Thanks for reading and commenting, you guys! Lost a few people but still have some of you left. Hope you enjoy this one
The two buses rumbled along side by side to the next town, Keith and Neil poking their heads out their window and chatting with Sol and Derek, who were mirroring their moves.
After a few hours, Neil and Derek turned in for the night, leaving the two major guitar fanatics hanging out the windows talking about injuries onstage.
‘And I was just walking through the door when Damo slammed it, and the next thing I know, my hand’s hurting like crazy and then going numb. I look down and my fingers are in the door and turning black and blue!” Keith exclaimed, showing Sol the digits in question.
“Naw, lemme tell ya about the injuries we’ve had and then you can tell me who’s the victim here,” Sol said with a grin. There really was something about boys sharing scar stories, wasn’t there? “Let’s start with the easy one, Crouton. Most he’s had is while standing on these drums he had to rent at a venue in Cali, he decided to reach out and lean on his cymbals. Well, needless to say, they all were makin’ out with the ground in seconds.”
“Makin’ out with the ground?” the surfer parroted cautiously.
“Ha, it’s from one of our new songs,” the crunk singer chuckled. “And anyway, that’s nothin’ yet!” Sol pshh’d, his eyes glittering and accent thickening as the story progressed. “Wait’ll I get to Chappy! He’s gotten so many scars onstage, it’s ridiculous. There was one time he was playin’ and not lookin’ where he was goin’, so he ran full-speed into the wall. Shattered his guitar and when the neck broke off, it split his left brow. He was out for a minute or so, and then he just stood up and said, ‘I’m okay!’ and finished playing the song on the bottom half of the guitar. Covered in blood, guitar in shards, had to get several stitches, but at least that boy’s okay.”
“He broke the guitar?!” Keith gasped in shock at the sacrilege, his lip quivering.
“Yeah, but at least it wasn’t his best one, and what matters is that he’s in one piece. Good thing he used a spare that night! His usual one was getting a string changed,” Sol shrugged it off. “’Nother time, he and Josh were bounding around with guitars and just crashed into each other without looking. Chappy’s guitar went careening into Josh’s neck, but it Josh just shook it off. Bleeding, but he was too hyped up and just kept playing. It wasn’t that bad, although it needed some doctorin’ afterwards, but I bet it hurt a lot.
“Then once when I was bein’ all serious and calm while sayin’ the prayer at this uptight show, Chappy comes along and accidentally stabs me in the kidneys with the head of his guitar. I start groanin’ and all ‘cause it hurt, and that left quite a mark…oh, yeah, and the audience was in stitches at the end of it.”
Keith was fascinated with the stories, absorbing every detail hungrily and trying to think of any war stories to tell Sol, but now that he thought about it, CT was really precise onstage; no scars, no falls, no tragedies, no nothing! Paul had had a few falls offstage at his solo concerts, but that was back when he was starting out, and Keith had his fair share he was sure, but none came to mind at the moment.
“Chappy gets a lot of other injuries, too, ‘cause he always stands up on the amps and drum kit and jumps off of them, several feet up, and sometimes he lands wrong,” Sol was saying. “A couple months ago he landed on his knees and gashed one of them open. We had a few blood-fearin’ people pass out, too, but our soldier finished out the set. Of course, it just had to be the night he decided to wear those pure-white pants I had lent him,” the man grimaced. “They’re still pink from that stuff he washed them with afterwards.”
“Dang, that’s impressive,” Keith whistled lowly at the gory story, awed as any male would be by a scar story like that. “I’ll bet Paul would love those pants now…if only he was a foot shorter,” he added with a laugh.
“Hey! Not my fault I’m short! Don’t know why I am, considering the Harry Potter twins are both at least a head over me, but what can I do? I’m the one with the songs in my head and of course I got all the looks,” he laughed with a playful wink.
“Harry Potter twins?”
“Josh and Jake. I swear those two wish they had been born red-headed just so they could be in the one movie they’re obsessed with. Can't go a single week without hearing Snaper’s voice yelling from the TV.”
“Ah. Oh, and your ego is huge,” Keith nodded decisively.
“Thanks,” Sol chuckled. “Can't help that either. It just comes naturally.”
“Ooh! I remembered some stories!” Keith exclaimed. “Ya know Ryan, the black-haired dude? Well, once, he was supposed to walk offstage with a girl. Long story short, he dipped her…”
“Uh-huh?” Sol prompted.
“…right next to the orchestra pit,” Keith sniggered. “I'm sure you catch the drift. The next night, she found that staying with the romantic tenor was safer than running off with the Dark Destroyer.”
