How It Goes - Part 17
#18 of How It Goes
Posted this a day late. Yesterday was a mess and I forgot.
This is a short one. Next one will be longer, but it might be two weeks before I release it.
Guns N' Roses drowns out Theo's voice, and the bear grumbles, "One sec. Jegus, it's loud here."
"Jegus?" Scott replies as he wanders the pavement, reminded of Cecil.
"It's nothing, just... I dunno, Byrne began with it, kinda stuck. What's the matter?"
"Was going to ask if I could stay the night, but..."
"Oh, fuck," Theo sighs. "Of course you can, only I'm down in Reading, and I think... yeah, Colton's chugging beer."
"Figures," Scott mumbles.
"What happened?"
"Brian's drunk," Scott replies flatly. "Again."
"At this hour?" Theo asks astonished. There's a slurred yell in the background followed by horrendous mimicking of AC/DC. "Actually, never mind the hour. Is he alone?"
"Yeah."
"I can get a cab home if you want me to."
"No, it's fine, I can sleep at my dad's. Just enjoy yourself."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I'll be okay."
"Okay. Call me if you need me, yeah?"
"Love you."
"Love you too."
Scott hangs up, and sighs. He gazes up at the clouds, barely visible in the night sky. The street lights follow the concrete path which snakes its way through the neighbourhoods . He walks toward the main road, where occasionally a car whizzes by, and sets his direction homewards.
He mumbles to himself as his gaze lingers on the pavement when he almost crashes into a woman.
"Geez, watch it!"
"Oh. Sorry," Scott replies as he looks away. A small crowd of seven, some of them guys and some of them girls, look at him with mild amusement and annoyance.
"Oh, Scott! Hey!" Scott looks up. Amelia grins up at him and pulls him aside. "Out for a late night stroll?"
"It's half seven," Scott mutters.
"Okay, early night, then. You guys go ahead, I'll catch up," she gestures to her friends, who simply carry on onwards. "Did you just fetch stuff from your flat, or?"
"Was going to stay the night, but..."
"But?"
"Don't really want to talk about."
"Huh." Amy looks at him for a while. "Well, I won't ask, but I'll lend you an ear if you need one."
"Where are you going?" Scott asks, glancing over his shoulder.
"Oh, we're heading to a gig in Kidlington. Wally's playing."
"Wally? The degu?"
"That's him. Adorable little fucker, isn't he?" Amy snickers.
"I thought you played together."
"Oh, we do," Amelia smiles, "But he's always wanted to try a solo gig, and the venue was willing to let him. It's usually me or us they want. If you're free tonight, you should come with us!"
"I..." Scott looks away. "I don't want to impose."
"Oh, nonsense. It'll be worth it, I promise."
"...yeah, fuck it," Scott grumbles. "Thanks, Amelia."
"Amy," she corrects him. "Call me Amy. I hate Amelia."
She grabs him by the arm and starts following her friends up ahead.
"You introduced yourself as Amelia during that show," Scott remarks confused.
"Stage name," she replies airily. "Amelia and Wally sounds a lot better than Amy and Wally, less stuffy than Amelia and Wallace. I remember the first time we tried that, a couple of fans remarked that they thought Wally was a walrus."
She rolls her eyes. Scott fails to stifle a giggle.
"Hey, you're smiling already. Suits you a lot better, y'know."
"How'd you two meet?"
"Me and Wally? Oh, long story, don't want to bore you."
"We've got time, don't we?" Scott gazes ahead. "Kidlington's a bit off."
"True. Well, we met at my cousin's, actually. Wally was my cousin's boyfriend. Bit of a disaster, that relationship. It was her fourteenth and my aunt was pestering me about coming to perform for her. Was about three years ago when I first started gigging and the reviews had begun to praise me. I was nineteen and Wally was sixteen, I think?"
"Your cousin ... wait, he was sixteen and she was..."
"Thirteen when they started dating, yeah. Bit of a mess, see, Wally looks a lot younger than he is, and my cousin Rita looks a lot older than she is. Curse of the mouse, really. Aunty and uncle didn't really mind, though, since he was rather awkward. Head over heels for her, wouldn't do anything to hurt her.
