Track 11: Pretty Girls Make Graves
"Hey!" Duo looked at the woman walking beside him as he pushed a stack of speakers. "How 'bout giving us hand setting up? It's for you guys, anyway."
"Sorry, Duo." Dorothy smiled as she began to part ways with the braided musician, heading towards another direction. "I really would, but I think I left my steel-toed heels at home."
"That's cool..." Duo replied, huffing and puffing as he continued to push. "Most of us are wearing sneakers, so you're good." Dorothy didn't reply and Duo released an exhausted sigh. "Sometimes I envy women, I tell ya'. Ain't gotta do nothin'."
"Will you shut up and keep pushing?" Wufei snapped at him, pulling along from the other side of the stack.
"Yeah, yeah…" Duo grumbled, pressing a hard shoulder into his side of the speakers.
The sound of Dorothy's footsteps ceased as she landed at her destination. She took her spot at the table, joining her other two bandmates. They sat in the middle of the currently empty concert venue, waiting for the guys to finish setting up their equipment. Relena was hoping they could continue working on the songs she had written with them, planning on performing these new tracks sometime during this tour. There were still some songs that she had yet to find lyrics for, and there was one in particular that she really wanted to put words to. Relena just hadn't found the inspiration for it, yet. She crossed her fingers that that would change soon, as she desperately wanted it to become a fully formed track before the end of this road trip.
"You know, I always feel a little bad that we never help them." Relena commented as she watched the men set up their lighting and the rest of their equipment. "Especially since it's our stuff they're putting up."
"I don't." Dorothy scrolled through her phone, much more interested in her device then what was happening on the stage that the three of them would be performing on later. "Remember, they choose to do this, the four of them don't have to." Dorothy reminded her. "And besides, you know they wouldn't let us help even if we wanted to." She then looked over at her drummer. "Well, except for maybe your beloved. I can definitely see him making us connect all of our lighting." He did just ask her to help, after all.
Hilde smiled at Dorothy's words. "Wouldn't be the first time if he did ask me to help. I don't mind, really." Hilde actually appreciated whenever Duo asked her to help him out with anything, because she learned how to do things herself and not completely rely on Duo all the time. That's how it worked with them at home. If Duo wasn't around and something needed to get done, then she'd figure it out herself. Although, she would also admit that knowing her boyfriend like she did, he also probably wanted her to be more self reliant so he didn't have to do everything and have a little more time to laze around.
"You're more than welcome to help, Hilde." Dorothy replied. "Personally, I don't feel like I need 'roadie' on my resume."
"I'll pass this time." Hilde said, stretching in her seat, getting herself a little more comfortable.
"Does Quatre ever help?" Relena asked, returning her gaze to Dorothy. "I know he's incredibly close to Rashid and everybody."
"He does try to help, and it's the most annoying thing in the world." Dorothy huffed. "He has no business trying to act like a roadie and he's going to hurt himself one of these days. He never listens!" He ran their record label, there was no reason he had to get his hands dirty, Dorothy thought. There was no need for Quatre to risk injury by falling off a ladder, or whatever.
"I'm sure he knows what he's doing." Relena reassured her with a knowing look.
"I'm not so sure…" an agitated Dorothy responded.
"Oh, Dorothy…" Relena began. "When are you going to settle down with that nice Arab boy?" Relena and Hilde both laughed when they saw Dorothy cringe at the funny question.
"Oh, shut up!" Dorothy did not appreciate the laughter.
"What?" Relena teased. "Did I sound too much like your mother?"
"Ha!" Dorothy scoffed. "Those words would never leave that old fashioned hag's mouth."
"It's still like that, huh?" Relena wasn't surprised to hear that, knowing what Dorothy had told her about her family.
"Absolutely." Dorothy answered. "I've disappointed my family all my life, and being romantically involved with Quatre would kill them. Not that I care, of course. They can work themselves into a frenzy until they drop dead in their graves."
"Then why do you and Quatre try to act like nothing's going on?" Relena needed some clarity on this, as she never got any straight answers from Dorothy about the head of their label.
"Ugh, I really hate talking about this…" Dorothy groaned, dropping her phone on the table and leaning back on her chair.
"I wanna know, too." Hilde interjected. "You two are weird."
Dorothy rolled her eyes. "You know, the answer to your question, Relena, is actually quite simple. I'm surprised neither of you have figured it out."
"What do you mean?" a confused Hilde asked. Relena was equally befuddled, wondering what was so simple about her friend's odd relationship with Mr. Winner.
