Social Sinners

by TL Travis

  I couldn’t rip my eyes away from that tight ass. What I wouldn’t give to be those jeans…

  “Dude,” Stoli smacked me on the back and I jumped.

  “What the hell?” I said, louder than I meant to.

  “What did he want?” He bobbed his head in the direction Lucas had gone.

  “He asked me about the talent show. Said his dad is some sort of an agent,” I told him, leaning over to pick up the book I’d tossed when he scared the shit out of me.

  “Yeah, right,” he sneered.

  “What’s he done to you anyways?” I asked, not quite certain why Stoli seemed to have it out for him.

  The look of shock crossed his face, albeit briefly. “Nothing, I just don’t trust his prissy ass.”

  “Yeah, but what a great, prissy ass it is.” I looked down the hall, as though I could still see it there. But I could have sworn I heard Stoli growling behind me.

  “Do you have any classes with him?” I asked as we walked out the front doors to head home.

  “No.”

  “Then how do you know him?” I wasn’t sure where this was headed. Did we like the same guy or something?

  “I don’t.” His answers were short, and curt.

  “Then what the fuck? Do you like him?” This was really starting to piss me off. What was his deal?

  “Ha, not on your life.”

  “Okay, so what is it? If you like him, I’ll back off, but otherwise…” I trailed off, throwing him a bone in the hopes he’d come clean with me.

  “Look,” he stopped suddenly, and I damn near ran into him, “I don’t like him. I don’t like him at all.”

  Relentless in my pursuit for the truth, I pushed, “But you don’t even know him.”

  “I don’t need to.” His face turned red and for the first time, I saw an angry Stoli before he stormed off.

  As we neared our houses he stopped, his hand on the door handle, but never turned to look at me. “We have practice on Wednesday so I’m gonna go inside and get my homework done and work on my parts. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  He went inside, slamming the door behind him. Leaving me dazed and confused standing alone on the front steps to his house. What the hell did I do?

  I walked the hundred or so feet to my house, racking my brain to figure out what went wrong. After tossing my backpack on the floor beside the couch, I went into the kitchen to make something to eat. Stoli and I never fought before, was this our first?

  I stalked up to my room, plate in hand taking the stairs two at a time and plopped down at the desk, diving into my homework. Afterwards, I put on my headphones and cranked it up. Getting back to learning my part of the song – the singing one. That’s a hell of a lot more pressure than I ever anticipated when I agreed to start a band with Stoli. And the first thing they threw at me was Freddy Mercury, the man with a killer voice who could belt out any tune. Ugh.

  It was a while later when someone tapped me on the shoulder, I shrieked, “What the—” Grabbing my headphones and sliding them off before turning to find my dad standing there. Thankfully I caught myself before finishing that statement. “Whoa Dad, you scared me. What’s up?”

  “Surprised to see you home. You sounded pretty good, son.” He patted the shoulder he’d just tapped, “Hungry?”

  “I could eat.” I reached over, shutting off the stereo.

  “Pizza’s downstairs.” He turned and walked out with me trailing behind him.

  The next morning, Stoli and I walked to school in silence. This whole thing was beyond ridiculous, so I ignored him as he’d been doing to me. By lunchtime, Stoli seemed to be back to his usual self so I chose not to bring it up again.

  After school, Stoli told the three of us to meet at his house on Wednesday so we could practice and see where everyone was at with the song.

  When we approached our houses, he asked, “Do you wanna come in and we can jam for a while?”

  “Nah, it’s all good. I’m just gonna head home and do laundry,” I replied, walking away.

  Maybe a couple days apart will do us some good. And yet, saying that I felt something tighten in my chest.

  Practice went okay on Wednesday. Our key issues were timing, so we spent most it trying to get that under wraps. Saturday’s session was a little better and on Sunday we were surprised to see Diamond show up.

  “Hey guys, my dad kinda kicked me out,” he said, taking a seat behind the drums he used for practice. Brett, of course, had an extra set up we kept out in the garage. It was old, but it served its purpose for our broke ass band.

