The sunset strip; the place for sex, drugs, and rock n' roll, it didn't get any dirtier than that. At least that what Lonny thought until he lurched forward and emptied his stomach into a smelly garbage can, half full of vomit already. Lovely.
He winced, hearing the piercing screams from the top of the roller coaster again and held Dennis' shoulder to stay up. Carnivals were definitely not and would never again be on his rock n' roll agenda.
"Smells like a dog shat in there," he wiped his bottom lip and took his aviators back from Dennis, who had picked them up after Lonny dropped them in his mad dash for the bin.
Dennis laughed and pat Lonny's shoulder sympathetically as his friend leaned over again and spewed out all the cotton candy he had eaten. He couldn't help but feel a bit bad for suggesting the roller coaster as the first ride, but Lonny didn't say anything when they were in line. "You should've told me you didn't want to go one that one,"
"It's not that I-ugh… didn't want to!" Lonny said, trying to sound less pathetic. It was half true. Lonny always got sick. Whether it was a plane, boat, ever a car if it was a rough ride, but Dennis talked him into it. Actually, he was doing all of this for Dennis. Lonny hated carnivals, being the night creature he was, but here he was with his boss on a hot afternoon, surrounded by screaming kids and the smell of greasy food making him feel even sicker.

It all started early Sunday morning, after they closed and the last few people were trickling out the door from the previous night. It had been a busy night and Chico and Lonny stayed back to help clean up.
While they took care of things, Dennis was counting money from the register at the bar. He had actually been talking about buying some new equipment for the stage with all the money they had been making this summer. Of course they needed some plumbing fixed and a new lock for the storeroom door, but an amp was way more important than that shit.
"DENNIS… DENNIS!" He was interrupted by a strained, annoying scream that could only be coming from one person. "Yes, Lonny?" Dennis yelled back after a huge sigh.
"Get in here!"
He rolled his eyes, slammed the drawer shut and marched in the men's room. "What do you-" he stopped as soon as he got in and closed his eyes, trying to respond as calmly as he could to what he had just seen. "God dammit, Lonny, you couldn't wait until after your piss?"
"NO! LOOK!" Lonny –Who was standing, legs apart in front of a urinal—twisted around and held out a tattered Rolling Stone magazine he was reading, "page thirteen, read the headline!"
Dennis gave Lonny an irritated look and flipped open the magazine. His face went blank. He didn't like what he saw. Right there in big black letters: STEEL JIZZ CALLS IT QUITS
"Well," Dennis took a second to think about how much they depended on the band, "there goes another one,"
"That's not it, mate," Lonny zipped up his pants and walked up to Dennis briskly, "Steel Jizz were supposed to be here on Thursday night!"
Dennis stared at Lonny for a second, almost too long. Lonny was starting to get that tingling feeling he felt in his stomach whenever Dennis stared into his eyes too long.
"Are you sure?" Dennis narrowed his eyes and looked as though he was searching into Lonny's for the answer. Lonny shook his head, refocusing on the problem, "Yeah, Den. Check your books!" Lonny huffed and caught the magazine as Dennis pushed it against his chest and put it back where he found it.
"Shit," He heard Dennis grunt from outside. Lonny shook his head and couldn't help but laugh. Ever since he was promoted to management, he'd really put an effort into staying on top of things and at times like these, it paid off.
"What would you do without me?" He jumped up on the bar, a new XXX magazine tucked under his arm. "Don't stress, man," he opened the magazine and chuckled at Dennis' unenthusiastic expression, "Steel Jizz was bound to release at some time." Dennis went from unenthusiastic to annoyed. "Alright, maybe they had a premature ejaculation,"
"Knock it off!" Dennis slapped the magazine out of Lonny's hand and walked past him.
"Oi, oi! Den, where the hell are you going?" Lonny fumbled the magazine, swung his legs off the bar and watched Dennis, "Dennis!" He hopped down and followed Dennis up to his office, almost running into Chico on the way there. He slid to a halt in front of the door and caught it as Dennis was about to slam it shut. He was used to Dennis slamming doors and ignoring him by now, so he just went with it.
"We have twelve hours. Lonny, give me names all the bands we've had. Who can we get on short notice?"
"What about new bands?"
"We don't have time."
Lonny hated doing this, if there was one thing he hated it was… well, Monday and randomly calling out bands while Dennis refused band after band after band... He sighed and flopped down on the couch, "Alan Park and the Penetrators?"
"No, not good enough…"
"Drool?"
"Nah,"
"Why not?"
"Too expensive,"
"Well, I don't exactly think beggars can be choosers in this sort of situation, Den!" Lony shouted, getting frustrated with how picky Dennis was being, "We don't have a lot of time if you've forgotten!"
Dennis took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down and –though it was hard when he was stressed—tried to push Lonny out of his mind and focus.
"I'm calling Titty Shocker," Dennis finally decided and picked up the phone.
"Oh, brilliant," Lonny said sarcastically, "oi, don't forget what they did here last time they were here."
Dennis paused, "with the llama?"
"I believe it was an alpaca, yes…"
Dennis made a disappointed face and put the phone back down. This was gonna be a long night.

