Chapter Text
Urgh.
The silence with occasional boos coming from the crowd was deafening, I hope this finally gets Billy Taupe to understand that the songs we perform need to be approved and rehearsed by ALL of us.
"Billy and me are gonna go to the back room," Clerk says "you need me to stay back with y'all?"
"Nah, don't bother. We're fiddlin' on the Titanic, they can't be any worse to us than they were with him." I answer, resting my hand on the mic stand
"Not like we'd deserve it as much." Barbie mutters. Barb Azure has always had less patience with Billy than the rest of us. The Ivy took a risk on us performing here for actual money and Billy just took a potential shit on it, so I don't blame her. First song he decides to play and we barely know it because he refused to rehearse with me and according to everyone, it's not all that good to begin with anyway. Tam drops his bass to sit at the drums and waits for me to tell him what song to play to try to win back this very annoyed crowd.
"So?" He asks, pissed he's even playing the instrument he isn't supposed to. Bass adds some depth, but drums are essential and our drummer's acting like too much of an ass to okay right now.
Barb and I look at each other for a second before I suggest "What about a fun one, like Black Sheep? We need to get these people in a better mood."
"Okay," Clerk says from behind us, spookin' me "sounds good. Billy'll be back soon, he's just coolin' off. Y'all know how he gets after a failed set."
I roll my eyes and make my way back to the main mic, and start playing my guitar, glad that my back tank top doesn't show sweat but worried that my straightened hair will frizz up and rat me out.
Barb's back vocals start with her strumming.
"Oh yeah"
"Oh yeah" she winks at me
"Oh yeah!"
Then I start
"Hello again,
friend of a friend,
I knew you when"
Ripping into my strings I feel one of my thumb get cut.
"Our common goal
was waiting for
the world to end"
Lack of rehearsing this song is leavin' me pitchy, but it's better than the mess Billy dumped on our laps last minute
"Now that the truth
is just a rule
that you can bend!"
raising my voice still strains
"You crack the whip,
shape-shift and trick
the past
again!"
Relief fills me as I feel Barb start singing again along with me
"I'll send you my love on a wire.
I'll lift you up, every time,
as everyone, ooh,
pulls away, ooh
From you, ba-aaah-be!
Oo-ooh!
Oo-ooh!"
My solo ain't too rusty, the drums and keyboard are almost making up for the lack of Tam's bass.
"Got balls of steel,
got an automobile,
for a minimum wage!
Got real estate,
I'm buying it all up in outer space!
Now that the truth
is just a rule
that you can bend!
You crack the whip,
shape-shift and trick
the past
again!"
Barb is really saving my throat here
"I'll send you my love on a wire
Lift you up, every time,
everyone, oo-ooh,
pulls away, oo-ooh
It's a mechanical bull,
the number one
You'll take a ride
from anyone
Everyone wants a ride,
but pulls away, oo-ooh,
from you-hooooo!
Ooooh...oooh...Ooooh...
Oooooh...Oohhhhoooo...
Ooooooooh...Ooooh..."
The rest of the song is just instrumental but we seem to have won back at least a few of the diners. By the time the drum beat and vocals are fading, we're getting some cheers. One cute, blond guy with a buzz cut in army garb, next to another guy with dark hair wearing the same thing, is particularly loud and smirky at me. I smile back.
Billy Taupe finally dains comes back out and moodily suggests we play "Teeth", a song he wrote on me. We all agree, seeing as that's at least one we've got down. He takes my place as lead vocals from behind his drum set and Tammy gets back on bass, and we start playing. The whole time, this asshole won't stop glaring back at me during lines, making it painfully obvious this is about me. I noticed that any time Billy Taupe was the one singing, Blondie wasn't too happy about it. Granted, that was a common sentiment given his train wreck of a first song choice. He'd smile a little if Barbie was at the front but really only cheered and hollered if I was performin' lead vocals.
After a few songs, we went to the back, go to the bathroom, rest our throats, drink some water, what have you. I lie back on the old couch back there and Barbie smirks down at me
"Your new fan's a little obvious, ain't he?"
"He's fuckin' annoyin', yellin' out all obnoxious. There's people eatin'." Billy says, flexing his hands and massaging them.
"You don't seem to mind if the cheers are for you." Tam comments, smirkin' at him.
"I don't really know what happened between you two, and it's none of our business anyway." Cheek starts as he comes back from the bathroom "But this can't get in the way of our progress. Lucy Gray's bein' a good sport about it, you better start doin' the same Billy. We can't have another situation like that first song again all cause you don't wanna work with Lucy. Whatever happened, get over it."