  “He kicked you out?” we said in unison.

  “Ha, not like that. Just said he didn’t want to hear the devil’s music in his house,” he sneered.

  Being the smartass in the band, Mickey helpfully added, “Well, I wouldn’t recommend playing any Cradle of Filth while you live there.”

  We laughed but got right to it and practiced until it was time for everyone to head home.

  The next few weeks went by in a whirlwind, we spent the last week before the talent show working on our stage presence. Somehow, I was expected to get the crowd up on their feet and clapping. Me…ugh, that thought alone made me want to hurl. But we’d practiced hard and if we were going to make a go of it, a real go of it from the point of permanently making music together, then I had to quit hiding in everyone else’s shadows.

  Now, here we were. Friday, the night of the talent show, and I was a nervous fucking wreck. My dad took a half day off, so he and Brett could help us get our gear to the school since none of us had our own vehicles. Better add that to the ever growing band needs list of a thousand things.

  We were only allowed a total of five minutes to get set up because that is how long the act before us was on stage for.

  “Everybody ready,” the drama teacher, Mrs. Powell asked us not waiting for a response as she flitted away.

  “All right guys, hands in,” Stoli said, putting his in first. One by one, we stacked our hands-on top of his and yelled, “We may not be brothers by blood, but we are family.”

  Somehow those simple words helped center me. I looked to the side of the stage at my father who gave me the thumbs up, and a proud smile. I knew then and there, I’d do anything to keep from disappointing him or my band brothers. I drew in a deep breath, and another before I heard her announce us. The curtain flew up and we were met with complete and utter silence. Diamond took his cue and began beating his bass drum and the rest of us followed suit.

  My hands were glued to my side as I began singing, albeit rather shakily. But once I got to the first chorus, I threw my hands up in the air, clapping them above my head. When I looked over and eyed my dad, Mary, and Brett they were doing the same. Further back in the crowd I spotted Lucas doing it and some of the other kids had joined in. By the time the second chorus hit, all hands were in the air and most were on their feet. It was beyond awesome. Nerves were gone and for the first time in my life, I was rocking a crowd and I loved all two minutes and two seconds of it.

  Our finish was met with the applause we’d hoped for, but never actually thought would come to fruition. We headed backstage, attacking each other and putting one another in friendly head locks. Hugs and high fives were running rampant, but that was short lived as we were advised to take our seats in the audience with the rest of the completed performers to wait until the others finished to see who’d won.

  After the last performance, some cheerleader doing a hula-hoop dance, our principal Mr. McDowell took the stage. We sat straight up in our seats, holding our breath.

  “Wow, this was a talent filled night for our school.” Claps erupted. “I’m proud of each and every one of our students who were brave enough to come up on this stage in front of their peers and perform.” He put his hands together, clapping as the crowd joined in.

  “I need the following three performance groups to join me on stage please. Melodie Jameson, Tricia Parker, and Social Sinners.”

  We looked
at each other, stunned and tried our best not to run up on the stage.

  “Third place trophy goes to Tricia Parker for her flute rendition of Here Comes the Sun.” Everyone clapped. She took center stage, thanked him and went back to stand where she had before.

  “Second place goes to…” we held our breath, “Melodie Jameson and her fiery volcano eruption. Thank you for not burning the building down, Melodie.” He laughed, handing her a trophy.

  Laughter broke out among the crowd, followed by clapping.

  But that meant…

  “Tonight’s winners, and for good reason, are Social Sinners playing Queen’s We Will Rock You. And that they did! Congratulations, boys.” He shook each of our hands in turn before handing the trophy to Stoli, who was standing closest to him. We turned to the crowd, holding the trophy up above our heads and noticed everyone was back on their feet again, clapping. For us.

  Our folks met us back stage to help pack up. Stoli was being hugged profusely by his mom, with Brett standing proudly beside them. You couldn’t wipe the grins off any of our faces. My dad even embraced me.

