Backstage

by Mandy Bee

  “Flower, I’m telling you no! This time you need to stay out of it!”

  “You’re telling me no? I’m sorry I hope I heard you wrong” I growl at him. “Either you let go of me and let me walk out there or I’ll send you to the ground then walk out there. You pick!” I stare him down. He releases me with a grunt but follows me to the living room.

  “I don’t care what your sister says, this is your house too. Are you saying you can’t have friends over? Everyone knows she is doing Justin, hell it was on the news that she got beaten up over him.” Tammy is in a hissy fit. But what she said about Justin stopped me from going into the living room. I’m listening from the hallway, Justin has pulled me into a hug trying to comfort me.

  “She did not get beaten up over him! A crazy fan tried to get into his dressing room, she didn’t even know Flower was going to be there!” Chris roars, this makes me jump. I can only remember maybe a handful of times that he has ever been this mad.

  “You are not listening to me! Why do you let her rule your life? We could be out having fun right now, or in your room enjoying ourselves. But no we are fighting over her, again!”

  “No you are not listening to me, I am not your boyfriend anymore! We broke up years ago, and yes we had a few nights of fun while I was in town but that was it. You have to stop coming over here and causing trouble!”

  “After all I did for you, this is what I get? I watched that brat for days at a time, then you would come home and we would ‘play house’ until the next band called. I played mother to that bitch when hers wasn’t here, I think I should get something in return.”

  “You want something in return?” I ask walking into the room “I’ll be glad to give you something Tammy. I’ll give you ten seconds to get to that door before I beat the shit out of you”

  “Flower how much did you hear?” Chris sends a hateful look to Justin who is now standing behind me but doesn't touch me. She comes to stand right in my face.

  “Well, looks like the nobody caught a big fish.” She hisses at me. With one quick move I kick her legs out from under her and I’m kicking the crap out of her! Chris has to lift me off the ground and carry me away from the bitch. She is crying in pain, good!

  “Calm down.” Chris keeps whispering in my ear over and over again. He is holding me to him but still holding me off the ground. I’m not fighting to get down because I’m having too much fun watching her squirm in pain.

  “Cab’s ready.” I hear Justin say.

  “Take her.” Chris hands me over like I’m a doll, Justin holds me the same way. I watch Chris drag Tammy to her feet and shove her to the door. I wiggle in Justin’s arms and he walks over to wear I can watch but not get near her. Chris pushes Tammy into a cab then says something to the driver and walks back into the house as the cab drives away.

  “You can put me down now.” He slides me down his body and gives me a sexy smile. As much as I would love to take him back to my room and have some fun, right now I need to talk to Chris, alone. “Justin can you give us a minute please?” He nods then leaves us to talk.

  “I asked him to keep you in your room.” Chris says flopping down on the couch.

  “I fought him, and won, but that’s not what we need to talk about. What was she talking about Chris? When did we play house with her? Is that why she comes over every time we are home? She thinks you owe her something?” He is just staring at the floor. “Damn it Chris talk to me!” I snap at him.

  “It was a few months after they died.” He swallows, it has never been easy to talk about our parents deaths. “She started out just watching you on Friday or Saturday night if I had a gig. Then I had her stay here with you for a few full weekends while I went out of town with a band. After one of my out of town gigs, she thought it would be a good idea for her to just stay, so that you knew she would be there for you.” He shakes his head, I just keep listening. “I guess that was us playing house. A week after you turned eight we left for my first on the road tour, she got mad and we broke up. When we got home a month later she came back and we talked and this happened over and over again until you were almost nine. I told her I could never go out with her again, I wouldn’t put you though anymore pain.” He looks over at me, he is so upset. “This was right after the whole Kelly thing had happened” The first woman who tried to use me to get to Chris.

  “Chris if you ended everything that long ago, why does she keep coming back?”

