Time To Waste

Chapter 16: Tension

Band rehearsals had grown very interesting in the two months since that night. The only member of the band who wasn't annoyed with someone else or spiteful was Vinny, as he was blissfully unaware of the ridiculous, Jerry Springer-level drama occurring between his bandmates. First, there was Chris, who was clearly annoyed with Ryan. In turn, Ryan was gun-shy and kowtowing to every single ridiculous thing that came out of the singer's mouth, although that seemed to slowly change and now he was growing equally perturbed. Blending into this mess was Rick, who was angry with both of the other men and their immaturity and growing increasingly short-tempered because of it. For his part, Devin was annoyed with the whole lot of them - including Vinny for being so fucking clueless.

Trying to prepare for their upcoming fall headliner had been nothing short of misery. Every song they ran through lead to Chris yelling at Ryan, then Rick yelling at Ryan and Chris. Then Devin yelling at all of them, and Vinny wondering aloud what exactly he had done to upset anyone. He was clueless over here behind the drums, and why was everyone pissing in everyone else's Cheerios?

Finally, on the fourth day of failed and dramatically pointless rehearsals, Rick had had enough. Practically dragging his bandmates by their puppy-scruffs, he had tossed Chris and Ryan into a room together and slammed the door after screaming a lengthy list of obscenities at them. Ultimately, Chris had crossed his arms over his chest and made vocal waves, as usual, while Ryan had simply scratched his beard in confusion.

Glaring at his friend, Ryan sighed. "He's right though."

"About what?" Chris challenged, aggravated and short-tempered. "This is bullshit! We have a tour to prepare for and no one is stepping up their game and doing their fucking job. Especially you! So, don't fucking look at me like that!"

Ryan now crossed his arms own over his chest and shook his head slowly, laughing. "Really? You're going to ignore the fucking elephant in the room?"

"I'm going to do whatever it takes to make my band succeed," Chris spat back, staring anywhere other than at the guitarist. "If that means that somebody gets left behind, so be it."

"Are you threatening me?" the other man scoffed. "Seriously? You're going to fucking kick me out of the band over this bullshit?"

Chris shrugged dismissively, still with his tattooed arms crossed defensively over his chest. "I'll do whatever I have to do."

"Fine," Ryan snorted. "Then I'm just going to say whatever the fuck I want, because I ain't got shit to lose. So, here goes: SHE WANTED IT!" he screamed in his friend's pale but stony face. "SHE BEGGED ME TO FUCK HER!" He paused, and his lascivious grin widened across his bearded face. "But you didn't tell her about any of it, did you? You wouldn't, because that might mean losing her and you wouldn't dare risk that. The only way that girl is getting out of this relationship is if you leave her, not the other way around, right?"

Chris said nothing, and Ryan continued. "Poor broken-hearted Christopher. He's so mistreated by all the women in his life. Never appreciated for his big, fluffy heart. But the truth is, he doesn't even have a fucking heart. He doesn't give a shit about anybody but himself, and how dare anyone even consider leaving Christopher Cerulli. Only a bitch would consider -"