At some point in the middle of their set, when he usually got chatty with the audience, telling them some short story about the road or his life, I realized that if anything—Sassy, in his black pants, light blue button-up, and skinny navy tie—was a loyal bastard.
"Do you know what I hate?" he asked the roaring audience in front of him. They screamed all kinds of things in response.
"Pussy!"
Sacha shook his head and pointed in the direction of where the person had screamed. "Nope. I like that."
"Guys in skinny jeans!"
He shrugged dramatically. "Whatever, man."
A couple other people screamed other random things until he waved them off, pressing the microphone really close to his face like he was going to tell the thousand-plus people in the audience a secret. He held up one finger, which he pointed straight ahead almost as if he was pointing at me in the back.
"Pickles," he screamed and then extended his middle finger, still pointing straight ahead. "And dicks!"
Immediately, the loud bang of the bass drum picked up, signaling the start of another song.
I almost pissed my pants from laughing so hard.
Iwasin love with the world and with the men in my life the rest of the night.
Why hadn’t anyone told me that being loved and cared for—albeit in a strange way—could be so awesome? I felt like someone pointed a wand at me and cast a spell that was all rainbows and unicorns. My brother called Brandon a mangina, and Sacha followed that up by calling him out in front of a thousand people. What more could I ask for?
As soon as Carter and I got done loading the dolly with bins and tearing everything down, we made our way out of the venue. Laila had left minutes ago, explaining that she had to be up early for a class she was teaching and her mom didn’t want to pick her up too late. With a flurry of hugs and promises to text me the next day, I said goodbye to my best friend for the next two months.
I saw Eli first, standing with his back to me after loading his drum cases into the massive trailer. With three long steps, I launched myself on top of his back, wrapping my arms around his neck to kiss his cheek. "I love you," I told him, pinching his cheek.
"Fuck, I'd love you if you lost ten pounds before jumping on my back again," he huffed, hoisting me up higher on his back with one hand.
"Whatever," I muttered, pinching his cheek again. "Thanks for standing up for me, Eliza."
"Somebody's gotta do it, Flabby. If I would have known you were gonna punch him in throat, I would have taken it easier on him, you fucking psycho." He laughed. “I swear to God, seeing you do that almost made me cry.”
I snorted, the curiosity killing me. “What happened after I left?”
“He sure as hell didn’t say anything when he got back in the bus. He waved at his girl and got the fuck outta there, but not fast enough because I made sure to laugh right in his face. Sacha had to go into his bunk from how hard he was laughing.” He snorted. “Mason was pissed off he missed it.”
It hit me right then that I hadn't seen Mason all night. He'd gone out of his way to ignore my text messages, but then he also hadn't been on the bus when the Pickle-Dick incident went down. I knew that son of a bitch. There's no way he would have just sat back and done nothing. "Wait. Where was he?"
I could feel the rumble of my brother's chuckles from beneath me. "I think it's better that you don't know just in case the cops ask."
"E!"
A hand smacked my ass really hard and I yelped. Not surprisingly, Mason stopped right next to us, smirking. "That's my payment for tonight,my ball-and-chain,” he said with a fake leer.
"What did you do?" I hissed, but really I was obscenely interested in what he'd done. I'd gladly trade a bruise on my butt to find out.
He shrugged. "Let's just say Brandon is going to need three new tires and a car wash, Flabs. He had it coming.”
My small Grinch heart swelled and swelled.
Eli turned us around so that my butt was in front of Mason one more time before the jerk slapped it even harder than the first time. I jumped off of him, rubbing my poor cheek in hopes the sting would wear down, and then called them both dicks that I loved. Grabbing clean clothes from the compartment beneath the bus, I overheard yelling coming from inside. Since I didn't know exactly who was involved, and I definitely didn't want to make it awkward by walking in during the middle of an argument, I waited until the voices lowered.
Once inside, I spotted Julian and Miles sitting in the living area looking pissed off, the frowns they shot my way were anything but nice. Yet I didn’t give a single shit.
In the back area, I found Sacha and Isaiah in the bunk space, going through their backpacks quietly. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it'd been Sacha and the two in the living area who were fighting just a minute before. It was my fault—well, Brandon's for being an idiot—that it had happened.
"I'm sorry about all that," I told him from the door.
