-Jeff Healey Band, Angel Eyes-
The last weekend before our next tour we were gathered at my house. My mum and Josh were out for the evening.
Oddball, Ethan, Selma and Evan were sat in the living room. We were planning to watch a movie and relax before going back into rock star life.
Simon was sat in the kitchen, placed within view of the others but not looking up. He looked like he was preparing for the world to end, not go on a tour.
I walked in and sat down oposite him.
His blue eyes locked on mine.
He looking nervous.
Terrified.
But at the same time there was a softness there. As if he was trying not to smile.
He was chewing on his lip as if he was looking for words.
"I don't know what to do, Izzy," he muttered.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
He drew a deep breath and a shaky exhale.
"First of all... You were right," he said.
"About what?" I asked.
"About me not being in love with you. I mean... I care about you. But that crush I had on you when I was 16... I think I just hung on to it and made it more than it was," he said.
"Well done, Sherlock. So what brought on this revelation?" I asked feeling a smirk on my face.
He looked sheepish.
"You know we were doing that scene for the first video? I spent most of that day wondering why I wasn't turned on. Why I wasn't more exited. I mean. It was fun. But nothing more," he said.
I nodded.
"When I thought I was in love with you. It was comfortable. Safe. You were safe. I thought that was it," he said quietly.
I sat there, not saying anything. Waiting for the next bit.
"I didn't know it could be like this!" He sighed and rubbed his face with his hands.
I felt a slow smile spread across my face.
Simon looked as if he was half in pain while the rest of him wanted to do cartwheels.
I reached across and took his hand. He returned my smile.
"It's like the oxygen is sucked out of the room. And all I see is her," he whispered with his hand indicating the living room.
His eyes took on a sad look and his smile faded.
"I've always wanted this. Be a rock band on a real tour. With our own music videos. Promo stuff. Album release. But now.... I am thinking about the six months of touring and all I can think about is it will be six months without her.... and it's killing me!" He sighed.
There was a vulnerability about him I had never seen before.
Suddenly he looked up at me with a stricken expression.
"Fuck. Ethan is going to kill me!" He said.
"For what?" I asked, fighting down a smirk.
"I've always been such a fuck up with girls. I know how to get them into bed. But that's where it stops. Ethan has been my wingman enough times to know that... And now... Fuck... Izzy..." Simon panicked.
I looked over towards the other room where Oddball and Evan were telling the other two about some mystery date Evan had taken Oddball on to celebrate their anniversary.
So cute.
Ethan was laughing. Selma was sat picking at a nail looking completely crushed. I looked back at Simon, who's eyes were on her.
He turned back to me.
"What am I supposed to do?" He asked.
"Ask her out?" I said.
He shook his head forcefully.
"What if she said no! I mean... it's not like I'm worth a chance, is it," he said with panic lacing his voice.
"Look. Two things. First. You've known Selma since she was 13. You know this girl. She knows you well enough to separate the famous prat from the real you.
Second. I could put you through hell letting you figure this out on your own, but you see that heavy look on her face? She's here to say goodbye to the guy she's in love with and she hasn't even looked at him yet," I said.
Simon looked around, counting people.
Her brother.
Two gay guys...
...And him.
While Simon did his mental math, I locked eyes with Ethan. He still took my breath away with that happy smile. My fingers itched to touch his hair. To touch all of him.
"How did you know?" Simon asked, pulling me back to reality.
"I've never seen you look at anyone like that before," I smiled softly.
He had been completely obsessed. Shifting between happy and tense when she was there and distracted and weird when she was not.
Ethan came into the kitchen and sat next to me. I instinctively reached for him, releasing a sigh as we touched. The final piece of me was in place as soon as his skin touched mine. It wasn't even sexual. It was existential.
I slept better at night with him curled around my body than I ever had.
"What's up?" Ethan asked with a curious smile.
Simon drew a breath.
"I'm dreading this tour," he muttered.
"Why?" Ethan asked, fully aware of Simon's pain.
"What would you do if Izzy wasn't in Obstruction and you had to leave her behind?" Simon asked.
Ethan looked at me.
"I wouldn't. I couldn't," he said.
I smiled back knowing that we were one of those disgustingly loved up couples. Give us ten years and we'd be wearing matching t-shirts.
