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WitFit Jan/Feb 2013

90's Sex, drugs and rock-n-roll

Word Prompts: coil, foil

-PoM-

With nothing to do and nowhere I had to be, the rest of my day was a lazy one spent parked on the couch and in front of the television. I couldn't even begin to motivate myself to get up, not when the delicious feeling that filled my body—that leftover feeling of hours of incredible sex—made me want to veg out for the rest of the night.

The sun that had filtered in an out all day was just beginning to bid adieu when Rose came bursting through the door, all excitable and . . . not conducive to my plans of doing nothing. I looked up from the weekly edition of The Rocket as she halted next to the couch.

Hands on her hips, she took one look at me and shook her head. "Nope, not doing this. Come out with me tonight."

I continued flipping through the pages, scanning over the articles. "Hi, Bella. How are you Bella? It's so nice to see you, Bella."

"I can see you're fine. Come with me and listen to Em play tonight. He hooked up with a few guys from Vertical Fish for a private party."

I glanced at my boxers, the ratty t-shirt, my thick socks. "Clearly I'm not dressed to go out. Besides, I'm kind of tired."

"Really?" she said, drawing it out. She cocked her head and looked at me closely. "How was the concert?"

I gave her he best grin I had. "Amazing."

"Hmm. And Edward?"

I looked down and kept thumbing through the pages slowly, trying (unsuccessfully) to knock it off with the cheesy smile. "He just left a little while ago."

"No wonder you look all googly eyed; can't keep that just-got-laid off of your face, can ya?" She hovered over the other side of the sofa. "Is it safe right here?"

"Yes!" I said and hucked the magazine at her—she caught it easily, the brat. "You're one to talk, jerk. You keep condoms in the coffee table, for chrissake."

"Gotta be safe these days." She took a seat and pulled open the table drawer. "Hey, did you raid my stash? You're buying more if you did. Just make sure to get the big ones."

"You're disgusting."

"No, I'm honest. So, I take it the bitch is out of the picture?"

I sighed, looking down at the afghan wrapped around my shoulders. Here we go . . . "Uh, not yet."

"What the hell? What is going on inside your head, girl? I mean, he's a looker, whatever, but that is not you, Bella."

"Edward told me he's going to take care of it and I have to trust him."

"Good luck with that."

"That sounds ominous. Thanks." I tried to tamp down the insecurities, I did, but they still hovered at the edge of my thoughts, and her words made them burn a little brighter.

"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it. I'm not saying Edward's not trustworthy—I mean, from what I've seen he's a good guy—typical band guy, ya know? But, Tanya? She's another story."

"Ugh," I groaned, leaning my head on the back of the couch. "That's exactly what I said to him and he said not to worry about her. What do you know that I don't?"

She leaned back into the couch, threw her legs over mine. "I don't know. Whenever I saw them out together, she was all over him, right?"

My stomach didn't like where this was going. "Okay? Ugh, I don't even want a visual of that in my head."

"Sorta like at practice the other night. You were there, you saw it. She hangs on him, all touchy-feely-look-at-me-with-my-up-and-coming-man. But he's not really like that. He was cool to her and stuff, not a dick or anything, but the PDA isn't his strong point. I think that they started off because it was convenient. And I think she's going to raise hell about getting dumped."

I had to admit that made me feel a little better—well, the first part did. The part about Tanya raising hell wasn't good. I wasn't a fighter, didn't have a lot of oomph to stand up for myself sometimes. Joy.

She gathered her hair into a knot on top of her head that had a snowball's chance in hell of staying that way. "Like I said, I think he's a good guy. If I didn't I would be telling you to cut your losses and run away, but I'm not. I just don't want to see you get in the middle of something nasty or get your feelings hurt. He's kind of big on the local scene, girl. There's always gonna be starfuckers around and you're going to have to deal with them."

"That's what I hate about this. I have to share."

"No. You don't. You never ever have to put up with something that makes you uncomfortable. If he's a good guy, he'll go out of his way to make sure you don't even start your mind down that road." She put a hand on my leg. "Look, you're a big girl. You have a little history with the guy. Just go with it. It might fly, it might not."

"I know."

"Enough with the heartfelt. Get your ass up and into the shower because we are heading downtown."

Regardless how things might have changed a little, I still hated going to band nights just to hang out—I wanted to listen to music without the stuffy venues and overeager band groupies. On the other hand, though, it was a chance to listen to something new. The thought of Edward and me at the concert last night made me smile. I needed to get over it.

"Yeah, okay. I'll be ready in a little bit." I smiled at her, thanking her for the talk I'd needed all day.

An hour or so later I was ready to go. To make myself feel better I'd raided Rose's makeup stash and fixed my hair. Put on clothes that fit instead of sagged. I grabbed a bag and stuffed my wallet and smokes inside, and headed out to the living room.

