Thnks Fr Th Mmrs

"Yeah, like you being unobservant, uncaring, and childish as always." Ethan muttered, having gone to the last straw, "If you even knew me, you'd know that I'm the exact opposite. I guess that you don't realize what it's like to see that person's face every single time you even think about dating. You're lucky, naive. You'll never know that pain. And, if you're luckier, you'll never have to see me again." Ethan told him sullenly, eyes darkening as he spoke.

Scott stepped away from Ethan. He suddenly looked... scary. Way too scary for Scott's liking. "Well, I guess I don't know you, then, and I'm glad I don't. And, no, I'm not lucky enough to never see you again. I'm standing here right now, aren't I? I even think looking at you would be the definition of unlucky. Ugh, and now I haver to be on tour with you! Some days I wish you would stop breathing." With that, he trudged angrily back over to Tara, and grabbed her arm.

"Come on, we're leaving," he said. "I want to go."

"I don't care what you want," Tara told him, standing firm, "We still need to go discuss stuff. Act like a responsible adult for once and suck it up." She looked at Ethan, who was leaning against the wall with a cigarette hanging from between his lips as he stared pensively into space. She didn't know what was going on between those two, but she could tell that it wasn't pretty.

"I do act like an adult, and this adult wants to decide for himself and leave. The King of Assholes is getting pretty annoying, and is bumming out my trip. I can't stand to look at him anymore." Scott tugged on her arm again. "Pretty please? I'll get on my knees and beg, if I have to."

"I don't care if he's bumming out your trip, you're staying here for the discussion and that's final," Tara told him angrily, grabbing the back of his shirt to keep him from escaping. "If you're an adult, you can stay here for a civil discussion. Whatever happened in the past shouldn't ruin your future."

Ethan sighed, half wanting to get the hell out of there and the other half wanting to go over to Scott and beg for forgiveness. But he wouldn't do either. He had to be the mature adult and get through the meeting.

"I'm the awesome guitarist!" Kai replied cheerfully. "Oh, my manager is about to beat up our singer. I better go before things get ugly, you know? She's such a psychopath... We'll have to continue this discussion later! Bye!" Kai dashed off into the direction of Tara and Scott.

"So, meeting time, right? Are we going or not?"

~*~

"Parker, come on, time for the meeting. Ethan, please put whatever you and Scott were fighting about behind you and try and act professional. If you punch him during the meeting, I will get mad. Or verbally attack him. Or strangle... slap... Anything," Valerie said. "Let's go!"

"I'm the mature one here," Ethan muttered, stomping out his cigarette sullenly as he followed her into the room. He sighed, feeling fatigued and worn out.

"Park..." he said, looking at his friend, "Let's not go out for drinks after this. I'm too exhausted. I've got some in my trailer, so we'll have some liquor. I just feel like going to bed at this point."

"Yeah... sure, okay," Parker said, confused. "What the hell happened with you and that other guy, Scott, right? You looked like you wanted on the border between crying and punching him." He pulled out a little chair and sat down at the table.

*~*~*

Scott sighed, walked into the room, and plopped down ungracefully into a chair. He crossed his arms, and looked off into space crossly, chewing on the inside of his cheek. Only if it was necessary was he going to talk... Or if Kai was talking to him. He could use a distraction during the dumb meeting.

Valerie sat down in a chair nicely, smoothing out her pants and folding her hands. She waited for Tara to take a seat to discuss the tour.

~*~

"Why are you being so pissy?" Kai asked, sitting next to the furious-looking singer. "He doesn't seem all that bad, Scotty. You'll only have to sing with him, all right? Maybe you should... move on?"

Tara sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she sat down. She fixed the straps of her vest briefly, then placed her clipboard on the long table.

***

Ethan sat silently beside Valerie, as if sitting beside his manager would protect him, "Nothing big," he lied to Parker, "We just used to know each other, that's all." his stomach churned again, and he reached into Valerie's purse and helped himself to a bottle of water.

"Kai... I did move on. He just has issues he needs to work out, that's all. He's got a big god complex or something," Scott whispered lowly to his friend. "All right." He raised his voice significantly. "If you came here to discuss tour details, then speak up. Or else I'll just be sitting here for nothing."

*~*~*

"Nothing big..." Parker repeated mockingly, snorting. "That's all? Mhmm, you suck at lying. If he bothers you so much, try and make up with him, or else I'm afraid you two actually will kill each other."

