Page 46 of Play Me

“Guys, come in,” Sarah calls out to the guys.

The door opens slowly and Brad, Marius and Jez file in, tiptoeing in one by one and standing in the far corner of the room. They look sheepish and don’t say anything and avoid any eye contact.

“Hey, guys,” I say to them. And they just lift their hands and do small finger wave. It’s kinda weird.

“Um, how are you guys?” I ask, looking at Sarah, who just shrugs.

They look at each other and say nothing. Finally, Brad elbows Jez and he takes a small step forward.

“We are fine, thank you, how are you?” Jez finally whispers, enunciating each word slowly, before taking a step back to lean against the wall.

I blink.

Someone has replaced the band with some sort of pod people.

“Um, guys, what’s going on?” I ask them again.

They bite their lips and look at each other again. This time it’s Brad that gets the elbow and he leans forward.

“Sebastian said we’re not allowed to make any noise or bother you,” Brad whispers even lower than Jez did. “He said if we did, he’d cut our tongues off, since we didn’t need them because we are an instrumental band.”

I can’t help but laugh and then flinch as a sharp pain torches its way through my head.

“Owww.” I moan and hold the side of my head with my hand.

“Uh oh.” Marius’ eyes bug out and he presses his finger against his lips.

I giggle and wave him forward, he looks around before approaching the bed and leans in to look at me right in the eye.

“Guys, stop, I’m fine.” I say, smiling and pinching Marius’ cheek. “You can talk normally.”

“But Sebastian said...”

“Is Sebastian here right now?” I ask, both as a way of making my point, and trying to find out where he is.

They shake their head in unison like a row of the clown heads game at the county fair.

“So, it’ll just be between you and me.” I wink at them.

“And Sarah?” The guys look over at her.

“Yeah, you in, Sarah?” I ask her, grinning.

“Dude, anything to stop them tiptoeing around and trying to mime shit. It’s been a weird hour with them out there like Cirque du Soleil clown freaks.” She throws her hands up, exasperated.

“So, please be normal now.” I beg them.

They look at each other for a moment, and then sigh, as if they’ve been holding their breath for an hour.

“We were so worried about you!” Marius sits down on the bed, and reaches over and grabs a chocolate from the box Sarah brought with her.

“No need, guys. I really am fine.” I’m touched at how genuinely worried they seem.

“We’re so sorry we didn’t deck that guy before he got to you.” Brad hangs his head, and as bad as I feel, I guess it’s nothing compared to having had to watch it and feel helpless. But it wasn’t their fault. I had wanted to take care of it myself, I didn’t think the guy would actually get so violent. I reach over and pat Marius on the shoulder, his face is red and I feel bad that I’d put them through it.

“So where is Dennis now?” I ask, wanting to get more information on the photos supposedly leaked about Sebastian.

“Er...”