Wait until the music's over

6. Brothers and sisters, momma and son

"Oh fuck, Jeff! Did you need to shout like that? I'm quite sure you've just burst my eardrum"

"Well, I wouldn't need to yell at people if you were back here on time, Stoney! How fucking long did it take?"

I hate him.

Ok, yeah, I also love him. I've known this guy for almost seven years now, and he's still alive. It really means something. He's lucky I haven't killed him. Yet.

"It wouldn' take so long, Jeffrey, if your apartment weren't such a mess"

"Don't call me Jeffrey!"

"Don't call me Stoney!" I reply as I see Angie run up to me from the hallway.

"Stoney!" she cries out hugging me.

"Happy birthday Smurfette!"

"I think I'm more grouchy smurf, but thank you"

"She can call you Stoney though!"

"Of course, she's the birthday girl!"

"Oh anyways, what about my mess? What's that got to do with you being late?"

"If your house weren't messy it wouldn't take me so long to find the demo"

"I told you it was in my room!"

"The problem is it wasn't"

"What? It was there"

"I'm telling you it wasn't"

"It was"

Is he stupid?

"If I tell you it wasn't there it's because it really wasn't"

"Where was it then?"

"In the kitchen, beside the fridge, in the fruit basket"

"Impossible! I got no fruit!"

"Exactly, there was no fruit in it, just the tape. So, half an hour to find this tape..."

"Oh come on! It was there after all, I mean, it wasn't hidden or something, you could see that" he answers with a disarming candor.

"Right... as I said, I had to look for the demo first. Then I thought: why should we make her listen to it whe..."

"Why?! What the fuck do you mean, why? Because I promised! Tell me you brought it"

Now I rip his throat out, here, in front of everybody. And Angie could film the whole scene, her dream of making the horror movie of the decade finally coming true.

"Sure I brought it, let me just finish please! I thought: why should I just bring the tape for her to listen when it'd be much nicer to give it to her as a birthday present?"

"But we need the demo, Stone"

"Right! That's why it took me other extra minutes to find a blank tape and make a copy. Here it is, all yours!" I hand her the cassette I kept in my pocket.

"Oh thank you Stone! If you felt like making a copy it means it's really good"

"It is" I answer.

"Sure it is! I told you! I've been repeating it for 24 hours, but no. Now Stone said it, has to be true" grumpy Jeff chimes in.

"I didn't mean that. It's just... if even Stone finds it decent, it must be great for real" Angie tries to explain.

"Sure, because Jeff is easy to please, while Stone's the one with refined taste"