I'm Not In Love - Chapter Two

“Hi, I’m Matt. Of the Pink Spiders?” Matt searched her face for the slightest bit of recognition.

“Oh, yeah! I love you guys! Seriously, you’re one of my favorite bands!” She smiled, and so did he when their blue eyes met. “Oh, I’m Jamie by the way.” Jamie extended a hand, and was surprised when she felt gloves.

Jamie’s face contorted into a ‘are-you-crazy’ look, and Matt knew it was a reaction to the gloves. “We have to maintain our image.”

“I see,” she said and giggled.

“So, uh, do you want to hang out later?” He asked out of the blue.

“Uh, yeah, do you have anything in mind?” Jamie asked back.

“Actually yeah. We wanted to film a music video for one of our new songs, but we wanted it to be like a ‘behind the warped tour scene’ thing, like what really goes on after dark. It’s for the song ‘Gimme Chemicals’.”

“Yeah, that sounds awesome. And I love that song!” Jamie was surprised that they were asking her out of all the girls.

“It won’t take very long, but you would be one of the main characters. Well, me and you. It’s going to take like two nights to do it, because we want some scenes in the hotel also.”

“That’s cool. Should I meet you somewhere or…”

“I’ll be at your bus after we’re all packed up. Oh, by the way, I love this band. I got the cd. One word, amazing.”

“Thanks! I’ll let them know you said that.” Jamie watched as he walked away and then turned to Ashley and smiled.

“That’s the third one this week. You’re on a roll. Why do you get all the guys?” Ashley pouted.

“Maybe it’s because I’m single, and I don’t show my new, flashy engagement ring to everyone that will look!” Jamie laughed.

“Haha, true, but I can’t help it if my boyfriend is a cutie.” Ashley smiled and inspected her ring again. “Well, you’re going to have to pick one. Who are you leaning towards?”

“None of them. I mean, I like them all, but for different reasons. Andy makes me laugh, Nate is really sweet, but I don’t think he likes me. And Matt has a pretty awesome personality.”

“Don’t break their hearts” Ashley warned her.

“Am I the heart-breaking kind? No.”

*****
They put the last of the taped boxes into the white storage hauler and were then free to hang out. Jamie headed to the bus to get changed into something more comfortable, even though she knew it was pointless seeing as how Matt was going to make her change again. She was guessing that sweatpants and an oversized tee weren’t what he had in mind. There was a knock on the bus door, and Jamie assumed it would be Matt (since none of Sofapunch would care enough to knock).

“Come in” Jamie shouted up from the back of the bus. She quickly pulled the shirt over her head and went to greet her guest, but was surprised when she saw Butcher, and not Matt. Just then it all came back to her. The promise, the date. “Butcher, I’m so sorry.”

“No, it’s cool. I heard it from someone, so I came over to tell you not to worry about it.” He said it as if he was trying to convince himself though.

“Andy,” Jamie started, walked toward him, and took his hands, “I’ll cancel on Matt, it’s fine. He’ll understand.”

“No, this is a really big opportunity for you, go be in the video. Plus, my version of a date was to bring you to the filming of TAI TV.”

“We can hang out later right? We’ll be here all night, and we have off tomorrow. Please, let me make it up to you tomorrow?” She said with a smile on her face.

“Okay, I’ll see you later then.” He turned to leave the bus, but Jamie followed him. He was going to go left and she was heading right to meet Matt, who was now approaching. “Hey, Jamie,” Butcher started before she could get to far. Jamie turned around and smiled because Butcher was approaching her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Be careful around them” he said before he kissed her.

After the kiss ended they stood there for a couple of seconds in silence. “So we’re all good now” Jamie asked. He nodded and smiled, and let her go as Matt approached.

“Hey, man, what’s up” Matt said as he held out his hand to Butcher.

He took it and responded. “Nothing much. I heard you guys are making a video. Have fun.” Butcher turned and walked away toward his bus.

Matt put his arm around Jamie. “I hope your boyfriend doesn’t mind, but there will be kissing in the video.”

Jamie smiled. “He’s not my boyfriend. Not yet at least.”

