better friends - eddie roundtree x oc

Pittsburgh, 1970

Over the past two years, the band's accumulated a bit of a local fanbase. Not huge, but The Dunne Brothers were well known in Hazelwood. Yeah, that's right. They named the fucking band The Dunne brothers. The only ones who really seemed to mind were me and Eddie. I thought it was stupid because three of the five band members weren't Dunnes. Part of me thinks that's also Eddie's gripe with it, but the other part of me knows that it's just because Billy gets on Eddie's nerves. I understood, though. Billy could sometimes get on my nerves, too. He really seemed to think the world revolved around him. Billy wants us to do this, so that's what we're gonna do. Billy doesn't like that, so it's a no go. Billy Billy Billy. He didn't even wanna be in that fucking band to begin with. And now the band can't do shit without saying please first. But at the end of the day, I had to remember that Billy wasn't a bad guy. He just... didn't understand how privileged he was.

Anyway, the band took whatever gig they could get. Proms, grad parties, Sweet 16s, you name it. Currently, we were at some random backyard party. It seemed like maybe a graduation afterparty? I don't know, I was just there for my best friend. Just so he could see there was always someone in the crowd that he knew for a fact loved the band. Even though he wouldn't let me in it. I wasn't just there as support, though. I was there for Graham to help with whatever he needed. I wasn't a groupie, much to Warren's dismay, I was a roadie.

They got up on stage and did a little mic check. It was hard for me not to laugh at them in their stupid outfits; black pants and white turtlenecks. It's almost like they were purposefully trying to look like Beatles knock-offs. It was Billy's idea for them all to have a uniformed look, and Billy also idolized Paul McCartney a bit, so it wasn't too huge of a shock. It gave the band a sort of trademark. Something to make you remember them, I guess. I still thought it was stupid, though.

They played Suzie Q first. A good song, but not my favorite of theirs. I hated to admit it, but Billy was great at what he did in that band. He could write songs and he could sing 'em good. He was really good at being the frontman. He just had that look to him. Imagine you put him in a room full of regular Joe's, and then tell someone to pick out who the rock star was. They'd look at Billy Dunne and pick him every damn time. Although, in my opinion, Billy wasn't even the best part of the band. Everyone else had grown a million times more talented with all the practice. I mean, sure, the frontman's who the crowd will remember, but without his band, he'd just be some weird guy doing a cappella to a song you didn't recognize.

Their next gig was for a wedding reception a couple towns over. This time they wore matching blue suits. It was a tad more classy. Still dorky, though. I was standing backstage watching from the side when I saw Billy look over at someone and dwell a little longer than you would just glancing at a stranger. I tried my best to see where his gaze was focused when I realized. It was Hank Dunne, Billy and Graham's dad. I looked over at Graham and saw him darting his eyes between Hank and Billy. After the song was done, Billy stormed out of the hall, Graham and I following closely behind.

"Hey, Billy." Graham called after him. Billy stopped and turned, taking in a deep breath. "He's supposed to be in Georgia, Graham." he growled. "Well, he's not, all right? I bet he never even fucking left." Graham spoke, voice breaking a little at the end. Eddie, Chuck, and Warren finally made their ways outside. "What's wrong with you guys?" Eddie asked Billy and Graham. "Hey, not now, Eddie." I said softly, grabbing his hand and walking him a few paces away from Graham. "You sound great tonight, man." Warren smiled, obviously not reading the room. Or, parking lot. At this point Billy was pacing. "And you were fucking ripping in there. What's going on?" he finished, looking directly at Graham. "You see the guy in there in the plaid suit?" Graham asked. He sounded like he was about to cry. He probably was. I went up to him and hugged his arm. He looked down at me and wrapped both arms around my torso. An outsider would assume he was comforting me, but we both knew this hug was for him. "Who? The creepster with the comb-over and the girl half his age?" Warren asked, laughing a little in confusion. "Yeah." Graham confirmed. I looked up at Warren. "He's their dad." Warren's seemingly permanent smile dropped and Billy's breathing quickened. "I'm gonna say something." he spoke lowly. Graham let go of me and turned to him. "Billy, no. Billy." he began, but Billy pushed right past him. "Hey, Billy!" he yelled, but Billy kept walking. "No, I have to." he declared. Graham kept protesting and yelling after, him, but I knew it was of no use. We followed after him, hoping he wouldn't do anything too stupid.