Thnks Fr Th Mmrs

"You can only feel better if you use your words to express your feelings," Kai explained, taking on a mocking tone of a psychologist. "Don't keep your feelings bottled up. Go punch a pillow or something if you're not going to talk to me."

~*~

"High school...?" Valerie murmured. "Ethan's an antisocial person, so I can rarely get him to speak to me about past things at all. But that's a good idea! All right, I'm going to go into 'investigation mode'! I'll call you when I find out something interesting, all right?"

"That sounds good. I'll try the same." Tara said, snapping her phone shut as she made her way to her trailer, where her filing cabinet was waiting.

***

"There's a girl involved," Ethan said, not wanting to say much else, "But it's not quite a girlfriend problem." He took the cigarette out of his mouth, sighing as he looked around the cramped trailer, "Oh, I must be getting your trailer all smoky," he said, trying to sound apologetic, but his voice instead came out as a monotone. He made no move to get up, however, and simply lay on the bed with a cigarette in his mouth, looking quite pathetic.

"I don't feel like going to my trailer to my punch my pillow!" Scott whined, the tears started to stream down his cheeks. "Can I just punch you instead?!"

*~*~*

Parker narrowed his eyes at his friend, but sighed, knowing he wasn't going to get anymore out of him. "No, it's fine. You're over here so much, so I've gotten used to the smoke. Besides, some chicks dig it when my trailer smells smoky." He flashed a toothy grin at the singer. "So... we have a tour with whom?"

"What?! NO! No punching humans!" Kai pried the hysterically crying young man off of him. "Take a chill pill, all right? Settle down! I'll take you to your trailer, and when we get there, I expect everything in full detail." Kai scooped up his friend bridal-style, despite protests, and stalked off to find said trailer.

~*~

Valerie nodded, and closed her phone gently. She wandered back off into the direction of the trailers, found hers, and began looking through some files.

In momentary shock, Ethan tumbled off the bed, landing face down (Which, by the way, effectively put out the cigarette that he was so worried about) on the metal floor. He gave Parker a look of disgust, then said, "You brought girls in here, and you let me lay on your bed anyway?! I don't care how many times you clean it, I don't want to be on any surface on which my friend screwed someone!"

Once his mini freak-out was over, he remembered Parker's other question, "Oh, yeah. We're touring with Scott Copeland and his band." he told him, then muttered a few choice expletives under his breath.

"Guys have needs," Parker muttered. "And the bed is clean! I washed those sheets yesterday!" He shrugged. "Scott Copeland? You mean that guy that is hyperactive and talkative on all his interviews, and in a friendly, guy-to-guy, way, isn't all that bad-looking? Him? That band? You're like the complete opposite." Parker snickered. "I can only imagine about how this is going to go."

Ethan stayed silent, half of him mad at Parker for being snarky, and half mad at himself because he knew that his tantrum was only because his sex life was nearly nonexistent at that point. So he sighed, trying to regain his composure as he picked up the dead cigarette.

"You have no idea..." he simply said to Parker, standing up and leaving the trailer, flicking the cigarette to the ground as he left.

TWO WEEKS LATER.

Valerie sighed, running her fingers through her hair in anticipation. "Now, no hissy-fits or temper tantrums when you meet them, okay? I want you all to be nice and polite and as respectful as possible. I know for a fact the other band is very sweet and kind, so I'm sure you will treat them well. No fights, no cussing loudly, no physical violence. And this goes for everybody, especially you, Ethan. And Parker? Turn down the creepy and aloof personality. Try to talk animatedly with people."

"I never agreed to any of this." Ethan reminded her, dropping his cigarette to the lovely marble floor and grinding it into the tile so hard that no amount of power-washing would be able to get it completely out. He took another cigarette out of his back pocket (the front pockets were too tight to actually hold anything) and flicked the lighter to ignite the cigarette that hung between his lips.

***

"Scott, no hugging," Tara ordered, holding her almighty clipboard as if it were her own flesh and blood. She straightened the vest that she wore over her Green Day shirt in an attempt to look formal, "Kai...well...you just do your thing, okay? I don't feel like being your guys' mom today," she muttered, grabbing a pen from one of the belt loops on her black jeans.

"I don't hug people impulsively!" Scott shouted loudly, stomping his foot. "Besides, who would want to hug that evil man and his little band minions, anyway?! I sure as hell wouldn't! Never, ever again. I officially declare this the ultimate form of stupidity! It's retarded in every way possible!"

*~*~*

"I'm not creepy," Parker mumbled, absentmindedly fiddling with a loose string inside his jacket pocket. He turned to Ethan. "Am I creepy and aloof? I always thought I was normal."

"Calm down," Tara muttered, hitting Scott int eh head with her clipboard. "If you ruin this, I will have your head on my car antennae. Got it?"

***

"Compared to some people, no, but compared to me, you're effing fine." Ethan muttered, flicking the cigarette to the ground, not even feeling like smoking at that point. He ran his hand through his hair anxiously.

"Awesome! I say we get this show on the road!" Kai yelled excitedly. "And what does 'just do your thing' mean, anyway?"

~*~

"I know you don't want to, Ethan, but this could be vital to your career," Valerie explained, using a wide range of hand motions. "I personally don't see anything wrong with anybody in the other band. If you don't like someone, just try to avoid them, all right? Don't make things more complicated. And, yes, Parker, you are somewhat normal. Somewhat. Don't turn it into not normal at all. And, Ethan? Your fidgeting is making me more nervous than I already am."

