Swords & Axes: A Cheerless Interlude
by The Jessica X
Libby, Sabrina, et al. are © Archie Comics / Hartbreak / Paramount / Whatever.
Adymm and the members of In Absinthia are © me, so there.
This work of fiction is © myself.
Chapter 8: You Can't Stop Freak And Roll
When I peeked through the space between the curtains, I was shocked; almost a thousand people were crammed into that tiny little room. I guess those Mad Crow guys were halfway decent.
They say a real lady never sweats, but I still consider myself to be a lady, despite the rivlets that were running down every part of my body (sorry if that's kinda gross and unnecessary). It didn't help that Adymm had insisted on spraying some purple streaks into my hair, shellacked white and black stuff all over my face (and nails), and ripped the sleeves off some old leather jacket he dug out of the lost-and-found for me to wear... and I already had purple pleather pants on.
"Think of it this way," he said as he teased my hair up with AquaNet. "If this doesn't work and we sound terrible, at least nobody will ever recognise you."
"I guess that's true," I sighed. "But it'll take me all night to get this goop off!"
"You sure you won't reconsider the fishnet sleeves?" As an afterthought, he clamped a spiky bracelet onto my wrist. "I mean, at least that tube top thing is white so it has good contrast with the jacket, but-"
"Leave it alone! I'm already enough of a fashion faux pas without making things worse!"
"I still think-"
"Do you know you sound just a tad queer?"
That shut him up. Well, it might also have been that time had run out, and the audience was starting the slow clap to get us to kick off the show. Before I knew what was happening, I was being herded onstage along with the rest of the band, and the audience started cheering half-heartedly (I know nobody ever cares about opening bands, but it's a little humbling on the band's end). My heart jumped into my throat; it was the first time I'd been on stage like this in a long while - since that high school talent show when I fronted for Sabrina's band (nevermind all that, it was a weird night... then again, so was this).
"Good evening," Greg began. "We are In Absinthia - minus one."
"Uh, what he means is," T.Q. said, leaning into his microphone, "we have a guest vocalist tonight - standing in for Killvein is... is..."
"Cheerless Chessler!" Adymm announced. I felt all the blood drain from my face.
Down below the stage, the crowd gave us some support, hoping for a good distraction while waiting for their beloved Mad Crows. T.Q. started playing the bassline for "Epoch", and Adymm jumped in after a few seconds... but I blanked. As hard as I concentrated, the lines wouldn't come to me; all I could think about was all those faces down there that were about to turn real ugly (uglier?), real fast.
We were losing them. The music was playing too long without going anywhere. Adymm leaned over and hissed, "C'mon, Libby, you can do this!"
"No," I whispered back frantically, "I- I- I can't remember the first line! I can't remember any of them! What are we gonna do?!"
He watched me experiencing my panic attack for a few more seconds, and when he couldn't stand it any longer, he made the motion to the other guys to cut the music and walked over to tell Milnot something. Instantly, the boos and hisses started; I could feel that pre-crying lump forming in my throat...
"Change of plans," he said into the mic.
And then I heard it. The single notes quickly gave way to the chords, and even though it had a LOT more edge to it coming from his axe, I knew what he was doing - Adymm was playing the opening of "Wish You Were Here".
"So..." I began, slowly warming up to it; this I knew, I could do it in my sleep. "So you think you can tell..." By the time the drums kicked in, the whole audience was listening. Finally, I got to the break in the vocals and stepped back, mouthing "Thank you" to Adymm; he merely smiled.
What I didn't expect - and it almost messed me up - was for the crowd to start cheering when I stepped back up and belted out the chorus. They were still a little on the fence, and it was just a Floyd cover, but Adymm's ploy worked - we didn't bomb completely, and at that point it smelled like success.
After the applause died down, I decided to do a little something I needed to bolster my confidence further. "Thanks," I said into the mic. "Roger Waters probably hates me, now." Scattered laughs. "Seriously, it's not every day I get up here and look like an idiot, so if you bear with us we might be able to get some serious rock going." As they clapped (and one guy wolf-whistled), I turned behind me. "Okay... try that one again."
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
The obvious end to this story is that we played the whole set perfectly, and everything rocked, and they all loved us, and a record label exec was in the crowd and signed us to a twelve-album contract right there on the spot, and we went on to rule the world. Well, that's not exactly what happened, but we did okay.
