17 “I’ll Go Get The Ice Bucket”
Josh and Birth were kissing again, slowly, like they were telling each other secrets with their tongues and teeth.
Their hands finally explored new territory. Every so often Josh broke out in giggles because he couldn’t believe this was happening. Was Birth really making out with him instead of some skanky weird groupie?
“What’s so funny, huh?” Birth sounded angry, maybe he was roleplaying. They both stopped when they heard glass shatter downstairs.
“What was that?” Josh freaked. He knew he heard something that time. All the fear that had slowly wilted away came back like a punch to the gut.
“Its…I dunno…” Birth realized someone was in his house. He’d heard little bumps in the night before but never anything like that. They looked at one another for a minute, unsure of what to do.
“Tell me you have a gun somewhere in this weird place,” Josh hoped.
“Yeah.” Birth tried to stay calm. Josh went from being afraid to strangely aroused to find out Birth had a gun. He tried to think straight – which was hard to do because he was so stoned and horny. Are we alive, or lost in some Christopher Pike novel?
He followed Birth down the hallway to the bedroom. The first thing Birth did was turn on the light. Then he quickly and quietly made his way over to a large cherry wood dresser and pulled open the top drawer. He pulled out a cute silver pistol and looked at Josh.
“Let’s go.”
All of the sudden they felt like vigilantes. They momentarily hovered over one another at the top of the stairs.
“We’re not acting like rock stars right now, more like sorority sisters,” Birth pointed out.
“Just go!” Josh hastily whispered. Birth started to go and Josh pulled him back. He was obviously scared gutless, practically biting on the shoulder of Birth’s shirt.
“Okay…now go,” he softly permitted. Josh’s paranoia enveloped him as he followed Birth down the spiral stairs. What if someone was in his house in Cheviots and followed him out here? When they got their first taste of fame, after a video played on MTV and Fuse a lot, a guy who called himself “Bonzo Bombs” kept showing up after shows, hanging out by the tour bus. He would never say anything to Josh, would never ask for an autograph, he would just stand there and eerily stare and take pictures with his phone and then run off. He somehow found out where Josh lived and started sending him letters. They were always one sentence long, always beginning with the word “Wonder.”
Wonder what you look like as a blonde – Bonzo Bombs.
Wonder what you look like bathed in blood – Bonzo Bombs.
The guy with curly black hair looking in the refrigerator certainly wasn’t Bonzo Bombs. And if he was then he didn’t have to stalk Josh – Josh would have gladly kept him company.
“Seth?!” Birth said, stunned, and happy as he jetted over to him.
“Man,” Birth sounded completely euphoric. “What are you doing here?”
“Hey man,” Seth turned around, a bottle of champagne in his hand. He was barefoot. His crazy thick black hair was a mess. Josh got a hold of himself and stopped gawking. You’re the rock star.
“You know you really should lock your door,” Seth pointed out. He spoke in a very calm, deep voice. He had a certain confidence about him that put everyone around him at ease. A confidence that almost made him seem like a hero.
“Was that you? Did you break something?” Birth asked.
“Oh yeah, a glass at the end of the counter.” Seth casually glanced over at Josh.
“Oh…so this is not a secret anymore?” Seth asked, looking back at Birth.
“Huh? Oh no…you know Josh, Josh this is Seth.”
Josh nodded but stayed where he was.
“I just didn’t want to be alone,” Birth explained. Oh? You just didn’t want to be alone? Josh thought. A minute ago you wanted to be with me.
Birth looked down at the champagne bottle in Seth’s hand.
“You brought champagne?”
“A housewarming gift,” Seth said, showing off perfect white teeth when he smiled. He held up an excellent bottle of Krug. “May need to chill it for a bit though.”
“So how do you know Birth?” Josh asked. He tried not to sound jealous but it wasn’t working.
“We used to go to school together,” Birth said. Oh. Josh quickly figured this out. Seth was probably one of those rich boys that had nothing to do with Birth then, but now – now since Birth was in a successful rock band, that had all changed.
“And…” Birth flashed one of his dopey smiles. “He is my drug dealer.”
“And champagne dealer,” Seth said in his deep voice. “This is a good place to do biz’ness,” he went on. “Ain’t nobody out here.”
