"Shin, what are you thinking about?" Yasu nudged the young boy inhaling a black cherry cigarette.
Shin shook his head. "Nothing important, Yasu." He twirled a drumstick in his left hand. It dropped and made a loud clacking noise.
"Hm," Yasu pursed his lips. "Somehow I don't believe you, kid."
Yasu set up his drum set, sitting on the stool behind it to make sure everything was in a comfortable, reachable position. He glanced at the watch on his wrist. "Where's the rest of the gang?"
The line outside the venue stretched all around the block. It was freezing. There were at least five-hundred people waiting to watch BLAST's first live performance in months. The air was dewy, the fans were anxious, and Lee's heart was racing.
"Will you look at that?!" Nobu exclaimed. He pointed to the line of brightly colored hair, plaid pants, and leather jackets.
Nana screeched in excitement. She took Nobu by the shoulders and shook him. "Holy shit Nobu, we're famous!" Nobu blushed and nodded. Nana put out her cigarette. "We have never seen this many people before for a single show..." Nana's eyes were glistening.
Shin and Yasu were already inside the venue, waiting for the rest of the band's arrival for sound check.
Once Nana opened the van door, a swarm of fans began hollering and wooing. Nana was taken back, and her face lit up. Lee smiled at her genuine expression.
They hurried into the back of the venue with their laminates around their neck. Nobu and Nana carried guitars, amps, and guitar stands into the venue and hurried on stage for set-up. Lee, on the other hand, carried a huge bin of original BLAST t-shirts and homemade CD demos, and set up the display around the designated merchandise area.
"Hey Midori! BLAST has t-shirts! C'mon!" A young girl dressed in a pink tutu and white go-go boots ran to the stand with her friend wearing cat ears and rocking several nose piercings. Lee greeted them. They bought 2 CD's and two shirts, but when they left the line, more and more people started to show up. Lee already had her hands, and mind, busy.
The band finished setting up in time for their scheduled sound check. "My microphone is way too low." Nana gestured the sound guy from across the stage. Shin picked at his bass guitar, not even bothering to tune it. Are her words really going to distract him from playing music?
Lee was too stunned to even speak. Her lips parted, but all that came out was a nervous whimper.
"You just said..."
"I know what I said." Lee managed to speak, in a very angry tone.
Shin furrowed his brow. He watched Lee turn on the faucet and splash her face with ice cold water.
Lee wiped the wetness from her pale face with the long sweater she was wearing. "Just forget about it." Her voice was muffled as she ran out the bathroom and frantically pulled her black skinny jeans over her frail body. They weren't even tight on her anymore.
Shin stood in the bathroom. Too many conflicting emotions swirled through his mind he almost couldn't breathe.
"Oh, Lee where are you going?" A scratchy female voice exclaimed.
"Aren't you going to stay for poker, Lee?" A more feminine, but also kind of irritating voice questioned.
Shin could hear Nana's quick footsteps chasing Lee.
He shut the bathroom door and slumped to the ground.
"You know, you really oughta tune your bass, Shin. This isn't the fucking basement where we played for ten people a year ago." Nana expressed angrily while screwing her microphone back on the stand a little too violently. "Be a little more alert."
Shin ignored her anger and replied solemnly. "It's already tuned."
"Liar." Nana rolled her eyes. She could tell Shin couldn't get his mind off of what happened yesterday. She walked towards him and lifted up his chin forcefully staring straight into his empty eyes. "Don't fuck with her, Shin. She's already been through enough." Shin was breathing heavily, his eyes emotionless. "She doesn't need some naive, whiny little bassist to play games with her." Nana flicked his forehead. "Now tune your goddamn bass and get your head in the game!"
Shin sighed heavily and quickly twisted each knob on the top of his guitar. It took all but 10 seconds to tune. "There, happy now?"
Nana scowled at the hormonal teen, but gathered herself in time for her vocal warm-up.
A spiky green-haired teen wanted a t-shirt. Lee glanced at the tub, and scratched her head. "Sorry man, we're all out of t-shirts. Let me go grab the other bin, I didn't think we'd sell out so quickly." She chuckled, putting on a cool-headed, happy-go-lucky front for the fans in order to keep BLAST's reputation positive.
She locked the safe with the money inside and ran outside the backdoor of the venue where the van was parked. She fumbled with the keys and finally got the trunk open. Taking the smaller tub out with the extra t-shirts and CDs. As she slammed the trunk closed and faced the backdoor of the venue, she noticed his spiky blue-green hair.
Shin was waiting outside the entrance, smoking the same slow burning black cherry cigarette he had earlier. He didn't look directly at her, but he knew she was out there. He was purposely looking for her.
"Dammit, Lee, wait up!" Nana tried to catch up with the fast paced walker. By the time she reached Lee, she was out of breath. "Man I need to quit smoking." Nana placed a hand on Lee's shoulder. Lee's face was red and filled with anxiety. Her hands were shaking.
Nana stood tall. "Where are you going?" She asked, sincerely concerned.
Lee fell into Nana's bony arms into an awkward embrace. She sniffled. "I love him, Nana. I fucking love Shin."
Nana's eyes were surprised. She pat Lee on the back, smiled, then bit her own lip with force. "I know, Lee...I know..."
Lee carried the small tub to the door then set it down. Shin still hadn't looked up from the ground.
A drop of rain hit the tub of t-shirts. Lee pulled her hair out of her face and tucked a few strands behind her ear. "Listen, Shin, I-"
"End it." Shin grit his teeth.
Lee's heart sank. Was he really going to do this now? "What do you mean?" Her palms were sweaty. She craved the cigarette in his mouth to calm her down. Or simply his supple lips...
Shin took a last puff and blew it up into the night sky's lung. "You know what I mean. Don't play stupid."
Don't play stupid. Lee repeated this phrase in her head, knowing truthfully at that moment that she actually was playing stupid. She knew what he meant in every way possible, and that made her feel invisible. She felt tears swelling up behind her glassy, ocean blue eyes. They were like fireworks ready to burst into a million ashes. "Yeah. Okay." Lee nodded. Her face became numb. "It's done." She said simply, her tone of voice made her heart-break obvious.
Lee took the tub and walked briskly back into the venue. A few drops of water splashed onto the tub she was carrying, but this time, it wasn't the rain.
Shin dropped his cigarette butt on the ground, stomped on it lightly, and went back inside towards the backstage area.
Nana, Yasu, and Nobu were all waiting behind the stage. Nana held Yasu's hand, and Shin smirked.