Author's Note: Howdy. You might've noticed that the "Pre-Chapters" for Chapters 1, 7, and 9 are gone. Well, it bothered me seeing those three counting as "chapters", so I removed them, and put them into their respective chapters. Not to worry, they are in still in the story, just in their chapters. Now, the chapter order is normal. Anyways, onto the actual story!

Chapter 42: Come As You Are

As it happens, the lads spent quite a few hours, unbeknownst to them, watching entertaining movies. Some were shorter than others, but other extended past 2 hours, which was absurd, but luckily for them, it was 9:00 PM, which wasn't that late, but they all concluded that, well... it was best to save any further activities for tomorrow. Although, Eddy still remembers what he planned to do, so...

"Hey Chris! I need to talk to you about something. Can you stay for a bit?"

Chris says, "Yeah sure. Mom will be fine, she doesn't worry too much, as long as I'm home before ten or so. Ed and Double D! Take care lads!"

"Rest well everyone!" Double D said, while leaving.

"Adios everyone!" Ed yelled out, running to his home.

And so, Chris and Eddy are free to discuss anything they want for the night. They both take a seat in the living room, and so... it begins.

"I got a question dude." Eddy told Chris.

"Yeah?"

Eddy inhales and exhales sharply, because something tells him that asking this might be a... not so great decision, but he just has to know. "Okay, well... I've noticed that you've been distant after the performance. What's going on man?"

"Ah, well..." Chris stated. "It's about Skylar. She is just acting so weird. Like, okay, before we performed, she asked me if I was going to indulge in that... getting all the girls stuff? I guess that's what you call it. Anyway, I told her no, but I guess after she saw how much admiration I got from others for it... I can't even tell ya anymore. She seemed like... she was concerned, yet annoyed with me. I tried to talk to her, but she only said goodbye, and left."

Eddy appeared concerned. "What? Are you gonna talk to her tomorrow?"

"I'll try." Chris responded. "But it will most likely be up to her to decide if she wants to talk to me. Not me to her. It sucks, but I doubt that I'll get the chance. It doesn't mean I won't try to talk to her, because surely, she's going to explain it... hopefully."

"You need any help?"

Chris laughs, before saying, "Nah dude, it's not like I'm gonna shout at the devil or something. Though again... I hope not. Skylar is a good woman, but I wouldn't say she is very... predictable."

The two of them share a laugh before Eddy says, "Oh, is that embarrassment I hear?"

"No you idiot! Back off man!" Chris said while chuckling a bit. "I mean like, she can be normal, a little bit on her alluring side, excited, and just... out of the blue distant."

Eddy then asks him, "if say it does actually work out... would you take her?"

Chris thinks for a moment, because that's actually a pretty good question. He isn't sure exactly as of this moment, but it's probably due to the current circumstances. Either way, he gives Eddy a response. "Honestly? Yeah. I mean, remember what I told you? That if someone were to have a connection over me with music, it would be the best thing ever? Well... it speaks for itself!"

The two share another laugh, before Chris continued, "But, I gotta admit, it's not just that. Alright, mock me later, but she is really beautiful, okay? Also, as a whole, she fun to hangout with. Although, I can say all of this, but ultimately, it's down to what you and the other person do. As I said before, make them your rainbow in the dark! Or any other metaphor that is of admiration."

"You got some good knowledge. How do you know this? Because it seems like you HAVE been in a relationship." Eddy said, curiously.

Chris chuckles before he explains. "No no man, the way I see it, you have to have some knowledge of things. Of course, knowledge without experience isn't fully effective or whatever, but it DOES help, more than having neither, I can tell ya. So, hey, I'm not gonna rush it, because... no matter what, there is no time limit on it. We might not meet our so called, 'significant others', right now, but we have all the time man."

"That's... wow." Eddy said, surprised at what he just heard. "You have some knowledge, no denying that man. I get what you're saying. Well, if you need any help with Skylar, rest assured, I'll be helping as much as I can."

