Past, Present and Future

Bass Strings And Bouquets

Gene walked into rehearsal to find flowers everywhere. He thought they were for Paul so he ignored them. Only when Peter started teasing him about them did he look at the notes attached to each bouquet. Most of them said some variation of I THINK YOU'RE SPECIAL or I THINK I LOVE YOU.

Turning red, Gene tried to play the whole thing cool. He mumbled under his breath about being embarrassed and not wanting to be called out. Peter had already told Paul who was now joining in the teasing.

When Ace walked in, the teasing got worse. Gene walked out and headed to the bathroom. Paul followed him seeing how uncomfortable the situation was. "Aw, Gene, Ace is infatuated with you. It will pass. He did the same thing to Pete about six months ago."

"What?!" Gene sputtered. "So I'm just next on the list? NO!"

"Gene, you use women the same way. It hurts doesn't it?" questioned Paul softly. He put his hand on Gene's shoulder. "Look, I know Pete's not the best at being faithful either. I do think I love him, but we just got together."

Gene and Paul talked for awhile before Gene went looking for Ace. "Hey, thanks. I was a bit shocked. No one's ever done that for me so I didn't know how to handle it." Gene asked if he could then donate some of the flowers since his apartment was too small to hold them all. 

Cackling, Ace agreed. He told Peter he better take two of the biggest bouquets home since he had been fighting with his wife again. "Oh, yeah, Paulie's feelings are hurt too. Better make the first choice for him."

Peter flipped him off as he walked off with a huge bouquet of bluish purple roses. Ace helped Gene take his picks to his car. "Ace, Come over and I'll cook dinner for you." The two of them actually had a nice time, Ace spending the night. He and Gene shared the same bed, but neither was willing to go much further than sleep. 

The roses soothed Paul's hurt feelings as well as Peter's wife. All was well for about two weeks. At that point, cracks would start to show in the relationships and the band. The final straw would be the addition of a fifth person----not a band member.