"See... you belong together. Deserve each other," Simon said seriously.
I reached across and took Simon's hand again. He looked at me as if I could fix everything.
"I really don't deserve her!" He said.
"Yes, you do," I replied with a smile.
"Help?" He asked softly.
Ethan grinned next to me as he exchanged a look with Oddball. There was a realisation going through my brain that the three of us were sneaky little shits, but we all knew Simon would do nothing without a hefty push.
Oddball leaned over and whispered something in Selma's ear at the same time as Simon started suspecting foul play.
His eyes flickered between Ethan and me, probably registering how we were holding back laughter before he dared a look over at Oddball.
"It would be unfair to let her wait for you to make a move," I said as Selma's head slowly lifted and she turned to look over.
Simon's eyes were still on me as he sat looking terrified. He turned to look at Selma, who was looking at him and suddenly his face relaxed into a questioning smile towards Selma.
"Taking hints doesn't run in our family," Ethan said as he stood and patted Simon's shoulder.
I stood too and headed for the door to our basement.
I threw a look at Selma who had her eyes fixed on Simon with wide eyed surprise.
Simon suddenly stood up and walked across to her, where he more or less fell to his knees in front of her. She was still sat in an armchair so even lifted up, the top of Simon's head only reached her chin in height. His face was tilted up towards hers and the denim blue of his eyes took on a sky blue as he looked into her golden brown.
"Selma," he whispered as if her name would answer every question.
I had never seen that look in Simon's eyes before.
"Selma... I have never done this before. I wish I knew what to say," he sighed and took her hands between his.
"Done what?" Selma asked, understanding dawning in her eyes.
Simon drew a deep breath.
"I just want to see you happy. I want to share disgusting icecream with you in the middle of winter and make you hot chocolate in the summer. I can't do six months without you. Please come with me. Even if it's not as PA. Just be with me," he pleaded.
Her hand lifted to cup his cheek as she studied his eyes for the sincerity she wanted.
"Please," he whispered.
The rest of us suddenly realised we were infringing on a private moment. I noticed the way Selma's eyes were glued to Simon's and how his hands were on her waist.
"They know where to find us," Oddball said as the four of us went downstairs.
"That was an astonishing display of teamwork," Evan laughed as we sat in my old lounge.
"Yeah well... I got my fun out of these two. Couldn't do that long painful wait again," Oddball grinned thumbing to Ethan and me.
"You know you could have said something?" I said.
"Yeah... but you both told me not to..." he grinned.
Ethan looked at me sheepishly.
I started laughing again before snuggling up to him.
Fifteen minutes later there were two sets of footsteps on the stairs and Simon and Selma emerged holding hands.
"And?" Oddball asked.
Simon turned to Selma with the sweetest smile I had ever seen on his face.
Selma looked back at him and Simon's face cracked into an even bigger smile.
"I'm kinda stealing our PA," he grinned.
"But... I'm not PA... I quit, remember?" Selma laughed.
"Wanna fix that?" I asked and pulled her resignation letter from my bag.
"But... you should have given that to Mr. Summers!" Selma said.
"Let's just say I forgot," I replied with a wink.
"So I'm still PA?" Selma asked.
"By the look of it, a bit more personal to one of us, but yeah.... we never even looked for a new one so I hope your bags are packed," Oddball grinned.
Simon mouthed a quick 'thanks ' to me. I nodded carefully back.
"You'd better treat her like a princess!" Ethan said with a smile.
"You know I will," Simon muttered.
"Cos nobody will find your body if you don't. Bassists are replaceable," Ethan grinned.
Simon grinned back in some kind of mutual understanding.
"So? Dinner?" He asked Selma.
"We could just stay here," Selma said.
"Anything you want, Princess," Simon murmured into her hair as he pulled her to him.
I watched how his arms wrapped around her and his eyes closed as he buried his face in her hair. He didn't even register us watching as her face turned to him, gently rubbing their cheeks and her hand ran through his hair. With a small chuckle she pulled his hair tie out of his ponytail, causing his hair to curtain around them, almost hiding them from our view. He opened his eyes and rested his forehead on hers.
"Guess that sorts you out for a date for the MTV-awards," Ethan grinned.
