant.

  “Guess who I found?” Kara announced as they approached.

  The two men working on the equipment looked up…and Tetra found herself staring into the warm green eyes of Xander Rorris.

  Her heart melted.

  “No way! Double-O Tetra? Come here, girl!”

  Xander Rorris recognized her. Xander Rorris wanted to hug her. Xander Rorris, one of the most beautiful men on the planet with a voice of an angel, knew her screen name and seemed honestly excited to see her.

  “For Pete’s sake, Xander, tone down the charm. You’ve gone and starstruck my friend.” Tetra could hear the smile in Kara’s tone. “Give her a minute to collect herself.”

  “Could be she just doesn’t want to hug some strange sweaty guy,” said Liam, the band’s drummer.

  Xander Rorris’s gorgeous body hopped off the stage. Those sexy lips parted to reveal those perfect teeth, and that angel’s voice said, “She doesn’t mind a little sweat, does she?”

  Tetra shook her head ever so slightly. She would have been willing to hug Xander Rorris if he’d been covered in bat guano. Her shy smile turned to a squeal as he caught her up in a bear hug so fierce that her boots actually left the ground. When he set her down, he planted a firm kiss on her cheek, right on top of the birthmark she had hated all her life. The birthmark that was now her favorite feature.

  “I came to see the dumpster fire,” Tetra said when she found her voice again.

  Xander laughed and the heavens opened up and the butterflies in her stomach danced a jig. “I guess Kara filled you in then.”

  “Sort of.” She let Liam take the cords out of her hands so he and Kara could put them to use. “Where’s the new guy?”

  “Don’t know and don’t care,” said Xander. “Sort of hoping he doesn’t show up at all. That would make my life so much easier. But enough about me! How are you? How was the move? How’s Florida so far?”

  “Hot,” answered Tetra. “Basically, that’s the answer to all three questions.”

  “Holla,” Liam chimed in as he wiped his brow.

  “Well, you look amazing.” Xander gave her arm a friendly squeeze. “I’m so glad you’re here. You gonna stay for the set?”

  The whole situation was so surreal that Tetra was having a seriously difficult time processing. And yet, somehow she was keeping it all together. “I’d love to. But I feel a little bad crashing the party.”

  “No way,” said Xander. “Don’t worry about a thing. I’ll make sure they know you’re with us. We still have some set up to do—you can go grab a water or something while we finish.”

  “Make that two waters,” called Liam.

  “Three!” said Kara.

  “On it!” said Tetra. Now on a fully-sanctioned mission, she went on a search for water. Unfortunately, the buffet tables weren’t stocked yet. A separate bar had been set up, but no one was there. Tetra ducked behind it, scanning the vodka and rum in the hope of discovering a few stray water bottles.

  “Hey there.”

  Tetra stood up immediately—she could only image what the situation looked like. The “hey there” belonged to a short girl with a long black ponytail and a giant red hibiscus flower over her ear. Her full lips looked used to smiling. She wore a loose white top and a black skirt and had a serving tray in her hand.

  “I was looking for some water,” Tetra said quickly. “For the band.”

  “Sure, no problem. You with them?” the girl asked with complete innocence.

  “I am,” Tetra said proudly. “Though I’ll be honest, I thought this was going to be a private concert. I didn’t realize it was a wedding. I feel a little bad crashing it like this.”

  The girl examined Tetra from head to toe. “I, personally, think you look fantastic,” she said. “But you’re right…not really for this crowd.” She bit her lip and looked to the sky for a moment before turning back to Tetra. “If you’re game for a bit of undercover dress up—which I suspect you might be—I can help you out with a quick make-under.”

  Tetra, surprisingly, wasn’t offended by the suggestion. She’d spotted d
isposable cameras at each table. She could only imagine what this poor bride would think looking back through the photos of her precious day and finding a million pictures of some random uninvited Goth chick. “Sure. I’m game. I’m Tetra, by the way.”

  “I’m Lupe,” said the girl with a sparkle in her eye. “And this is going to be fun.”

  4

  The moment Xander arrived, Justin braced himself for another staring contest. What he got instead was a meeting with someone who might as well have been a stranger. It was as if Xander had fallen asleep one night and woken up a star. His square jaw sported the perfect amount of stubble and he wore his dark blonde hair—unironically—in a messy half-ponytail, half-man-bun. He looked…expensively rumpled, if that was such a thing.