"So I brought my guitar to the party, where he was sat in the corner with an abomination of a guitar of his own. We're talking missing strings, almost broken head. He only had four strings to go with, and it just worked. He'd serenade her on occasion, but she'd yell at him to shut up. I didn't really need to hear much to know that he had it in him."
"Then things went to hell between him and Rita. She cheated on him with a guy I went to school with. Broke his heart."
"...a guy you..."
"Yep. Eighteen or nineteen. She cheated on Wally because, and I quote, his dick was too small."
"She sounds delightful," Scott says flatly. "Is that why you two never dated?"
"In part," Amy shrugs. "I have no idea how big he is. I just don't get turned on by other rodents. And if it wasn't already fucking obvious, I do get turned on by big guys."
Scott gazes at her for a while as they walk. "You really have no shame."
"Nope," she grins. "And I'm all the happier for it. Anyway, I don't have to deal with her anymore, luckily. My partnership with Wally turns out to embarrass her rather a lot," Amelia snickers. "Met up with him later. We just clicked. Had the chemistry. I gave him my old guitar, and he wept. He's just adorable. So we started playing together."
"Does he do his own material?"
"Hmm," she hums. "He's got a couple songs he's confident with. I think we'll hear some personal works, and a lot of covers."
"Is he as good as you?" Scott asks, with a tinge of nervousness.
"He's a lot better than me. I've heard him solo, he just owns the room and takes you on this roller-coaster of emotions. If I know him right, he's going to start with the catchy ones, and then just round off the entire thing with the most depressing song possible. Very Wally."
"Wow. So music."
Amy snorts. "Dork. So where's Theo?"
"Party in Reading."
"At this hour?"
"A lot seems to happen at this hour," Scott sighs.
"Well, it's the weekend, so I suppose it's not too weird."
"How long will the gig last?"
"Wally's gig is about an hour and a half long. It's not the only performance tonight, though, and as he's last..."
"Oh." Scott splays his ears as they cross the road. "Only I don't know if I'll be able to catch the bus home if it's that long a gig."
"Ah, yeah," Amy replies, thoughtful. "Last bus is just before midnight, I think, and Wally's on at half eleven... Oh well. My place is about a fifteen minute walk from the venue, you can stay over at my place."
"That..." Scott mutters, with a tinge of anxiety. "I don't know..."
"I won't molest you," Amy says with a grin. "Unless you want to. I usually only get touchy-feely when I'm drunk. Was planning on drinking, but I'll refrain tonight. And we'll sleep in separate rooms to be sure."
"Yeah," Scott nods. He gazes over at Amy, who smiles back at him, before he sets his eyes forward. "Yeah, sounds good."
"That was The Fine Art of Falling Apart, by Matt Good! I've been Wally Sayer, thank you and good night!"
Wally bows a last time as the applause echoes throughout the bar. Scott stops trying to wipe away the remnants of his weeping, as he joins the applause. He leans back and sniffles with a smile, jumping as Amy claps him on the back.
"Told you he's good, didn't I?" she grins with a bit of a sniffle as well. "The reviews will be good, I'm sure he'll be ecstatic."
"I thought I'd wept enough the last couple days," Scott admits as he reaches for a napkin. Amy laughs as the rest of the table prepares to leave. "I'll be back in a sec, okay?"
Scott nods and leans back into the couch. A torrent of patrons make their way out of the venue over the next quarter, though he would not consider it empty by the end of the flood. He reaches for some of his leftover nachos when Wally waddles up to the table.
"Hey. I thought I saw Amy around?"
"I think she went to say goodbye to her friends," Scott replies. He smiles meekly. "I loved it. Your performance, I mean."
"Thanks." Wally sits down opposite with a heavy sigh.
"Something the matter?"
Wally looks a bit annoyed, but he grits his teeth. "I didn't expect the pressure."
"I couldn't tell," Scott replies quietly.
"Did something right, then." Wally buries his face in his hands.
"Oh, Wally!" Amy grins as she appaers from nowhere. She throws her arms around Wally. "You were fucking excellent! Owned the room, I'm so proud of you."
"It's nothing," Wally grunts as he flops onto the side of the couch. He tries to hide the blush, and looks a bit saddened when Amy lets go. "Glad you enjoyed it."
"Of course I did, you idiot," she grins. "Seriously, you are a lot better than you give yourself credit for."
