DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Nothing from "I'm in the Band" belongs to me. It's merely inspired.
It was raining on the cold city streets. Derek Jupiter was still inside the club that they had just played at. He splashed water on his face in the bathroom sink and sighed. He looked up at his reflection in the slightly dirty mirror and smiled at himself smugly.
"Hello, handsome." He joked, flipping his long wavy brown hair. He turned and left the dirty bathroom. He looked around the empty club and his bright smile quickly faded. The guys said that they would wait there for him to come back. He looked around and slowly journeyed through the club.
"Guys?" Derek called. "Guys, you here?" No response. "Okay, very funny. You got me, now come on out." He tried to psych himself into thinking that the guys were just playing a joke on him. "Great." Derek mumbled. He briskly walked out the back door to check to see if the band van was in the parking lot. No sign of it. Then a thought struck him. Maybe they were in the front. He quickly took a look around the front. Nope. There was no sign of the purple snakeskin van anywhere.
They left him at the club alone just like they did back in high school, back when they were still "Derek Jupiter and the Other Guys". Derek sighed irritated and searched his pockets for his cell phone. His eyes widened in realization that his phone was still in the band van on the charger. He threw his hands up and walked over to the pay phone and figured if he called the house phone, he could get Beth to come and get him.
He pulled out a quarter from his pocket and inserted it into the machine. He clicked the dial buttons and waited. Ring one. Pause. Ring Two. Pause.
"Oh, come on." Derek mumbled.
Ring Three. "Hello, you have called the Campbell house. We're sorry we missed your call-" Derek hung up before Beth's voice could finish the message. Derek covered his face with his hand in frustration.
'I guess I'm taking a cab then.' He thought to himself as he dialed the number. Ring one. Click!
"Los Angeles Taxi Service." A gruff voice answered on the other end.
"Uh, yes, hi. Could I get a cab at the corner of 57th and Cherry, please?" Derek asked, his eyes wandering around as he stood there.
"One minute." The voice responded. There was a pause as shuffling and inaudible yelling could heard on the other end. "Alright, we'll have one over there in about ten minutes."
"Thank you." Derek replied hanging up the phone. He sighed. He walked over to the bar and sat down. He looked over at the bartender. "Excuse me, could I get a pint of bitter?" Derek asked. The tattoo covered bartender gave him a strange look.
"A what?" he asked coldly.
"A pint of bitter?" Derek asked a little louder in case the punk hadn't heard him the first time.
"A what?" he asked again. Derek rolled his eyes.
"Just…get me a beer." He surrendered. It wasn't the ale that he craved, but he knew next to nothing about American beer. The guy sneered at him as he pulled out a clean glass and held it under the tap as the yellow frothy beverage filled the glass. He set it in front of Derek and walked away. Derek took a sip. It was definetly not the ale he wanted, but it'll give him something to do while he waited. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in his head.
"Excuse me, would you mind if I borrowed your cell phone?" Derek asked. The bartender went back to cleaning the bar top and remaining glasses ignoring his question. Derek opened his mouth to ask him again, but decided not to. He already had a cab coming and the punk wasn't going to lend him his cell phone. He took another drink and sighed. He shook his head and just sat there, letting his mind wander.
He thought back on the first time that the guys had ditched him. It was the same situation. Derek ran to the bathroom really quick, but when he came back out they were gone. They had no reason to just leave him there. However, he though back on another time in the 80's before they had actually gotten a record deal. Derek went on a trip with his mum back to London to visit his grandparents. While he was there, he discovered the fantastic look of glam rock and tried to bring it back to the states. It didn't take too well. Guess the metal rock world wasn't ready for bright shiny colors, glitter paint, and lipstick. When the guys left him alone after that gig, it became clear to Derek that he was no David Bowie.
Derek chuckled to himself at the memory. The guys had a very good reason for ditching me in my sparkly pink top and yellow star painted on my face. 'What a poser.' Derek thought chuckling.
Finally, he saw the cab pull up outside the club. He paid for his drink and got out of there and into the rain. He quickly climbed into the cab to avoid getting too wet. He slammed the car door and got comfortable. He sighed.
"1040 North Las Palmas Avenue, please." Derek said leaning back in his seat. The driver glanced up at his passenger in the rear view mirror and smirked. He said nothing and started to drive to Derek's designated location. After awhile, Derek started to feel uncomfortable with the dead silence. The radio wasn't even on.
"So, by your silence I'm sure you know who I am and are too star struck to speak, huh?" Derek quipped from the back.
"Eh." The driver replied unenthusiastically.
