“Gah, there you are. Get on the bike, we have a lot of traffic to slog through. The 101 is gonna be a mess. Fucking Hollywood.” TJ tosses me the extra helmet.
I catch it as I stop just short of the bike, toes sticking over the edge of the curb. I fold my arms. “Well that’s a greeting.”
“What? What’s your problem?”
“God you dense mother fucker. Are we just going to pretend the reason I stopped playing in your band in the first place was the fact you couldn’t be in the same room as with me without being distracted by much you were in love with me?”
AJ looks uncomfortable and adjusts his position on the bike. I enjoy watching him squirm.
“Just because we had sex once or twice-”
“13 times. And like four blow jobs. And some handjobs.”
AJ coughs. “A few times, doesn’t mean I was in love with you.”
“Well so what was the reason it got super awkward and you started messing up the vocals like a lot? You get a sore throat sucking my cock?”
“Jesus Christ.” AJ rolls his eyes and sits back on the bike. He glances at his watch. “I was under a lot of stress back then to put the record out, I had a lot going on.”
“Man, it almost sounds like you rehearsed that,” I tease as I roll the helmet in my hands. “So what’s going to happen now? You fired your drummer for sucking on your tour and doing meth, and you called me to save your ass with five dates left. I’m not going to take responsibility if you start getting distracted. And we’re gonna be on a bus for gods sake. You’re not going to be able to avoid me.”
AJ is sweating under his arms now and really squirming too, like he had ants in his pants. “Fuck- Tyler, your skill as a drummer is parallel to what a pain in the ass you are.”
“Why thank you.”
“I just – listen, I don’t know what you want me to tell you. Yeah I like you a lot, and the sex was great but like…I didn’t want to get attached to you just because you were there a lot. It felt too convenient. You deserve someone who isn’t dating you out of convenience-”
I snort. “Why are you the one who gets to define what I deserve? And also, who said I didn’t want to date you out of convenience either? We both fell at the same time.” AJ stares at me. I continue. “It was also my choice whether or not I wanted to date you, but you never gave me the chance to choose to have a relationship with you or not. You just freaked out and got weird.”
“Yeah cause we all know dating band members is a really bad idea, cause like it can cause a lot of tension…”
“And cause your drummer to leave?” I finish.
“Yeah.” AJ pauses. “I did that anyway didn’t I?”
“You did. And you didn’t even get to date me out of it.”
“Well. Fuck.” AJ glances at his watch again. “We really got to go. We’re already going to be late for sound check.”
I don’t move.
AJ threw his hands up and made an over-exaggerated sigh of annoyance. “FINE. I’m still in love with you and hope I can get everything I want for five days while also getting laid, with a full expectation that I can selfishly bail after the tour is over before I have to do the hard emotional work to make a relationship work.”
“There we go, AJ! That wasn’t so hard was it.” I put the helmet on and get on the back of the bike. I adjust my backpack straps.
“I seriously hate you right now.”
“No you don’t,” I chirp. “You love me. And we’re gonna have a fun five days together and then we’re going to figure it out ok?” I wrap my arms around him. I feel his body relax.
AJ signals and pulls the bike out into the street. “Aren’t you an optimist. First we gotta make it to soundcheck at the Palladium.”
He pauses at the stop sign at the end of the street to consider traffic. I take the opportunity to cup him between the legs of his jeans.
His butt nearly leaves the seat. “Tyler!” AJ shouts.
“Sorry.” I giggle. “I missed it a lot, wanted to make sure it was still the same.”
“Well, it missed you too, but don’t do that while I’m driving or you’ll kill us both and our tour manager will not be happy.” AJ opens the throttle and we tear down Garvey Avenue. I’m glad he can’t see me smiling. I did wonder though if he could feel that I was also half hard.
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Captions are fictional.