Bruises- Shane Madej

8. The Hot Daga

Author's Note:

i love the hot daga with my whole shaniac heart and if you dont like it then you can kiss my apple taters

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It was December of 2017. Maddie and Alvin had been dating for almost 4 months now. 

She really liked him; he was a really nice guy. He seemed to really like her, too. 

They were about to wrap up Season 3 of Unsolved: Supernatural. They'd already filmed everything and now was just the filming of the Post Mortems and releasing the episodes. 

Shane had started a little series he called "The Hot Daga". It started out being about a hot dog man and his wife, but now it was about an evil hot dog witch and a compelling character named Gene, who was french fries. 

One night, it was almost 10 pm. Maddie sat on her couch, watching The Office, while her roomate, Hanna, did some homework for her college classes. 

Maddie got a call from Shane. "Hello?" 

"Hey, Maddie! You know music, right?" 

"Kinda. Why?" 

"Like, weren't you in a band in high school?" 

"Yeah, I had a cover band with some of my friends. Why?" 

"Do you think you could come over and help me do some stuff? It's for the Hot Daga." 

She laughed. "You're making music for that now?" 

"Yeah."

"Ryan's gonna hate it. I'm in," she smiled and hung up, getting ready to head over to Shane's apartment. 

Maddie dug an old guitar from under her bed and brought it with her. 

As Shane opened the door, he smiled. "Great."

She nodded and walked into his apartment. "Okay, so how much of this do you have written?" 

"I've got all the lyrics; I just need a little help with the music part of it." 

"Okay, I can do that."

The rest of the night was spent helping Shane make his song into a reality. By the time the sunrise was approaching, it sounded pretty good. 

Shane told Maddie that it was a wedding song for Gebra and Maizey. Apparently they were all "witch holograms" but Gene was real and in a band called "Sweet Gene and the Risky Fixins", so they were singing a song before the hot dog witch dropped them all in the lava. 

Maddie was a little confused, but this wasn't the weirdest thing she'd ever done, so she just went with it. 

"Ryan's going to absolutely hate this," she laughed. 

"Hey, you don't know that!" 

"He hates the Hot Daga." 

"I don't think he does." 

Maddie rolled her eyes and did a few last editing touches to Shane's song. "Okay, I think it's ready. Let's give it a listen." 

She pressed play. Shane had a hard time containing himself; he was so giddy. 

She had to admit, the song was pretty good. They'd worked hard on it all night and it came out very well. 

"I can't believe the amount of work we put into this. Just for a bit." 

"Hey! The Hot Daga is not 'just a bit'!" 

Maddie yawned wide. "God, I'm tired." 

Shane nodded, rubbing his eyes. 

She started giggling. 

"What?" Shane laughed. 

"Its ridiculous that we stayed up all night doing that," Maddie laughed harder. 

Shane started laughing too. Before they knew it, they were both laughing so hard they could barely breathe. 

Once they'd regained their breath, Maddie's stomach growled loudly. 

"Ah, man, I'm hungry," she said. 

"Me too," Shane frowned. 

"I really feel like cake right now." 

"Cake?" 

"And pickles." 

Shane squinted a little and nodded. "That does sound good." 

"Like not mixed together or anything, but, like, seperate." 

"Yeah..." 

Come 10 minutes later, it was 6 am, and Maddie and Shane were wandering through a 24 hour Walmart, searching for a cake and pickles. 

When they got back in the car, birthday cake and jar of pickles in tow, Shane put his keys in the ignition but didn't turn them. 

"I just remembered that we're not supposed to drive while tired." 

Maddie nodded. "Oh yeah..." 

Their eyes fell upon a nearby 7-11. "Coffee?" Shane asked. 

As they were getting back into Shane's car, fully caffeinated, Maddie stifled a yawn and pulled her sweater sleeves over her hands. 

"Shane!" 

"What?" 

"The sun's gonna rise soon!" Maddie shifted in her seat. "We should go and see it!" 

"Good idea," he said, starting to drive towards the mountainside. 

Once they got to a good spot, they sat on the hood of Shane's car, looking out at the San Fernando Valley. 

Maddie found some forks in Shane's glovebox and brought out the cake. They ate it and talked as they waited for the sun to start creeping up over the mountains. 

The sight was truly beautiful; various oranges and pinks all blended together as the sun ascended into the sky. 

She sighed and leaned back on her elbows, gazing at the lovely view before her. 

---

A few days later, Maddie sat in the recording studio for Post Mortem. She was behind the camera with Alvin while Shane read the script of the Hot Daga. 

When it came time for their song, they had to sit in silence for a minute and 20 seconds because Shane didn't have it right there with him. Once it was over, Ryan was more annoyed than ever. 

"That was the stupidest thing I've ever had to sit through." 

"Oh, just wait 'till you hear the song." 

"I don't want to. It probably sucks." 

"It's pretty good, Ryan. Maddie helped me with it." 

Ryan looked at me with betrayal in his eyes. "You helped him create this monstrosity!?" 

Shane was silently laughing his ass off. "You haven't even heard it yet," Maddie giggled. 

"I can't believe it; my own best friend, that I've known for 11 years, helped bring this terrible song into existence." 

She giggled more. 

"You've stabbed me in the back," Ryan said. "I can't trust anyone here anymore." 

"I'm not sorry, Ry," She laughed, making eye contact with Shane and biting her lip, trying not to giggle more.

Ryan mumbled discontentedly 

Maddie laughed with Shane. Alvin even occasionally contributed a chuckle or two. Ryan just sat there, sighing. 

"Can we- are you guys done yet? Can I leave? I'm gonna leave." 

He took off his mic and got up. Alvin followed him out, leaving Shane and Maddie cracking up in the Post Mortem shoot room. 

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