Four Boys in a Band

vi. avery

"When the cat's away, the mice will play," crowed Louis with a sly smile.

"Nice pun," Jacob said, giving the younger boy a high-five. The four of them were sprinting through the terminal. "Where are we even going?"

"Away from her," Wes muttered. "Did you hear what she said?"

"About what?" Louis asked.

"About working!" Calvin replied incredulously. "She said we're here to work! The nerve!"

"But aren't we here to work?" Jacob asked.

"Singing isn't work," Calvin corrected. He slung an arm around Jacob's shoulder and stared dramatically into the middle distance. "It's art."

"You know what I've always wanted to do?" Louis asked with a smirk.

Ten minutes later they had commandeered a segway from one of the security guards and were part of a high-speed chase through the terminal. They'd managed to snag the segway when Calvin had distracted a guard by stealing the stage of a group of live performers and bursting into a rousing rendition of "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus because, again, it was applicable. After that it had been easy to "borrow" the vehicle, which was considerably slower when four people were riding on it at once. Nevertheless, they were giving the LAX security squad a run for their money. Alarms were blaring,  lights were flashing, and the boys were having a darn good time. That is, until Katrina showed up in their path. And she was not happy.

She calmly stood in their way, forcing them to stop to avoid hitting her. Once she had apologized to the guards for the "misunderstanding," she somehow grabbed all four boys by the ear and dragged them out of the airport onto the front shuttle pick-up area.

"I cannot believe you would do this!" she cried in outrage. "After everything I've done--" Suddenly, she released their ears, her eyes glued to some person in the distance. Then she took off running, arms flung wide, screaming, "Reeeeeeeeeeggiiiiiiiiiiiie!!!!!!!" You could practically hear the dramatic violins playing in the background as she ran and jumped into a man's arms. He spun her around, and the boys half-expected it to start raining like in the movies. However, it didn't, and soon Katrina was saying, "Boys, I'd like you to meet Reggie Morales. My boyfriend."

"I'm losing out to this guy?" Calvin scoffed under his breath.

"Hey, man, he's not bad-looking," Jacob allowed.

Reggie was tall, but not too tall, with broad shoulders and a bit of a barrel chest going on. He had a gage in one ear, a tattoo peeking out under the sleeve of his Nirvana t-shirt, and one of those "hip" haircuts--shaved on one side, and long and gelled on top.

"Hey, boys," said Reggie by way of greeting. "I've heard a lot about you. I know the record shows that I'm your manager, but I really hope we can be friends."

"Great," muttered Calvin bitterly. "I have to be around Romeo and Juliet 24/7."

"And I'm stuck with Daffy Duck," Jacob joked, earn himself a punch to the arm from Calvin.

"As long as we're making references to popular culture here," said Louis, "can I just say that you two remind me of Calvin and Hobbes?"

"Louis, you're brilliant!" cried Calvin as the other boys laughed. "Jacob, we are so going as that for Halloween."

"We might not even still be here by Halloween," Jacob pointed out.

"Well, then I'll drive to your house from Harrisburg and we can go trick-or-treating."

"HEY!" shouted Katrina unexpectedly, effectively garnering the guys' attention. "Have you boys been listening to anything I've been saying this whole time?"