Infinite

Four

“I’m really, really sorry,” Melissa said, glancing up at him in misery. This was the fourth time she’s said it and she looked as though she wanted to throw up or ran away or both. Dean, on the other hand, was enjoying himself thoroughly.

“It’s alright,” he kept reassuring her as he mopped up his face and shirt with a napkin. “I shouldn’t have crept up on you like that.”

She went even paler.

“No, no, it’s me,” she repeated. “Sorry!”

“Okay, okay, we get it,” said the girl who had offered Melissa the drink in the first place. She waved an impatient hand at Dean and then at Melissa. “You’re very sorry, and he’s okay.”

Dean raised a brow. The girl seemed nice enough, if a little too brash and forward for his taste. But since Melissa seemed to put with her, he decided he would. “See? Your friends got it.”

“Aren’t you going to introduce us?”

“Er, right. This is Kenny and Emily, my friends.” She waved her hand in their general direction and Dean looked at them in turn. Emily was well…very Emily and Kenny seemed to be grinning at Dean with a little more enthusiasm than was required for the situation.

“And guys, this is…”

“I’m Dean,” he jumped, realising that he hadn’t introduced himself even though they’ve met each other a few times.

Melissa began stuttering as she explained how they met and then abruptly, she asked, “Is that the terrible band?”

Dean had the strangest desire to laugh. Or kiss her. Or both. But instead, he replied, “First you spit on me, and then you insult my band…you’re making new records today, aren’t you?”

She began apologizing again and this time, he really did laughed.

“I’m just kidding,” he told her. “Yeah, that’s my terrible band, DEMO. GUYS! COME OVER HERE FOR A SECOND!”

“No, fuck you!”

Jerk.

“Martin is very polite,” Dead said, pointing out each of the guys as he spoke. “That’s him behind the keyboard. The guy with the guitar is Jake. Dash-Beard is our bassist –”

“Dash-Beard?” Kenny asked, poking his head around and wrinkling his nose.

“Yeah, he used be Clarence, but a few months ago he decided he need a badass name.”

“So he went with Dash-Beard?”

“It was either that or Trolling-Bear. And the guy swinging the mic is our lead vocals – Slasher. And no, Slasher didn’t re-make his name; his parents were big fans of Saul Hudson.” 

“What about you?” Melissa asked, glancing up at him. “What do you do?”

“I play the drum...” There a loud yelp and he turned towards the stage. Slasher and Martin were arguing again and this time round, Slasher had even wrapped a mic cord around Martin’s neck. “I’d better get up before someone dies. You’ll stay a while more, right?”

“Uh…” she glanced at Emily and Kenny, who were nodding with obvious enthusiasm. “Yeah. I mean, yes, I’ll probably be here a while longer.”

“Good. See you afterwards?”

“Okay.”

“Affirmative,” he replied distractedly without thinking about his words. “HEY! YOU GUYS, STOP IT!”

Slasher and Martin both ignored him and went on fighting. He scowled at DB and Jake, and the two of them stopped laughing as he climbed onto the stage.