"Oh, yeah. Almost forgot about that," Simon muttered and straightened.
He looked between us and Selma.
"I mean... it's up to you if you wanna stay off the press radar," he told her.
"It's another month away. You have time to decide," I shrugged.
"What will you do if I don't go?" Selma asked.
"Penelope has probably already got a date set up for me, but if you're not going with me, I'll go stag," Simon grinned.
"Obstruction-Simon going stag? The gossip press will go crazy!" Oddball laughed.
"Why?" Simon asked.
"Because you've been with a new girl every event we've been to for the past year," I laughed.
"Well.. that's going to change," he grinned.
Selma looked playfully sceptical with her face towards Simon.
"What's on your mind," I asked.
"Just wondering if it was Simon Frye or Obstruction-Simon who just made a big fat charming speech upstairs," she grinned.
The blush and weird vulnerability on Simon's face had her wrapping her arms around him.
"I'm thinking you have Simon Frye," Oddball laughed.
"Obstruction-Simon would never be that self concious," Ethan grinned.
"Yeah... that public one is a bit of a cocky bastard," Selma smirked at Simon.
He grinned at her before leaning down to kiss her quickly.
"Wrong. You have all of me," he murmured into her hair and clutched her to him with a very happy smile.
I wanted to jump and cheer for my best friend.
A few weeks later, we were in Milan for the MTV-awards. Us four Obstruction members were asked to pose separately and as a group at the posing station.
I had phoned Vero from my first year at the Academy and she had designed a really cute dress for me to wear.
To the side were Selma, also in a Vero original, and Evan, looking bewildered by all the attention. As our photos were done, Simon went over to Selma and took her hand to lead her indoors.
"Who's your date?" A journalist shouted next to a TV camera labelled with a logo for a famous entertainment network.
Simon exchanged a look with Selma who subtly nodded back.
"This is my girlfriend, Selma" he told the journalist with a mischievous smirk. Suddenly all the cameras were turned to them. To my surprise it looked like Simon and Selma had prepared for the reaction, because they posed together with confidence. Selma was beaming smiles at Simon and he held his arm around her. There may even have been a few kisses for the cameras.
"Huh.... Two years in and we're still waiting to be that level of official," Ethan laughed.
"Penny's gonna have a fit," I replied.
"Don't bet on it," Oddball grinned and pointed out all the journalists swarming towards us with questions about the new romance.
I posed between Oddball and Ethan for a few photos, before Simon sauntered over with Selma and a wide grin.
"Cheeky bastard!" I laughed.
He just laughed and gave me a hug. We posed for another few photos before walking into the building.
Once inside, Evan and Selma were shown to their seats while we met up with Dylan. Our single 'The End of the world' was having it's world premiere and we were the first live act on with our brand new video in the background.
Dylan had us dressed up in ripped, dirty looking clothes. My leather jeans had safety pins down the sides instead of seams. My top was an off shoulder fishnet thing over a corset.
On my feet were a brand new pair of Doc Martens, designed by myself as part of my endorsement deal. These ones were in rainbowcolours designed to look like they had been dipped in an oil slick.
The guys were equally ripped and torn with Ethan even wearing a gunbelt over a pair of distactingly tight jeans.
They all wore my design Doc Martens boots.
I looked Ethan over with a smirk.
He ran a finger over my naked hip assessing my outfit.
"I swear you just get better and better," he whispered into my ear with a mischievous smile.
"I love you too," I replied and kissed him.
I studied him carefully and saw the flirting hid a paleness. He was extremely nervous.
Not only were we opening the show, our part opened with a black stage and a single spotlight on Ethan coming up on a hydraulic platform through the stage floor. Ethan was opening the whole MTV music awards on his own, with a solo, alone on stage.
His usual stagenerves were diminished from our years of practice, but this was enormous.
I kissed him again.
"You're gonna destroy them!" I told him before we band-huddled as we normally did.
Oddball ran up to sit at the drums in darkness, Simon, Ethan and I took up positions on our platforms, waiting to be lifted up.
Simon wore a little smile as he got his bass in his hands from a stagehand.
He was supposed to enter the stage with it resting on the floor and his hands holding it at the top of the neck, invoking ideas of a knight with a sword.
"What have you got planned?" I asked.