"Can't believe I have to get into this…" Dorothy grumbled. The answer was so obvious, too, and that's what bothered her. "Well, if you really can't figure it out, then I'll tell you. We act 'weird'..." Dorothy gave Hilde a sharp look after using her words. "Because he's our boss, basically. Do you guys know how complicated things would be if everyone knew I was sleeping with my boss?"
"Oh… I see." Relena sometimes forgot that there were more than two bands on their record label because of how close Do You Remember? and The Jezebels were. She was sure there were enough people outside of their circle that had some idea of the nature of Dorothy and Quatre's relationship, but no one ever said anything… yet. "So, then, what are you guys going to do?"
"So you really are screwing Quatre?" Hilde bluntly added a question of her own.
Dorothy ignored the second question and kept her attention on Relena's. "I have no idea, to be honest." she sighed, slightly hanging her head as she gave her phone a quick look after hearing it go off. Relena wondered if it was the man in question was reaching out to her. She felt bad for friend. Relena wasn't used to seeing the otherwise dauntless Dorothy Catalonia seem so unsure about something. "I don't like the idea of sneaking around as if I were cheating on someone, but I really don't have much of a choice. I refuse to let Quatre tarnish his reputation simply because he has bad taste in women."
That was a rare moment of vulnerability, a surprised Relena thought. She was about to say something but Dorothy spoke first. "Anyway, my love life isn't fun to talk about, at all." Dorothy decided now was the best time for a subject change, specifically one that had been catching her interest lately; it involved the woman who played guitar beside her on stage. "What we really need to talk about is what's going on between you and Heero."
"What do you mean what's going on between me and Heero?" Relena didn't like the mischievous gleam radiating from Dorothy's eyes. "There's nothing going on."
"Relena, please." a smirking Dorothy pressed. "I never treat you like an idiot, so I ask that you do the same for me."
"I'm not treating you like an idiot." Relena defended. "All I said was that you're wrong in thinking there's something happening with Heero and I."
"I don't know, doesn't look that way to me." Hilde interjected, falling more in line with Dorothy's thinking.
Relena gave the drummer a frown. "Not you, too, Hilde."
"Sorry, Lena," Hilde gave her an apologetic smile, using the nickname she had grown accustomed to using since becoming friends and bandmates. "But we all see it. Ever since the first show, you guys seem to have gotten really close." Dorothy nodded in agreement.
Relena's eyes moved back and forth between her two friends. "How do you figure that?" she huffed.
"Relena, ever since we've hit the road, the two of you are always together talking about who knows what. You spend just as much time with Heero as you do with us." Dorothy pointed out. "Just what do you guys talk about, anyway? You two planning to elope while on tour? I wouldn't advise that, you guys just became friends."
"Oh, please." Relena shook her head. The two of them appeared to have gotten the wrong impression about her new found friendship with the frontman. "Our conversations are almost exclusively music related, so don't waste your time thinking it's anything other than that."
"Oh c'mon, it can't always be about music." Hilde said, believing there had to be more to it than that.
"Well sure, we may have gotten to know each other a little better, but it's nothing like what you guys are thinking of."
Dorothy smiled, leaning in closer over the table and propping her elbow on the table, resting her chin on her palm. "Okay, so when do you think your talks will evolve into something resembling what we're thinking of?"
"Dorothy, stop."
"Is it really such a bad thing?" Dorothy continued to prod. "I mean he's hot, you're beautiful," Dorothy chuckled as Relena gave a hard eye roll at that last comment. "And you're both musicians that love music so you two have that in common as well. Why not go for it? It's not like he's holding Sylvia over your head anymore."
Relena wondered about that. He told her that he would work on getting over the former Jezebels frontwoman, and he never really brought her up, so maybe he really was past that part of his life. Then again, it's not like it should matter to her, right? All that should matter to her, Relena thought, was that the two of them could be good friends and that's it.
But, if he really was over Sylvia, and they were both single, and, as Dorothy pointed out, already had a lot in common… to the point of sharing the same favorite song of all time… Maybe it wouldn't hurt to try? Relena wasn't sure. Right now, she wasn't thinking about jumping into a relationship. Having a successful first tour was what mattered to her the most at the moment. Perhaps, when this thing was all over, she could think about something like that with Heero, but not now.
"And we see how he looks at you, Relena. Heero totally has a thing for you." Hilde sliced into Relena's thoughts.
"Very true," Dorothy hummed with a nod of her head. "I haven't seen him look at woman like that since, well, the other blonde guitarist that used to be the center of his attention."
