Twenty-Three

It was Friday night, and I was home alone. How today ended with me alone on the couch pissed me off. I wanted to cry, but I didn't think Jeanie deserved that from me. It was her fault I was angry, so I chose to be angry.

Only a few hours ago I came home from school. Tomorrow was The Struts concert, and I was looking forward to it. For the past month and a half, it was all I could think about. I was going to see one of my favorite bands live, and my sister was going to take the night off work and come with me.

It'd been a long ass time since we last spent an entire night hanging out. She was always there for me when I needed her the most, but since the school year began, she'd been swamped in work. There were several new games that were coming out that she had to get gameplay footage of for her YouTube channel, as well as live streams for the other multiplayer ones. And with her ever-increasing popularity, she was visiting a lot of other gamers' houses and playing with them. But tomorrow night was going to just be about us.

Thankfully, she was finally more exited about me joining 7 Years of Blood, and when I came home Sunday, we talked about what it meant to be in a band and all those responsibilities. Mainly it was just a repeat of everything Brody questioned James and I about. But she was just looking out for me, so I appreciated it. She even bought me a new pair of drumsticks. Black with my initials on the butt in silver. They were most likely supposed to be a gift for tonight, but she gave them to me early as a congratulatory gift.

The fact that she had to remember made me feel a little better, but when I walked up the driveway to find Rick and her packing her car, I felt my heart sink.

"Where are you two going?" I asked.

"Atom Studio is hosting an indie game convention, and as the Queen of Indie Games, I'm making an appearance. I know it's sudden, but I'll be back on Tuesday."

I gawked. "You can't leave."

"I have to. It's for work," she said. "I will take you out when I get back to celebrate. I promise."

"But... The Struts concert."

Jeanie stared at me, confused, before her eyes shot out of her head. She gasped and covered her mouth. She looked at Rick and he flipped through his schedule quickly. "No, it's next weekend. You said next weekend."

"No... it's tomorrow."

He cursed under his breath. "I must have written it down wrong. I'm so sorry, Mel."

"Me too. I was really looking forward to it." She crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. "I'm sorry, baby. But I already promised to make an appearance. If I back out now, it'll look bad for the brand. I'm trying to get more people to help, and if I cancel, I won't be able to."

"No, I get it," I said, taking a step towards the front door. "You're practically a celebrity now. You have to make work your priority."

"Don't say it like that," she pleaded.

"But it's true. You're doing this to make women gamers equal, and that means you have to put in triple the amount of work of anyone else. Do it for me. Make this my birthday gift or... whatever."

She placed her hand over her chest, mouthing 'Birthday.' I doubted she realized the concert was what I wanted for my birthday. It wasn't like I told her it was, just that I wanted to go.

"I will make this up to you. I promise," she declared as she climbed into the front seat. She had to leave now, or she'd be late. "I love you."

I waved goodbye before turning back to face the house. I ran inside before she could see me cry, but I didn't let myself until the door shut.

I sat on the couch and watched TV all night, unable to focus from the rage that boiled my blood. Though it was more disappointment than anything. A shiny purple gift bag sat on the kitchen table, but I didn't open it. It felt like I was forgiving her if I did, and I didn't want to forgive her yet. I eventually would, but I wanted to resent her for a while longer.

It was around eight that someone knocked on my door. I was expecting it to be Buddy dropping off his gift early, as he knew I didn't like making a public display of my birthday. I huffed as I opened the door, surprised to see Rena and Devon on the front porch.

"Happy birthday, Mel!" Rena exclaimed as she leaned in to hug me.

I giggled as I hugged her right back. "Thank you. How did you know?"

"Darcy told me Sunday. She asked if I got you anything, and we instantly went out to buy you something."

"Well, he did," Rena giggled before holding out a small wrapped package to me. "I made you these."

I took the package and moved so they could enter. Sitting on the couch, I opened the package and smiled at homemade coasters. There were four of them, two of them with painted drumsticks on it, and the other two had an actual drum kit. It was a black silhouette over gray stoned coasters.

"I love it," I said, hugging her again. "I'll keep them out here for guests to use when they're over." I laid them out on the coffee table, even moving my drink onto one of them.

"And this is from me," Devon said, handing me the bag before stuffing his hands in his pockets.

I pulled out a small wooden music box. The Legend of Zelda was engraved on the front, and when I spun the crank, Zelda's Lullaby from The Ocarina of Time played.

"I know you like Nintendo, so I hope you like this one. There were others if-"

"No, no, I love it!" I exclaimed, laughing as I continued to play it. "It's my favorite song from the franchise."

"Really?"

I nodded. "Thank you." Placing the box on the coffee table, I stood up to hug him. "I'm really glad you both came over tonight. I really needed some good news."

"Why? What happened?" Rena asked.