He grinned back and flipped the bass around to show two intertwined S's painted on the back of it, made to look like a heart.
"Subtle," I laughed.
"Well... My best friend told me once that I would be hit hard," he grinned.
Ethan shook his head with a laugh as the stage manager called out the count down for live broadcast.
Ethan drew a breath, waited for his signal and started the impressive intro to "The End of the World" while being raised up into the light.
Simon turned the back of the bass, with his little love declaration towards the audience and I stood as instructed back to back with Simon. with a black guitar made to look like it had been mauled by something ferocious, complete with scratchmarks. I signalled the stage assistant to turn my headset microphone on, ready to start singing, fighting back a laugh at Simon's sudden soft side.
We slowly rose up to the stage, Ethan was there, fully illuminated. The deep focus on his face, teamed with his outfit and the way his hair swayed as he moved had me mesmerised.
This man was all mine!
In a flash of light, Oddball hit the bassdrum and the platform turned, with Simon and me on it, finally revealing us fully to the crazy amount of people and cameras. I heard exited screams as several fans spotted Simon's bass.
I was hoping Selma was seeing how smitten Simon actually was. For the past month he'd been a perfect boyfriend, opening doors, serving her first, kissing her at every opportunity.
And Selma had blossomed. She was always touching Simon, never without a smile.
They had regained their flirty behaviour, and taken it to the next level. The attraction between them was raised and there was no doubt in my mind that Simon had finally found a way to live with his own heart. I was so happy for them both.
On four large screens were separate close ups of us before it on the next drumbeat changed to show our video. On each screen we were, larger than life and either running from danger or playing on top of a world famous place.
For the next few minutes we did our thing. Ethan and I walked on the catwalk area to stand back to back as rehearsed during soundcheck. As we turned to face each other before the double guitar battle between us, Ethan gave me a very unsubtle wink, completely unscripted. But the crowd loved it.
I turned to see Simon on my other side, ready for the bass-heavy bridge of the song. I stood straight, facing the crowd while clapping my hands over my head.
Once I had the audience going, I sang the bridge part with Simon and Odd playing. Ethan was stood next to me clapping over his head.
"You say you want to save my soul.
Too late, my friend
I already gave it to rock and roll,
There's a fire running through my heart,
Burning the purity,
Frying my innocence,
Incinerating me,
Preparing me,
for
The end of the world," I sang as the heavy bass rung out.
I smiled at Simon who tried to hide his happy smile while playing the dark, heavy tune.
The three of us returned to the main stage for the final chorus before we bowed to the resounding applause and cheers.
"Welcome to Milan and the MTV-AWARDS!" The host cheered from the award part of the stage.
We hurried down to change back into our red carpet wear and to find our seats in the audience.
We watched and applauded as awards were handed out and other bands and artists performed their songs.
I turned to see Ethan smile brightly at me.
I returned the smile with a questioning look. It was answered by him taking my hand and kissing it.
"If they are out there, so are we," he whispered.
I squeezed his hand back and relaxed into the blissful barrage of butterflies in my middle.
Simon leaned over and poked my shoulder.
"Best newcomer is up next," he whispered exitedly as a cameraman came up and framed us for the nominee screen. I had Simon next to me, Ethan on my other side and Oddball next to Ethan. Just out of shot were Selma and Evan.
The guest host presenting the best newcomer award was none other than Anna, the actress from the film who Simon had dated. I saw him fight back a cringe so I grabbed his hand to make it look like nerves.
"The nominees for best newcomer are: Stormtrooper, Sweet Briar, Heavenly Fruitcakes and Obstruction!" She cheereed allowing for cheers and a short clip from a video of each band between announcing the names before the screens split into close ups of all of us. I gave a quick thumbs up to Sweet Briar over across the aisle from our seats and received a smile back.
Anna looked into the audience, winking cheekily towards Simon, before opening the envelope.
She looked at it with an exited squeal.
"Without playing favourites, the winner is... Obstruction!" She shouted while skipping around like a manic five year old at a birthday party.
I looked around at my bandmates in disbelief. Oddball was already on his feet, tugging on Ethan. We stood up, my hand still clutching Ethan's as we made our way up to the stage.