“Nope,” Birth smiled. He scratched his head and looked around the kitchen. This was certainly awkward. Had Birth wanted Seth to show up all along and Josh was just kind of a substitute? Was that why he had this house out here all to himself?
“Man, I wish I had an ice bucket,” Birth said.
“There’s a store not too far up,” Seth said.
“Open at this hour?” Birth asked.
“Its not that late,” Seth informed.
Josh watched the way they communicated – not with the words they spoke but the looks they gave one another. They’d been fucking.
“I’ll go get the ice bucket,” Josh offered. Birth looked a little surprised. He of course wasn’t going to go get the ice bucket. He didn’t know where he was going. He was just going to get in his car and drive. What was out there on the road beyond Devils Button?
18 “Death Metal And Denny’s”
“We can stop soon, I think,” Clair said. She had to get out of the van soon, she needed to stretch. She was feeling a little carsick.
“I mean we’ve been driving for a while,” she added when no one seemed to hear what she said. Nathanial had a look of absolute focus on his face. He was determined to drive as long as he could before stopping – just to make sure.
“What was that dream you had?” he asked, frowning and shifting the gear when he looked over at her. ”Before the trip – you said you had a bad dream.”
She did not want to think about that dream right now.
“It was…just a stupid dream.”
“I just wanna know what it was about,” he pressured.
“It was weird like all dreams…it just…first we were in a car and we were underwater, you, me and Jeremiah…but then all of the sudden we were in a cage.” She was very quiet, like she might not finish. Then she finally said, “The car became a cage, and someone lifted us out of the water and water just gushed out of the cage, like, there was a lot of water, an abnormal amount, one of those dramatic dream things, anyway we were placed on top of this huge rock – or the cage was, and we were surrounded by these men, but they didn’t have faces, they were just blank, featureless men. They stood all around, very still. I remember they all had on black boots. Then the alarm clock went off. It was just weird – it had me feeling weird the next day.”
“Well…listen…I just wanna drive a bit more and then we’ll stop,” he said.
“So where are we?” Marisa asked.
“Ohio, babe,” Nathanial said just before a big yawn. “Yeah, we’ll figure out a campsite. We’ll stay there tonight.”
“Oh man,” Marisa sat up, stretched. She felt so much better without creepy Jimmy staring at her. “I can’t wait.” She took her shirt off. All she was wearing beneath it was a little black bikini top. Jeremiah couldn’t stop himself from looking over at her…at those. Her huge breasts definitely tested the string bikini’s dexterity.
Jeremiah stared at the back of Nathanial’s head, wishing he could see this. He would soon, he supposed.
“Yeah like a lake would be good,” Jeremiah said, quite spritely all of the sudden. “Like now…or sooner.”
“Huh?” Nathanial sounded a bit more cheerful even t
hough he hadn’t seen Marisa yet.
“I’m gonna take the next exit,” Nathanial said. “We can get some food and then figure out where the nearest campsite is.”
“Yo, put some music on,” Jeremiah said. He could hardly wait to be out of the van, by a lake, staring up the sky, unchained from obligations. Nothing but the excitement of L.A. and The Dead Joneses show in the near future.
Nathanial put on his mix tape, which seemed to solidify this moment of reclamation. First some Rancid played, Time Bomb, followed by some Bob Mould then Mighty Might Bosstones and then The Dead Joneses, which led to some very frightening Norwegian metal band stuff, to which Jeremiah started banging his head to.
“THIS SHIT IS FUCKIN CRAZY DUDE!!!” Jeremiah praised.
“GORGOROTH DUDE!!!” Nathanial said, giving the devil sign with his hand as Jeremiah started headbanging even harder.
“Okay…” Clair reached over and turned the music down. “I seriously don’t feel right with that on.”
“Clair! Don’t piss on this! Its MY TURN TO PLAY MUSIC.” Nathanial turned it back up. He took the exit and stared up at the iconic Denny’s marquee as they grew nearer.
“Fuck yeah, death metal and Denny’s motherfuckers!! Deal with it!” Jeremiah laughed and a minute later the sweet odor of marijuana filled the van.
“We gotta get baked first man,” Jeremiah said, passing the joint to Marisa. She took it and took a hit and passed it to Clair. Nathanial parked the van and by the time the joint got to him he already had an amazing contact high.
“Ohio is all trees and grass,” Clair said between coughs. Nathanial hit