Wait until the music's over

32. Sirens and fish tanks (Pt. 3)

"Uhm ok, it's all quite clear to me now." Eddie nods his head yes really slowly, sitting on a stool, suspiciously observing the tiles on the kitchen walls before looking back at me "The only thing I don't understand is... why the fuck did you two give me a date rape drug?"

"You two?? Listen, I've got nothing to do with this shit, the little chemist here did it all by himself!" Stone squawks, standing in the corner beside the big fridge.

"Umph, how many times do I have to repeat myself, it's not a date rape drug! Not necessarily" I restate, as I already did earlier with Stone, when I revealed my brilliant plan to him. Well, it looks brilliant to me.

Looked.

Ok, I'm starting having some doubts now.

"Where the fuck did I find this asshole? Where??" the guitarist shakes his head and asks useless questions to the ceiling.

"You found me at a party, sprawled on the couch as I was playing like a guitar god and-" I'm trying to remind him about the night when he first asked me to join his band, but Vedder interrupts me.

"I'm sure the story of your first meeting is really touching, but... would somebody please tell me what's happening? What the fuck got into your head, Mike?"

"We wanted to help you" I shrug.

"Plural? Again?!" Gossard snarls.

"Ok, I wanted to help you"

"Drugging me?"

"Well..."

"You wanted me to relax a little? You could have told me, instead of giving me stuff behind my back"

"You can't give drugs to people just like that, without asking! What's in your head? Sawdust?" Stone comes out from his corner and grabs me by the shoulder shaking me.

"It wasn't for you" I confess.

"It wasn't? For whom then?" Eddie asks scratching his head.

"Violet"

"Violet" the singer repeats in disbelief.

"This jerk thought that maybe he could make your girlfriend relax so much that she would take a little nap and stay away from you" Stone explains in my place.

"But you ate the donuts, so..." I go on, pointing at the now empty dish, abandoned on the kitchen table.

"You spiked the friedcakes?" Eddie asks again, staring at the dish and rubbing persistently but distractedly one of his eyebrows with the thumb.

"Yeah, not all of them though, just two or three... and I just put a couple of drops, basically nothing, I bet you won't even notice"

"Mike..."

"You'll simply feel a little drunker than usual... or maybe everything just evaporated right then and won't even work"

"You're an asshole" Stone claims, giving me his trademark scolding look, the look of a judge who's just convicted you.

"But-"

"You shall not drug people without telling them, Mike, end of the story. And why the hell do you bring that stuff? Even when you're going to somebody's house?"

"Anyway, thank god I took it, I've never even seen Violet with a cigarette, who knows how she'd react to something like GHB" Eddie takes the dish and it seems like he's attentively examining the Christmas decorations on it. Yes, I suppose Eddie's experienced in that department, but I don't know Violet enough to judge her in that sense.