"I haven't noticed any 'looks'." Relena sighed, getting tired of the silly comments being thrown her way about Heero. "You guys are just seeing things." It was funny that the man that once angrily told her to go to hell was now the person she was being romantically linked with. At least it was someone who Relena would admit she felt comfortable with. If they were going to continue to gossip about her, then this kinder version of Heero she had been experiencing since the first night of the tour wasn't so bad of an association.
"If you say so, dear." Dorothy chuckled. She shifted her vision past Relena and her grin began to spread when she noticed a person of interest making his way towards them. She leaned back into her seat, crossing her arms as she watched Heero approach.
"Hey." Heero said, looking down at Relena as he took a spot beside her.
"Oh, Heero!" Relena stared up in surprise. "What's up?"
"I just wanted to know if I could talk to you later when we're done here. There's something I want to discuss with you."
"Yeah sure, I-" Relena stopped herself when she heard some snickering coming from her two companions sitting at the table. She noticed them trying to act normal, but she could see them clearly trying their hardest to keep their amused grins at bay. Relena would ignore the childish behavior and give her attention back to Heero. "Anyway, yeah, whenever you're free, let me know." she finished her response with a smile.
Heero nodded. He was about to turn and leave until Dorothy called out to him. "Hello, Heero. How are we today?" she asked him. Heero considered responding, but then caught the same thing Relena did before she finished answering him. The two of them gave off a mischievous aura and Heero wanted no part of this. So, without another word, he showed them his back and walked away, ignoring the chuckles that the two women released.
"Will you guys cut it out." Relena sighed. She hoped Heero didn't think she was in on it.
"Sorry." Dorothy shrugged. "For what it's worth, Relena, you two look good together, honestly."
"Whatever." Relena turned around, her eyes following Heero as he returned to the crew.
"And I will say," The platinum blonde started again, her vision following her friend's. "Have you ever seen a green muscle shirt, ripped jeans and work boots look that good before?"
Relena groaned at the comment and chose not to respond… but not because she didn't agree. The man was gorgeous, there was absolutely no denying that.
"You should see that in bicycle shorts." Dorothy snickered.
Relena whipped her head to match stares with Dorothy. "In what?"
Heero wandered outside of the club. They finished setting up for the girls to do their soundcheck and whatever else they needed to do. He remembered hearing them play some unfamiliar material before whenever they finished setting up for them. He wondered when they would debut this new noise. Relena had told him that she planned on sneaking in this new material sometime during this tour, she just wanted to wait until she was one hundred percent confident in the sound.
Heero would tell her that she didn't need to take a perfectionist approach to playing new songs at a live performance. After all, it's not like they were recording it. He advised her to think of the stage as a place where she can workshop her new songs. Not everyone needed to take the Zen Arcade approach and keep the whole project a secret. He just wanted to try something different for his latest release. New Day Rising wouldn't have that level of secrecy behind it next time around. Hell, he thought about playing some new stuff on this tour as well.
Maybe he could play some stuff of his for Relena, Heero thought to himself. He began kicking around that idea in his head. She was a songwriter just like he was, so maybe he could gain something from hearing her perspective on his new songs. For whatever reason, her opinion started to matter more to him. Even more than the opinions of his own bandmates. Some of that probably had to do with the fact that Do You Remember? was Heero's band and his band alone. Every now and then he would hear what the rest of his boys had to say, but ultimately everything came down to him and he would decide what was right for his band.
Do You Remember? was not a democracy, and everyone involved with him knew that.
But still, if Relena had something to say… he would listen. Why he chose to treat her differently than his own bandmates, he couldn't say. He just had a feeling that Relena was becoming important to him. And boy, was that a weird thing to admit to himself.
"Heero." He heard her voice and spun his head to see her head straight for him. "Sorry if I kept you waiting. I needed to go over some things with Dorothy and Hilde."
"It's fine." Heero shuffled over to take a spot on the venue's wall. "How're the new songs coming along?" he asked.
"They're progressing." Relena replied, standing before him. "I'm might try a couple of them in a different key, but, if I don't like it then I'll just make it work with how I originally drew it up."
"Keep in mind," Heero started. "The stage isn't a recording studio. Just play what you have and the sound you're looking for will come to you."
"I know, you're right." Relena replied with a nod. "That's actually what I was talking to Dorothy and Hilde about before I came out here. I think I'm getting to the point where I'm going to play some new stuff sooner rather than later." her view shifted upward, looking at the two names the club was advertising for tonight. It made her feel great to know she was a part of one of those bands, but she knew that she needed to start playing her own material before she would truly feel like this band was her's.
Heero slipped his hands into his pockets, watching as people moved and went about their business. "Good, because from what I've heard, these new songs of yours sound pretty interesting. I'd like to hear more."
