KISS: In The Band

Ch 7: Hey Eric (Paul)

I walked into the dressing room, giving Eric a grin. "Good to see you, ya dumb blond," I said cheerfully. He smiled back, jumping to his feet. "Missed you, ya dumb jock. Anyway, good luck out there! I'll see you after the show?"

I smiled, running a hand through my hair. "Sounds like a plan. No groupies tonight." He rolled his eyes, shaking his head with a grin. "Yeah, yeah, we'll talk about that at dinner." "Yeah, we probably should. Gotta make sure we're on the same page. Anyway, I gotta get going, I'll see you in a few hours!" "Well I'll see you in a few minutes when you start your show!" "Looking forward to it," I said, blowing him a kiss without a second thought. Sure it had been a while but I wasn't about to pass up on the opportunity to get back together with him.

After the show, I ran backstage, giving him a smile as I found him already waiting in the dressing room for me. "Let me just get changed and we'll head out!" I said cheerfully. He nodded, looking away, but I caught him sneaking a glance as I quickly stripped off my costume, changing into some normal clothes and cleaning off my face. "So we're ready to go?" he asked. "Oh absolutely," I said, grabbing my phone and keys and fighting back the urge to kiss him. "Now let's go eat."

We grabbed a table at the nearby burger place, putting in our orders before he gave me a look, raising an eyebrow which immediately disappeared behind his headband. "Alright my dumb rock jock, we need to have our own little conversation." "Yes we do," I said quietly.

There was a long pause before I just went for it. "Are you asking to get back together with me?" I asked hopefully. He blinked, looking at me in surprise as his face went red. "Oh...uh...that's not really why I called you here. I was gonna talk to you about something else. Let's talk about that first, then we'll talk about getting together and stuff."

Absolutely crushed, I tried to force a smile. "Alright, that's fine! So then what's up?" "We need to talk about what you're doing to Bruce and Eric, more specifically Eric," he said, giving me a flat look. I looked at him in confusion. "What?"

"Look, I'm going to be honest with you. Bruce Kulick, one of the best people I know, absolutely hates your guts right now. And I can understand why." My heart sank and I stared at him. "I don't get why he'd be so pissed at me," I said, running a hand through my hair. Eric just laughed, shaking his head. "Really? You don't get it?"

I shook my head, and he just laughed again. "You know how you and Gene are super close? Like y'all are brothers and all that?" I nodded slowly. "Yeah, that's Bruce with Eric. He fucking loves the kid man, he's super protective of him. Eric's like a little brother and a best friend to him, and he gets really mad when someone does something to hurt Eric. And you did. You hurt Eric a lot."

"How do you know all this?" I said defensively, not wanting to consider that he was right. He laughed again, shaking his head.

"Because I'm their friend! Look, you four all went off and did your thing. I got closer to Bruce and Eric when me and you first started dating, and I kept hanging out with them after we stopped. Plus Tommy's one of my best friends and he's known Eric for ages. So yeah, you guys weren't there but I was. Eric was out and Bruce and I were talking about high school and stuff and he went off on you guys. He's heated, and to be fair, he has every right to be."

"I mean...I guess," I mumbled. "No, Paul! You don't get to be like that, you're the one who messed up!" he cried. "You were one of Eric's best friends in high school! He mentioned when we were talking about his wedding how much he wanted to have like you and Peter and Ace and Gene as groomsmen but he gave up on that ages ago after you all stopped talking to him. So to be honest, Bruce deserves to be pissed. Eric deserves to be way more upset than he is."

"Groomsmen?! Wait, Eric's getting married?!" I cried. He shook his head, giving me an almost angry look. "Yeah, he's getting married in a month. But you wouldn't know that, because you probably haven't even seen the wedding invitations he mailed out months ago, have you? Because he's not popular and famous and in your band so he's not worth your time, right?"

Heart sinking, I gave him a hurt look. "Eric...you know I'm not like that," I mumbled. He sighed, rolling his eyes. "Look Paul, freshman year I fucking hated your guts. You were the biggest bitch on the football team and I was jealous of how popular you were. But you didn't want to hang out with anyone who either wasn't already your friend or who wasn't popular. Like it or not, you're still that same football bitch sometimes."

"So what, you never loved me then? Our whole relationship was just a lie or something?" I cried. Eric gave me an almost angry look and I immediately wished I could take back my words. "This is exactly what I'm talking about, Paul! You never pay attention to other people's feelings! That's the main reason I wanted to take a break! You were so caught up in your newfound fame you didn't see how your attitude was starting to affect me! I hated how you never had time for me, I hated how you went around flashing your fame and wealth and acting like you were better than everyone, better than me! I tried to tell you that but you didn't listen! So to answer your earlier question, no, I'm not asking to get back together with you!"

"Eric I'm really sorry I didn't mean to hurt you or Eric, I didn't realize I was!" I began, trying to take his hand, but he just rose to his feet. "Look, just make things up with Carr, alright? He deserves better. And when you've changed, maybe then we can talk about getting things going again. I do love you, Paul Stanley, but not when you're like this," he said quietly, before turning and walking out of the restaurant.

I stared after him, stomach churning, and tried not to puke at the table.