Purple Rain

The Gamble & Risk

*Lee's POV*
The smell of weed and cigarettes fills my nose as I make my way back behind the stages to take Andy up on his offer of watching the BVB set from side stage. I pass a few people that I know and wave or smile to them as I walk by. I start to feel intense butterflies in my stomach as I spot Andy and the band, as well as some other members of other bands, Ronnie being amongst them. They are still some distance away but I make eye contact with Ronnie as I do so, and he gives what looks like a smirk.

As I get closer I can hear their laughter, and conversation. I stand at the stairs of back stage of the BVB set, letting Andy and his band finish their conversation. I didn't want to interrupt and be rude.

"Speaking of girls, I hear Andy has fallen madly in love with a certain drummer girl." Ronnie teases him. Andy is faced away from me, as well as the other guys, but Ronnie has a clear shot of me and wiggles his eyebrows mischievously, looking past Andy and right at me. I blush at his words and quickly look away from Ronnie's prying stare.

"Oh come on man, why do you always do this. I'm not in love with her." Andy responds, annoyance lacing his voice. I can tell he's smoking a cigarette because a cloud of smoke encompasses his body.

"So you're telling me, you wouldn't tap that?" Ronnie questions. Curious to how Andy responds, I listen closely, but keep my distance.

"No, Ronnie. Drop it." Andy flicks his cigarette at him.

"I don't believe you. I think you'll fuck her by the end of the summer." Ronnie continues, clearly not caring about Andy's demands to stop. I give Ronnie a puzzled look to say 'What the fuck are you doing.' Ronnie ignores me and presses on.

Andy chuckles, trying to brush it off.

Cc chimes in, "$50 he fucks her by the end of the week." He gives Andy a playful shoulder bump and Andy, to my surprise, laughs.

"This could get interesting. What do you say Andy? Want to make a bet? Make a little cash?" Ronnie asks enticingly. Andy's body shifts, he pauses for a second before answering.

"Fine. You sex addicted freaks win. $100 bucks says I can get her in bed by the end of the night." Andy confidently responds. Ronnie looks past Andy in my direction and smirks. My stomach drops, and my butterflies fly away. My throat starts to burn, signalling me that I'm about to let a few tears out. I scoff in disgust at his words. And I feel sick that Ronnie, someone I thought was a friend, would play with my emotions like it were a game.

"Well, my friend, you might want to pull out your wallet and hand me that Ben Franklin." Ronnie starts laughing loudly, pointing behind Andy in my direction. Andy, and the rest of the group, turn their bodies. When Andy's eyes meet mine and I see the look of embarrassment and shock on his face, I start to feel my eyes stinging. I shake my head and turn the opposite direction, and walk off.

*Andy's POV*

I turn to see what Ronnie is pointing at, and when I see the look of pain and disgust on Ophelia's face, my body goes cold, and I start to feel pale. I get a lump in my thoat, and then all I feel is anger. The realization that Ronnie set me up, and Ophelia had heard the whole conversation has my blood boiling and pumping. My heart beat thumps in my chest as I spin back around to confront Ronnie.

"You fucking asshole." I spit, venom seeping through my tone. Ronnie holds his hands up in defesne. I turn back around and watch as Ophelia starts to walk away. I quickly try to catch up with her.

"Lee!" I say loudly as I follow behind her.

"Andy we have a show to play in 20 minutes, man!" Jake shouts behind, but I don't care, I keep after Ophelia.

"Lee, please, stop!" I shout again, I reach closer to her and stick out my arm and grab her hand, spinning her around. When she turns, I can see a few tears traveling down her cheeks, and it sends a sharp pain to my heart. The whites around her baby blue eyes are now slightly red. She refuses to meet my gaze.

"I'm not an object Andy, you don't get to put a price on me. And you don't get to decide if I sleep with you or not. I'm not a slut." She says softly, looking down at the ground, wiping the stray tears off her cheeks. She rips her hand from my grip angrily, and finally looks me in my eyes. Her body stiffens, and straightens. "I respected you."

Her words slice the air and take my breath away. I feel my throat start to close in on itself. I search for anything to say, but I come up empty. I'm ashamed, and embarrassed that I let the best of the locker room talk get away from me, and more importantly, that I hurt her by regretfully endulging my band mates and friends at the expense of her worth.

"Ophelia, I am so sorry." Is all I can muster. There is no excuse great enough for disrespecting her, whether it was behind her back or not.

"Had I not heard you, would you have made an effort to fuck me tonight for that $100?"

I shake my head back and forth, pushing my hair out of my face as I do so. "No, Ophelia, no, of course I wouldn't have! I wasn't going to take the bet seriously. It was locker room talk." I say softly reaching out for her hand to try to reassure her someway. She pulls her hand back though, not allowing me to touch her. I don't blame her.

"You have a show to get too. Don't-" she puts her hand out in front of her as if to put a barrier between us, "don't follow me." She demands. I watch her walk away from me, and I let out a long breath, I didn't realize I was holding. When she's out of view I angrily kick a folding chair that's off to my side, and let out a loud "Fuck!" I take a few seconds to compose myself before heading back to the band to get ready for a set, I'm not sure I can make it through.