"Thanks." Relena smiled. "That means a whole lot coming from you."
"Hn." Heero wasn't sure how to respond. Hearing her say that gave him a strange feeling that he had been experiencing ever since they both started getting along. If he was being truthful, then these feelings reminded him of the times he would hang out with her at the beginning of their relationship. And that just freaked Heero out.
It didn't help that he spent a lot of time just staring at her. Not just here, but during their shows. He had gotten a lot more of Relena then he thought he would be getting when he joined this tour with her.
"What about your new stuff?" Relena asked. "Plan on sneaking it in tonight?"
Heero shook his head. "No."
"Why not?"
"Just isn't the time, but it'll happen." Heero remarked, eyes continuing to study the woman in front of him.
"Have you figured out what to do with that riff you really like?" Relena had talked to him about 'Heaven Hill'. Heero told her he was quite obsessed with making that into something special.
"I've written some stuff, but I'm never happy with it." Heero grunted, frustrated that he still hadn't found the right words to pair with the sounds. In terms of the actual music, he knew exactly how it would play out. That was the easy part. The lyrics just weren't there with this one, yet, and it was starting to annoy him.
"Hm," Relena folded her hands behind her and took to leaning on the wall beside the frustrated musician. "You know, I'm kind of running into the same problem with one of my songs, actually." Heero side glanced at the woman next to him. "I'll write something down, read it to myself, shake my head and erase it before trying again. I'm not sure what's making it so difficult to find the words, but I'm hoping the inspiration comes soon." Heero was hoping for the same thing. "Hey, why don't we play together?" Relena continued, shining her blue eyes at him.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, since we're both having the same issue, I figure that maybe we could find something to write about if we jammed together, or something." Relena saw the arched eyebrow he was giving her. At first she read that as skepticism, but then his face formed into something more contemplative.
"I guess that's not a bad idea." Like she said, they were having the same problem. Maybe they both could gain something by playing together. "But isn't that what your bandmates are supposed to be for?"
"Oh, sure." Relena replied. "Most of my best writing has come from playing with them, but I don't see the harm in jamming with you if that means we can both help each other with our songwriting." The only issue that would raise is that Dorothy and Hilde would have more ammunition for their gossip. But whatever, let them talk. If that meant more time with Heero, then she didn't care.
Ugh, Relena thought. It's that kind of thinking that got them talking in the first place.
"It does make sense." Heero nodded, It's not like he wasn't thinking about playing things for her, anyway. "Why not?" He watched the corners of her lips curve upwards and he felt a thump on his chest. Not the reaction he wanted his body to have, but it appeared his heart had other plans. 'Damn!' an agitated Heero thought.
He shook off those odd sensations and remembered that there was a reason he wanted to speak to her. It had something to do with their visit to the record store a couple of days ago. He wanted to bring it up sooner, but it slipped his mind. "You know, it's funny that you brought that up." he began. "I wanted to talk to you about tonight's show."
"Yeah?" Relena looked at him curiously. "How come?"
"I was thinking that we could get a head start on playing together tonight." He saw Relena give him a confused tilt of the head. "If you're interested, I want you to come up on stage during our set to cover 'Spellbound' with me. What do you say?"
"Oh…" Relena ran that idea through her head. Sharing the stage… with Heero… together. A hurricane of different emotions began to hit her and Relena began to wonder why she was making it seem like a way more intimate thing than it actually was. Bands do this all the time, so she had no idea why she was thinking of this differently. Relena fought off the unnecessary heat that was threatening to burn the sides of her face and gave Heero her answer. "Yeah, that sounds great. I'd love to play, um, our favorite song… together." That was a lot tougher to respond to than it should've been.
"Good." Heero was glad to hear it. This shouldn't be too hard for Relena, Heero surmised. She did gain her confidence on stage by watching him as she performed, so being with him during his set should be easier for her to do. As he promised, he'd be there for her if she needed him and, at least for this one song, he could keep an even closer eye on her. His heart thumped again at that thought, and at that very moment he had to hold back from punching himself in the chest. "So, I'm thinking you'll come up and do vocals." Heero moved away from the wall, preparing himself to leave. "I'll kick Duo off guitar. We won't need a second guitarist for this song."
"Whatever you want to do." Relena shrugged her shoulders. "Do you want to rehearse this?" Her equipment was already set up, so now would be the perfect time to practice, Relena figured.
Heero replied with a shake of his head. "No need." he slowly moved his feet, taking a few steps away from Relena. "I trust you'll do a great job singing your favorite song."
