The Incredible League of Goth Pizza Haters (RH)

Part 25

---Sylvia---

"Cody! Zip me up!" he helped with my dress and I stared at myself in the mirror. I was wearing my black dress decorated in red spattered paint and white and red roses. The dress itself had straps over my shoulders, a sweetheart neckline and the skirt came down just above my knees. My legs were concealed in tights, black with the pattern of roses. I laced up my combat boots and slid on my elbow length black lace gloves. My hair was down, I could never keep it up during shows anyways so I figured I'd just let it do its thing. It was naturally wavy and fell nearly down to my ass, I needed to get it cut soon. And re-dyed. I suppose I had lost motivation after all the everything that had happened and my white hair was growing out dark at my roots and it was awkwardly noticeable. I thought about wearing a beanie but I knew there was no way it would survive a concert. I winged my eyeliner and added waterproof foundation, I was never a huge fan of makeup. Mostly because I was so bad at applying it. 

Cody squeezed my arm, a sign of reassurance. I smiled and looked at everyone else. The theme of our band today was roses. Cody wore a fancy jacket with rose petals designed along the sleeves with his skinny jeans. Meg wore rose petals in her hair and a red dress with the outline of black roses and vines along the flowing skirt. Ian had a rose taped to his jean leg, he was never one for dressing up. Mark had a dried rose taped to his top hat. That loser loved his top hat. 

Finally, it was time. We walked out on the stage and the crowd cheered with excitement, we were playing a festival today. I looked at Cody for the intro to the first song but he was staring at his guitar strings and frowning. We made eye contact and he mouthed 'give me a minute', unplugged his guitar and ran off stage. A knot tightened in my stomach. I smiled and waved at the crowd, gave a lil intro. 

"Hello, we are Collide With the Sky and hopefully I can keep from colliding with the floor during this concert! Anyways, it's very nice to see you all. I miss my cats but I'm very glad to be here! Um, let us participate in the natural concert ways, and by that I mean it is time to scream!" 

The crowd roared in reply and I stepped back in surprise. 

"Jesus Christ you guys are fuckin' scary." I laughed and they cheered. Cody ran out and plugged in his guitar, playing a few notes then looking at me and smiling and nodding. The fear in my belly subsided. Okay. Everything is okay. 

He began the first song and the show spun into motion. About three-quarters through the show, the sun was beginning to set, and the crowd was beginning to get excited by the oncoming night. You could smell the alcohol from the stage and I felt that nervous knot return as someone catapulted a beer can onto the stage. It landed at Mark's feet, luckily. However, this resulted in people getting excited and throwing their cans at us. They were flying all around, it was a madhouse. Not only were they throwing beer cans but plastic bottles of soft drinks. I felt panic build in my belly as I spun off the lyrics and smacked away a flying dr.pepper from hitting Meg. Mark and Cody and Meg were playing their instruments and unable to fight off the flying objects. At least Ian was mostly out of the fire. 

One of the bottles hit Mark's guitar and hand and he stopped playing. I ran over to see if he was okay, he was waving his hand about in pain. I heard Meg yelp as she ducked away from a flying object. I began to make my way over when I felt something strike the back of my head. 

My vision spotted black and the world fell away as the chorus of my song faded from my lungs. 

***

I opened my eyes to a splitting headache and faces watching me. I flinched away as a hand grabbed my arm. Different voices spoke. 

"Oh god, why are you all looking at me?" I asked.

"Is she okay?" Was that Ricky's voice?

"You were hit in the head by a flying Pepsi bottle." That's Mark.

"Pepsi? of course it was Pepsi. I am a devoted Coca-Cola lover."  I replied.

"Yeah, she's fine." That's Cody.

"Are you sure? She sounds loopy." Ricky.

"Nope, that's just Via. You should see her at 3am." Cody. I sat up. They had me laying on some sort of cot backstage. Everything pieced itself back together.

"Oh my god, did I miss the show?!"

"No, you were only out for about ten minutes." 

"Then we have to get back out there!" I tried to get up but upon standing my head begun spinning and Cody and Ricky grabbed my arms to keep me from falling. I sat back down. Behind them, the rest of Motionless In White and my own band stared in concern. "I'm okay," I said to reassure them. 

"Take a minute, V." Cody said, "Mark hurt his hand and doesn't know if he can play anymore tonight. His knuckles are swollen. Meg is paranoid and you are lucky you didn't split your head open. We were almost done, anyway. Sit out and drink some water while we wait for a doctor." 

"I don't need a doctor." I protested.

"Well, Mark might. And it won't hurt to get you checked out." Cody said, and Ricky rubbed his thumb in circles on my arm. 

"I agree." He said

"Yeah." Balz and Chris agreed along with him. I felt annoyed, I hated it when people ganged up on me but I knew if I tried to storm off right now I'd probably do an ungraceful imitation of a windmill before plummeting to the ground and earning more unwanted attention. 

I looked away and sat back so my back was against the wall. 

Twenty painful minutes later a paramedic guy informed Mark he should take the recovery of his hand slowly and not play for at least a week. My friend's top hat drooped with sadness. The medic then walked over to me, and carefully examined my head while gently flirting. He took his time to look through my hair at the forming bump on my head and stared longingly into my eyes to make sure they were responsive to light. He seemed like a nice guy and he was kinda cute but I wasn't in the mood to flirt so I took it upon myself to seem as unsociable and uninterested as I could. And the way he touched me annoyed me like I was made of porcelain. I wasn't about to fucking break and I wanted him to do his job, not name me princess and swear his unbound loyalty. Ricky and Cody hovered and watched intimidatingly without saying anything, which I found kind of amusing. 

Afterwards, the medic said how I should take it easy and avoid any athletic activities, video games and bright tv screens. Athletic activities like jumping around on stage and singing? Video games and computer screens like the ones I use to film and edit my videos? The two things that earn me the little income I have? Seriously? 

I lied and said I wouldn't do anything like that and I think despite my sour disposition he would've given me his number or asked m out or something if Ricky hadn't moved closer and asked me how I felt. I said okay and the medic smiled at me and left. 

***

We only have a few more concerts left before the end of this tour. It's crazy, I feel like I wasn't even there most of the time. Ricky is learning some of our guitar parts in our songs so Mark can sit out. He's upset but accepting and he still cleans his top hat before every concert. 

I hope we don't lose contact with Motionless In White again after this tour ends.