Kit
Saturday
Marlowe helped me pick my outfit that evening. Skirt and tights with my Rancid shirt. You can't go wrong. I paired the outfit with my converse and big hoop earrings.
Marlowe pretended to wipe a tear from her eye. "Off on a date! All grown up."
I rolled my eyes. She was allowed to make all the jokes she liked about Tony and I, but when I mentioned her burning, Shakespeare-esque passion for Micheal Way, she got mad.
Downtime were the band we were going to see. I heard they called quite a crowd down from NYC and all around Jersey. They were playing in The Hive. I'd never been before. I didn't think I'd ever go to The Hive. It was one of those places you couldn't really go to as a young woman, even in a group. It wasn't safe. At all. I couldn't count on my fingers how many horror stories I'd heard about The Hive, but The Misfits played there all the time in the 70s, so I always felt like that was calling me there.
Tony got me from my house, seven o'clock sharp, a few houses down the block so my Mom didn't suspect I was leaving with a boy. His car was black, kind of low and was definitely more expensive than something my parents would buy for me.
He gave me a big smile when I got in. The smell of woody, tobaccoey cologne was strong. He kept his left hand on the wheel and used his right to turn down the stereo, which was playing some band I didn't recognise.
"Hey Kit." He smiled, chewing on some gum.
"Hi!" I beamed, buckling my seatbelt.
The car rumbles to a start, revving loudly.
"Hey, listen Kit." He began, changing gears. "The Hive is really dangerous, I'm not trying to baby you or anything, I know you've been to lots of gigs, but it's easy to get hurt or bump into the wrong kind of person. So I'll stay with you tonight, okay? I won't be drinking, and I don't think it's a good idea for you to get drunk— Not that you can't drink if you want to, just be careful. I'll bring ya home and I'll make sure you're okay."
I felt a grin grow on my face. That was really nice of him. It was the bare necessities, but I always said that in a world where the bare necessary are rare, meeting and exceeding them is trophy worthy.
"Thank you Tony." I reached over and squeezed his hand. "I'm not really a drinker anyways."
We chatted for most of the car drive, he parked around the corner from The Hive, presumably he didn't want his car broken into or jumped on, or whatever people that go to The Hive do to an unattended Pontiac.
The breeze was warm on my exposed arms. Tony stayed close to my side, I felt his urge to hold my hand or wrap an arm around me, but if anything happened during our first time hanging out, I would like it to be him initiating it and not me.
The street is full. There's a queue that's about fifty people long, and the bouncer looks like he could squish me with his thumb. I looked at Tony to try and read his expression, but he didn't look fazed. I saw him wave at someone at the front of the bar and he let out a "Yes!" through his teeth.
We made our way past the line of drunk punks and under the barrier to Tony's friend, smoking a cigarette up front. An unfortunately familiar face. The guy who spilled my drink.
"Hey man!" Tony hugged the guy. "You guys opening tonight?"
The guy took a look at me, remembering who I was. He offered Tony a cigarette, which he declined. "Yeah, man. We're on at Eight." He exhaled a plume of smoke. "Who's your friend?"
Tony pulled me over closer by my shoulder. "Oh, yeah, how could I forget? Frank, this is Kit. Kit, Frank. Kit is a friend of Mikey's."
"Nice to meet you Frank." I forced a smile, mustering up some politeness despite my reservations.
"You too, Kit." He gave me the same weak smile I shot him first, and I can sense that Tony might even recognise the distaste.
"Kit has never been to The Hive before, isn't that crazy?" Tony began, trying to take the conversation somewhere.
I nod, agreeing. I rocked on my heels, hoping Tony would take me inside and away from Frank.
"You're better off." Frank laughed, stubbing a cigarette out on the brick wall beside him.
"Can we go inside?" I ask, directing my question towards Tony.
He nods and we, accompanied by Frank head inside, we find a seat at the back by the red carpeted pool table. The stench of beer and rubber are strong on the air, I wonder why I ever chose to be a punk when I could be sipping daiquiris in some hotel bar with shiny tile floors and little umbrellas in the drinks.
"I'm gonna head to the bar. You guys want anything?" Tony pointed at Frank and I.
Frank requested something with whiskey, I opted for a coke.
"Stay with Kit, okay Frank?" Tony points before disappearing into the crowd.
Frank and I sat by ourselves in silence for a moment. I wondered how long it would take Tony to come back.
"Hey, um.. Kit." Frank said in a level tone.
I looked up at him. "Yeah?"
He sighed and lost my eye contact. "I'm sorry about being a dick at the Heckle gig. I'll get you a drink later."
I smiled, happy that he apologised. "Thank you. I'm sorry for insulting your seven legged scorpion. I actually think he's quite cool." I reached out my hand and touched the side of Frank's neck. He startled slightly at my touch before thanking me.
"I like your Rancid shirt." He pointed at my T-shirt.
It was pink, and sort of girly, so I often got asked to name three songs, when I could actually name their whole discography backwards if I wanted to.
"Thank you. I like the Against Me! shirt you were wearing the last time I saw you. They're a really good band." I tuck of strand of hair behind my ear.
Frank laughed. "You didn't want to tell me that then, huh?" He stuck his tongue in his cheek, shaking his head. "I saw 'em live in Washington last summer."
"No fucking way! I was at that gig!" I leaned forward on my chair, the both of us laughing.