Anna rushed up to Simon to give him the first hug, obviously not aware of Selma's status. He hugged her back quickly before lumping her over to Oddball. In Simon's hand was the award. A big heavy metal object.
I realised my hand was still holding Ethan so I turned to look at him. Without really thinking I tiptoed up for a quick kiss before turning to the audience again and was reminded of where we were by the wolf whistles. Ethan blushed self conciously.
"Ah...well. Guess that makes you official," Oddball laughed and stepped up to the microphone.
"Thank you so much. We're so grateful for this award and probably have a bunch of people that deserve a mention. Mr. Summers, thanks for believing in us, Penny and Dylan for making us look this good, our families and the people we love for always supporting us and Dave the sound guy for making us sound so ace!" Odd said into the mike while Simon was doing dodgy weight lifting exercises with the award.
Ethan's arm was firmly around my waist as we made our way down and I leaned happily into him. We sat and Simon immediately gave Selma a kiss, fully aware of the cameras still on us.
I chuckled and turned to rub noses with Ethan who just smiled back at me. We knew that our moment was being snapped up and posted online, but I didn't care. Slowly I lifted my hand to his face and gave him a soft kiss.
"Celebrations later, guys!" Odd laughed next to us.
"Oh shut it gay-boy! We just won an award and my girl wants to kiss me," Ethan grinned.
Next to Oddball, Evan was shaking his head at our antics.
"You want some too? Huh?" Oddball grinned and turned to him.
"Later," Evan said with a wink.
Oddball's grin slowly slipped into a soft smile as he took Evan's hand, respecting his discomfort with the whole public affection issue.
By the end of the evening we walked away with another award for best album and best single as well as the best newcomer.
The after-party was full of famous people. I laughed as I saw Simon blundering like a schoolboy when Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers sat next to him to discuss bassriffs.
Ethan almost melted when he spotted Slash over in a corner.
Suddenly Selma nudged me.
"Over to the right. Hoobastank," she muttered with a laugh.
I was reminded of our silly girly talk before our first makeover and found myself giggling as I spotted Doug Robb.
"No way! You're staying right here!" Ethan grumbled with a laugh and tightened his grip on me.
I looked him up and down, as if evaluating the body in front of me.
I raised my eyes to meet his and was again mesmerised by the swirls of golden brown in the gray.
"I've got something much better," I said.
Suddenly I heard a gasp and Selma was tugging on my arm.
"Ja-hared Leto..." she stuttered.
Her eyes were wide as she looked across the room. She was utterly star struck.
"Go talk to him?" I suggested.
"No. Fucking. Way! I'd faint!" She grinned.
Simon, having spotted Selma's grin, was torn between going to her and continuing his bass conversation with his big idol. Selma looked at him with a smile before blowing him a kiss. He smiled and nodded back before going back to the bass-nerding.
"He's so scared of losing you," I teased.
"I'll make him prove it later," she winked and received an "ewww" from Ethan.
"I mean... In that suit? And his hair down? Dayum!" Selma laughed and looked at Simon.
If her eyes had sparkled at seeing Jared Leto, those stars dimmed compared to the fireworks going on when she looked at Simon.
"Too much information, baby sister!" Ethan grinned.
"I don't care, big bro!" She replied.
"Leave her alone. She's in love," I giggled and kissed Ethan again.
"Yeah. With the one guy I told myself I'd never want," Selma smirked with a soft look towards Simon who was deep in bass-nerd heaven.
I reached out and pulled her into a warm hug.
"I'm so happy he finally got his act together," I told her.
She looked over at Simon, exchanging a little smile with him before she smiled at me.
"The ultimate Obstruction groupie, huh? My brother, my boyfriend and my best girlfriend all in the same band," she giggled.
I looked at her in surprise.
"Or should I say sister?" She asked with a cocked eyebrow.
(A/N.
Ok.
So two Simon and Selma focused epilogue chapters. I had to give Simon a happy ending...
I will be back with some more Ethan and Izzy stuff. Can't let these guys go! I love them too much.
Anyway.
In a short while, there will be a spin off/part two set twenty years down the line. It's still in a sketch status, but I promise more fun and games with Obstruction. It's darker, we get a bit more personal and find out about their flaws and weaknesses.
The title is to be decided.)