"I'm not fidgeting," Ethan blurted, trying to find a place to stuff his hands. However, he was in skinny jeans and a t-shirt, having neglected his usual black hoodie in the warm weather. He settled for clenching his hands into fists at his sides as he tried to think of anything but the upcoming meeting, "And anyway, how am I supposed to avoid the guy I'm supposed to perform with, anyway? There are three options: kill myself, kill him, or cancel the tour."

***

Tara sighed, resting her forehead on the cool metal of the clip on his clipboard, "Listen, Kai, just...be polite, set a good example, blah blah the usual. I feel a headache coming, so please don't screw it up. Especially you, Scott."

"Oh, you needn't worry, my dear manager..." Scott said, placing his hand on her shoulder and giving her a sympathetic gaze. "I will be mess this up for sure." He jumped back quickly before she could either strangle, seriously maim, or in worst case scenario, kill him.

*~*~*

"Oh, come on, I'm a completely normal person," Parker huffed. "And, God, Ethan. Just sing with the guy and then don't talk to him. I'm sure he can't be that bad. You can't hate someone so much that you wouldn't sing with them while making millions of dollars."

"See?" said Valerie. "That may be an extremely shallow reason, but at least you'll be making money. And I'm positive he won't try to talk to you either, based what I've heard from the other manager."

~*~

"Scott!" Kai laughed, slapping his friend on the back. "You idiot! Run before she blows a fuse and explodes!"

"Hey, it wasn't my idea," Ethan muttered, "and I have plenty of money. I'd be fine without this." He ignored the butterflies in his stomach and the unusually loud pounding of his heart that he got whenever he though of Scott. As much as he hated to admit it, he was excited and nervous to see Scott again, even though he knew that Scott wouldn't want to see him.

***

"Don't give me that bull," Tara stated bluntly, hitting him with the clipboard again as she glared at him, "if you do one thing to ruin this tour, I will personally hunt you down, quit, and then submit some of your baby photos to People magazine. How. Do. You. Like. That." she yelled, hitting him after every word of her last sentence.

"Hey now! I was a very cute baby, so go on ahead!" Scott hollered noisily. "And I know, I'll try not to ruin it, just stop hitting me! And I hope you know I'll be miserable every day of this tour, so I'll probably suck at singing! I hate this tour. If I didn't like singing so much, I'd quit right now to get out of this!"

*~*~*

Parker sighed, and fingered his dog tog necklace. Did his friend really dislike that guy that much? "Just sing the damn tour, and it'll be over soon enough. Then you can go back and sing without him, all right? I don't see what the big fuss is."

"Me either," Valerie agreed. "Well, I'm going to call Tara and see where they are so we can meet up with them. Does that sound good, you guys?" Valerie pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialing the other manager's number. She hummed as she waited for the woman to pick up.

~*~

"You know you wouldn't quit this tour, Scotty!" Kai told him, holding up his index finger, attempting to look informative. "This thing is gonna be huge and big and great and awesome, and I know you wouldn't miss it for the world. So don't look so down and get into the spirit, 'kay? You can't hate a guy so much that you'd quit singing."

Tara simply gave Scott a warning, Don't push me glare as she flipped her phone open, "Tara Mason, manager of the whiniest singer ever, how may I help you?" She snapped as way of greeting.

***

"You wouldn't want to know what the big fuss is," Etan muttered, considering taking out another cigarette, but deciding against it for the time being. "I vote that we all go out for drinks after the meeting." he proposed to no one in particular.

"I am not the whiniest singer ever, you devil spirit!" Scott screamed, putting his hands over his ears childishly. "Kai, help, I think I found Satan! It's the Apocalypse! The Second Coming!"

*~*~*

"Ooh, I second that motion," Parker said, nodding his head enthusiastically. "I'm in the mood for some shots or something..." He smirked. "Or maybe a girl."

Valerie pulled the phone away from her ear as she heard the intensely loud, ear-splitting screaming in the background. "Is everything all right over there?" She covered the speaker before glaring at Parker. "No, no girls whatsoever." She turned back to the phone.

~*~

"Scotty, be quiet! Tara's on the phone!" Kai hissed. He bent down to whisper in his friend's ear so the manager wouldn't catch what he said next, "I know she's the devil and it's the Second Coming. I really hope she doesn't fall into Hell."

"Yeah, no girls, Parker. No one wants to hear about your sexcapades," Ethan muttered, jabbing Parker in the ribcage with his elbow.

***

Tara gave the two boys a You-know-I-can-hear-you-whispering glare, then answered into the phone, "As all right as it ever gets with these two. So, what's up?"

Scott held up his hands defensively, but quieted down. "If I only I had a white flag to raise," he told Kai.

~*~

"You're just sad I get way more girls than you do," Parker grumbled. "I'd say you were gay by the way you avoided girls." He elbowed his friend back in the ribs jokingly. Much softer than Ethan did, the sadist.

"I was just wondering where you were so we could meet up," Valerie said, choosing to ignore the 'playful' banter between the two band members. If someone got hurt, verbally or physically, she didn't want to be confronted as a witness.

~*~

"Scotty, you just need to be quiet before you get horribly, horribly murdered," Kai said, hanging his head in exasperation. "But if you did get murdered by her, can I videotape and put it up on YouTube?"

"I don't avoid them, I just don't bring home hookers every night like some people," Ethan argued, feeling the back of his neck heat up, "I don't wanna catch STDs like you eventually will." he said, punching Parker in the arm.

***

"We're in the second floor hallway outside Meeting Room 3. I reserved it for the meeting." Tara told her, keeping an eye on the two band members.