Believed (My Misery Muse) (9 page)

Chapter 16

Jules

I stretched and rolled which was a huge mistake
since I landed face first on a tile floor.  I groaned pushing myself up and
rubbing my nose while trying to blink away tears—fuck that hurt.  I thought
back to last night, I didn’t remember falling asleep, but I did remember lying
on the couch with my head in Sam’s lap.  I let my head fall back down, then
stifled a cry when my forehead once again hit the hard tile floor.  I laid
there waiting for more humiliation. I mean how many times am I going to be
caught on my knees, ass, or back around Sam before it just gets weird?

When no comment or sound comes, I gather up what
little pride I have left and look up, I expected to see Sam still asleep so he
missed my stellar performance.  Instead though the room was empty, and the more
I listened I realized that the bus was empty.  Well this isn’t awkward, you
tell a guy more or less your life story and he ditches you.  The only thing
worse would have been if I slept with him and woken up to find my bed empty.  I
sighed, been there and done that, well not with Sam, but different guy same
story.  Though I think it hurts more to emotionally connect with someone and
them just leave you than to spread your legs and them leave you.  With sex all
you lose is a small piece of your self-worth, with your emotional wounds, you
reopen them all so they seep and you have to try to close them again with
butterfly bandages.  I’d take a little less self-respect right now instead of
the stinging sensation on my soul.

I shoved my thoughts into a closet and bolted the
door, then made myself stand up and head to the shower.  No need for anyone
else to see the vulnerable part of myself, already did that once this week, not
up for it again.  I grabbed some clothes and prepared to figure out how to take
a shower.  There were more knobs and levers than on the Tardis.  I stripped and
climbed in eyeing the shower wearily, I looked over each of the knobs until I
found one that said H and one that said C.  Okay I could do this. I didn’t need
an instruction manual to take a shower, right?

I sighed when I realized I forgot my shower stuff
in the other room. I climbed out of the shower stall and found out that there were
no towels in here.  What the fuck is wrong with men?  Why would they have a
bathroom and no towels?  I went and pulled out my bag, found my shower stuff
and found that Devi had packed me a few towels—bless that woman.  I grabbed
what I needed and went back into the bathroom.  Shower scene take two, I
thought and decided to be brave.  I turned a knob and scalding hot water came
pouring at me from the rain showerhead as well as the sides.  I screamed and
jerked the cold water on while hoping that I only suffered a first-degree burn
on my extremities.  Finally, the water got to a temperature that wasn’t boiling
and I was able to wash.

I had my shampoo in my hair while singing
Teenage
Dirtbag
by Wheatus at the top of my lungs.  I’d just got to my favorite part
about the IROC when the water went from just under melt skin to artic.  I
yelped and sprung back into the wall, which of course was made of fiberglass,
and pushed me right back into the water steam.  Goose bumps traveled in places
I didn’t know I could get goose bumps and I reached for the hot water knob and
of course, the damn thing only made the water colder.  I resigned myself to an
ice shower and quickly washed the shampoo out, scrubbed down my body, and did a
quick yet thorough rinse with conditioner.  I was just about to shut off the
water when I heard a noise from below me and then a bubble of something came up
out of the drain.  I shrieked like a little girl slammed into the door shoving
it open and jumped out of the shower, only apparently the tile gets slippery
when it’s wet.

I went flying through the air when my wet foot hit
a tile that was being sprayed with cold water from the multiple showerheads and
liquid from an unknown abyss was gurgling up through the drain in the shower. 
I landed hard, the back of my head slammed into the tiles, and my elbow hit the
counter on the way down.  I landed on my hip and ribs somehow and I felt the
air evaporate out of my body.  I gasped, that’s twice in less than an hour that
I’d fallen on my ass.  I laid there as cold water sprayed across my naked body,
and my dry clothes, trying to decide if I wanted to laugh or cry, then decided
on laughing because it’s always better than crying, right?  I let out a few
giggles, wiped the tears from my eyes, and thanked my lucky stars that I was
alone for this humiliation.

After a minute I was able to breathe again, I
pulled myself up gingerly, leaned into the shower and turned off the water,
grabbed my clothes, and walked as quickly as I could, without having a repeat
of the falling incident out of the bathroom.  Never again, from here on out I’d
take a shower at an arena or the guys could learn to live with me being
smelly.  I lay down on the bed still dripping wet and slowly took stock of my
injuries, and that is, of course, how Seth found me.  Laid naked across the bed
in the room like an offering to some ancient god, damn it is this day over yet?

“Hey I thought I heard…uhm, Jules you okay?”  I
almost giggled when he spun around and faced out the door into the bunk room, only
it hurt too much to move.

I grunted a response.

“Is there a reason why you’re lying on the bed
naked?” Seth asked facing the door.

“Your shower’s possessed,” I told him like it
explained everything.

I could see his shoulders shaking and if I could
at that moment get up and beat the ever-living piss out of him I would have.  I
knew the bastard was laughing at me.

“You should have waited until one of us could show
you how to use it,” he choked out.

“Go away,” I mumbled, “let me die in peace.”

“If…” snort, “…if you need anything just yell.” He
raced out of the room, and I could hear him laughing the entire way.

I laid there for a few more minutes just to make
sure nothing was broken. I stood up and looked in the mirror.  I groaned, I
looked like I was the loser in a prizefight. My body had more bruises than I
could count, my forehead had a small cut, my nose was swollen, and my ass
hurt.  I tossed my now wet clothes into the bathroom sink, never actually
stepping foot into the possessed room, and went in search of dry clothes.

