Jameson Oneshots

drive in

october 25th, '86

jason and i found ourselves sitting quietly in the front of my red pickup truck staring at a movie screen. never did i ever believe i would be in this situation.

the story goes that kirk and lars were going to a drive in to go see a plethora of 60's and 70's horror movies, such as psycho and halloween. kirk and lars went every year but i always turned down going. however, kirk's grandmother became immensely ill over the past week and he flew all the way from california to florida with lars to go check up on her.

unfortunately the tickets were non-refundable, so jason and i said "fuck it" and decided to go ourselves.

not like i had felt bad in the first place anyways. kirk had seen all of these movies countless times and owned all of them on vhs. i wasn't an expert on horror, i had only seen quite a few movies in the genre. not because i was scared, from the lack of scariness actually. while lars cowered in the corner every time someone got killed, i yawned and found no interest or enthusiasm in it at all. however, after watching sleepaway camp for the first time, the ending really surprised me, and i also cite the first friday the 13th as one of my favorite movies, but nothing more than that. i think that just had to do with the sex more than anything else, quite honestly.

jason sat quietly and patiently in the passenger's seat. i hadn't really talked to him much. then again, who did? he had only been in the band for about a month and hardly any of us spoke to him, nor did he speak much at all. i wanted to crack a joke but had decided against it. then again, the silence was odd, and we couldn't listen to any music before the movie had started. i pulled three bucks out of my pocket and tossed it to him. "can you go get some candy?" i asked.

"yeah... okay." he nodded and opened the door to the truck. he hopped down and slammed the door as he got out and made his way to the small concessions. i was tempted to ask for beers but decided against it and actually stay sober for once since i was driving home. i wasn't letting jason drive. this truck was one of my most prized possessions, considering how rickety it is. i'm due for a new one soon but i don't have much money. one thing they don't tell you is that when you become a rock star, you don't make as much revenue as you think you do. between us, we had a couple thousands; our production money. i didn't feel comfortable spending unnecessary money on a car that hasn't been totaled yet. not like i'm traveling much anyways.

i found myself humming while waiting for jason to come back. i realized i still had my seatbelt on so i unbuckled it, and rested my feet on the wheel. i took time now to notice the majority of the people here were teenagers in old 1950s cars. it felt just like an old 50s movie, where the teenagers would sneak out and go see a horror movie at the drive in and have sex in the back whilst the movie was going on. i laughed. kids still doing that made me somewhat amused.

jason had come back with some candy and sodas. "here, these were all they had." he handed me back my three dollars i gave him.

"you didn't use my money?" i asked. he shook his head no. "i paid for it. it wasn't a lot..."

"then why didn't you use my money?"

"oh... i don't know... i never liked using people's money..." he drifted off with each word he spoke and eventually started sipping his soda to try to hide speech.

"oh... well thank you, then." he didn't say anything. i shrugged and sipped my soda. i felt pins and needles begin to develop in my foot and thought about how uncomfortable i would be sitting here watching the movies like this.

"i have a great idea," i said suddenly. quickly, i turned on the car and reverse the truck around so that the back was facing the screen. "we can go sit in the back now. it's surely more comfortable than sitting in a cramped pickup truck." jason grinned. "oh, that sounds great!" his eyes filled with glee.

we took our candy and soda and went to hop in the back of the truck, making sure to crank the radio loud and leaving the windows open in order to hear the movie. just in time, too, because as we had just jumped into the back, we were urged to quiet down and prepare for the first movie.

it was texas chainsaw massacre first. i had never seen it before.

jason immediately looked frightened. "oh god... i seen this movie before. it left a bad feeling in my stomach after the first time."

"it can't be that bad, can it?" i said, shrugging it off.

jason looked at me like a scared puppy and nodded. "it is...."

i hesitated and immediately regretted what i said next.

"y'know, if you get scared, you can come near me and i'll try to hide you from the screen."

it sounded like i was talking to a girlfriend and not a bandmate. i nearly smacked myself in the head. what a stupid thing to say.

"really?" jason asked, with a gleam in his eye. at this point there was no going back and i obviously couldn't be a dick about it now. "yeah, of course!" i continued. "i think there's a blanket inside the car too if you get cold."

jason smiled a smile such as a little kid's. i had an odd feeling which i've never felt before. i don't know what the word for not being sarcastic to someone is, but if there's a word for that, that's what i felt.

there wasn't too much on-screen gore but jason still ended up cowering next to me for nearly the whole movie anyway. i sat through the whole movie expressionless. i wish kirk had tickets to go see some raunchy comedies instead. once the movie finished, there was a fifteen minute intermission for everyone to use the bathroom and buy more concessions. jason's head was poking my ribcage; his head was crushing my bones from how terrified he was.

"jase? the movie's over, man."

he lifted his head up and yawned. "ugh... i'm so tired. can we please go home?" i looked at my watch- 10:30. it was pretty late and i wasn't sure of how i can sit through two more torture pornographies anyways.

i nodded. "sure, jase. i'm tired too."

as we went back to the seats of the car, jason was asking me a billion questions about the movie. "it was entertaining. it's just my my taste," i answered. "other than that, i didn't care." i started to pull out of the drive in.

"you weren't scared? i don't like the sounds of the chainsaw." i shrugged. "doesn't bother me much."

there was a few minutes of silence as we listened to the low-volume songs on my nearly-worn out walk among us tape. cliff gave it to me a few months ago and it's been in my tape deck ever sense.

jason broke the silence before i went into another long thought process about cliff again.

"i know it was really uncomfortable for you, but thank you for being so gracious in letting me uh..." i cut him off before he could even use he word "cuddle."

"it's okay, man. don't mention it. seriously, please don't." all the flak i could catch from lars and kirk if they heard that i let him... 'snuggle' against me.

i turned around. jason had fallen asleep, his head propped against the window. he was quietly snoring. i cracked a tiny smile at him.

i decided that i couldn't give him the idea that i was a nice person to him for 'shunning' him from the movie. i had to be a dick to him in some way that he didn't gain full trust of me. not yet, at least. i had to do something to scare him, or even make him the slightest bit uncomfortable.

i made a mental note to go out and buy a chainsaw this week, and rev it up as loud as i possibly could while he was sleeping.