  The annoying thing was, it all worked so well that it was borderline stereotypical. Xander’s mug was the dictionary definition of Indie Rock Star.

  There was the briefest hesitation on Xander’s part as he walked into the room—the only reason Justin even noticed was because he was watching for it. Justin wished Xander could see the clean and sober kid standing before him, reluctant but ready to risk it all on his last chance. Unfortunately, he knew Xander too well to not know what wheels turned behind those hazel green eyes. No matter what Justin did now there was no way Xander would forget the betrayal of his ex-best friend. All Xander would ever see in Justin was a load of lies in ripped jeans.

  And then the hesitation passed.

  “So let’s talk about the set list.” Xander motioned for Justin to sit back down. Justin obeyed, grateful to skip the traditional greeting with its awkward handshakes and false expressions of gratitude. “Your uncle and I hashed things out a little—we want to make sure the focus stays on Trish and Andy.”

  Ever the poetic assassin, Xander cut quick and deep with his subtle word choices. Instead of calling Donny by name, he’d referred to him as Justin’s uncle, reminding Justin exactly why he was there. Reinforcing that he and Donny had “hashed it out” put Justin firmly in his place outside the inner circle. Namedropping the bride and groom as if they were old pals was merely icing on the wedding cake.

  Justin would have bet his last two bucks that Xander had never met the happy couple before today.

  “…that said, if we didn’t play any 10mm Conspiracy songs, folks might be disappointed.”

  “They would be, kid,” said Donny. “Trust me on that one.”

  “It’s been a while since we’ve been on a stage together,” Xander said to Justin without looking at him.

  “Not that long,” said Justin.

  Xander ignored him. “I don’t want to play any songs you’re completely unfamiliar with.”

  Justin smirked a little at that. 10mm Conspiracy’s regular bassist, Hedge, had a style that was pretty inside-the-box, with few flairs. His job—and Liam’s—boiled down to playing a beat that Xander could guitar his little heart out to like the big show off he was.

  “Don’t worry,” Justin said. “I can keep up.”

  “It might be good to offset the bigger stuff with a few low-key acoustic songs,” said Donny.

  “I’ll handle those,” said Xander.

  “And, as much as I hate to say it, you might even want to try some classic beach numbers,” Donny suggested. “Seeing as we are at the beach.”

  “Beach music? Seriously, Donny? You’re breaking my heart.” Xander laughed as if Justin wasn’t even in the room.

  Donny held up his hands. “A little Van Morrison won’t kill you. But no electric slide. I draw the line there.”

  “Thank god,” said Xander. “And you’ll come up to do a few Z-Train songs, right?”

  “One,” said Donny. Xander stared at him. “Okay, two. But only in the second set, after I’m properly fed and watered. This is play time for me, not work. Got it?”

  “Yes, sir,” Xander said with a smile. “You okay with that, Justin?”

  “Sure,” said Justin, not that he’d made any contribution to the conversation whatsoever.

  “Fantastic.” Donny stood up and clapped Xander on the back. “Thanks, kid. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a gorgeous wife to annoy into getting ready before midnight. I’ll leave you two to finish up with your soundcheck.”

  “See you, Donny,” Xander called after him.

  Justin grunted noncommittally.

  The heels of Donny’s boots clacked over the threshold, the heavy door clicked shut, and a cloud went over the sun. That storm Justin had prayed for had arrived—he could see it all over Xander’s face.

  “Finally,” said Justin. “There’s the guy I know. Hello, Alexander.”

  Anger seethed beneath Xander’s tan skin. His cheeks flushed, but he remained eerily calm. “Did you expect an ass-kicking too?”

  “Naturally,” said Justin. “A few nice bruises. Maybe a broken bone or two. Ribs, maybe? I’d say go for the nose, but you need your hand to play.” He added a curl of his lip to that last bit, goading Xander on. Even after all these years, Justin still knew what buttons to push. If he did this right, perhaps this great idea of Donny’s would crash and burn before it ever got off the ground.