I decided that I wasn’t leaving the bus ever again
so grabbed a pair of sleep pants and my favorite SLC Punk T-shirt, one of the
few items that made it through Beau’s wrath.  Then I went in search of Seth and
caffeine and not necessarily in that order.

I found both coffee and Seth in the same place.
“Here thought you might need this.” He put the cup of coffee down on the
counter, his eyes still dancing with mirth.

I grunted my thanks and pulled out my Hershey’s
Chocolate Caramel creamer from the fridge and set it on the booth across from
the galley.  Then grabbed the sugar and my coffee cup and walked over and sat
down in the booth.  I put my three teaspoons of sugar in my cup and stirred
before pouring a healthy dose of creamer into the cup stirred, sipped, and
sighed.

“Hmm how about some coffee in your creamer?” Seth
asked shaking his head.

“Smart ass,” I mumbled still sipping on my sugar
in a cup.  “So where is everyone else at?”

“They had a radio interview.”

I raised my eyebrow. “Why aren’t you there?”

“I was on Skype with Jaks.”

“Ut-oh, what did he do now?”

“Brought a frog to school.”

“Okay?”  I asked not getting where that would be a
problem, I mean yeah, it could cause a distraction but he’s a boy being a boy.

“He then tried flushing the frog down the toilet
so he could go and commune with nature.”

I snorted which shot coffee out my nose spraying
the table and Seth who had just sat down.  He shot me a look, then grabbed a
roll of paper towels, pulled a few off, and handed them to me.  I covered my
face trying to keep any more coffee from leaking out while I chortled.  Seth
cleaned up the table trying to keep a straight face, but I could tell it was
difficult for him.

“The frog jumped out, somehow got out of the boys’
bathroom and it took three teachers and the principal over half an hour to
catch it and bring it outside,”  Seth finished.

I sucked my lip ring in my mouth trying to hold
back the giggles. “Why didn’t Devi talk to him?”

“She couldn’t stop laughing long enough.”

I rolled my labret with my tongue trying in vain
to not start laughing again. I sipped my coffee and nodded.

“What did you tell him?”

“That we do not bring animals to school.”

“Uh huh,” I said eyeing him I knew Jaks and I knew
there was going to be more.

“He asked why the school had animal adoption day
then.”

“Seth, you’re in so much trouble.”

“Trust me, I know,” he groaned.

“I think I broke the shower,” I told him.

He thumped his head down on the table again. “Let
someone else handle it.”

I shrugged. “Works for me, wanna watch a movie?”

Sam

I, at one point, used to love giving interviews,
they were fun, new, and interesting.  That lasted maybe six months until I
realized that it’s the same questions over and over again.  You’d think that they
would come up with new material after a while.

“So Sam,” said Pete, interviewer number one, “you
helped write a lot of the songs on the last album, correct?”

I signed inwardly. “Yeah, Seth and I write the
majority of our work.”

“You also released a new single,” Leah,
interviewer number two, commented. “Faith, it has gone up to the number five
spot on new releases and number one on iTunes.”

“Has it?” I asked because honestly I didn’t know.

She smiled. “It has.”

“Huh, well that’s always a great thing to hear
about.”

“What is My Misery Muse doing now?” Pete asked.

“We’re currently finishing up a tour,” Eli
answered.

“The one you had to postpone after your manager
was killed?” Leah asked.

“No, we had fired him before his untimely demise,”
X entered smoothly. “The new manager we had hired was in a car accident right
after Christmas.”

“Ah yes, Drake Porter, isn’t he Seth’s
brother-in-law?” Leah asked and I could see the gleam in her eye, she thought
she would be getting a scoop.  Only we’ve been asked and answered this question
countless times since announcing Drake being the new manager.

“He is, but we’ve known him for years. He used to
play guitar in our first band,” I said trying to steer them away from where
they were trying to go.  They all wanted to allude that Drake got the position
because of Devi, only that wasn’t the case.

“He didn’t continue when you formed My Misery
Muse?” Pete asked.  “Bet he’s kicking himself for that,” he chortled.

“No, he decided he’d rather do the behind the
scenes work,” X slid in. “He went to college and has been working at an indie
label for years.  As for him regretting staying with the band, I don’t think he
does, he’s had a great career helping new musicians find their foothold in the
industry.  Some of the bands you play on your station wouldn’t be there without
him.”

“You’re playing a show tonight at EnergySolutions
Arena here in Salt Lake, correct?” Leah asked.

“We are,” answered Eli. “We always love playing
here in Salt Lake City, you guys are amazing fans.”

“When is the next album coming out?” Leah asked.

“Sometime in the next year,” I answered.

“I’ve heard that there was a split from your
label, is this why no date is set yet?”

“Ah no, we haven’t set a date because we’re still
working on new material,” I answered Leah and shot X a look.  It was time to
wrap this up.

“We look forward to seeing everyone tonight,” X
said giving his best groupie grin.  I rolled my eyes as Leah bent over giving
him a better view of her cleavage.

I stood and shook hands with Pete while Leah was
giving X her phone number.  Eli followed and we quickly extricated ourselves
out of the booth only to be waylaid by the station’s producer.  I grinned and
let him lead us off toward another booth where they could record us saying the
station’s name.  I gritted my teeth through the whole affair and when we were
finally released, I nearly ran for the door.

I stopped and let out an annoyed sigh, the front
of the station was barricaded off by police while fans of all ages stood
outside screaming.

“Well this should be fun,” X drawled.

“Where’s Coop?” I asked looking around for our
bodyguard.

“Calling him now,” Eli said with a phone pressed
to his ear.

“Since were stuck here for a while, why don’t you
tell us what happened last night,” X said eyeing me.

“What do you mean?” I replied only half listening
while I checked text messages.