Chris throws a thumbs up, before he then says, "Also, for your date next time, listen to us, alright? Because trust me, I think a dude with a girlfriend can tell you a thing or two, hahaha!"

"I suppose so, eh? Is it bad that I'm still kinda surprised at the fact that Double D and Marie are a thing?"

Chris thought about it for a second, before he said, "Well, considering your part with her and her sisters, it's understandable. But hey, as Double D told us, he basically decided to bury this hatchet, and make a new with her... and look what happened! A seemingly good relationship. Well, at least until Lee tried to screw it up, but she failed."

"Man..." Eddy said. "That was ridiculous. They both got into something that seemed like the next war or... I don't know man. I'm glad that he's still with her though, as it seems they actually love each other. And it's not Marie forcing it. Granted, knowing sockhead, he probably is having her force it a bit."

"Maybe. Haha!" Chris stated.

Eddy brought up another thing he had in mind. "So, do you want to do another performance sooner or later?"

"For right now, let's just wait a bit. I don't wanna overdo it, because if you do, people are going to find it progressively less and less special. That's how it is with... many things."

Although Eddy would like to just perform and perform, it obviously has two issues. One, what Chris stated earlier was very much true, because eventually, they would become very stale and repetitive if they kept overdoing it. Two, the practice sessions require time, and sure, they did the song they performed good enough... doing that for other songs is going to eventually backfire, because you just need time, at the end of the day.

"You're right. Let's just wait it out. Besides, we barely got off from doing the last performance."

"Exactly." Chris told Eddy. "We can't do it repeatedly. And even then, we have to decide on the next song."

"That's true. Are we going to do something different or similar? You decide."

Chris chuckles, as he has some ideas of songs. But he says, "I mean, perhaps we could do something more in your face like Pantera, or something similar to Motley Crüe, like AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne or... I dunno man! We have many options. We can also do something a little bit more simple like Nirvana, but we have to talk about it with the other dudes aswell."

"You got any songs of theirs I can give a spin?" Eddy asked.

"Well..." A thinking Chris said. "I mean, I think something like... 'T.N.T', and maybe 'In Bloom', and also something like 'Hellraiser'. As for a Pantera song, well... the best I can give you is 'I'm Broken'."

Eddy throws his thumbs up, before he says, "Great! I think we should get to sleep though, and your mom I don't wanna bother."

"Yeah... she won't be mad though, it'll be fine." Chris stated to Eddy.

As Chris gets up to leave, Eddy has ONE last thing to tell him. "Hey! Uh..."

"Yeah...?"

"Sorry, again, for seemingly ditching you guys during that date I had." Eddy stated.

"Eddy, it's okay, alright?" Chris said, while rolling his eyes. "Just don't do that again. Because if for no other reason than... I hope you learned how to play four instruments at once. Also, may I just be honest?"

Eddy raised his eyebrow, waiting for Chris's response. Which was...

"Violet and you were NEVER going to be a thing. I mean, I don't know her a single bit, but you two just didn't seem comfortable with each other, like... at all. Not to insult you, but I think it's for the best anyways. You always have another chance, just... let me and the other two help you, okay?" Chris told Eddy.

As his response, Eddy said, "I guess... you're right in a way."

"Just go rest man. We've had an overly ridiculous day. Take care my friend!" Chris said, while closing the door.

And so, that's the wrap up for their little convos. Although, there are a couple things that occurred between them. Let's see what's up!

On Chris's side, he gets home, and he tells his mom what occurred in the large amount of time that he was absent from his home. Lucky for him, his mom had no issue with the activities, even then, she knows that it's all for fun. Either way, Chris goes to his room, and decides to relax a bit, by playing some more slow type of music.