"Thanks," he looks away. "I should probably get going."
"Oh, yeah, it's pretty late, isn't it?" She grabs her vest and gets up on her feet. "Oh, by the way, I'm going to Dave's tomorrow, we're going to jam a bit, me, him and Sam. You should come with us!"
"I don't know," Wally mutters. He slips out as well.
"Think about it, why don't you?" Amy gives him a one-armed hug. "We should get going."
"We?" Wally glances at Scott.
"Yeah, he's staying the night." Wally scowls.
"I thought he had a boyfriend."
"I'm here, you know," Scott says flatly as he grabs his jacket and his rucksack. "And yes, I do."
"Well, you two have fun then," Wally says through gritted teeth, before he walks away rather hurriedly.
"What was that about?" Scott asks, bewildered for a moment.
"Cheated on by his ex-girlfriend, and crushing on me," Amy shrugs. "He believes I'll fuck anyone I bring home. Don't let it bother you. You're not cheating on Theo, and it's none of his business who I sleep with."
"That's true..." Scott looks away for a bit.
"Well then!" Amy grabs him by the shoulder. "Cheer up, Scott, you've had a great evening, haven't you?"
"Yeah, I have. Thanks."
Okay! Let's get going, then!"
"Nice flat." Scott glances around the darkened room, only illuminated by the faint light from the oven fan and the bathroom, and sees a perfectly square table next to a white couch, a small dining table for three, and an exquisite kitchen with some dirty pans next to the sink. There's a bookcase with several books and albums lined up along each shelf.
"Thanks. I try to keep it clean, though I don't spend as much time here as you'd think." She locks the door behind them and gently nudges Scott along after he's put down his rucksack and hung up his jacket. Her hand gently hovers over his arse.
"Where are we going?" Scott asks with a sense of alarm. Amy just grins at him and pushes him into the bedroom. A large king-size bed - massive even for Scott's frame - stands square in the otherwise small room, with a commode and night stand next to it. "Amy?"
"You can sleep here tonight," she simpers. "I'll just take the couch, it's comfortable enough."
"Oh, yeah, sure. Thanks." Scott sits down on the edge of the bed, and finds it remarkably soft.
"I've got a spare toothbrush if you need one," she adds as she leaves the bedroom. Scott follows her into the bathroom, where she finds one from the bathroom cabinets, unopened and ready for use. They both brush their teeth in silence as Amy starts to kick off her trousers.
"A glass of water?" Scott asks as he rinses the toothbrush, still not looking.
"Go ahead. Gives me time to do the lady stuff." She grins and pushes him out.
After Scott's had a glass of water, he gets into the bedroom and undresses. He crawls into the bed, up to the pillow, and sinks into the mattress. Amy enters the room with nothing but a silk nightgown, black patterned with small white birds, just as he's reaching for the blanket.
"Oh," he mutters, trying to look away. "I, uh."
"What do you think?" She asks playfully as she sits on the edge of the bed.
"I don't know," Scott mumbles. "It suits you?"
"Heh, is that it?" Amy snickers with a shake of her head. She crawls up next to Scott with a look in her eye. "You know, you're not as fit as Brian or sturdy as Theo, but I think you're all the more handsome for it."
Scott says nothing as he looks at her. She runs a hand through his chestfur.
"It's you and me. I really do want you, you know," she smiles. Scott doesn't react, and just looks at her with uncertainty. Her expression falters slightly. She sighs sits down with her back against Scott's stomach. They both drink in the silence for a moment, and Scott looks away.
"I'm sorry, Scott. I'm just really..." She shakes her head. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
"It's..." Scott mutters as he moves his hand down to his crotch to adjust the hard, uncomfortable bulge. "I just...I should probably make sure with Theo, if..."
She glances over at his face, and then at his groin. Scott smiles weakly as he fails to find a comfortable compromise.
"Well, that view is a happy one, I can tell you," she says vigorously. She turns around and gently touches his hand pressing against his bulge, though she doesn't stray.
"That's good, isn't it?" Scott whispers, as he shifts a bit. He breathes hard and gazes at the lithe figure in front of him.
"Oh yes, it is." She shifts and straddles his stomach, facing him with a grin. "So what do you say, Scott? Do you want to?"