"You look great," she said. "Looks like a little shag did ya some good."

I shook my head in exasperation. "Always with the honesty. Let's go."

-PoM-

We arrived early at RKCNDY just in time to catch Emmett before they went on. I liked it there. The club was cleaner than some of the others and the acoustics were better than most. It was funny, though, that all of the bars we hung out at could never quite get rid of the sticky floor.

Em was up on the stage coiling a long cord. He came over to the edge and squatted down to talk to us. "Hey, guys. Glad you came down. Show should be balls out tonight."

Rose placed her hand on his knee. "I could barely get her ass out of the house. She was recovering," she said, waving her hand in front of her face, "from her night with Cullen."

"Rose!" I said, hitting her on the arm with the back of my hand.

Emmett looked at me and nodded his head. "Nice. Where is Lover Boy?"

"He was with Jasper this afternoon."

"Oh, shit, that's right. I hope they got everything set up because I can't ask for any more time off work. Either I'll get fired or have to quit."

Rose squeezed his knee. "Things will work out, babe. I just know it. If not, I'll go down there and kick some ass."

He laughed, falling back onto his butt and winking at me. "Maybe she should be our manager. Talk to her for me—you she'll listen to. They wouldn't know what hit 'em."

Rose scoffed. "Nah, I'd probably just get you into trouble." She turned to me. "Want a drink?"

"Sure. A beer, por favor."

"Hey we're going to start here shortly." He stood up, ruffled Rose's hair, to which she scowled at. "See you in a bit?"

"Yup. Kick ass."

She headed for the bar as Emmett stood up and headed behind his drum set. I recognized two other guys from Fish but I didn't know the fourth one. I nodded at them, flashed a thumbs up, and went to find a spot on the edge of the floor—always the best because you could see the stage without getting squashed and the wall made for handy leaning when the band wasn't that good.

Being a private show, the crowd was made up of amped up friends and whatnot, some local producers and magazine 'journos. The band began to play and Emmett was a highlight—his style was adaptable, and the band's sound, eighties twang edged out with a raw, pure kick, seemed to breathe some fun into him. I laughed more than once at his thrashing, cackled when he stood and posed like Superman in the middle of a bass solo.

As with any local show, though, the mosh pit was getting out of hand. I marveled at the girls throwing themselves into the throng, winced when they crowd surfed and had hands put places they didn't need to be. I moved back to get out of the way.

It occurred to me that Rose was taking forever with the drinks, so I tried to peer around the melee to see if she was still at the bar, but just as I did I was tugged by my waist and spun into a group of speakers.

"What the—"

A kiss on my neck, scruff and heat and so, so familiar. I giggled.

"I didn't know you'd be here!" I shouted over the music, forcing him back and away from the wall of sound. We ended up near the tables, and I twisted to say hello more fully. I'd only meant for it to be a quick kiss, but he wasn't having any of that . . . and that was fine by me.

Eventually we got bumped into and had to separate.

He leaned down until his lips were at my ear. "You didn't tell me you were coming down."

"Rose made me."

"Ah, I see" he said, nuzzling the side of my jaw. "So you're surprised then?"

"Pleasantly so." He bent his head and kissed me once, then pulled me into his side to watch the band. I put my fingers in his back pocket and snuggled right in.

. . . And Rose had said he wasn't big on PDAs. Huh.

"God damn heathens! Some asshole spilled a beer on my shoes."

I peered around Edward, took the proffered beer from Rose's hands. "I wondered what happened to you. Em's sick tonight!"

"I could hear him," she shouted, and then her face turned all evil-like.

With dismay, I watched as she tugged at Edward's shirt until he bent down to hear whatever she was trying to say. His expression went from amused to contemplative, and then he just looked downright shocked. She glanced up at him one more time, nodded once, and then turned to the guy standing next to her and struck up a conversation.

After the song ended, I tugged him down to me. "What did she say?"

He smiled. "That she liked you a lot, and that she knew someone who'd rip off my balls so she could shove them down my throat if I hurt you."

Surprised but not, I laughed. "That's Rose."

"Well, she foiled my dastardly plan," he said, grabbing me and biting me on my neck. I squirmed to get away because he needed a shave and it tickled.

The next song began and he pulled me in front of him, his chin resting lightly on my head and his arms solid around me; as much as I disliked shows in venues like this, if I got to see them this way . . . well, I might enjoy it a lot more.

"What the fuck is this?"

The screech was loud and harsh, and totally pissed off. I turned to my right and there stood Tanya, all decked out in tight leggings and a leather jacket like she belonged inside a hair band's bus rather than here in this crowd.

Edward straightened, loosening his grip on me but not letting go, thankfully.

