"You were so wasted that day, I could tell." Lee cackled from the back of her throat at the remembrance, licking the ketchup off of her bottom lip.
Shin lounged next to her in the booth at Jackson Hole Restaurant, casually sipping her diet soda. He cringed at the empty taste, but the flavors of Lee's cherry lip-gloss kept him wanting more. "I was. I drank at least a half bottle of Jack Daniels…"
"That he stole from me. What an asshole." Nana's crackling voice over powered Shin's gentle cords as she turned from her bar stool towards the two teenagers. She flicked her cigarette into the ash tray in front of her scotch and shook her head. "You still owe me."
"Chill out Nana baby, I'll pay you back somehow." Shin wiggled his chest playfully, causing Lee to burst into a snorting laughter.
"Pervert." Nana threw a hard peanut at Shin's head but missed.
Shin blew her a kiss and returned his attention towards the red-head beside him. He hadn't noticed their hands brushing kindly against each other and immediately retracted it. "That was the day I introduced you to Nana and the band right?" He disregarded the moment and continued the memory.
Lee nodded. "Yup. It was one of the most unexpected yet fun days of my life…"
Shin waved his hands over his head like a maniac. Or just a boy who drank coffee mixed with vodka.
"You're gonna die bro. Do you know how dangerous caffeine mixed with alcohol is?" Lee raised a half-concerned eyebrow and continued to walk behind the drunken boy.
"Danger has noooothhinn on Shinichi Oka-oka-okazaki!" Shin stutters, half tripping down the sidewalk. It is pitch black with only dim street lights. He searches through his pleather jacket with chains and pulls out a full bottle of Jack Daniels.
Lee rolls her eyes. "Well give it up, hog." She snatches the whiskey from his dirty fingers and takes a few gulps, not wincing a bit from the bitterness. She licks her lips and hands the bottle back to the dancing rocker.
"Come and meet my family, Lee. They will love you like I- they will find you as interesting as I do." Shin fixed his words. Love is in his book of forbidden vocabulary.
"Meet your family? Isn't it a little soon for that?"
Shin shook his head and grabbed Lee's hand tightly. "We're already here so you can't turn back." He looks up, a huge building, barely in good shape but stable enough to still stand, with gray windows, is the studio. They enter the building and Shin rings a buzzer for the 3rd floor. "It's Shin open up I have to piss."
A voice through the speaker curses under their breath. "Where the hell were you kid, we have practice." The door whined and the handle unlocked. Shin swung the door open violently and raced up the stairs, Lee struggling to stay behind him.
Shin finally stopped, too abruptly for Lee that she fell over his scrawny body. Before Lee could brush herself off, the door was wide open, and Shin had already ran to "release" himself.
Lee didn't enter the studio. Instead she stood at the entrance and pursed her lips shyly.
A fairly tall man with bleach blonde hair strides over to the door and pushes it. Lee clears her throat a bit and it startles the man.
"Holy shit, who was…" He opens the door wide, and immediately turns red at the beautiful girl's presence. Her awkward smirk might have made him blush. "Hi. I'm Lee, Shin's friend."
The blonde man quivered. "You're the Lee he's been drunk babbling about?"
Lee bit her lip. "He drunk babbles about me?"
He pats her shoulder lightly and invites her in, the rest of the band turning towards her, not intimidating, but just curious.
"Who are you?" Nana says casually, a cigarette in one gritty hand, a chipped microphone in the other.
Lee smiles with her eyes as Shin creeps around the corner. He seemed a little less tipsy than before. "Guys this is Lee." He wraps his arm around Lee's shoulder and gives her a peck in the cheek, which startles her for a split second.
"Your girlfriend?" A deep voice from behind a fairly expensive drum set was heard quietly. Another man stood, his head shiny and bald, but he was still young. He wore shades darker than the night and didn't quite fit into the band look on account of the suit he was wearing.
Shin laughed. "No. She's a friend, Yasu. Don't be an asshole." He grabbed a large black bass guitar and sat on a stool near the rest of the band, tuning softly but quickly. "I kidnapped her. She's here to watch us practice. Like Hachi."
"You rut, stop picking up girls and show up to practice on time or I swear to god I'll kick you out the band."
"Wanker." Shin stuck out his tongue and Lee giggled.
Nana glanced over at her carelessly. "Why don't you take a seat next to Hachi, Lee."
Lee followed Nana's red nailed finger towards a tiny, short brown-haired woman who waved sweetly. Lee raised an eyebrow and smiled back, wanting to avoid conversation. This girl Hachi smelled like cinnamon and baked goods.
"One, two, three, four!" Nana screamed through her microphone and the sound that came from their instruments meshed together and created loud and punk-y sounds. Nana's voice projected, beautiful but unique. Lee crossed her arms and stared at Shin, who was too into is bass it was hard to tell whether he thought he was dreaming or still here.
"So!" The girl named Hachi started to speak. Well, yell. "How did you meet Shin?" She was the nosy type, Lee could tell.
Lee hesitated but put on a fake smile. "We kind of met all of a sudden and hit it off really well!" Lee tried to keep her voice just a little higher than the music.
Hachi's eyes widened as if she were an excited mother getting the news that her son is engaged. "That's wonderful! You see him over there? The blonde one? We're dating, his name is Nobu!" She winks at Nobu and he blushes. "This band really is my family! You're gonna love coming here!" She seemed way too excited. Maybe it's because there weren't enough females here to talk to.
Lee decided to let Hachi's excitement rub off on her. "Yeah, Shin is really funny. I haven't really had good friends in a while…"
Hachi pursed her lips. "Say that again, I couldn't hear you!"
However, Lee was in her own world. Her attention was drawn from the conversation and into Shin's face, body, and movements. Shin was quite attractive. His faded blue hair was down, covering most of his face. His bangs were damp with sweat and aggression toward his guitar. His lips, a shade of dark peach reciting every chord he played carefully. He had hands that could wrap around Lee's body twice, soft and warm, but cut and bruised. Shin slowly raised his head, his luminous eyes catching Lee's. At the moment, Lee could feel Shin's heart beating through his eyes. Shin had huge, baggy eyes. Lee could read him clearly; he was broken inside.
The practice soon came to an end. It felt dream-like for Lee.
"Beer. Beer. Beer." Were the only scratchy words Nana could speak after singing for 5 hours straight.
Lee was met by a sweaty Shin, and stood at his presence. She wrapped an arm around him and whispered in his ear, her hot breath tickling his neck. "You were great. I don't think they could be any more proud of you." These words made the small smile on Shin's lips grow. His lips could curl three times if it was physically possible.
"Nobu, get me a beer!" A very drunk Nana cackled, snorting at her own silliness. Nobu was at the end of the Jackson Hole bar.
"Nana, you don't need another beer." Nobu shook his head and let Nana drape her arms over his neck.
Lee and Shin's fingers were laced with each other as Lee told her stories, Shin's head rested upon her chest. She sipped on the last bit of her coke Shin spiked with heavy vodka and set it down on the table loudly.
"I need sleep." Shin said drunkenly out loud.
Lee nodded. "Yeah, I should go back to the shop soon and lock up."
"Or." Shin took her hand as they both stood from the booth. "You can come with me. I want you to." Shin kissed Lee's hand and held her tightly into him, her breasts pressed into his chest. He became careless and much more touchy-feely when under the influence.
Lee bit her lip; she wanted to, but she didn't want to be his toy tonight. "You're horny and drunk. Go home Shin."