"Guys, you're on in ten."
Max looked down at himself and made a face. The black, ripped jacket hung weirdly on his shoulders and the punk eyeliner kept bugging his eyes. He rubbed them, taking some of the liner with his knuckle. He looked down at his hand and sighed deeply. His bandmates echoed his sentiment as they looked over at their appearances. Danny threw his head back to get his bangs from flopping in his face and he leered sinisterly under the dark rimmed emo make-up he had on. Sam was also clad in emo garb and he shook his head at Danny as he tugged down the hem of his tight, black t-shirt. James pulled the aviator sunglasses off his nose and hung them off the front of his white t-shirt.
"This sucks," James declared as he yanked the cowboy hat off and tossed it onto the nearby couch. "The last 3 gigs were a joke! And all because we couldn't find "the perfect image" for our manager."
Danny wiped off the heavy liner with a wipe and tossed it into the trash. He crossed his arms over his chest and replied, "Well you heard our manager! If we wanna make it big, we gotta find that look that makes the ladies swoon."
Sam shook his head and let out a huge breath of air. "Face it Danny Boy. Those "looks" weren't us. Man, I'm sure most of the fans thought we were mocking them!"
Max threw off the ripped jacket at that comment. Sam was right – he was sure that they had offended some of the attendees. Especially her. Max couldn't forget her – medium brown hair with dirty undertones, smoky eye make-up, crimson lips, and the spiky-shouldered jacket. He thought she was the coolest and prettiest girl he had ever seen; only she wasn't into him that night when their manager insisted that the band dress in a punk look. His dream girl had pursed her lips at him in disgust before leaving with a tougher-looking guy that was more her type.
Max wiped off the rest of the eyeliner before grabbing a blazer to put on over his t-shirt.
"Dude! What the–" Danny demanded.
"Forget our manager," Max said firmly as he fixed the blazer. "Let's just be ourselves tonight."
"Hey uh, do you know who's playing tonight?" a girl asked as she walked into the dive-y coffee shop and music place. She flipped a strand of her wavy hair out of her face and cocked her head toward the girl with the clipboard in her hand.
"Some boy band, can't remember their name," clipboard girl answered.
"Tonia! Oh my God, Tonia!" another girl gasped as she ran toward the wavy-haired girl. Tonia smiled faintly as she accepted the hug from the other girl wearing her hair up.
"Brit! You're here too?" Tonia said as she took a step back. "What's new with you?!"
Brit shrugged and nodded at the stage. "Here for the music. God I hope these guys are better than last night's group! I swear, they tried so hard to be dark and poetic but please! They were such posers!"
"Oh God don't even get me started about the band I saw a few nights ago," Tonia groaned as she put her hand to her forehead. "Worst. Group. Of. Posers. Ever. And the lead guy had the nerve to even act like he was all that towards me!"
Brit chuckled as she leaned back against the counter of the coffee bar. She gestured to Tonia's outfit and asked, "So last time we hung out, you were this preppy, sunny, popular chick. Where'd this hot, little bad girl come from?"
Tonia looked down at her ankle boots and tugged on her leather jacket. She was wearing a shirt with the designer double C's, except they were melting down the front of her shirt and a tight pair of skinny red jeans. It was quite a change from the way she dressed years ago. Had it really been that long?
"Oh well, you know," Tonia began, "Rose moved away and Bluebell has been as boring as always. And after I started sneaking out with that one girl's boyfriend, it was kinda fun doing bad things. My mom hates it though. She doesn't know that I'm here though."
Brit rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the stage as the band came on. Tonia cocked her head in the direction of the stage and crossed her arms over her chest. She frowned as she looked closely at the lead singer and gasped, grabbing Brit's arm.
"What?! No way, that's Rose's geeky boyfriend Max!" Tonia hissed at Brit.
"Guess he plays in a band," Brit said absently as she became fixated on the drummer. Another girl with her hood up joined Brit and began dragging her closer to the stage.
"Brit! Did you see that guy on acoustic?!" her friend gabbed as she dragged Brit away. "Wow! I mean, wow he's hot!"
Tonia crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at the stage as Max introduced their band. She quickly forgot what the band name was as the taller guy on lead guitar began playing a strong set of guitar chords. She soon found herself nodding her head to their music and she slowly unfolded her arms. Her hair swung from side to side as she threw head around to the guitar chords.
"The things that you say to all the others," Max belted. "Why don't you say them to me?"
Tonia came closer to the front of the stage and couldn't help but smile when Max began singing. For a geeky guy, he actually had a decent voice. Max caught her eye and winked in her direction. Tonia prayed that she wasn't blushing as she tossed her head around to the beat of the music.
"I might not know what your friends think about me. But I know what you need," Max sang. His heart pounded wildly as he caught the eye of a girl in the audience. Could it? No, it couldn't! But it was – the girl he saw at their gig earlier this week! She was back with a huge smile on his face and seemed to be enjoying the music.
Don't blow it now Max, he told himself as he kept singing.
Tonia wasted no time after the performance as she raced over to the steps that led up to the stage. She locked eyes with the lead singer and waved. He jogged down the steps and smiled as he came up to her.
"That sounded great!" Tonia said breathlessly. "I didn't know you could sing Max."
Max's faced clouded over in confusion for a few moments as he scrunched his face trying to remember whom this girl was standing in front of him. Then it hit him. "What?! Tonia?! Tonia is that really you?"
She nodded and he ran a hand through his hair. He decided to move away from the stage and beckoned her to follow him to an open place by the coffee bar. She tugged on the edge of her jacket as she looked up at him.
"Wow! I thought you hated me," Max admitted.
Tonia rolled her eyes and leaned against the wall of the coffee place. "That was before I heard you sing. And besides, that was back when I thought being preppy and popular was everything."
Max stood next to her and leaned against the wall, leaving a few inches in between them. "So uh, was that you that was in the audience on Tuesday?"
Tonia's head jerked toward his and she stared in disbelief. "Wait, were you singing with that stupid wannabe punk outfit on? What was up with that?"
"That was our manager's idea," Max groaned as he hit his head against the wall. "You will not believe what other ideas she had. One night we were punk, next night we were country, and recently we attempted to revive emo."
"Wow. I mean really?" Tonia laughed as she crossed her arms over her chest. "She sounds crazy. But I think this looks suits you guys the best."
Max smiled as he looked at Tonia. She turned her head and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.
"So uh, what now?" Tonia asked him.
Max shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. He looked around at the coffee place, which was slowly clearing out. His bandmates were starting to leave too, all of them with a girl. Max faced Tonia and offered her his hand.
"Shall we?" he asked.
Tonia placed her hand in his and nodded, leading him out of the coffee place.