  Xander didn’t rise to the occasion. Justin’s ex-best friend shook his head ever so slightly. “There is little I’d love more than smashing in that pretty face. But you’ve perfected playing the victim, Justin, and I refuse to be the one to put you in that position.”

  “Thank you,” said Justin. He might have even meant it.

  “Save your gratitude,” said Xander. “You’ll need it when you’re crawling back to your uncle after failing this little experiment.”

  “Believe it or not,” said Justin, “I don’t actually want to fail.” Those words he did mean.

  “Oh, but I want you to,” said Xander, “and the sooner the better. Then I can get back to living my life and you can get back to wasting yours.”

  Justin knew that the only way to get any of Xander’s respect or friendship again would be to earn it, however difficult that might be. “I’m going to try my best to disappoint you.”

  “You always do.”

  Justin was used to playing all the angles of a situation to his advantage. He might not be able to get Xander to see him as a friend in the next five minutes, but perhaps he could convince him that they had a common enemy. “Look, Xan. We used to be friends—”

  “Used to,” said Xander.

  “I wasn’t expecting you to welcome me with open arms. Hell, I wasn’t expecting any of this. How long have you known about Donny’s plan?”

  “Not long,” said Xander. “Three days.”

  Wow, it was almost like they were having a real conversation. “What did he offer you?” asked Justin.

  Xander stared at him. “Does it matter?”

  It didn’t, in the grand scheme of things. “Donny says ‘jump’ and we ask how high,” said Justin. That was always the way…the one rule a younger, short-tempered Justin had rebelled against the most.

  “Yeah,” said Xander.

  “I haven’t even had three hours to process all this.”

  “Didn’t give you time to say no, did he?”

  “Donny says this is my last shot.”

  “So do I,” said Xander. “Not that you deserve it.”

  “I know I don’t. But he’s giving me one last chance. Won’t you?”

  Xander opened his mouth as if to answer sympathetically, but then he balled his hands into fists and stood instead. Any chance Justin had of a rational Xander left with that movement. Justin was forced to stand as well, so that Xander’s higher ground was…a little less high.

  “Only because I have no choice,” said Xander. “I will put up with you for as long as I have to until you fail. Because you will fail. But until that happens, I am your babysitter. Your parental guidance.”

  “My liege.” Justin bowed dramatically.

  “Laugh it up, serf. I am King Xander, and these are my rules. You will play the songs you are asked to play, no more and no less
. You will only use equipment that belongs to you or that I say you can use. If I find out that you are drunk or high—if anyone even accuses you of being drunk or high—then I am leaving you on the side of the road for Donny’s goons to collect.”

  “Is that all?”

  “You will be kind to my band if you speak to them at all, which I really prefer you didn’t. No playing mind games. No messing around with groupies. No picking up random drunk chicks in black corsets and ripped fishnets.” Xander was so close now that Justin could feel his breath, but Justin did not back away. “And if you so much as lay a hand on Kara, I will kill you. Understand?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Xander stood nose-to-nose with him for one second longer before stepping away, having put the cap back on his bottle of furious anger. “Good. Then let’s get this soundcheck over with, shall we?”

  5

  Kara rushed into the ladies room with a bundle of white cloth in her hand. “Lupe told me about your plan so I grabbed this out of one of the guys’ packs. I’m sure it’s too big, but it was just the quickest thing I could find and…wow.”

  Tetra smiled at Kara’s reaction. She’d washed off all her face makeup while Lupe had fetched her bag from her locker. She had allowed Lupe to work her magic with the cosmetics, but only after she’d promised her new friend that she’d teach her how to recreate the liquid lines and smudged shadows that Tetra had perfected as a shining dark beauty queen.

  Lupe was now in the process of braiding Tetra’s hair into a crown, artfully hiding the blue streaks beneath the golden brown locks.

  Kara laid the shirt on the counter. “If you had walked up to me in the parking lot looking like this, I never would have recognized you.”

  “That’s the point. I’m undercover.” She made a gun with her fingers and blew imaginary smoke off the barrel with lips now covered in pale pink gloss.

  “Double-O Tetra,” said Kara.

  “Is that a nickname or something?” asked Lupe.

  “It’s my screen name on the 10mm Conspiracy fan forum. Plain-old ‘Tetra’ didn’t have enough letters, so I put two zeroes in front of the name.”