“Hey, guys.”
He waved to a group of young men and one girl sitting in folding chairs around a red cooler and a grill, which was indeed smoking.
“Got any dogs ready? I’m hungry. By the way, this is—wait, I didn’t catch your names.”
“Maria, this is Luka.” The name coming from his friend’s mouth always sent a happy chill down his spine. “You?”
“I’m Dan, frontman for Spinal Trap. This is our guitarist, Jake.” He motioned to a slender man with spiked black hair and too many rings to look comfortable wearing all at once. He pointed to the woman lounging next to Jake with a beer in her hand and cropped bright, red hair. “That's our drummer, Sammy. Then our bassist, Dominic.” Dominic was a short man with fluffy black hair who had at least four necklaces on. He motioned to the empty seats next to him and Maria promptly took one; Luka not far behind.
Dan popped the grill open and flipped the food inside. “They came out for Voltage," he told his bandmates before turning attention to Maria. “You catch our set?”
“Only the tail end. You guys are pretty heavy.” Maria crossed a leg over the other and settled into the folding chair like a throne. “We drove from pretty far out and hit traffic, so we missed most of it.”
“We’re playin’ tomorrow at the Beaumont, you should come and catch the set," Dominic said and Luka did the math in his head.
“In KC? That's a six-hour drive from here.” Luka’s eyes widened, imagining for a moment the life this band must lead. “Do you ever sleep?”
“Yeah, on the bus," Sammy said and laughed. “It’s a pretty sweet deal getting to see a new place every day or so.”
“Oh, hell yeah.” Dan had the tongs and was putting a bratwurst into a bun. “Looks so good. Sammy?”
“Thanks.” She took it from him and settled back into the chair. “After each tour we usually get about six months to be at home, write and record, then we hit it again.”
“Do you have beds in there?” Maria asked and Luka turned to get a better look at the buses. They were pretty big, but he imagined with the instruments in tow as well, there probably wasn’t that much room inside. He was trying to figure out just how many beds could fit in one when the bus door popped open.
“Oh, fuck," Maria gasped and grabbed Luka’s arm. “It’s?—”
“Hey, Reno! You hungry?”
“Yeah, thanks,” Reno said and Luka’s stomach dropped. His accent was gorgeous; Tokyo mixed with London, making something so unique it could only be heard from Reno’s lips. And up close, his skin was so clear, his hair so flawless, and his legs looked so long in his platform boots, that Luka thought for a moment about asking Maria for her hoodie so he could cover up how much skin he was showing. “Nice set tonight.”
Reno reached out—even his fingernails were perfect, sparkling with a ridiculous amount of rose gold rhinestones, the left hand short and round, and the right long and pointed except for the middle finger—to take a hot dog from Dan.
Dan admitted, “We didn’t watch you tonight, too hungry.”
Reno laughed and Luka felt like his face was on fire. He shouldn’t be here. He was out of his depth, and right as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat to whisper to Maria that they should leave, she opened her mouth.
“Hi, Reno. I like your nails.”
His attention snapped to her, a big smile on his face. Even without his lipstick on, his lips were round and plump, almost looking too large for his face in contrast to the soft, delicate curve of his jaw, chin, and nose. His brows were thin, leaving his expression open and gentle as he smiled, and when the streetlight reflected in his dark eyes, Luka couldn’t tell where the iris ended and the pupil began.
He locked eyes with Luka next, his gaze pinning Luka in place on the folding chair. Luka had one leg up on the edge of the folding chair and felt so, so very small. Reno tilted his head slightly, glanced down Luka’s body and then back up, before drawing his focus back to Maria. “Thank you, I like yours.” He gestured loosely at her nails, which had been prominently on display. They were cheap decora press-ons, but no one needed to know that. “Who are you?”
Maria answered for them both again. “I’m Maria, this is my friend Luka. They’re a big fan, but shy.”
He would kill her later.
“Oh, did you like the show?” Reno tucked his hair behind his ear and showed how the earring there dangled nearly low enough to brush his shoulder. When he took a bite of his food, Luka realized it was the only time he’d seen Reno without his makeup and contacts in. His eyes were so dark without the blue contacts that Luka looked at the ground instead, before he turned bright red.
“Of course, we’ve been following your career since you put out your first single. Y’all have such an interesting blend ofsounds. Must be due to you all being from different countries, yeah? It was super fun to see it live.”
“I didn’t expect to have fans out here. It’s such a small town.”
“Eh.” Jake shrugged. “People turn up in these dinky towns better for the small bands, for some reason. It's the big cities where we have no fans. The crowd at least seems more into it in the boonies.”
“I think the bigger cities sometimes don’t know what to do with you.” Sammy reached over and flicked the belly button piercing dangling from Reno’s stomach and got a glare in response. “No one expects to go to a regular metal show and get a bunch of queers on stage pushing out the heaviest sound ever. People who come to our shows in places like this are signing up for this on purpose.”
“That's not very nice," Dominic said. “Don’t call people that.”