"Lonny," Lonny felt a rough hand on his shoulder, "Lonny, wake up."
He blinked awake and rubbed his eyes. "Jesus, what time is it?" he groaned, his voice croaky and his word slurred from the pounding in his head. Too many drink again. He looked at Dennis briefly and shoved his head under his pillow, inhaling the smell of leather and beer on the couch.
"It's eleven thirty," Dennis said with a strained grunt as he got up and walked around the coffee table.
"Kill me," Lonny mumbled, holding the pillow on his head. This was way too early to even be thinking about being awake.
"Lonny, get up," Dennis turned on the TV sat on the edge of the couch, "I got a band."
"Mmm? Well done, mate. Knew you would…" He peaked out from under the pillow and looked at the coffee table in front of him. On it was Dennis' glass of Bourbon from the night before, a new bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey and a bag of gummy worms in the wooden bowl that was supposed to be for Dennis' keys and pocket change until Lonny claimed it for his candy. Dennis must have gone out before Lonny woke up to get all this.
"How long have you been up?" Lonny groaned as he stretched his arms and legs.
"A few hours," Dennis half-glared at Lonny, "thanks for your help last night."
Lonny laughed and hit Dennis with his knee, "You didn't need me, Den. I knew you'd sort it out,"
"You fell asleep on the job,"
"I was fucking exhausted,"
"Mhm," Dennis laughed. He shuffled through a stack of newspaper and handed Lonny a flyer, "here. We're going to this today."
Lonny squinted at the brightly coloured flyer and laughed, sitting up to get a better look, "A carnival? You're fucking with me, Den. You don't exactly strike me a carnival enthusiast."
"The Bourbon is doing a promotion for it, so I thought I'd check it out. I got two of these," Dennis tossed Lonny a ticket and sat at his desk. "Go home and…" Dennis took a look Lonny in his dishevelled, hungover state, "deal with that and meet me by the Ferris wheel at 2:30."
"Den, can't we go somewhere else?" Lonny whined.
Dennis put his head down in his work and glared at Lonny from under his furrowed brow, "Punishment for falling asleep. Ferris wheel, 2:30."
Lonny sighed, a combination of hate and love. He hated carnivals ever since his first girlfriend back in London dumped 15-year-old Lonny after meeting the guy who sold candy apples. He was bitter about that for a long time and hadn't been to a carnival since, but he loved going out with Dennis. They didn't do much outside The Bourbon Room walls. Lonny thought it was to keep the boss/employee border, which he understood, but every now and then they would go see a movie or go out for dinner at any hole-in-the-wall restaurant that was open at 3:00am just to bend the border out a little.

Today however, that border was smashed to piece as they tried to beat each other at mini golf later that day. Turns out Lonny was super competitive, but had no idea what he was doing and was ready to throw a fit by the fourth hole if Dennis laughed at him one more time. Dennis was lucky he had a rough chuckle that was just making him hotter by the second.
"Stop laughing, I'm doing my best!" Lonny felt his face turn red as he lined up for another putt.
"Let me help you out, you're doing it wrong," Dennis said over Lonny's shoulder and grabbed his hips, turning Lonny's body slightly.
"Whoa, D-Den, what are you-"
"Relax, no one's watching," he put a hand on one of Lonny's knees and jerked his legs apart, sending his heart racing. "Loosen up and tap it lightly," Dennis pressed up against him, making his back straighten. Jesus, if he only knew… Lonny thought as he tried to keep himself under control. Dennis could probably feel his heart beating and his whole body trembling. He brought his hands back slowly and hit the ball, sinking it in the hole on the first swing.
There was a second of silence between them and Lonny thought his jeans were gonna bust if Dennis stood behind him any longer, (Although he wasn't worried about that, he had developed many techniques for covering up the Little Lonny) but he stood there. Almost scared to move, feeling Dennis' breath on the back of his neck.
"How was that?" Lonny finally turned his head and asked timidly. Dennis looked back at him, and for a split second Lonny swore he saw a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth as their eyes met. "Pretty good," Dennis backed away and got his golf ball from the hole, "let's keep going."

And so began –ironically- the best day of Lonny's entire life. The first half of the day was completely forgotten and all Lonny could remember was letting Dennis –again—talk him into riding the carousel and playing the milk bottle game until they were out of tickets. It wasn't until the carnival was closing for the night when they walked back to Dennis' truck with a pink cloud of cotton candy and a green stuffed frog Dennis won. Lonny hadn't even had a drink yet, but the excitement of the day had him talking Dennis' ear off all the way to the parking lot.
"…and, you know," Lonny pulled on the sleeve of Dennis' Kiss t-shirt, "This is the first time I've not seen you in sleeves and a vest. This should be a date marked in history,"
"I didn't know you cared,"
"I didn't know you had arms!" Lonny laughed out loud and leaned against the front of the truck. He looked down as a bashful little smile crept across his face. He hated to admit that he had fun after complaining so much that morning, but he couldn't deny it. And Dennis looked so happy and relaxed right now, it was worth every second and every dollar they spent. Lonny smiled the whole way home. From the moment they left to when they were in front of his place with the radio humming lowly and the noise of the city dying down outside.
"Here," Dennis picked up the stuffed frog and gave it to Lonny before he got out. "Take this," he said bluntly and shrugged, "It's no glass of whiskey but thanks. I had fun." Again, one other things Dennis thought nothing of, but meant everything to Lonny. This was a new side of Dennis that Lonny had seen for the first time; he had fun, he was completely relaxed and was actually thanking Lonny for something. If only Lonny could return the favour… now would've been a perfect time, a scene right out of a movie: the sun setting, the radio in the background, in a rusty old pickup. But he couldn't. Dennis had no idea, why would he? They were friends and nothing more. Correcting Lonny's swing and this stupid frog meant nothing, and Lonny loved him too much to let his stupid feelings ruin what they had.
He smiled one last time, taking the frog and ducking out of the truck. As much as he wanted to grab Dennis by the collar of his faded t-shirt and kiss him or bring him inside for something more, he couldn't.