Matt ignored what she said and went on to describe the video. “So the video is supposed to be like what we do, but the song is about drugs and alcohol abuse, so it’s going to have a dark side. In the video we use, and we’re dating, but we have a weird relationship. Like, you use me for my resources. Finally you just steal shit and leave, and I don’t really care, so I don’t call you. But then there will be flashes of you going through withdrawal, and a shot like 10 years in the future, and I’m still a druggie and, you’re working.”

“That sounds sad. But I’m up for the project. So, where do we start?”
*****
The night flew by fast and before they knew it, they were done filming.

“Celebratory drink?” Matt asked Jamie and the other guys.

“Sure, but I can only stay for a little” she responded. It was already 2 and she still wanted to spend time with Butcher. She knew he was up because everyone couple of minutes he would ride around in the distance on his scooter. “Actually, I kinda have a head ache. Do you have any aspirin?”

“Yeah, come in the bus.” Matt led her up the stairs and to a small cabinet filled with pill bottles. He reached in but then stopped himself. “Actually, I have something better back here.” He disappeared to the back of the bus and reappeared a couple of seconds later. He produced a small pill in his hand and offered it to her. “It’ll start working in minutes. All you need is one.”

Jamie took the pill, assuming it was a high dosage of ibuprofen in one pill. She chased the pill down her throat with water, but didn’t feel any better.

“Give it a couple of minutes” Matt said to her and led her back down the stairs. Within minutes Jamie was feeling dizzy and couldn’t stop the people from moving around her.

Jamie closed her eyes and swallowed down more water. “What did you give me?”

“Nothing strong. It was a small dose of E laced with speed” Matt answered as if it didn’t mean much to him.

It all started to come together. She walked over to him and pulled up the un-seasonally long-sleeved black shirt and saw the track marks lined up his arm. Jamie’s eyes filled with tears as she turned and started walking over to the Academy Is bus. But through the tears and confusion, Jamie felt good. She felt awake, alive, and in love. She surprised herself with the feeling and tried to suppress it, but she couldn’t hide it.

Jamie ran right into the arms of Butcher. He touched her sides, and she couldn’t help herself. She cupped his face in her hands and pulled him into a kiss. He didn’t resist, but he know something was wrong.

“Jamie, are you okay?”

She smiled and tried to run her fingers through his short hair. “I’m fine. I actually feel better than I have in weeks. Do you want to go back to the bus?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea Jamie.” He led her back to where the rest of the TAI guys were hanging out.

Jamie escaped his arms and run to greet Sisky, “Oh my god! Sisky! I feel like I haven’t seen you in a while.” She smiled and hugged him. Sisky was completely oblivious to the fact that she was drugged and was really happy to finally get attention from this girl.

Bill approached Butcher when he noticed Jamie’s behavior. “She took something.”

“I know” Butcher responded.

“It’s probably Speed or something like that.”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to go find out” Butcher finished his sentence then started to make his way over to the Pink Spider’s bus.

“Hey man, what’s up” Matt greeted, but Butcher ignored him and shoved him against the bus.

“What the fuck did you give her” Butcher yelled in Matt’s face.

“Nothing much, just a little something to make her feel better” Matt responded.

“What was it?” Butcher demanded back.

“It was a really small E pill laced with the tiniest bit of Speed. She’ll be able to crash tonight.”

Butcher shook his head and let him go. Before he could do anything rash, he walked away. He was greeted again by Jamie, but this time he was the first to speak, “You’re spending the night with me.”

“I’m feeling tired” She responded back.

“Good. Come on.” He led her up the stairs to their bus and back to his bunk. He handed her a clean shirt to put on and some shorts. She stripped to her bra and underwear and stood in front of him. Jamie helped him take of his shirt, and she traced the lines of his tattoo again.

“I don’t want this feeling to go away” she whispered in his ear.

“We can’t do anything tonight. We have to go to sleep.”

“I know.” She put on the shorts and shirt Butcher lifted her into the middle bunk. The space was tight, but Butcher put his arm around her and fell asleep.