I swallowed the sip of beer I'd just taken and glanced at Rose. Her face was comical, mouth frozen open and eyes wide.

"Who is she?" Tanya demanded. She stepped closer, too much so, really, and started poking her finger into his chest. "Are you fucking kidding me with this shit? Who's the fucking skank, Edward?"

He grabbed her finger and took a step back, dragging me with him. "Tanya, now's not the time."

He looked angry, probably because she was making a scene, and I waited for her to start railing on him again, but she yanked her fist out of his grip and rounded on me. "I don't know who you think you are, but that's my—"

"That's enough! You leave her out of this."

She glanced back at him, still too close to me for me to not feel like I was about to get punched out. "Why would you bring someone here? We always come here together."

Even over the music, which had made conversations near to impossible, I was sure she could be heard by all around us. My stomach rolled uncomfortably. I did not want to be in the middle of this, though deep down I knew I was at blame here, too. I disentangled myself from Edward's grasp and started to back up toward Rose. He'd also said he'd deal with this earlier, and he clearly hadn't, so it was up to him now.

My arm was yanked back and my beer sloshed out of my bottle, coating the side of my shirt and my hair in thick yellow foam. "Hey—" I said, but then I was free.

"Back off, bitch." Rose, her hand curled around Tanya's wrist, had joined the conversation. The crowd was now watching us instead of the band, and for that I truly felt terrible. The girl that was with Tanya last week was standing right behind her, and from the look on her face, she didn't want to be there, either.

Edward gave me an apologetic look and said he'd be right back before he took Tanya by the elbow and wheeled her around toward the fire exit door.

"Holy shit," Rose said loudly, "That was like, a 90210 worthy drama scene. Jesus, people," she raised her voice, "Watch the band!"

From where we were standing we had a direct line of sight to Edward and Tanya's talk, and it didn't look promising. He was trying to keep his cool while she screeched like a banshee. There were a couple of more words exchanged before he held up his hands, clearly waiting for an answer, and she dropped her head like she was about to cry.

"I'm such an asshole," I said, glancing at Rose. "If I'd have just waited . . ."

"One way or another it was going to happen," she assured me.

Over in the corner, Edward looked frustrated. He said something else, turned on his heel, and headed back to where we were standing. She started to follow and Rose took off like a shot, intercepting her. It looked like Rose had a few choice words for the girl, and Tanya turned to leave.

. . . But not before catching my gaze on her. Hurt and hate and malice glittered in her eyes, and all I could do was stare back because she had a right to them.

Canned music suddenly blasted from the speakers, and I wheeled around to the stage to see that the guys were taking a break. Emmett hopped off the stage and made a beeline for our group.

"What the hell was that?" he asked. "Rose, that was hot!"

Edward touched my shoulder. "You all right? I am so fucking sorry about that."

I pulled at my sticky shirt and wrinkled my nose at the scent of beer that clung to it. "I think I'm just going to go."

"Don't worry about her. She's gone."

I turned my attention to Rose. "What did you say to her?"

"Nothing I want to repeat. Do you really want to leave?"

Edward jumped in, "If you want to go, I'll take you."

I looked into his face and I could see the regret in his eyes. I was mad, but not at him, not really. He'd made a bad call and was paying for it. And we'd been found out—maybe if we'd handled this better it could have been avoided, but we hadn't and that was that. Nothing left but to owe up to it and move on, I hoped.

I sighed and moved to stand close to him. "Yeah. Let's just go."

Rose gave me a hug. "See you later."

"Bye. Thanks for sticking up for me. Someday I'll be as cool as you are."

"You're cool right now, chick. I'm just a hothead."

I laughed. "See ya."

Edward was talking to Emmett so I slung my bag over my shoulder and moved to stand beside him. Em, who I was coming to learn was just a happy, jokey sort of guy, gave us a little shit and then grabbed Rose to head to the bar, and we left.

Cool September air waited for us outside, and I glanced around the sidewalk half expecting Tanya to be lurking around waiting to finish me off. She was nowhere to be seen, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"God, I hate that shit," I said. My shirt was drenched and I was going to be cold, and a good night had turned miserable. I blinked back tears of frustration and concentrated on my feet.

"Hey," Edward said, grabbing my hand and pulling me into the warmth of his body. "Stop that. It's not your fault, Bella. I'm sorry it went down that way and you had to be there to see it. Jasper and I got so caught up down at the Dutchman getting the session set up that I didn't have time to call her."

"I just need to get to my happy place so I can calm down."

He looked at me and grinned devilishly.

I laughed. Pervert. "Well, there's always that, too, but I want to do something just to get my mind off of all of this."

He didn't hesitate, grabbed my hand and led me to his car. "I think I have an idea."

-PoM-

Thank you so much for your encouraging words.

Song: Hole – Doll Parts

Thank you, Nic xo