It's now 9:20 PM, and as he sat on his bed, listening to the song "Planet Caravan", he just reminded himself about Skylar. He kinda wants to give her a call, but he severely doubts that she's going to answer, especially at this hour. Plus... with the current situation, it's unlikely she wants to see, or even hear him. Why? That he still does not understand at all.

"Do I actually want to do that..." Chris said in his mind. His decision? He's going to try at least. Even then, what's he got to lose? Maybe a couple seconds of his time, but nothing serious. So, he doesn't expect anything. And so, he hits the call button on his phone, and he waits. While he waits, he finds it funny that the song that JUST decided to play was "You Could Be Mine". Hmmm... odd timing indeed.

Anyways, after 15 seconds, the call went to voicemail, and Chris said, "Yeah that was predictable. Oh well. I might as well get ready to sleep, right?"

Chris goes to brush his teeth, and generally gets set up afterwards to sleep.

But surprise surprise! Someone is calling him!

"Who's that?"

And his face is filled with surprise. It's Skylar.

"Hmm... okay..." Chris says in his mind, before he answers and says, "Hello?"

There was only slience.

"Um, hello?" Chris said again.

"Hi..." Skylar said over the phone, sounding tired. Chris was just confused.

"Why is she like this?! Okay, we gotta plan something me, let's ask her." Chris says, yet again, in his mind, before he speaks saying, "Look, you might not want to talk, but I would like to talk, because this isn't making sense. I'm willing to listen, but you don't want to talk to do anything, I can't help."

Skylar, with that same tone, says. "Ok. Lunch."

"Sure thing. I gotta rest, but you take care okay? Good night." Chris tells her.

"Yeah." Skylar says.

"Are you okay?" Chris asked, slightly concerned.

"Yes. I'm fine. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye."

And so, they hang up. Chris says to himself, "How am I going to talk to her, with she barely said any words that entire conversation!?"

He takes a couple of deep breaths, trying to relax his mind, because that mindset of questioning everything is NOT going to help. It's always something that his martial arts teacher taught him, and he's putting that to the test. Now, for what's to occur tomorrow, that's a mystery within itself.

"Well, take what you want I guess. I have no idea anymore..." Chris told himself, facepalming. Once he said that, he decided to just go sleep, as he had nothing else to do, and his mind was too much of a mess to bother with playing any games currently. That's what you call a literal mess, I will add.

On Eddy's side of things, he was currently finishing up his chores of simply brushing his teeth and showering, just because. Either way, Eddy finishes those two tasks, and lays in his bed, currently thinking about today's event. In fact, he believe that he is thinking about things... maybe a bit more than usual. I mean, let's run the down list! He did a pretty huge performance with his friends, that went nearly perfect, and got himself a date, that... let's be honest, went quite bad. So, he's had quite the adventure today, some good, some bad, quite the balance, wouldn't you say? Although, now Eddy is thinking about what's to occur TOMORROW, because it's not gonna be all smooth sailing. Managing fame from a performance is... rather complicated than you might think.

Eddy thinks that he'll manage it okay, but he wonders for his friends. Then again, the situation is different for all four of them, so... they have their own set of scenarios. Either way, at the end of the day, Eddy concludes that he, and his other friends, will manage it.

Another thing that crosses his mind, is... where has Lee gone? For quite a while now, Eddy has picked up on the fact that she's basically been rendered mute towards him. While, yes, he is BEYOND relieved that she has stopped doing that... at this point, whether he is to admit it or not, he doesn't wish anything... terrible per se, to happen to her. But it raises a question then, do he actually care about her? He has beyond little reason to do so, granted, but even then, it's only ridiculous flirting that was taken beyond ground zero. Okay, that makes little sense, but you get the point! Maybe he should try to, as Chris once suggested, "get something together with her". This doesn't mean a date exactly, but... it does mean something. What that something is, Eddy has to find out. Sooner or later.

Eddy decided to go to sleep, as he felt like he was thinking about things too much, so... resting, it is.

Quite the... thought provoker, right? Huh.