“No reason. You just seem out of it, I guess.” My hand gently stroked Dojo’s back while he lay comfortably breathing deeply.
Bunny stood and pushed his sweaty blonde hair from his forehead. “Let’s just keep going.”
Marlowe shifted awkwardly on the rug and grabbed the notebook. “There were a couple things I thought about while you played.” Bunny fell backward, slumping down on the couch while Marlowe spoke, throwing his arms behind his head. “Everything sounds so good. The new songs are killer. I can’t believe how different it is. I’m not sure if you’ve thought about what to play for the Battle of the Bands yet, but showing versatility is going to blow them away! Thrash Fest always has so much variety.”
“That’s a good point,” I agreed with Marlowe. “We need to decide if we do any covers or not. We are definitely strongest at them.”
Chris leaned forward. “We’re the strongest at them, yes, and we put our own spin on them. They never sound exactly the same. Might not hurt playing something familiar.”
“Something to think about.” Marlowe shrugged and closed the notebook.
“Let’s get back to it. Up, Dojo.” Gently pushing the pup, he got up and went back to Marlowe, lying beside her.
As soon as we played through a few songs, Dojo started barking and ran toward the garage door. Mid-song, Bunny stopped. “Are you fucking kidding me, Marlowe?”
“Dojo, hush!” Marlowe scrambled back and ran after the dog.
“This is what I’m talking about, Dex.” Bunny gestured to the door where Marlowe and Dojo had run out. When I looked up, Marlowe was carrying Dojo back into the garage. Nicki trailed right behind them.
Nicki pushed past Marlowe and stormed toward Bunny. “I thought you said practices were closed!” Nicki shouted, tossing a disgusted look at Dojo.
“They are closed, Nicki. What are you doing here already?” Bunny approached the newcomer, placing his hand on her shoulder.
“I was around. Didn’t want to go home then drive all the way back out here, so I just came early. Let’s go.” She grabbed Bunny’s arm and pulled him away.
“Nicki, we’re in the middle of band practice…” Bunny started to say.
“Yeah, but you said they’re closed, and she’s here.” Nicki pointed to Marlowe. Marlowe was on the couch now, smoking a cigarette and sipping a Diet Coke, doing her best to ignore Nicki. Nicki walked over and looked down at Marlowe, cocking her head to the side. “Looks like your practice is over anyway.”
Marlowe’s next exhale of smoke was directed right into Nicki’s face. Nicki stumbled away coughing.
“Don’t be so fucking dramatic,” Marlowe said as she took another drag on her cigarette. “We’re out of here. Come on, Dojo.”
Bunny reached an arm out. He didn’t reach Marlowe, but he was close enough to get her attention and stop her in her tracks. “No, we are leaving.” Grabbing Nicki’s arm, Bunny yanked her out of the garage and into the front yard. Car doors slammed, and moments later, dust from the dirt road floated off on the wind.
“So, practice is over, I guess?” Chris asked from the other side of the garage.
Marlowe walked out and around back, Dojo right on her heels.
“Yeah, man. Feel free to hang out though. We can all do dinner and a movie or something.” The twins nodded in understanding and began cleaning up their equipment. Deciding to take care of mine later, I followed where Marlowe had gone.
Marlowe sat in Bunny’s chair out by the fire pit, throwing the ball for Dojo. Taking my usual spot in the blue and white chair, I grabbed the ball from Dojo when he brought it back. When I tossed it out into the yard, I tried my best to make it bounce so he could jump as he enjoyed.
“You okay?” I asked, leaning toward Marlowe so that I didn’t have to speak too loud.
She turned to me. Her light blue eyes were swirling. It didn’t take long to realize there were tears in them. “Want me to be honest with you?” No words left my mouth. I just nodded in response. “I don’t think I am, Dex. I don’t like this shit. We all pretend like things are normal, but they aren’t, and they haven’t been. I feel like a fucking kid that can’t just let sex be sex, but come on. Tell me I’m not crazy. Things are different, right?” A single tear fell down her face when she looked up at me. Ireached down and cupped her face, brushing the tear away with my thumb.
I couldn’t lie to her. Of course things were different. It was so fucking obvious, especially with Bunny. “Yeah, they’re different.” My voice was quiet when I replied.
“It’s all ruined, isn’t it? I screwed up the band. Yours and Bunny’s friendship. I’m horrible.” More tears began to fall, and her face fell into her hands.
“Hey, whoa. Stop.” I lifted her head with both hands and brushed more tears away. The pitiful frown on her face was precious. She looked so cute, but I needed her to understand that she didn’t ruin anything. Leaning down, I gently pressed my lips to hers. She tensed for a split second before kissing me back. I slid the tip of my tongue on the seam of her lips, and she opened her mouth just slightly. Marlowe wrapped her hands around my wrists as I guided her head with my hands while we kissed.
Reluctantly breaking the kiss, I placed my forehead against hers. “You didn’t ruin anything. You’re not horrible.”
“What about Bunny though? You’ve seen how he’s been since that night.”
“I’m not sure,” I answered honestly, pulling back from her a bit. “We’ve got to figure it out though. He’s starting to scare me, and he’s pissing me off. I know the guys are annoyed too. They just won’t say anything. They're scared to set him off or something.”