They seemed to like us; everybody at least clapped a little, and some of them were really cheering like we were good. As the concert wore on, I got more and more ambitious with my vocals, remembering what my dad had said about Pat Benatar earlier; it was like I'd known all along how to sing rock, and all I had to do was try it to find out. I only stumbled once with a lyric in the fourth song, but I laughed it off and the audience laughed with me. The guys played great, as always, and even though T.Q. kept trying to crowd-surf, we mostly made it through about seven songs with very minimal snafus. We actually kinda won them over! The proof that we did well? The merchandise table's stock of In Absinthia bumper stickers and t-shirts sold out! Of course, Greg only brought about ten of each and they weren't that expensive...
The unreal thing was, after we packed up their gear and loaded it into T.Q.'s van, we went out into the crowd to watch Mad Crow Disease play... and got mobbed. It was only about a dozen people, but it was still pretty cool; they all wanted us to sign ticket stubs and pose for pictures with them and stuff. At first I refused since I wasn't really part of the band, but Adymm just shoved a Sharpie into my hands and said, "Go with it, Libbs!" So I did, the "fans" loved my hair (are they blind?!), and it was a blast. This whole thing felt like being back on the sidelines of our homegames, and I could definitely see getting used to that again.
After that, we hit up a late-night coffee house to wind down; I had a caramel capp that was to die for, though that might just have been because it was the best night ever. We laughed and joked for at least two hours, swapping stories and glowing over our self-proclaimed victory until we noticed the time; Greg had work at the deli early the next morning, so we said our goodbyes and headed our separate ways. Well, almost...
"So, did it suck as bad as you thought?" Adymm asked me as we walked toward the subway.
"Shut up, you know it didn't," I muttered. "Shameless."
"Why shouldn't I be? We rocked!" Overcome by a moment of redoubled excitement, he suddenly swept me up and spun me around.
"Whoa!" I laughed, feeling more exhilirated that I care to admit. "What's got into you?"
"You!" he said, setting me down. "You saved our asses tonight, and far exceeded all expectations in the process! You're like, a gift from Buddha or something!"
"Geez, why don't you marry me, already?"
"I might if you let me."
The conversation stopped dead, and I could see it in those dark blue eyes - it had just slipped out before he knew what he was saying, and it was eons too late to reel it back in. We stared at each other for what seemed like hours; I'm pretty sure a bum walked by and picked my pocket while this was going on. Finally, I cleared my throat.
"Um, I'm sorry... what?"
He seemed to notice his hands were still on my hips, but didn't move them away. "I- I just mean that, uh... Libby, I think- I think I'm in love with you."
Our eyes locked, bodies tensed; I could feel one of his hands moving up to my cheek as mine moved up his back. "Adymm..."
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Uhhhhh, you don't get to know this part. Sorry!
Okay, that might be a little too extreme, so I'll give you this much: we did kiss, and it was under a streetlight, and it was quite romantical. God, there are some things a lady just does not share, you nosy cretin!
Anyway, before I could figure out what it meant or anything else could happen, we broke apart; I made up an excuse about work in the morning and ran off toward the train, and he waved after me. My head was swimming, and I needed some space to let everything straighten out again.
Me and Adymm?! It's crazy! Okay, so maybe you saw it coming, but it's not so easy when it's happening to you; sorta like, everybody can easily identify a river from the bank, but if you wake up drowning in it all you can tell is there's water, it's wet, and it is not your friend at the moment. For me, the only surprise that could have been bigger than this was Elvis and Godzilla stopping by to ask if I had any Grey Poupon.
Back at the apartment, I quickly threw myself in the shower to rinse all the unpleasant makeup and crap off me... and subconsciously to wash the "sin" off me. Not that he was evil and what we did was wrong, but it felt wrong - like we had just tainted our whole relationship. How did this happen? When did this happen? I mean, sure, he'd always had a thing for me, but I assumed he'd grow out of his little crush... only to find out it had grown much, much deeper.
Once again, I had a problem. I knew we got along great, and we were so close now that it was almost impossible to think of my life without him, but... I wasn't sure the math added up that way. Did those things really mean that-
Was Adymm Koriander my... boyfriend?
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
END Chapter Eight