Billy Taupe looks down at his sticks and pouts, but nods in agreement.
'What happened is he's a cheater who can't take no for an answer.' I think to myself.
Five minutes pass and we go back on stage and thankfully, receive a good amount applause. Even little Maudey, eating her fries as she does her homework, looks up at us eagerly and claps. This isn't an ideal place for her, but it's not like her and Barb Azure's parents are gonna do anything about it. Besides, she eventually wants to join the band so it's better she sees what she needs to do earlier than later. She already knows all the songs. Well, almost all. She's still barely in her double digits and I want her to at least graduate high school before she's added. I barely tested out a few months ago, it's easier this way. My parents bailed a while back and the school started noticing things, I tested out so they couldn't check and see if I'm alone. Barbie did the same thing, Billy Taupe just dropped out entirely and didn't bothering trying to test out. "I'm gonna be a rockstar," he said "what do I need a diploma for?" Tammy graduated normally a while back and so did Clerk.
"How's about 'Just Tonight'?" Barb asks
They all nod in agreement and get in positions as Barb sets down her keyboard and gets her violin.
"Here we are
And you can't think from all the pills, hey
Start the car
Please take me home
Here we are
And your too drunk to hear a word I say
Start the car and take me home.
Just tonight I will stay and we'll throw it all away
But when the light hits your eyes
Its telling me I'm right
And if I, I am through
Then its all because of you
Just tonight"
Blondie is happy, ironically I wrote this with Barb and Maudey after my parents had left me.
"Here I am
And I can't seem to see straight
But I'm too numb to feel right now
And here I am
Watching the clock keep ticking away my time
I'm too numb to feel right now"
Growin' up my parents would put some booze in our baby bottles to get us to sleep quick, after we outgrew bottles, they gave us 'vitamins.' My older sibling, the first born, the one I barely met , overdosed on something when he was nine. CPS didn't think to look too much into it when my dad told them he must've looked through their medicine cabinet and taken them himself.
"Just tonight I will stay and we'll throw it all away
When the light hits your eyes
Its telling me I'm right
And if I, I am through
Then its all because of you
Just tonight,
Just tonight!"
This part is about one of the last nights I ever relied on my parents for anything. I was ten, they were getting blasted and I needed to get home. I was freezin' and hungry, but they needed their fix. I decided to just walk to the bus station and take a ride to Tam's place. Thank Fox I had some change on me.
"Do you understand who I am do you even wanna know?
Can you really see through me?
No,
I have got to go."
My mom used to always say she could tell if I was lyin' by lookin' me in the eyes. Eventually I realized I'd be the one lookin' to tell if she's lyin' way more than she would be with me.
"Just tonight
I won't leave
And you'll lie and I'll believe
Just tonight
I will see
that its all because of me
Just tonight I will stay and we'll throw it all away
But when that light
hits your eyes
Its telling me I'm right
And if I, I am through
Then its all because of you!
Just tonight (do you understand, who I am?)
Its all because of you
Just tonight (do you understand, who I am?)
Its all because of you
Just tonight (do you understand, who I am?)
Its all because of you
Just tonight"
Barb kills it on violin and the cheers are the loudest they've been all night. It's always hard playin' that song, but it's one of our best received performances every time we do. Even when we fuck up. The more I play it, the less emotional I am while I do. I hope.
We finish off the night with "Creep" and celebrate in the back that Billy didn't fuck this gig up for us with some drinks. Maude Ivory joins us, we didn't want her alone in the front.
Mr.Bell knocks on the door and comes in
"Okay, you guys were off to a rocky start but it really picked up. Cyrus liked a lot of the songs, wish you guys had played that ‘just tonight I will stay’ song during your audition, wouldn’t have been so difficult to get him on board with hiring you guys if he’d heard them before.”
Most of us aren’t even old enough to get inside the club, let alone be employed here. Maude Ivory being here is also a risk. The fact that Billy almost cost us all cause he’s still feelin’ burned by me is nearly unforgivable. He’s lucky he did well later.
“You all’ll get your pay at the end of the week, but any tips you get you can take home immediately.” He says, placing a decently full tip jar on the table. “Rest up, you’re back on tomorrow night.” He smiles and leaves us.
Clerk counted the cash in the jar and amounted to $47.05, Maudey put in that nickel herself. We divied it up by five so we each got just under ten bucks.
Barbs comes up to me and hands me a fiver “Trade ya for your five?”
I give her five singles and see her $5 bill had a note on there
‘Snow, msg me - 203-555-4766’
“Think your fan’s got a crush on you.” Barb says, bumpin’ my leg with her boot.