"Eh?" Derek asked irritated. "Don't you know who I am? I am Derek Jupiter! Lead singer of the greatest rock band of all time, Iron Weasel and you shall show me respect!" Derek proclaimed. The driver chuckled.
"Yeah?" The driver said. "That's funny. I was in a band called 'Iron Weasel' once." The driver responded. Derek knew that voice all too well.
"Bleed?" Derek asked getting a look at the long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail.
"Still got the huge ego, I see." Bleed said with a smirk.
"What the—" Derek started to panic. "Is this a rape trap? It is, isn't? You're taking me to a warehouse and making me suffer to never let me go home, is that it?"
"What? No." Bleed replied in a disgusted tone. "This is my job. I simply take people from point "A" to point "B"." he explained. "I had no clue that I was taking you home this evening."
Derek let out a sigh of relief and glanced out the window at the passing streetlights of the freeway.
"So, how's the band?" Bleed asked breaking the silence. It was almost starting to annoy Derek that Bleed wasn't using his fake British accent any more.
"It's going great. We recently signed with Simon Craig." Derek replied.
"That's great." Bleed replied sounding disappointed. If all had gone according to plan and he had gotten rid of Tripp, he'd be the one with the record deal with his pals. It became quiet again. Bleed cleared his throat.
"Why did you do it, Bleed?" Derek asked.
"What's that?" Bleed asked looking at Derek in the rear view.
"Why did you steal our money?" Derek asked. "When we all had to sell our stuff to make ends meet, you kept your yacht and stole from us to buy a helicopter. I want to know why!" he demanded. Bleed smirked.
"Oh what, and kill all subtext?" Bleed replied with a laugh. "Here I am already knocking on the fourth wall…" he mumbled. Derek didn't say anything and glared at Bleed to try to get an answer. "Okay, fine! Look, our band was going down. The 80's and 90's thing, it was dying fast. I figured…it was going to become an everyman for himself situation. I didn't know what else to do." He explained. "I was…" he sighed. "I was scared."
"Bleed, it was never going to become an everyman for himself thing." Derek assured. "It was all for one and one for all. We were a family and we were always going to be there for each other."
"…Sure, Derek." Bleed said sarcastically. "Look, I've been through too much and learned that you can never trust anyone! You can only count on yourself and your own diligence."
"…I trusted you once. Heck, we all did." Derek replied. "You were more than a guitarist or just our friend, you were like our brother. And...you know what you were to me." Derek shook his head. "It's a shame learning that you never trusted in any of us."
The car ride became dead quiet. Derek kept his gaze out the window and watched as the looming shadows of trees zoomed by. Derek no longer felt sorry for himself when Bleed broke his heart and left the band. Now he just felt sorry for Bleed and his distrust towards the world.
"What have you been through to distrust everyone?" Derek asked just above a whisper. He wanted to know what it was. Bleed shook his head and said nothing. "Please." Derek said. Bleed sighed.
"Derek…just know that…it was just my family that made me this way." Bleed replied. "Throughout my early childhood, I tried being some happy go lucky kid without a care in the world, but…my dad…convinced me that I made no difference in the world. No one wanted me, so…I just stopped trying to impress people or conform to their rules and expectations. I just turned into a child born of anarchy and chaos." Bleed said leaning his head onto his hand as his elbow rested by the window.
"Bleed…I didn't know." Derek said.
"I didn't want you to know. I didn't want anyone to know." Bleed said lifting his head off his hand. "I didn't want to become some pity party. I can take care of myself!" Bleed shrugged. "Sure I don't make much money in this job and sure I don't get to play guitar as much as I would like, but the point is, I'm taking care of myself, by myself."
It was silent once more as Derek started thinking. He didn't like seeing Bleed miserable, although the mishaps that he put him through deserved to be met with karma. Derek sighed.
"Bleed, why don't you come back to Iron Weasel?" Derek asked. Bleed smiled.
"Really? You mean it?" Bleed asked excitedly.
"Yes, but only after the lads and I come up with a contract stating that if you steal from us or cheat our band, you will be fined and immediately thrown out the band for good!" Derek stated firmly.
"Well, of course! Can I play guitar?" Bleed asked. Derek shook his head.
"You can tune Tripp's guitar and be our roadie. If you eventually earn our trust, we may let you play rhythm guitar every now and then."
"I guess it's better than nothing! I just hate driving this stupid cab!" Bleed said almost on the brink of tears. "You don't know how happy I am about this, Derek!"
'I just hope that the other guys will be alright with this...' Derek thought to himself.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this. Review! Should I make a second or third chapter?