Private Jam Session: Learn How To Love

Chapter 6: Skip to Plan K. (Plan K?)

Words: 1471

Did the team decide to wait a day before pushing another plan? No. No, they didn't. It was only an hour and a half after they heard what Zoot said. Dr. Teeth, Floyd, and Janice took a seat at the table, thinking. The problem is that they never really thought that far ahead. Lips and Animal walked back inside. Animal had a stick in his mouth and happily chewed it. Lips saw his three bandmates at the table. They look like they were thinking seriously and from Lips' knowledge, they hardly ever think at all. Like that one time when they got lost in Texas because Animal had eaten their map.

"You three good? Y'all look like those stuffed jackalopes Bass Man's Pa has in his bus," Lips says. Floyd dismissively waves his hand. Once Lips leaves them alone, Janice snaps her fingers and smiles. She thought up a plan that was sure to work. Janice tells the two men, even writing it down in case they forget.

"Aren't ya gonna help?" Floyd asks. Janice shakes her head. She claims that she would help a bit, but she's gonna try to make the cupcakes in the evening. Animal brings a broken stick to the table and sets it down.

"Animal want to help," he says. Floyd laughs at Animal, taking the written down plan. They set off to work in the backyard. Zoot raises his head from the couch and watches the band head to the backyard. He just woke up to Animal's loud voice and didn't hear anything they said.

During the process, they would constantly walk back and forth from the backyard, the attic, and the garage that held a majority of their junk.

The sun was close to setting when the boys, and sometimes Janice, finished working out their plan. They called it Plan K because it was, in their case, near the end of the alphabet and that's as far as Animal can sing of the song. Zoot walks to the backyard with his saxophone to see a mini Laser Tag arena. Dr. Teeth, Floyd, and Animal wore black vests they found while searching. 

"What's this...?" He gestures to the horrible set up. There was an array of moving boxes, old chairs, and other junk stacked in different sized piles. Each of the piles was in different sections of the yard.

"Our last plan to get you and Lips together!" Floyd replies, leaning on a chair. Zoot sets his saxophone on the table, still staring at the set up in confusion.

"Animal! Go get Lips, OK?" Animal runs inside for a brief moment and comes back out, gently dragging Lips by his shirt sleeve. Lips sees the set up too and gives Dr. Teeth a confused look.

"Are those like the strange sculptures at the park or is this something different?" Lips asks, waving his index finger at the scene. Floyd grabs two vests and throws them at Zoot and Lips. Janice walked out of the house with a vest already on her, dusting off the flour from her hands.

"It's a home-made laser tag arena. The only difference being that we're using vests, Nerf guns, and foam bullets since we don't have any real laser tag vests or guns. I'll tell the rules in a bit". Floyd also throws a gun and foam bullets in an ammo case to each of them. They put on the vests and grabbed the guns and ammo.

"I, Janice, and Teeth are a team. You two and Animal are our opponents. When you get hit, you raise your hand for ten seconds, and then you're back in. Animal's their only exception for guns since he doesn't know how to use them. Your base is here up to the middle. Ours is at the other end up to the middle. We start in thirty seconds, man," Floyd says, loading his own pistol. Floyd, Janice, and Dr. Teeth walk to the other side of the yard, leaving the other three at the back porch.

Within minutes, the backyard is in chaos. The neighbors must've thought the band was having a feud judging by all of the chaos, bullet shooting, and yelling. Dr. Teeth quickly found an advantage with his long arms and Floyd was acting as if he's actually at war. No one knows where Janice hid off to, but it's apparently a good place for sniping. She had taken Animal out more than Dr. Teeth. Lips managed to land some hits on Floyd and Dr. Teeth, but Animal kept getting in the way. He would run back and forth from one side to the next. In fact, all he had to do was tag the person to be considered hit. Zoot on the other hand...

"Man, this is crazy! Animal is out of control and Floyd is taking this game way too seriously!" Zoot yells, holding his gun tightly against his chest. Lips moves from their hiding spot to shoot at Floyd a few times and then moves back. Zoot hasn't tried to fight back the entire time they were playing. His gun was still full of unused ammo.

"Honestly, the Wild Man is our only hope through all this!" Yells Lips, loading his Nerf gun with ammo. Zoot began to panic, his breathing starting to be ragged. This was their plan? More like torture! His nails scratch at his other hand again, breaking the skin. A small drop of blood comes out and drops to the ground. Zoot looks up and sees the backdoor.

I need to get outta here he thinks, dropping his gun and making a mad dash for the door. Lips quickly realizes what Zoot did and runs after him, firing the foam bullets at his opponents while doing so. Janice aims at the running Lips from her hiding spot and fires. Lips makes a dive for Zoot, grabbing his torso and cushioning his fall. Unfortunately, he landed on the table. The impact tipped it over, throwing Zoot's saxophone to the dirt. The instrument gets covered in dirt and dust.

"TIME OUT! TIME OUT! WE GOT A MAN DOWN!" Lips could hear Dr. Teeth yell. His ears rung from the impact of the table. Janice jogs from her hiding place, apologizing continuously. Once the ringing stops, Lips and Zoot sit up and take a breath from the adrenalin. Their eyes lock for a second before Zoot stands up and grabs his dirty saxophone. He throws the vest off of his shoulders and goes back inside, slamming the door.

"I... should rully go and bake those cupcakes," says Janice, taking off her vest and heading inside as well. Dr. Teeth helps Lips to his feet.

"Can I have an explanation about this? You, Bass Man, and Valley Girl have been acting real funny since that gig we had a couple of days ago. So what's up?" Floyd sighs. Dr. Teeth explains that they were trying to get him and Zoot together. They still won't tell the reason, stating that it should be up to Zoot to tell him personally.

"Well, I can say that they were awful plans," Lips says, laughing. The two men begin laughing with him, thinking back on their ideas. Animal then loses interest and walks inside. The three men follow closely behind, agreeing to clean the backyard later.

When they get inside, Zoot is on the couch, scrubbing off the dirt. Animal was nearby, lounging in his usual seat. Floyd goes to help Janice in the kitchen with Dr. Teeth and Lips heading to the front porch again to talk. Zoot watches them out of the corner of his eye.

Even after half an hour, Zoot's saxophone is still covered in dirt. He had a rag and a bowl of water with him for cleaning. Lips and Dr. Teeth are still outside, Dr. Teeth is telling one of his tall tales. Animal crawls from his chair to the couch and lays his head on Zoot's shoulder.

"Hi, Animal. Are ya tired?" Animal closes his eyes and breathes heavily like he usually does. That was a good enough answer for Zoot. In the kitchen, he could hear Janice and Floyd laughing. He remembers when he and Janice were together. They were doing great, but he began to doubt himself and cut off the relationship at the end of season one. She did briefly date Dr. Teeth, but then cut off from that and moved to Floyd. From then on, they would be a better couple than the diva pig and nervous frog. Zoot briefly scratches Animal's head for a bit and continues to try to clean the dirt off.

Just then, Lips and Dr. Teeth come back in. Lips immediately heads to his room once again and Dr. Teeth grabs the newspaper to read again.