  “We had a few, well more then a few, slumber parties after that. It kind of just became a thing, we would come home, she would sneak over for a night but nothing more. The last few times, however, she has been pushy about being here during the day, and wanting to let you know she was here. She wants us to get back together again but we are leaving on tour in a little over two weeks. I don’t see how she thinks that will work.”

  “I do, she wants you to take her with us. She thinks if I can go why can’t she?”

  “Well that will never happen. I’m sorry about what she said to you. I hope you know you probably broke a few of her ribs.” He smiles over at me.

  “Good, because if there is a next time you better not hold me back.” I go to hug him. Then I stop and look at him. “Chris, are you lonely? I mean do you miss having a girlfriend or all the groupies that used to hang around?” He pulls me down to sit beside him.

  “The only girl I have truly cared about these last ten years is you. Now yes I did have my share of……females,” He blushes “but I didn’t really want to settle down with anyone. Not even Tammy way back then. She used you needing a ‘fill in mom’ as her way to stay. I should have known better. Why are you asking?”

  “I see you laughing and having fun with the guys on the bus, and I love it. I love seeing you so happy. I really do feel that we have found a family that we fit into. But then I see how happy I am with Justin and then today she shows up and I guess I was just thinking why don’t you have someone too?” I shrug my shoulders.

  “Sis, when I find someone who makes me want to commit the way you and Justin have then I will. Please don’t worry about me being lonely, I have my band brothers, and I have you.” He kisses my nose making me smile.

  THE BEST PART of my morning is when I open my eyes and see Justin sound asleep beside me. Sometimes I catch myself staring at him, I don’t know how I got so lucky. Other times I wake him up with a good morning kiss. That’s what I choose to do today. I lean up and brush my lips on his, he moves a little. I press my lips a little firmer on his then pull my head back.

  “Time to get up!” I say when he opens his eyes. I start to get out of bed but he wraps an arm around my waist and jerks me back, I’m too shocked to scream!

  “Oh no you don’t!” He growls as he starts kissing me. A deep, passion filled kiss. We both moan and groan, these are the types of kisses that could get us into trouble.

  “They’re here!!!” I hear Chris scream through the door. Today Scot and Dave are coming, well I guess they’re here. We only have one week left on our break, and the guys are going to be staying with us.

  “Now we have to get up.” I pull away from him.

  “But I don’t want too.” He flips us over and pins me to the bed!

  “Justin!” I giggle “We need to get up. What will they think if we show up late because we stayed in bed?” I try to move but he is too strong.

  “They will think that I am one lucky man.” He starts kissing my neck again, then goes for my hot spot stop right behind my ear. I lose all thoughts. Then they are banging on the door, the knocks are too loud to be from just one person.

  “See, time to get up.” I giggle and stretch as he stands up. He has started wearing only basketball shorts to bed. Seeing him shirtless will never get old, my man is hot!

  “Give us a minute!” He barks at the door. He watches me stand up and straighten my shirt and shorts before opening the door.

  The guys come running in, screaming. Dave picks me up and swings me around, then hands me off to Scot who
does the same thing. Once my feet are back on the floor I can’t help but laugh. They’re jumping all over Justin like they haven’t seen him in years.

  “What took you guys so long to get out of bed?” Chris asks from the door. I look back at him and give him a ’don’t start with me’ look.

  “Oh, sorry dude we didn’t mean to interrupt anything. Want us to leave and come back later?” Scot jokes with Justin.

  “And what if we said yes?” I ask putting Justin’s arm around my shoulder.

  “Okay, enough of that please.” Chris groans “I don’t need to hear things like that! Now come on breakfast is on the table.” He laughs and walks out. We follow everyone to the dinning room, wow there is a buffet breakfast feast here.

  “There is no way you cooked all this, where did you order all this from?” I ask Chris as everyone starts filling their plates.

  “The café a few blocks over.” He says while stuffing a piece of bacon in his mouth.

