One Shots

I Should, I Should...

For context, this is set in 2010 around the time of Epicenter festival.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Driving at night is my favorite activity. While the lines on the street and, in rare occasions, the people are harder to see, the lights seem prettier and when the radio is on it's like no one else exists but you. Well, you and the tall, leather jacket-clad rockstar currently walking on the side of the road with his thumb out.

I pull up alongside Andy and roll down my window. "What the fuck are you doing out here?"

He looks at me and crosses his arms on the windowsill of the door. "Well, my chick and I got into a fight and she literally threw shit at me until I got out of her car and then she sped off."

I laugh at him. "Get in, loser. I'll take you home."

Andy gets in and rolls the window up after sitting. "Thanks, Vic. I'm not sure I want you to take me home, though. My place is kind of a dump."

"Well I obviously can't take you to Kara's house. She must be pretty pissed if she literally just threw you out of her car." I signal and move back into the lane, although the signal is almost unwarranted because there's hardly any cars out at one in the morning.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. My apartment is like five blocks from her house so start heading that way," he tells me.

I glance over at him as he lays back against the headrest and shuts his eyes. Andy certainly isn't unattractive. I only know about him and his band because he's dating Kara, and I work with Kara at a production company. We work on all kinds of shows from main stage theater productions to concerts to TV shows. I work in hair and make-up and occasionally help with the soundboard while she does lighting. She's brought him by a few times because he was interested in seeing what goes on behind the scenes. Tonight they left like half an hour before me and were in a great mood. I wonder what they fought about?

I voice my thought. "What got Kar so upset that she kicked you out of her car?"

He sighs and starts taking his leather jacket off. "Your car is so warm," he says. After throwing it in the back seat he answers, "I guess I'll be totally honest with you. I'm kind of only dating her because she has a nicer house and she has ties to the industry. Right now I'm just so focused on my band and my career that anything I do is to help that. We started fighting because I started asking if there was a way to talk to her boss about borrowing these big, like, cannons that shoot smoke for this show that's coming up. She got really upset and realized I'm not actually dating her because I want to be with her." He sighs again, shutting his eyes. "That sounds really shitty, I know. It's not like I'm incapable of love. I was actually in a serious relationship with a girl for like four years, although that started being on and off. I don't know. Recently, my mind has only been focused on one thing, and that's my band. It's the most important thing in the world to me."

I look at him as I stop at a red light. He's looking at his hands now, ashamed, and he's biting his lip ring. To try and make him feel better, I say, "Well, she does have a temper sometimes. I'm sure if you apologize things will work themselves out."

"Yeah," he says. He clears his throat. "And she's not a bad person. She's really nice."

When the light turns green, I snap out of looking at him. "So what huge show is coming up that you need one of those giant cannons?"

"Well, two if I could," he says, "but we're playing this festival called Epicenter. It's gonna' be a huge show for us. I want to be sure we leave a lasting impression. We just dropped our first album a couple of months ago and I want to make sure we fucking bring it."