Smells Like Children (Maniggy: Marilyn Manson x Twiggy Ramirez)

Chapter 17

Twiggy's POV

I drag myself behind the group as we make our way to Brian's house for our very first band practice.

"So, once we get there we'll lay down some ideas." Marilyn says to us. He starts to talk more but I block it out of my head. This is stupid. Why did I agree to come to this? I just need to stop acting immature about this dumb thing. Acceptance. I just need to accept that Brian moved on, and is dating another girl. Also, that we're still friends. I sigh a little too loudly and the others turn to me.

"What's wrong, Jeordie?" Daisy asks. I shrug and we continue to walk. We arrive at Marilyn's place. We file into the garage where the instruments are located. Marilyn hands me a bass and makes eye contact with me. A spark of joy gleams in his eyes when he looks at me. Instead of smiling back at him, with my now cynical self, I just look at him in confusion. Why is he all happy? Ginger hops on the seat for the drum set. Daisy plugs in the guitar and starts strumming.

"Nice Fender." He whispers as he glides his hand across the neck. I think Daisy is the only one who's musically inclined. I've never played an instrument in my life.

"Let me plug it in for you, Twiggy." Marilyn says softly to me. The room fills with random disorganized instrument playing from everyone. Marilyn grabs a cord and plugs it into my bass. He then plugs it into an amp. He places a hand on my shoulder awkwardly. "There, you're all set."

"So, how the fuck are you suppose to play one of these?" Pogo asks while pointing to the keytar. Marilyn digs in a box and starts to throw thick books at each of us.

"These are learning guides to our instruments." He says. "I'll be reading up for vocal exercises." He says holding up Dummies Guide To Singing. I flip open to the first page. I start to read then my mind begins to wander. I catch myself and I squeeze my eyes shut and mutter a few curse words. It sucks having an attention span of a peanut. I flip through the pages. Looks like there's about two hundred. I groan and toss the book aside. I strum open notes. The deep sound of the bass blasts through the amp. I giggle from the loudness. I strum harder making the sound increase.

"Having fun there, you idiot?" Ginger asks smirking at me. I strum faster and louder making the garage fill with deep sounds.

"Fuck yeah!" I yell. I feel a hand on my shoulder. I look up to see Marilyn smiling at me.

"Lets turn this thing down before my parents complain." He says to me. He leans over me placing his arms around me holding the bass. "See this knob?" he asks softly in my ear. I nod as he points to one of the knobs. "It control the volume." He turns it down. I become mesmerized by his soft voice in my ear. Daisy awkwardly clears his throat breaking our moment.

"Uh," I say and shift in my seat. I shake my head and strum. I experiment different sounds. I hear a knock on the door and we cease playing our instruments.

"Honey?" Marilyn's mom calls out. All of us try to hold in our laughter.

"Honey," Ginger says in between his laughter. Brian sighs and gets up to open the door.

"Brian, your girlfriend is here." She says. Jennifer walks into the garage and the mom leaves. Jennifer looks pissed at the sight of us and our instruments.

"Brian!" she yells. Marilyn starts to look concerned.

"Jennifer, we-we were just playing around." She comes up to me and yanks the bass from my arms.

"I told you this dumb band thing is a stupid idea and not to do it!" she positions the bass in the air as if she's about to throw it on the floor. I spring up and yank it back from her. She falls to the floor, butt first, from my harsh yank. Everyone gasps as she falls. She glares up at me. She gets up and storms off. And of coarse, Marilyn chases after her. They start to yell right outside the garage putting us in an awkward situation. "I guess you're just going to let that queer do that to me, huh? Brian!" I bite my lip and look up at the guys.

"Well, I'm going home. This chick is nuts." Pogo says.

"Same here. Bye, Daisy and Twiggy." Ginger says and follows Madonna out the door.

"I guess I should head home as well. Come on, I'll walk you home. I live a street away from your place." I nod and walk with Daisy outside. Marilyn and Jennifer are no where in sight. I guess they went somewhere.

"What a night," I sigh out and run my hand through my dreads.

"Yeah, I thought it was funny when you ripped the bass from Jennifer's grip." Daisy says and chuckles. I smile and look over at him. He's looking down and looks about lost in deep thought. We turn onto my street. A few houses down we finally arrive at my place. I stop and Daisy stands next to me. We stand in silence for awhile.

"Well," I say.

"Um, look, Twigs. Uh, maybe we can go somewhere. It's still early." I guess my mom will be alright. He's right, it's still early and there's no school tomorrow. I shrug and smile at him.

"Sure, where?"

"The park, maybe?" He suggests. I nod and we walk to the local park. I jump into the swing set and push myself to swing. Daisy places himself in the swing next to me. My dreads fall to my face as I swing higher and higher. I finally jump off and land perfectly on my two feet. He claps and I do a little bow.

"Thank you." I say. I stand next to him as he barely swings on his seat.

"It's nice being out here. Especially when the moon is bright and white." He says.

"Yeah."

"Look the reason I wanted to take you out here was to talk to you about something." He stands up before me. He steps closer to me. I bite my lip and look down. "I-I wanted to," he stutters. He places two fingers under my chin and lifts my head to his level facing him. His lip trembles. "I-" he closes his eyes and leans in. He starts to kiss me. I start to panic. Why is he kissing me? I push him away.

"Scott!" I yell out. I've never used his real name...ever. It felt weird on my tongue. "I can't believe-" His eyes fill with pain but I ignore it.

I run home.