Stranger Love (Discontinued)

7: Skull Breakers

We pull up to the band house, Andy's own place near the middle of town. Not too shabby, really. He has this large shed for band practice and it has never let us down. Sound proofed and kited out with the musical gear we need. Theo slips on her face covering and throws up her hood. I noticed during the car ride she was visibly nervous with a bouncing leg. Probably because she's about to meet more humans. "Hey, chillax. I promise they won't harm you physically. They're accepting." She nods and we climb out and head around back. Some playful little barking came from Andy's pup, Lulu. It tried jumping on me but it didn't do much. I give it a belly rub then point it away. "The dog's harmless," I say. "It's cute," she replied.

I knock on the small shed door and enter. Sat around the table was the four band mates. Andy was tall and blonde with a messy head of short hair. Secretly Asexual. There's Lucy, Andy's sister, tall with a few piercings and as straight as a woman can be. Her hair was down to her back, curly and blue and in a low sitting pony tail. James was the guy who was the most chilled and always wants to find the best moments with music. Looked like a nerd in school but once he's out, he looks nothing like his nerd side. Finally, there's Derek. A dip shit who thinks he can do whatever he wants. A thief, pervert, rude attention seeker, show off. Anything bad will surely be pinned to him.

"Hey, guys," I say. They all suddenly got super pissed and all but James stood up. "Woah, Audrey! You can't just bring some random cunt in without permission!" Andy exclaimed. "I had to! FYI, I tried calling you twice! Besides, she's foreign. She'll sit silently while we talk." My explanation was enough to cool them down, thankfully. We sit and I take a soda from the box on the table. "Why is she looking like a woman from India? Take the shit off in here," Derek demanded. "There you go again! Stealing the leader role!" Andy yelled, swinging his arm in there air. I set my guitar aside and the sheet music on the table. "I have a point, though. There's no need to be covering her face up like that."

Andy sighs and shakes his head in defeat. "Why is she wearing a balaclava, Audrey?" "Reasons, alright? Leave her be." He nods and stands up, pacing slowly as a moment of silence sets in. He only ever does this if it's something serious we need to discuss. "Why are we all here?" James asks. "Lucy, take my seat, please. I'll start once one of our bouncers arrive." Arnold enters a moment later, and Lucy now sat in the seat left of Theo. "Ready when you are, Boss." Arnold says. His voice was deep and he was a black man with arms of The Hulk. He was also shaved right down to his scalp and wore a black top and bottoms. "Firstly, Harassment."

Oh shit, Derek's getting dumped out of the band. Thank fuck for that. "Lucy, as well as women who have attended our little gigs, have been harassed before and after gigs. I've been given video evidence from a fan who saw Lucy's harasser so there's no denying it Derek." "Fuck off, that wasn't me!" Derek retorts. "The footage is crystal clear and Lucy made it very clear earlier that it happened. The complaints all described you and we've even had cops in the area recently." "What's the second?" James asks, clearly wanting this over and done with.

"Money has went missing from the charity buckets. I've seen you slip some of the money into your own pockets. The bouncers keep track of how much goes into the bucket every gig and found an average twenty dollars taken each time." "Yeah, out of two hundred. Twenty is nothing." "Thirdly, you've been late and drunk to recent events and gigs. This is unacceptable and we won't be tolerating this anymore. The police will be out front shortly to take you." Wow, that was it? I'm sure there's more shit he's done. Assault, vandalism, drug use. "What? You're fucking kidding me! You backstabbing fucker!"

James lights a cigarette and Arnold drags Derek out to the police. Lucy rubbed her tear filled eyes and Andy took a deep breath of relief. Theo couldn't sit still in her seat and it had James questioning it with a stare. "Aren't you gonna introduce us to you're new friend?" He asked. "Name's Theo," she replied immediately. "Nice name. Now, why wear gloves?" He asked. Theo didn't reply and I couldn't think of a good answer. She's getting really uncomfortable and I can't exactly lie forever. "You can take it all off now," I say. "What if they kill me?" She asks. "The one that would've is going to prison. These guys won't hurt you. Here, I brought your jeans."

She nods and stands up, throwing off the cloak and balaclava changing her jeans right where she stood when I handed her the ones MIB gave her. I take a shaking breath when I look to their faces, unsure if they actually will accept that she's not from earth. It was silent for a long moment but Lucy soon broke that silence. "You look stunning for an alien." Theo and I laugh awkwardly together as Andy handed her a soda. "Might as well join us in some playing tonight. Welcome to Skull breakers," he says. I'm honestly very happy they're taking to her kindly but James looked confused. "Alright there, JP?" I ask. "Yeah just... Don't understand how the four arms work."

Theo only shrugged and looked to her tail she held in her hands. "Can you play?" Lucy asks. "Maybe," she replied. "What's this?" Andy asks when lifting the sheet music. "Some music we can cover. We need a drummer but we all know how difficult it'll be finding one." James stood up and went over to his synthesizer and asked for the sheet music. "This one should be easy for Theo if she wants to play with us tonight. She can be a good drummer too with those arms." Neat. We'll get to see her skill when it comes to music. Lucy hands her a set of sticks and winks almost unnoticeably to Theo before taking her guitar from her case.

Theo sits at the drums and gazes at the sheets in silence. Her tail does that thing again where it swings around a little. "Ready?" Andy says, standing on stage with us. "I'll do the chords. Audrey you do the solo when it comes to the instrumental. Lucy on bass." James begins to play the start to Journey's "Separate Ways" and Theo follows shortly after. She played perfectly. On time, right volume, correct amount of notes, the correct drums. She was only using two hands to play which was amazing but I'm wondering how complex her drumming can be with four hands.

Most of the night was spent jamming with the band and that only made us hungry afterwards. So we sat in the house with ordered pizza on the living room table. Theo is enjoying the fast food that she never had on her planet. When I look to Lucy, she was smiling weirdly. She's never smiled like this unless she was around a guy she liked. She was staring at Theo and her arm was around the back of the seat. I smirk and grab myself another slice of pizza. "What's with the smirk?" James asked with his charming grin. "Oh, nothing. I'm gonna go get something from the shed." I stand up and Lucy followed, saying she left her guitar.

I knew she forgot it so mentioning it would've gave me a chance to talk to her. So her and I head to the shed and she picks up her guitar. "So, what's going on here? You smiling and getting close to Theo is a little odd." I smile and she blushes heavily, not saying a word. "Come on, I'm not that blind. You totally fancy her." "Is that why you're in here with me? Seriously?" She asks, almost whining. "Yeah. Fortunately, she's homosexual. However, I doubt she's looking to have fun right now. Plus my parents and the MIB will lose their shit if she's not in the house when I return."

She sighs and sits on a chair, frustrated by the looks of it. "You got me. I find her attractive but I don't wanna date her. I just... Wouldn't mind a night with her alone. If she doesn't mind, that is. I'm too nervous to ask her." I fold my arms and nod. "I'll text you later if she'd like to and you must not tell anyone about her existence. Don't get your hopes up because she has some shit trauma to deal with." Lucy nods, understanding that it might not happen. "It's time we head back now." "Sure. Theo and I will stay a little longer."