  “Joey, that was great. A little shaky at first, but you got over that fast. I’m so damn proud.” He pulled me into another hug.

  “Thanks, Dad. I was scared at first, but then, I don’t know, I guess I just let the music take me and it took off from there.” I’d barely been released by my dad before I was surrounded by Mary’s tiny arms.

  “I’m so proud of you guys. You were fantastic!” she cheered, hugging Mickey and Diamond.

  Stoli walked up, draping his arm loosely over my shoulder. “Dude, we did it. You were awesome.” He fist bumped me as he pulled away. Somehow, hearing those words from my best friend almost meant as much as hearing them from my dad had.

  “I was so nervous,” I whispered to him.

  “Couldn’t tell from where I was standing. Man, you wailed, you’d give Freddy Mercury a run for his money,” Brett said.

  I thought my voice was low enough so only Stoli could hear me, guess I was wrong. Again.

  Mickey and Diamond came over, more high fives and congrats were tossed between the four of us before we loaded up and headed out. Diamond’s parents didn’t come, which we didn’t really expect them to, so my dad and I dropped him off on our way home.

  Chapter

  Seven

  Senior year, 2007-2008

  We got a few gigs here and there, but with us still under the age of eighteen, they were few and far between because the local bars didn’t want to risk losing their liquor licenses. We promised not to drink, but that didn’t fly. Most of the places we played ended up being at ones Brett hooked us up with. Farmers markets, we played at the mall in the center court, random stuff like parties’ people were having, but we considered it good practice and it gave us a little extra cash and our band gained more followers with each event.

  The four of us had part-time jobs and juggled work, practice and gigs as best we could around them, except for my boyfriend, Lucas Shane. He and I had started dating over the summer between our junior and senior year. Lucas was in attendance for our gig at the mall and stayed for the entire show. Afterwards, we got to talking during which, I finally got up the nerve to ask him out.

  “Joey, you ready to go?” Stoli hollered over to me.

  Lucas and I were standing next to the water feature. I’d zoned out, debating on asking him out while mindlessly staring at some kids throwing coins in the fountain, making wishes they hoped would come true.

  “Joey?” Lucas questioned, drawing me from my self-doubting thoughts.

  “Oh um, sorry.”

  “Are you alright?” the sincerity in his question made me feel even more foolish.

  Here I was, internally berating myself for being a ball-less dumb ass and he was worried something was wrong. “Yeah, I’m fine. I was just—” ugh, why is this so damn hard? “I was wondering if you wanted to go out and do something sometime?” My cheeks heated. I glanced down at my Converse, pretending to scrape something off the floor with the toe while waiting for my embarrassment to subside.

  “Do something? Like as in a date?” The playful grin on his face told me he knew the answer to that question.

  “Yeah like a date.”

  “I’d love to. What’s your number?” I rattled off the house line, watching him click away on his phone adding it to his contacts. “I’ll call you tomorrow so we can set something up. By the way, you guys were great tonight.”

  “Thanks. Maybe we could do something next weekend?” I could tell he was ready to leave, but I wasn’t quite ready to part ways. Selfishly, I hoped there was a way to go out tonight, but I knew it was getting too late for that.

  “Maybe,” he flirted, “we’ll talk tomorrow.” He squeezed my forearm and spun on his heels before disappearing into the crowded mall.

  For me, it was love at first sight. Lucas was going to college in the fall, but none of us had any plans to do so. It wasn’t for us. We put all our money back into the band and were even saving up for a van, so we could start taking out of town gigs after graduation.

  Lucas and Stoli never bonded and it was growing increasingly difficult to even have them in the same room. Stoli called him a spoiled queen and in return he called Stoli a jealous bitch. Not sure what he meant by that because he had nothing to be jealous of so that comment never made sense to me. Lucas was the flamboyant one in the group and I’m not sure if that was what irked Stoli or not. We preferred jeans, mostly tattered due to age and wear, vintage concert shirts and dark shades to hide our sleep deprived eyes behind. We weren’t even on the same playing field as he was. But the two of them together in any setting never boded well for those around them. I loved them both, but damn, they were fucking mean to each other.

