a/n: thanks to pigliarjester for reminding me this one existed and that i left part 1 on a cliffhanger <3
"Shit, I gotta think about this," Joey hums. He thinks for a few seconds. "Wanna get something to eat?"
"Eh, sure," you shrug. "My treat, though."
"Good try again, Y/n. You're still coming to the shows."
"I've accepted my fate, rest assured," you chuckle. "I just want to repay you for getting the CDs."
"Fine, fine," your friend huffs.
You go to a little hole in the wall restaurant, where a middle aged man behind the counter beams when seeing Joey.
"Joey Jordison! It's been a while!" he greets.
"Hey," Joey gives a smile in return as he leads you to sit next to him on the counter.
"Who've you got with you?" the man flashes a smirk and scans you.
"I'm Y/n. Joey and I go to school together," you introduce yourself and shake the man's hand.
"Seems a bit more like you skip school together," he jokes.
"Just this once," you shrug.
Joey shakes his head next to you with a smirk, so you pretend to smack his dumbass face and push his head away a bit as he cackles. He orders a few plates of appetizers before the man behind the counter leaves you alone. When he disappears, the music changes from slow, easy listening music to a metal station.
"So you bring all your dates here?" you joke.
"Oh, is this a date now?" Joey raises an eyebrow. So that's what the real estate on his forehead is for. Man's eyebrow muscles lift pretty high.
"No, no, I just got the vibe your middle aged bestie thinks this is," you sip your drink.
"Hm, okayyy," Joey scoffs incredulously.
"Listen, if you took a shower, I might consider it. But not while I look like a frozen corpse and you're a 50's greaser."
That was a close one. In truth, you really aren't opposed at all to a date with Joey, but it's not like now is a good time to admit that.
The man returns again with two plates of apps before retrieving another plate and placing it in between you and Joey. He talks to Joey for a few minutes about his family and how they've not seen each other in ages, all the usual white people stuff.
When he leaves you two alone again, Joey turns to you.
"We might also have a few shows here," he informs.
"On what stage?" you quirk an eyebrow.
"On the floor."
"The floor?" you repeat for clarity.
"The floor," Joey confirms.
"Just checking," you hold up a hand in reassurance. "How much do you get paid per show?"
"Depends on how many people come."
"That sounds very uncertain," you muse. "Is this lucrative enough to continue pursuing?"
"Eh, the money doesn't really matter. Most of us grew up dirt fuckin' poor anyway, so we'll survive no matter what. Besides, we're still in high school and we have time before we're released to the world."
"Huh," you hum and take a bite of food.
"What?"
You hesitate for a moment. "I'm sorry if that came off condescending. I just grew up where something that wasn't lucrative wasn't worth chasing."
"No, it's fine. You at least make fun of me politely."
That sentence strikes a chord with you...haha. That was funny.
You decide to find it within yourself to push away what you've believed for your entire life and trust Joey's intuition. He's hell bent on making Slipknot a massive phenomenon. He (and his bandmates if they're anything like him) would die making Slipknot happen.
"I admire your determination. Musicians are pretty ballsy," you provide some kind of compliment.
"Thank you," Joey bites back a smile. "We've gotta be, especially with the kind of shit we do."
You and Joey talk about music and his band for about 20 more minutes until the food is gone. As you're pulling your coat on and stalking towards the door with Joey behind you, the man grabs Joey's arm and whispers to him just loud enough for you to hear, "They're a keeper."
Your brows furrow in confusion as you approach the door and pause. It takes Joey coming back up behind you for your brain to start working again and push the door out into the bitter cold.
"Alright, we went to a music store, educated you on music"-you scoff at this-"and got food. It's been a pretty productive morning," Joey says, exhaling a cloud into the winter air.
You stay quiet, waiting for something.
"And you were right about the guy thinking we were dating," he sighs.
"I know," you chuckle.
"He really wasn't quiet when he whispered, was he?"
"Nope. So what's next?"
"We've got to let that come to us. If I've learned anything from Jim and his hippie folks, it's that."
"Hm," you mumble. "How will we know when it comes to us?"
Joey approaches the drivers' side of his car while you wait on the passenger side for him to unlock it.
"Fuck, it's cold," he grits his teeth as he shivers once getting into the car.
You pull your door closed and turn the heat on. "I kinda like it."
"What kind of masochist are you?" Joey gets frustrated as his trembling and numb hand tries to adjust the knobs. You reach out to help him and feel his freezing extremities.
"Oh, god," you hum, taking Joey's hand within both of yours. He sharply inhales from the sudden warmth...and maybe because someone he may or may not have realized he's got a lil crush on is doting on him.
"Give me the other one," you motion with one hand for Joey to provide his own. He releases his grip on the steering wheel to lay his hand in yours.
He can't help the blush that scratches at his face as you warm him up. It gives him butterflies, too.
"Feel better?" you slowly release his now warm hands.
"Yeah, thanks," Joey rests one hand on the wheel and the other on the door next to him so he can look out the window. He doesn't want to let you see his blush.
"Has our next mission come to you yet?" you joke.
"Oh, right, uh..."
Joey thinks for a second, trying to recall previous things he's done on skip days that wouldn't put you off.
"Oh!" Joey snaps his fingers when he remembers something. "We could go to the animal shelter and pet the cats."
"Alright," you smile.
The drive to the shelter is pretty quick. You can feel Joey's excitement to see all the cats, and it's bleeding onto you too.
He trots up to the area where the cats are and immediately points out his favorite one, a long haired tuxedo cat with one eye. She apparently came from an abusive family and has been at the shelter for almost a year.
When the cat sees Joey, her pupils dilate and she jumps up to lean on the ledge so Joey can give her some gentle pets. She hesitates when your hand approaches, but she sniffs anyway and judges that you're a good person.
You and Joey spend about 30 more minutes at the shelter until the employee there notifies you the shelter is closing early, "so you gotta leave, man."
Joey takes you home after a bit of driving and listening to one of your new albums.
You genuinely cannot describe the feeling that comes over you as you flop on your bed. It's this mix of elation and confusion and being flustered that you don't even care to unpack. You just let it be.
Might as well skip school with him again sometime.
...
part 3?