Thrash Fest
thirty-four
Bunny
We had just finished pulling everything out of the trailer we rented and getting it set up by the stage when Stevie walked over to us.
“You guys are gonna kill it out there. We’ve already got people asking if you have merch, so you better get on that shit.” He pointed to us like he was scolding a toddler.
Marlowe smiled. “Already on it, Stevie.”
She was?
“You are?” Dexter asked after Stevie walked away.
Marlowe hugged Dexter’s waist. “Yep. Made some designs for you guys to look at, figure we can sell them at Captain’s maybe?”
“Hell yeah, groupie!” I said, picking her up and wrapping her legs around my waist.
“Why do you call me that? Makes me sound like a slut.” She frowned.
I frowned back at her. “But you're our slut.” I looked over at Dexter, and she did too before I planted wet kisses all over her face. “What should I call you then?”
She shrugged and made a face like she was thinking hard. “I’m more like your manager. I help you manage all your shit.” She set her forehead against mine.
Leaning to her ear, I whispered, “Do you want me to call you manager then?”
“Ew gross, absolutely not.” She pulled away from me.
I laughed and kissed her cheek. “You’ve always been a groupie to me. Never in a bad way. You’re one of us.” She kissed me and jumped down from my hold.
We walked over to where we could see a crowd beginning to form. We were playing early in the day. We didn’t expect a giant group of people to show, but there were still people coming. The adrenaline started to rush.
As I scanned the crowd, I searched for familiar faces.
We had people who came to see us each night we performed in Battle of the Bands, and I saw some of them in the crowd.
There were also some people I saw at our parties.
Then I saw two faces I never wanted to see again, Nicki and Evan.
They were walking toward the stage, and I felt them look right at me.
I hadn’t seen Nicki again since the night Marlowe kicked her out. And I just didn’t want to fuck with Evan. The two of them together made my head spin. I stumbled backward and fell over a post from the stage. Dexter saw me stumble and helped me back up.
“You okay, man?”
My breathing was unsteady, and I was starting to sweat. Reaching into my pocket, I felt around for a cigarette or a pill, anything but there was nothing. Marlowe handed me a bottle of water, and I opened it, shaking.
Taking a few deep breaths, my breathing leveled out. Marlowe sat next to me and grabbed my hand. “Talk to me.”
“Nicki was out there.” I didn’t want to hold anything in anymore. I was telling them. “Scared the shit out of me for a second, but I’m good now. I’m gonna go have a smoke. Either of you have one I can bum?”
Marlowe pulled her backpack around. “Yeah, here.” She handed me the red and white package and a lighter, and I walked over to an open area behind the stages.
I watched as other bands prepared their equipment and talked with their teams. I couldn't wait for the day that we got to do this.
Go on tours and play festivals all over.
Marlowe walked off quickly toward the front gate.
Naomi and Sylvie probably just got here.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a guy from one of the bands that played a show at Captain's.
We had talked a few times, and he was friendly enough.
He shook hands with one of the stage maintenance crew, and I watched him put a baggie of pills in his pocket.
Tossing the cigarette on the ground, I ran over to him.
I combed through every file in my brain to find this guy's name but came up short. It would have been really handy right now. “Hey, man.” It was the best greeting I could think of on short notice.
The guy turned to me, nodding. He was taller than Dexter, bigger too. Just a bear of a guy. “What’s up, Bunny?” I mentally kicked myself for not remembering his name as soon as he said mine.
“Oh, not too much.” I kicked a rock on the ground. “Question, and not trying to be nosy, but you wouldn’t happen to have some pills I could buy off you? I just saw you from over there, and I’m out. Thought I’d ask.”
The guy punched my shoulder lightly. “Oh yeah man, for sure. Take a couple.” He put two pills in my hand. “Good luck today, tell the guys I said that too.”
“You bet.” We went our separate ways, and I swallowed the two pills with the water Marlowe gave me.
Marlowe, Naomi, and Sylvie stood with the guys when I returned. Stevie was on stage hyping the crowd before we went on. I hugged Dexter from behind while we waited to go on stage.
“Thrashers, are you ready?!” Stevie yelled, and the whole crowd cheered.
“93.3 Thrash Radio is thrilled to present the 2003 Battle of the Bands winners…drum roll please.” Someone did a quick drum roll on a set off stage.
“Solace!” Rich ran out on stage, followed by Chris, then Dexter.
I held back while Rich counted down the start of the first song.
“I love you,” I said to Marlowe before I kissed her and ran on stage, jumping into the lyrics with ease.
Our set was great. So many people sang along.
We played a lot of covers so the crowd could get involved, but we had so much fun doing it.
The original songs we played got so much love.
People held up cameras and were snapping photos all over the crowd.
As I moved around the stage, I would glance back at Marlowe.
Her hair was pulled back in braided pigtails.
She wore my green cargo shorts and a black tube top.
Pink Converse already covered in dirt. Every time I saw her, she was singing along, dancing with Naomi.
Aunt Sylvie watched with a huge smile on her face.
When we played covers of The Cure, I knew it thrilled her.
Everything around me settled about three-quarters of the way into the set. Sounds dulled, and my other senses were on high alert. I realized that this really was everything I had needed. A comfort and a place to feel safe. It’s doing what I love and feeling the way I do right now.