"My sister and I were supposed to go see The Struts tomorrow, but she put the weekend down wrong and had to go to California or something for a gaming convention. She needs to make a surprise appearance."

"Your sister's a gamer?"

"Jeanette Snider from Embergames. She's been blowing up lately."

"I know her! I read an article about sexism in the gaming world. It broke my heart. She gets a lot of hate mail apparently and death threats too." They were common. It was why I hated to get in the middle of her recordings or get mad about her events. It was why I couldn't stay mad at her for going to the convention. She was doing this for gamer equality.

"Yeah, but she has to miss the concert tomorrow."

"Are you going to take Buddy with you, then?" Devon asked.

I shrugged. Not that I didn't want to go with him; I knew we would have a lot of fun together, but Devon was the person I really wanted to go with instead. "Unless you want to come with me."

Devon stared at me, his mouth twitching up in a smile he tried to contain. "Are you sure? I wouldn't want to ruin your time with Devon or anything."

I shook my head. "If you want to go, we should go. It'll be fun."

"Yeah," he chirped. "Thank you so much."

"He really likes their song Where Did She Go," Rena commented.

Devon blushed and nodded, smiling widely. "It's fun."

"I love Tatler Magazine," I said.

"Because you plan to be in one one day?"

I shrugged, smirking. "I'd prefer Glamour Magazine or Vogue. I'm not much of a gossip, and I'd hate to bring someone down so I can climb the charts."

"High school: teaching valuable lessons outside the classroom," he joked, waving his hand in front of our faces.

"I mean, movies and TV have got it right. There is nothing more important than the life lessons we will learn in the halls," I added.

"Should I leave and give you two space?" Rena asked.

I may have turned away from her teasing eyes, but Devon laughed as he ruffled her hair. "We probably should get home for dinner," he said. "What time should I be over at?"

"Seven."

"I'll see you tomorrow. Happy birthday, Mel."

"Happy birthday!" Rena exclaimed before giving me another hug.

I locked the door behind them. Walking into the kitchen, I unwrapped Jeanie's gift. A studded leather jacket was inside with a t-shirt that had The Struts logo on it. The card said it was a gift from Rick. He must have really thought it was next week, or else this gift would have been a way to torment me. That gave me some comfort.

^^^

I wore the new band shirt and studded leather jacket with ripped black jeans and canvas sneakers. I opened the door to find Devon dressed somewhat similar. He wore black ripped jeans as well with his leather jacket, but he wore a Queen band shirt instead. I'd never seen him wear any graphic or band shirts the entire time I'd known him. They were always plain or patterned. Seeing him in rock attire was hot. I felt myself ogling over him, which prompted him to laugh.

"I guess we match," he chuckled.

I playfully flipped my hair over my shoulder. "It's because we both are oh so fabulous."

"Of course," he chuckled. Extending his hand towards his car, he asked, "Ready?"

It took roughly ninety minutes to get there. It was closer to the inner city, and with how bad city traffic was, it took a while to find a parking spot. Thankfully the show started at nine, so we made it on time. Like the venue where Buddy and I saw Golden Crows, there were no seats in the middle area. But because of Jeanie's fame, we didn't want to risk anyone clobbering over her, so I sprung for the balcony seats off to the left. We had a perfect view of the stage in our little area.

"This is really nice," Devon said, looking around.

"Yeah. If we get tired, we can sit thankfully. And we won't have to worry about any drunks head butting us or spilling their drinks on us."

"Very true," he chuckled.

We sat down in the chairs closest to the balcony and leaned over, peering down at the stage. The show would begin in ten minutes, and I could hardly stay still in my seat. I had been looking forward to this concert for months. Sure, it would have been nice to have come with Jeanie, but I was glad Devon was the one who came with me. I knew I was going to have more fun with him.

The moment the lights dimmed to purple and dry ice covered the stage floor, I jumped up and hollered with the rest of the audience. Jeb, Geth, and Addo were already on stage, and Luke strutted out as he began singing Devon's favorite song, Where Did She Go.

We danced the entire night. Devon grabbed my hands at one point, spinning me around and jumping with me. We held our hands in the hair, singing along to all the songs. They played both our favorite songs, a new song coming out soon, and a cover of Queen's Crazy Little Thing Called Love.

Near the two-thirds mark, the ballads were being played. My favorite, Somebody New, was the one to kick it off.

Devon wrapped his arms around my waist from behind as we swayed to the beat and sang along. His chin rested on my shoulder. His voice grew softer, but closer. I felt his breath warm my neck. Tilting my head, I locked eyes with him. He stared right at me. He continued to sing, but I couldn't. My eyes stared at his lips. He stopped singing, his eyes now staring at my lips, too.

I leaned in, kissing him. And he kissed me right back.