  Lucas was beautiful, at least in my eyes and he never hid who he was. Always dressed in the latest fashions, of course his father could afford them. His nails were immaculately manicured and at times painted to match his outfits. Hell, his make-up alone would rival that of the Project Runway models. Not sure how he learned to do it, the furthest I ever got was wearing black eyeliner and black nail polish, but for him it was perfect.

  Stoli and I got cell phones for our birthdays, making it much easier to get ahold of the other guys when something came up. None of us had any plans to move out of our parents’ houses yet except for Diamond. It seemed the more engrossed he became with the band, the harder his father came down on him. He mentioned a few times moving out right after graduation, but none of us were ready to. My dad told him he could stay at our place and he offered to pay rent or help with groceries and stuff. I decided to leave that between them to sort that out.

  The longer Lucas and I dated, the more distant Stoli became. Which was seriously sucking because Lucas hung out with the band almost as much as I did. He went to every gig, and almost every practice over the summer months. Once his college classes started in the fall, he’d hardly be around and Stoli’s mood changed drastically.

  “Hey guys,” Stoli said when we walked into his garage for practice one Saturday afternoon.

  “Sup?” I said, shooting him a wave.

  Diamond waved a drumstick in salute, Mickey shot a peace sign and Lucas sat in the corner typing away on his cell phone.

  “We have a potential gig. Brett said he’d pay us to play at his employee Christmas party. You guys game?” he asked us.

  “Hell yeah,” we answered.

  “Cool, I’ll let him know. We’ll have to keep the music tame, but light rock will do. Is boy wonder over there going with us?” Stoli gestured toward Lucas while directing his question to me.

  “I can hear you, jackass,” Lucas replied, without looking up from his phone.

  “I dunno, probably,” I answered, determining this was not the time or the place to have the discussion we needed to have about him and Lucas.

  “Come on guys, let’s put a playlist together for this shindig and get to it.” Diamond, always the one ready to p
lay and avoid confrontations.

  I figured beating on his drums was a Zen for him, considering the hell his parents put him through daily. At least he could beat the skins without going to jail.

  We got through the first song before Lucas’ boredom became clear to everyone. He made a whole presentation of sauntering over to me, sliding his hand along the side of my face and kissing me – tongue and all. And then he turned, blew Stoli a kiss and sauntered out of the garage.

  “What the fuck was that about?” I was stunned over the effort he put forth in making such a dramatic exit.

  Stoli was livid. His face was more shades of red than I’d ever seen, and his teeth and jaw were tightly clenched. “I think we should make it a band rule, no girlfriends allowed at band practice,” he announced.

  “He’s not a girlfriend,” I fired back.

  “Really, Joey? He wears so damn much make-up he could shit a glittery fucking unicorn!” Stoli’s voice escalated with each passing syllable.

  I stood, fists balled at my sides, invading his personal space. “What’s your fucking problem with my boyfriend?”

  Diamond and Mickey ran over, positioning themselves between us. “Guys, come on. You’re best friends, don’t let boyfriends come between you. Man, that shit’s not worth it,” Mickey said, trying to gain control of the situation before we both did things we’d regret.

  “I just don’t understand it,” I mumbled as I returned to my seat, running my hands through my hair despondently. The longer it got, the more I found myself playing with it when deep in thought or when I was stressed out.

  Diamond whispered as he passed by me on the way back to his kit, “Open your eyes and you will.”

  I wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but assumed he was telling me that Lucas wasn’t one of us. Which I knew, but I still thought he was the one for me and they needed to get over it and accept it. We calmed down and managed to jump into the next song on the playlist. Stoli and I didn’t utter a single word to each other the rest of the night.