"Were you the girl that crowd-surfed?" Frank questioned and I laughed even harder than I already was, trying to nod through my giggles.
Frank laughed too, he told me all about how I picked him up a couple of times in the mosh pit when I fell. I couldn't believe it.
When our laughter finished, we went silent for a second. I tried my best to remember anything from that night in Washington, but I really couldn't. I had drank a lot of spirits, hence my courage to jump on stage and scream a few lyrics before jumping into the arms of the crowd.
"So.. um. Are you and Tony together?" Frank folded his arms and leaned back. I couldn't tell if he was flirting or just genuinely curious.
"No, no. We only met last night. Just getting to know each other, that's all." I shrugged. In fact, little did Frank know, I knew more about Tony than he probably did.
"Well, I can tell you this-" Frank beckons me with his hand, I lean in and he comes close to my ear. "Tony can be a fucking asshole when he wants to be."
I leaned back and furrowed my brow. What the fuck? I thought this guy was one of Tony's friends.
"Huh?" I questioned, utterly confused, before Frank kicked my leg under the table.
"God, that queue was a fucking joke." Tony sighs, sliding Frank and I our respective drinks.
I sipped slowly, nodding and engaging with the chat at the table about all things punk related. I could feel Frank's green eyes staring me down, and he didn't even try to hide it.
"Kit works at Joey's, remember that blue Les Paul copy I was telling you about?" Tony asked Frank.
Frank stopped. "You work at Joey's?"
I quickly swallowed the soda that was in my mouth and nodded. "Yeah.. You come in often?"
"Um.. Yeah.. No. Not really. Just-Um.. No. I don't" Frank stumbled on his words for a while.
Tony and I exchanged a look. Only now that it had been mentioned, I could sense something in the air between the boys. Some kind of tension, I'm not sure of what though.
"I'm gonna go sound check." Frank broke the silence before he got out of the booth seat and headed upstairs to the stage.
"Was he being strange with you?" Tony leans in to me as soon as Frank is out of earshot.
"No, no. Of course not. We got on great, actually." I sip my drink. I wanted to test if Frank hating Tony was a one way street, and it didn't seem to be.
"Mkay." Is all Tony can say.
I wondered why they pretended to like each other. I thought that was a thing that only girls do.
Tony and I talked for about twenty minutes, we even caught a game of pool. I learned that night that I cannot play pool, and even though Tony tried to let me win, I still lost.
We made our way upstairs and watched Pencey Prep play. Frank gave me a wave before they started their first song. I nodded my head to the music, Tony even joined in. They pulled quite a crowd for the openers. Tony told me that that's all that Pencey Prep really were, an opening band.
"Everyone starts somewhere. You gotta be an opening band for a while." I shrugged.
Tony nods, leaning into me. "Sure, you're not wrong. But they've been nothing but an opening band for the past two years. They've only had one headlining show."
I didn't really know what to say to that. I felt like Tony was being a little bit mean. All I could do was think about what happened between him and Frank, like who's side was I going to pick. I wondered if there was a page in Tony's diary about what Frank had done that I just hadn't gotten to yet.
I looked around and saw everyone enjoying their set and thought that I would much rather be a really fun, dancey opener than a pretentious headliner. They played song after song, and nobody stopped dancing for a second.
"This song is called Yesterday. It's our final song of the night. We've been Pencey Prep, thank you."
Yesterday. I remembered that song from last time. It was good. Very fucking good.
Frank pulled his white Stratocaster off of his body, wiping away the sweat on his forehead. He packed his gear up carelessly and quickly, before hopping off the stage to Tony and I.
"What'd you think?" He grinned.
"You sounded really good, Frank." I answered. He looked pretty confident, and I sensed he didn't need any reassuring.
"How 'bout a drink, Kit?" Frank raised a brow.
I followed him to the bar, leaving Tony behind. I shouted back to Tony, telling him I'd be back in just a minute.
"You don't like alcohol, do ya Kit?" Frank leaned up on the bar and I shook my head.
His face was red and his hair looked damp with sweat, although he still smelled strongly of men's body spray and cigarettes. He got me a coke and stopped me before we could walk back to Tony.
"I know you came here with Tony tonight, but I don't think you should go home with him." He said, as low as possible, yet loud enough that I could hear him.
"Who do you think I am?!" My voice is louder than his, high pitched. I was offended. Like as if I'd be going home with a guy I met the night before, and even if I was, why was I letting Mr Pencey Prep tell me if I shouldn't?
"No, Shush, Kit. I didn't mean it like that." He leans close to me, non verbally asking me to meet his eyes, his green ones flicking around my face to find my expression. "He's not a good guy, and I know you don't know me, but ya gotta listen to me." His voice was a low, trusthworthy hum. It was comforting and warm. He said everything so clearly and slowly.
"I-I don't even.." I found it hard to find my words, but Frank made sure I didn't have to.
He pressed me up against the bar with his body and pressed a firm kiss to my lips. His right hand rested on my cheek. Just as I started to settle in to the kiss, Frank pulled away, or should I say: Frank got pulled away.
"She came here with me, what the fuck is wrong with you?" Tony held Frank by the collar of his shirt.
Frank shoved Tony away and I knew then and there it wasn't something I wanted any part of. I didn't even really know either of those boys. I turned on my heels and made it down the stairs to the front door before I heard a voice call my name.
"You're not walking home." Frank catches up to me and rested his hand on my shoulder. "Not alone anyway."