Building A (Strange) Family

Cars And Rock And Roll

April came and Lilly and Joel planned their party together.
They decided to split the difference and have it between their actual birthday.
Besides, that's when the concert was.

"Who is this band again?"
David asked, laying across the bed as she searched through her closet.
She had an outfit for the concert picked out weeks ago,
but trying it on the day before found it didn't look like she pictured in her head.

"69 Eyes..."

He tried, really tired to think but he had no idea which band it was.
Lilly had introduced him to so many.

She pulled her head out of the closet when he didn't answer.
"Finish rock? Over dramatic at times? Come on, David! They write all the vampire songs!"
She snickered at him.

"Oh, I should know all the vampire bands automatically, hu?"
He threw a shirt that had been laying on the bed at her head.
She almost caught it, pulled it off her head and folded it.

"So, the other thing for my birthday... Since you guys have been helping out so much, I've really been able to put away in my special funds. I wanna get a car."

She said the last bit as she set on the bed beside him.
He raised up on his elbows to meet her.

"Sounds good. What are you thinking?"

"I found one I'm in love with. A 2000 Jeep Cherokee."

He pulled a face.
She smacked him with the folded shirt.

"What! I love it!"

"I thought you'd go for something a little sexier..."

She rolled her eyes, "In case you didn't notice, I'm not exactly sexy."

He raised his eyebrow and reached his hand around her neck.
"Well, that depends..."
He pulled her down on top of him as he kissed her for a good long while.

She finally pulled back, flushed. She cleared her throat.

"Anyway... I was thinking of asking this guy I know, who's a pretty good mechanic and actually pretty hot, to take a look at it for me tonight."

He sat up fully then.
"Guy... Do I know this guys?"

She looked at him for a moment. Then it dawned on him.

"Me... I'm the guy, right?"
She snicked at him as he got up and went to the closet this time.

"I know you work on bikes,
but I figured that was enough to know if there are any glaring issues."
He was throwing clothes at her and she absentmindedly put them on as he threw them.
Once or twice, he took back an article before she tried it on.

"We can give it a go... Finish Rock?"

"Oh, come on! I know you like Apocalyptica!" She chided.

"That's different... That's class."
"HA! They are a Metallica tribute band and you know it."

He just scoffed in reply.
She grinned and realized he had given her en entire outfit. She looked down at herself.
"Am I as cute as I feel in this?"

He shrugged. "I don't know about cute, but I think it's hot."

He followed her as she went to the bathroom to look at herself in the mirror.
It was a nice balance of dark and punk with layers and pops of color.

"Oh, my gosh... Did you just pick out my outfit for the concert? You have amazing taste!"

"Eh... to be fair, all this was already in your closet." He admitted, wrapping his arms around her from behind and hooking his chin over her shoulder.

"True... We have amazing taste," She conceded, kissing his cheek.
"But now, I'm going to change to a t shirt and jeans so we can look at my car!"

And though David took them to look at the car on his bike,
he rode home alone as Lilly drove her Jeep back.

It was the jeep they took to the concert.
They had to start out before sunset the day of the concert,
so the guys piled in back of the Jeep the early morning before,
folding the seats down so they could sleep crowded and covered from daylight.

Lilly grinned as she started their journey that evening.
Something felt ridiculously homey about knowing her boys were asleep in the back as she drove.
As soon as the sun set she had to pull over so they could stretch and put the seats back up.

"You guys actually slept okay?" She asked as David held her hands and spread her arms to look over her outfit he had picked. He smiled, quite satisfied.

Joel shrugged. "No problem... Even if Mark tried to cuddle me the whole time..."

Mark scoffed, jumping on Joel's back to attack him.

"See! He's still at it!"

And soon, they were at the arena.

It wasn't the largest group, but they were rowdy and excited.
It was obvious the guys were electric, feeding off the energy and adrenaline.

David grinned as he lit up a cigarette.
"Didn't realize how much I missed this. Crowds, the rush..."

"Big concert goer back in the day?"

He nodded, wrapping an arm around her to guide her and follow the boys as they ran wild.

"Boardwalk of Santa Carla and they almost always some kind of music fest going. Paul was the real music head, but we all loved it."

She wanted to hear more, but the concert started then and in was almost impossible to hear anything over the crowd or the sound system.

Morning light hurts your eyes
But that's another thing
Nothing really matters
Behind the shades of blue
Blind boys never lie
But that's another thing
Nothing really matters
Behind the shades of blue
'Cause in the end
You're just reborn again

You want to rock
Nothing's gonna make you stop
And nothing's gonna break you up
Everybody knows you're lost
In the night time, honey

David actually drove the jeep home.
Lilly had partied pretty hard and was sleeping in the front seat next to him.
He grinned to think of this quite girl he loved being a complete rocker who sang and screamed till her voice gave out.

Joel's phone played more of the same music from the concert over the cars blue tooth
and David was more then a little impressed she slept right through it.
He lifted her hand, even as she slept, and kissed it.