“Ha! Any more?”
“Well, there was another guy with us last year, Paul, the tenor I just told you about, and he had to dance in tap shoes. One time, he fell going UP the stairs—now that takes skill—and got this huge bruise on his leg. And that was before he had to tap dance, and he could barely walk! Dancing was interesting that night.”
“Youch,” Sol winced.
“Another time during the recording of the DVD he had to jump from one position to another at the very end and since he was wearing those slippery dance shoes, he almost fell on his behind. Good man, though, laughed it off. The look on his face, though…now that was priceless.”
“Y’all have a DVD out?”
“Six! And seven CD’s!”
Sol whistled. “Didn’t know y’all were that famous. My brothers and I, we had a CD come out when we were kids, then as Family Force 5 we have another two CD’s, a third on the way, a few songs in multi-band CD’s, and a couple songs in movie soundtracks.”
“Sweet! You gotta give me them the listen sometime, alright? I definitely like what you were playing today. So, do Nathan and Josh have any scar stories?”
“Ooh, Josh, plenty there. Although he and Derek are the ones to go to if you wanna pull a prank on April Fool’s, but he’s also one of the most serious guy’s I’ve ever met. He’s totally tutoring Cash when he gets into school, that’s for sure. I don’t even know half the stuff swimming around his head about math and physics and Lord knows what else.”
“Can he replace me in tutoring Daniel?” Keith lunged at the idea. “Ryan, George, and I have been placed as making sure he does his work, but I seriously don’t think I remember most of that stuff.”
“It never hurts to ask,” Sol agreed.
“So, scar stories?”
“Well, Josh’s had his fair share, mostly involving his back. There was one funny one about that when he could barely move during the show and then collapsed offstage right after that. I offered, ‘Well, do you want me to give you a massage or somethin’, brother?’ and he just said, ‘NO, no no no no no, don’t touch me, don’t touch me.’” Sol was on his feet acting out the scene, asking worriedly before groaning dramatically and reaching his hand out to ward the aiding brother away. “I mean, I really worry about my brother, you know? There’s a reason we’re called FAMILY Force 5.”
“Poor guy,” Keith sniffed. “Is he alright now?”
“Yeah, we went to the ER right after that, but he’s doin’ better,” Sol replied, nodding appreciatively that his new friend was concerned about that. “On a happier note, Nafatha’s stories are funny. He was DJ-ing once and started bouncing up and down. The floor was flexible so he was kind of like jumpin’ on a trampoline, and then all of a sudden it exploded and he was pulling a Peter Pan and flying back. He landed on the floor spread-eagled on his back with the keyboard on his chest, the breath completely knocked outta him. But man, the flying?” Sol laughed. “Now that looked fun.”
The two rode in silence for a bit, but then both started talking simultaneously.
“So, what d’ya wanna do tomorrow—”
“Do ya want to start planning for—”
They broke off and laughed. “I can't wait for tomorrow” said Keith with a grin.
“This is gonna be sick,” Sol agreed. “They’ll never know what hit them.”
* * *
The auditorium filled quickly with chattering people for the CT concert. Ryan peeked through the curtains and took a deep breath, steadying his thumping heart. “It’s just another show, Kelly,” he said under his breath. “Just another show. Nothing new or unusual.”
“Hold that thought,” came a drawl from behind. Before he realized what was happening, he was being dragged into the dressing room he had just exited and being shoved inside by strong hands into the lamp-lit before the door shut quickly with a slam and the lock clicked on the other side.
As he looked around the room, he heard stifled laughter from outside followed by a whispered “Hush!” and departing footsteps running away. In front of him stood an annoyed George, a terrified Daniel, and an excited Emmet.
“What d’ya reckon they’re gonna do?” Emmet asked, practically hopping up and down and from foot to foot. “D’ya think they’re gonna steal the show?”
“I think you’ve been hanging around those guys and their accents way too much,” George sighed.
“Where are Neil and Keith?” Ryan asked.
There was a long pause, during which the older man glared irritably at him. Finally, he answered, “They’re in on it. Keith and that impudent Sol guy probably planned it all. Those two should never have met! One Keith is enough chaos in my life! If I had hair, it would be grey after having met one, and WHITE after meeting the other.”
“The show starts in five minutes,” Dan squeaked. “Sharon will be so mad!”
Five long minutes dragged by, and then all of a sudden, applause echoed through the room, music following with a new sound, something they had never heard before.
Keith and Neil were still unaccounted for.
* * *
DUN DUN DUN! what d'y'all think will happen next?
the scar stories were based on this:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kN0bey32Lk