She Restrained A Renegade

One

1-Justin

"Thank you and goodnight." Ryan "Blaze" Rawlings breathed into the microphone as he spoke, as if he were speaking to a lover. The crowd ate it up, just as they did at every show. We'd just finished our last performance scheduled during our debut tour. I still couldn't believe how big we'd become and how fast it had happened. Two years ago we could barely be called a band and now look at us. The Renegades. That's the name our manager had come up with, for us. I thought it was pretty lame, but none of us cared enough to think of something else, at the time. I think we all secretly never believed that we'd actually make it.

Now look at us. Five small-town boys living the dream. Girls flocked us when we arrived back stage. How had they all gotten back stage passes? I didn't completely understand my irritation about that, but that's exactly how I felt. I guess I'd grown tired of the endless groupies. The faceless girls that threw themselves at us. I couldn't tell you the names of most of the girls I'd slept with during this tour. What would it be like to have someone like me for me and not for my fame? As that question popped into my head, a memory suddenly assaulted me.

During my senior year of high school, I'd had my eye on the homecoming queen. Christy Johnson was the girl every guy wanted. She'd been a cheerleader, with blond hair, big boobs, and a bitchy attitude. Christy had snubbed me more times than I could count and she never did take me up on my offers. It was the night of our high school graduation when I'd given it one last effort. The keg party was a real ragger and I'd been whiskey brave. That night she had laughed in my face and told me, in front of everyone, that I'd never amount to anything so why should she give me the time of day. I'd practically run from the room, after that, which just fueled the fire Christy had started. A few minutes later and I couldn't have cared less about Christy Johnson.

I'd grabbed a few beers on my way out of the party and settled in the backyard, intent on drinking my problems away, but that isn't what happened. Someone had approached me and I'd been shocked by who it turned out to be. Zoe Andrews had been a quiet girl whom I'd always considered a nerd. She sat down next to me, grabbed one of the beers I'd intended on drinking and told me to stop being a pussy. She'd told me that Christy Johnson was a bitch and I shouldn't care what she said. Zoe believed that I would go on to amount to much more than Christy Johnson ever would. So here was this girl, whom I didn't even really know, and she was trying to make me feel better. I'd acted on impulse and had kissed her. I'd expected Zoe to push me away, but she'd actually kissed me back.

We made out like the teenagers we were for hours, until I walked her home. I left town the next day and hadn't looked back. I suddenly wondered what had happened to Zoe Andrews though. Maybe I'd give the people of my home town a treat and actually return for a visit. There was no guarantee that Zoe would still live in Seneca, Kansas but I bet somebody would know where I could find her. The idea was growing and I found myself smiling.

"I know that look. So which is it going to be?" Nick "Gil" Gilbert slapped me on the shoulder. Nick was the newest member to our band, but it didn't take long to get to know someone when you lived on a bus with them for months. He was motioning toward the hoard of women, wondering which one I had set my sights on.

I shook my head, "Not tonight. I was just thinking about visiting my hometown, now that we'll have some time off."

Gil's eyes widened, "No shit? Huh, well, I guess to each their own. I plan on burying myself in that redhead over there and not coming up for days."

I nodded and Gil crossed the room to make his move. Another redhead popped into my head again. Zoe. Why was she suddenly on my mind so much? Was it just because I was tired of the faceless lays? Or was it because she'd given me that pep-talk? Maybe it was because she hadn't tried to look me up, after I got famous, to gain something from me. My own family had tried to do that. I'd left Seneca barely on speaking terms with my parents and yet they came looking for a handout as soon as I started making some money. Aunts, uncles, cousins, hell people I'd never met had tried convincing me they were some lost relative. It was bullshit. That's what it was, I was tired of the fake ass people of the world. Just for five minutes it would be nice to talk to someone who didn't want anything from me.

"Blaze! Blaze! Oh my God!" A group of girls were circling our lead singer, who was lapping it up. I shook my head and turned my back on it. Blaze, Gil, Wayne "Kid" Benson, and Alex "Axel" Rhodes could hold down the fort here just fine. I was taking a vacation. I, Justin "Ace" Wallace, was going home.