Kai rolled his eyes, and gently rested his head down on the table. This, he was sure, was not going to be a good meeting. What. So. Ever.

~*~

"Well..." Valerie coughed, clearing her throat. "Before we begin, it seems there are obvious issues some people here need to work out." She glared at Ethan from the corner of her eye. "I'd like it if they were nicely and politely fixed without hesitation to avoid a murder or a trip to the hospital."

Ethan gave his manager a "thanks a lot" look, crossing his arms over his chest, "I'm using my right to remain silent." he said simply, looking at the faux wood of the table as if it were the most interesting thing on Earth. He then gave Parker a "I'll explain later" look, taking his lighter out of his pocket and flipping it on and off.

"I am also instituting that right!" Scott shouted, standing up from his seat. "This is obviously my business and his business only! So shut up and stop butting in, idiots! It doesn't concern you!" He calmly sat back down after his little outburst. "That is all."

"Um... Sorry." Valerie smiled at the angry boy across the table, trying to express her apology more clearly. "I still want this issue worked out. What about you, Tara?"

"They're obviously uncomfortable about it, so I say that we take the old fashioned route," Tara paused to build up suspense, then finished, "We lock them in a room until their issues are solved." she looked to Valerie for input on her brilliant plan.

"Locked in with room with that?!" Scott jabbed accusingly at Ethan. "Ew, no way! I want nothing do with him! We already reached an agreement, anyway. He doesn't bother me, and I won't kick him in the balls."

"I think it would be a fine idea... But I don't want to open a closet only to find dead bodies." She chuckled, but covered her hand with her mouth as an attempt to stifle it. "Well, it seems they've made a truce... for the time being, anyway."

"For the time being," Tara nodded in agreement, then turned her attention to her clipboard, "Now, let's get to work."

SOME TIME LATER

"Ok, in celebration of neither of you killing each other, I'm inviting everyone out for drinks!!" Tara announced, then gave the group a look and added, "And by inviting, I mean forcing you to go. Now come on!"

"Yes!" Parker shouted, grinning. "I could really use an alcoholic beverage or two after that meeting. And I'm surprised we managed to talk civilly for a while without any casualties."

*~*~*

"No!" Scott protested, waving his arms about. "I don't like alcohol, or getting wasted, or having bad hangovers! I don't want to go out with him either, Tara! Don't force me! I will love you forever and buy you nice things if you let me go back to the trailer and sleep!"

"Yeah, me too," Kai agreed with Parker, nodding. "It's a miracle. I thought this building would be engulfed in flames by the end of this. Wanna grab a drink we me, though?" Kai looked hopefully at Parker, but hoped he didn't look too desperate. "To... you know, continue our conversation from earlier."

~*~

"Wow, thanks, Tara," Valerie said. "I'd love to go out and have a drink. That's so nice. Though I have a low alcohol tolerance, sorry."

"How about this," Tara suggested, "I'll drink more than usual to make up for your low tolerance. That way, everyone wins." She then turned to Scott and told him, "You're going. You can suck it up. Besides, you're a funny drunk."

***

Ethan sighed as his best friend went to hang out with his new best buddy, resigning himself to a long night of alcohol and angsting until everything was over.

"Oh, come on..." Scott hung his head morosely. "You're so not cool right now, Tara. The little respect I had for you is just dwindling by the second." He watched as Kai ditched him to hang out with the guy the guitarist had been looking at all night. "And now I have no one to talk to because Kai is leaving me."

*~*~*

"Yeah, sounds good to me," Parker said. "So, you're the guitarist? That's cool. I've got the drums down-pat in my band. You can't find a better drummer anywhere in the States! I'm way to uncoordinated to play the guitar, though I'd like to learn." He shrugged. "Well, I'm content with drums, anyway."

"O-Oh, drums? That's awesome," Kai mused, and shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. "Well, guitar's not that hard to learn. It just takes diligent practice!" Kai could feel his face heating up just from simple conversation with this guy, and tried his best not to trip and fall flat on his face, which he unfortunately had a tendency to do.

Tara thought for a moment, trying to get the singer out of her way so she could have some fun for once. She looked around then said, "Here. Ethan's alone too. Talk to Ethan. Don't kill each other. Bye!" she said, then darted for the other side of the bar.