  I head off to the kitchen for some coffee, I freeze when I see the mess in there. It looks like a tornado ripped apart our kitchen! Oh I will not have this! We cleaned our butts off yesterday to make sure the house looked nice for the guys, and he does this in one morning?

  “CHRIS!” I scream as loud as I can but make sure the anger can be heard in my voice.

  “I’ll clean it up later.” He yells back.

  “Christopher Jacob Marshall get your ass in here now!” I yell back at him. I can here one of the guys laughing but then I think I hear Justin telling them to shut up.

  “Look I said I would clean it up, come and eat with us.” He says walking in the messed up room.

  “We worked so hard yesterday, and now look at this! I can’t even find my coffee mug! How in the world did you make this big of mess in one morning?”

  “I had trouble finding bowls and plates to put the food on, and then when the plate wasn’t big enough I had to find something else. I promise I’ll clean it up, just go eat. I’ll get your coffee for you, please lets just have a nice breakfast.” He pushes me to the door.

  “Fine but you have to start cleaning right after breakfast, do you hear me?”

  “Yes, I promise” I want to believe him but I don’t. I know he will find a way to go do something else first. Well I sure as hell ain’t cleaning it up! I go and sit by Justin, he has fixed me a plate and stands when I come over to the table.

  “You should see the mess in there.” I whisper to him as I start to eat. Chris walks back in with my coffee, as he hands it to me he kisses my cheek. I look over at Scot and Dave, they seemed to have gotten a kick out of my little outburst. I know they will ride Chris about it all day, this makes me smile.

  I LAY ON my bed, trying to enjoy the peace and quiet, but I can’t. I have gotten used to having someone around at all times, being alone now is just weird. The guys wanted to go get a drink after dinner tonight, I had to make Justin go with them. I know he can’t drink but he can go have some fun with his band brothers. My brothers too. It’s crazy to think how much they mean to me, I haven’t known them very long, a few months but still. If anything I love how much they love Chris.

  One week and we are back on tour, I’m as excited as they are. I love being on tour with Freak Street. I asked Justin when are they going to get a permanent replacement for John, this is still a touchy subject but I think its getting better. Peter has agreed to finish the tour with them, but will not stay on afterwards. They will start interviewing bass players a few weeks after we get home. My phone starts buzzing beside me with a new text message.

  Open the door

  It’s from Justin, open the door? What? I get up and walk to the front door. He is standing there soaking wet, its been raining for hours. I open the door and look behind him, he is alone, what?

  “Where are the others?” I ask in almost a panicked voice.

  “At a bar three blocks down, not my crowd.” He says taking off his shoes.

  “You walked here?!” I gasp then help him take his, now soaked, sweatshirt off. T-shirts soaked too, off it goes.

  “Thanks. Yeah I left the car with them, I know Chris doesn’t drink much so he can drive them home.” I follow him as he walks to my room, well our room. All his stuff is in here too.

  “Yell at me when you’re done changing.” I say and walk into the hallway.

  “I’m going to change in the bathroom, I need to take a quick shower. Come see if you can find our show on TV.” He says, I walk in the room just as the bathroom door shuts.

  I get comfy on my side of the bed, my pillow is propped up on the headboard, and my covers are pulled up over my lap. Scanning threw the channels I frown when I see that The Golden Girls won’t be on for another two hours.

  “Our show doesn’t come on for another two hours.” I yell at the door after hearing the water stop. I wait for him to answer but he doesn’t. Whatever.

  I pick up the latest copy of People magazine and flip threw it. There is a small article on the band, they used one of the new pictures of the band that has Chris in it. It’s mostly an update on the tour and how we took a three week break. When the bathroom door opens I look up and my heart stops! He is standing there wearing nothing but a tight pair of grey boxer briefs! I blush and force myself to look at the magazine in my hands.