"Then I trust you'll do the same." Relena grinned as she watched Heero give her a nod. It always felt good to hear how much confidence Heero had in her. He had been telling her things like this since the first time she performed, but it never ceased to make her happy every time he voiced his belief in her.
"I'll see you inside." Heero began walking, making his way back inside the club.
"Heero, wait." Relena called out to him, stopping the man in his tracks. He turned back, wondering what else she had to say. "So, how did you like that CD I bought you?"
Oh, that's right, Heero remembered. That damn J-Pop CD she bought him. "Well, I listened to it." Heero started, keeping his vision away from the curious girl he thought he finished talking to.
"And?" Relena wanted to hear more than that. After she bought him that EP, he kept insisting that she had wasted her money. He was so sure that there was no chance he would like any of the four songs that were on that disc. But Relena had faith that at least one of those four tracks would give him some joy.
"And… um, well," Heero's forehead creased and moved his eyes towards the ground. Relena noticed this and, coupled with his apparent reluctance to answer, she began to wonder what the problem was.
"Well, what?" Relena pressed. "Did you like it or not?"
Heero gave a weak shrug. "It was… okay, I guess." He felt dumb, knowing how much he told her she was throwing her money away after she bought the thing. He was so turned off at the idea of getting into anything J-Pop, that it shocked him how much he, well…
"Just okay?" Relena pushed on. Heero didn't sound so sure with his weird responses.
Heero let out a heavy sigh, frustrated that he was having a hard time giving Relena an answer. "I don't know." he grunted. "It's not bad."
Relena hopped over to stand beside Heero again, trying to get a better look at him. "It's not bad… so, like, does that mean it's good?"
"Relena…" Heero moved his face away, annoyed that she was trying to look at him.
"What?" she chuckled. "It's okay to admit you like it. You can't be a snobby punk rock kid forever." she poked fun at him. "C'mon, tell me the truth. You can't answer me because I was right and you like it."
"Stop…" he tried growling at her, which only caused her to laugh.
"Which was your favorite track?" Relena asked him, pulling at his wrist to keep him from moving away from her. Heero rolled his eyes and released another irritated sigh. "Personally, I love 'Rhythm Emotion' the most, but I know it's hard to choose a favorite when all four of them are great songs."
Heero glanced at her smaller hand gripping at his wrist. He felt like adjusting her hold on him to intertwine their fingers, but he bit down on his lip, fighting off the need to do so.
"Are you gonna answer me, or what?" Relena continued to prod, not letting him go until he answered her. "Or does that punk rock pride of yours keep you from admitting the truth?" He needed to learn some things from Duo, Relena thought. At least he wasn't afraid to love pop music, even if he did keep it a secret.
"Will you cut it out?" Heero admonished, getting tired of her taunting.
"I will," she replied. "Just as soon as you give me an answer." She heard him groan before he unwillingly met her gaze. She knew that he was obviously stronger than her; he could rip his hand away from her at any second. However, Heero was obviously kind enough not to do that. No matter how much it pained him to admit it, Relena knew she would get a response out of him.
"Do you really need to know?" Heero asked her with a conceding tone. Relena nodded. The smirk she produced agitated him further. "Fine, I liked it. Are you happy now?"
"Yes!" the woman giggled, releasing Heero and throwing her hands up in victory. "I knew you would love it. So go on, which song do you like best?"
"Uh, well, I guess 'Last Impression' was pretty good, but the first one was great, too."
"Yeah, most fans of theirs like 'Just Communication' the most, and for good reason. It's awesome."
The two of them continued to discuss the four songs that Relena purchased for Heero. She wore a smile that, once again, created a tornado of familiar emotions to crash inside of him. He didn't hate it, but it still made him uneasy. This wasn't supposed to happen, not with this girl. Not with the woman who replaced his ex-girlfriend. An ex-girlfriend who he was not ready to break up with, and who he initially fought for even after she ditched him.
But he had gotten to a point a couple weeks ago where he stopped blaming Relena for everything and tossed away his hate for her. He never wanted to treat her badly again. But now, things were becoming more complex and Heero wasn't sure where he was going to go from here.
Between Dorothy's abrasive personality, his whole thing with Sylvia and now Relena, Heero had a hard time dealing with blonde haired guitarists. These women would be the death of him.
AN: It took close to fifteen years, but in the next chapter I will finally link my favorite female character in fiction with the coolest woman in music history. I did it, guys! Yay for me! Relena will be Siouxsie Sioux!
Thank you all for reading! Love you all!
The Smiths - "Pretty Girls Make Graves"