The GEEKs

7. mirror mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?

"Where's Jerry?"

"On the phone with his girlfriend." I answer before lifting my eyes to look at Sean who just walked into the room with a blue haired chick clinging to his arm. A couple more girls follow them in as I watch and disrupt the silence that Layne and I have been sitting in with their chattering.

"Girlfriend?" One of the girls ask, obviously not very pleased judging by the tone of her voice.

"He doesn't really have one, it's complicated." Sean waves her off and grabs himself a beer from our half empty case sitting between two amps. "So who's going to OK tonight?"

"Me, me!" Layne raises his hand without tearing his eyes off a magazine in his lap.

"Mike?"

"I don't know, maybe." I answer with a shrug tapping my fingers against my bass fretboard.

"Got anything better to do?" Sean asks, clearly under the impression that he knows I don't.

Actually, I'm not really sure myself. I could go with them, see some bands, most likely score with some chick, have a good night and just enjoy myself, or... I could go to Rock Candy to see Gwen and pick her up after she finishes her shift, which greatly decreases my chances of getting laid tonight, since that girl loves nothing more than torturing me. But I like that, for some fucking reason I'm really into that whole chasing game. Maybe I'm bored of most chicks putting out left and right, which sounds fucking stupid. Who the fuck wants things to be difficult when they can be so easy? And yet, it makes sense. Gwen keeps me on my toes. I get a second chance, but she brings her fucking roommate on a date. I can cop a feel while we're making out, but my hands can't wander too much. She looks nice for me, but she doesn't let me see everything. She tells me about shit from her past, like guys and friends, but she keeps me at an arm's length.

"No, yeah, I'll go." I can do both I guess. "So are we gonna play now or what?"

"Well we have to wait for our blondie, don't we? No offence, Layne. Nothing against blondes." Sean pats our singer on the head and sits down behind his drums.

"He could be on the phone literally for hours, you know." I point out.

"Go get him then."

"You go get him."

"Layne, go get him."

"Get off my back, Sean. You have two legs."

"I'll get him." One of the girls volunteers excitedly but I stop her.

"On second thought, I'm gonna do it." I put my bass down and make a beeline for the door. I figure I might as well just call Gwen right now and see what she's planning, I know I'm just gonna be thinking about that while we rehearse if I don't do it.

I walk out of our rehearsal room into a corridor reeking of piss and weed and turn left and go down the stairs to an excuse of a lobby. Jerry's leaning his shoulder against a wooden barrier and pressing the receiver of one of the three payphones to his ear when I get there, and I go straight for one as well. It's pretty early still, Gwen should be home. I dial her number and wait a few seconds before someone picks up.

"First circle of hell. How can I help you?"

"Um... Hey, is Gwen there?"

Gwen's roommate takes her time before answering, I guess being a huge fucking weirdo slows you down, and for a moment all I can hear is Jerry's voice mumbling something about distance and second chances. "Yeah. Hang on a sec, I'll get her." She finally says without the initial casualness in her voice.