  “Sorry, I forgot my shorts.” He mumbles then walks over to his suit case and slides on a pair of black basketball shorts. I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding. He gets in to bed with me and pulls me to him, I don’t fight him but my heart is racing.

  “Did you hear what I said about the TV show?” I ask him nervously.

  “Yeah, that’s fine. We can find something else to do.” He is running his hand over my shoulder, over and over again. It’s maddening!

  “Like what?” My voice came out a little too husky.

  “Hmmm, I know.” He gives me a wicked grin then leans down and claims my lips.

  Where the hell could they be? It’s after two in the morning and the boys are still not home. What’s worse is that none of them are answering their phones. I’m sitting in the living room just staring at the front door, wishing that it would open and they would walk in.

  After Justin and I had some fun kissing and touching we stretched out to watch TV. That’s when I realized that the guys were still gone. After trying all their cell phones a few times each, I started to worry. We called the bar that Justin said he left them at. The bartender said that the ‘Freak Street punks’ left not long after Justin had. We waited a little bit and tried calling them again, all the phones went straight to voice mail, then the real panic hit.

  I called all the hospitals, and the police stations with in fifty miles of our house, no luck there. After that I came in here to wait, staying in the bedroom was driving me crazy. I jumped at any little noise, thinking it was them.

  “Here.” Justin hands me some coffee, I don’t need it to stay awake, my fear is doing a good job of keeping me up.

  “Thanks, did you try their cells again?” I ask him, I have left Chris so many messages that his mail box is full.

  “Yeah, still goes to voice mail.” I take a deep breath and try not to break down “It will be okay, I’m sure they are just out partying.” He says while pulling me onto his lap, carefully so I don’t spill my coffee.

  I don’t know how long we sat like that, I’m too scared to look at the clock. We don’t talk, we just wait and wait and wait. Damn it Chris where are you? My mind is racing with the thoughts of what could have happened to him. Then I get an idea.

  “Hey, where is my computer?” I ask him and bolt off his lap.

  “On your night stand why?” He asked having to run to keep up with me. I dashed off to my room. “What’s going on? What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to check all the gossip sites. Most of them post new stories every few hours. If the guys did something dumb, like get really drunk and caused problems somewhere. Then maybe the press was there and may have already post
ed something.” I’m typing like crazy.

  I go to the search engine and type ‘Freak Street band at bar’ then refine it to the latest posts. Oh shit! There is a picture of all three of them at a strip club! My heart stops when I see who is sitting on Chris’s lap, Tammy! The bimbo’s a stripper, well that doesn’t surprise me.

  “Call a cab, now!” I snap at him, he doesn’t ask questions. The picture was posted only ten minutes ago so hopefully they are still there. I look up the address of the club and write it down.

  “We are going to a strip club?” He looks at me like I’m crazy.

  “We are going to get our brothers and bring them home before something happens.”

  It took thirty minutes to get to the club. We jump out and head to the door. There is a big black guy standing there with a smirk on his face.

  “You ain’t getting in here jail bait.” He says too me.

  “My brother is in there and he is drunk, I’m here to get him!” I hiss at him. Then he sees Justin.

  “Hey you’re the lead singer of Freak Street. Man, your band is in there having a blast. Go on in.” He waves him in. Justin takes my hand pulling me along. “Sorry,” the big jerk puts his hands up “I can’t let her in.”

  “This is Flower, she is with the band. We need to get the others and head back to the house. She is going in with me.” Justin say with a ‘Don’t fuck with me’ voice. The guy nods and we walk in.

  What a dump. This looks more like a whore house then a strip club. Not that I would really know what either of those would look like. But this one looks nothing like the ones you see on TV shows. We spot the guys almost as soon as we walk in. They are in booth by the stage. I start stomping over there and I’m ready for the fight of my life. Then I stop and regroup, I know how to play this to where the fighting will happen at home and not in public.

  “Hello boys.” I say in the sweetest voice ever as I go and sit by Chris. Justin stands behind me.