One Life Stand 001: That Is Not Your Couch


Tessa: A weekend night. Tessa was standing in the back behind the pretty shoddy excuse for a stage, checking her watching and pacing. Her boss had already called -three- times telling her he was going to sacrifice her to elder gods if she didn’t make this gig work and D was late AGAIN. She was totally dead. …and he was too if he ever showed up. -03:04 May 16
D: He showed up his stage costume over his shoulder and guitar strap over the other as he walked slowly towards the backstage area. 25 minutes late and counting. There was a cut on his cheek and he smelled odd but it was how he usually turned up when he was late. Not that he ever hurried when he was. The boss might shout but he knew why he was late… but there was still his manager to deal with. "I’m here to can stop having kittens." he called as he took shelter behind the stage and leaned hsi guitar against his then stripped off his shirt to drop that to the ground. Next off were his pants and then he was pulling on his costume, so what if it made her uncomfortable, it made her talk less. -03:09 May 16
Tessa: "You can’t just co,- guh..~!" Tessa quickly squeezed her eyes shut when he started stripping, and pointed a finger at where she last saw him. "Can’t just keep showing up late like this! The lead singer -has- to be here! Everybody else manages to show up on time. Do you realize how pissed off the Label is right now?" -03:12 May 16
D: "They’ll deal.." he said in a carefree tone. "Besides if you was the party I just came from you’d be late too. We might ahve even been late together.." he pulled on the jacked and shoot his head. "You can look now.. and trust em I’ll talk to the label. They love me!" of course they did, he killed for them. Literally. Which was why he was late. "Now you have a band to introduce?" -03:16 May 16
Tessa: "No. I -wouldn’t- have been late. I am NEVER late and I was hired to make sure -you- weren’t late and now I’m going to get fired again!" She was going to ask him where he was to be so late, but… Oh, crap! She did need to introduce the band! Tessa scrambled past him and the curtain on to the stage. The other bandmates were already waiting, having wasted some time with ‘setup’ and screwing around with the instruments. Tessa did what she did best. Hyping up a slightly annoyed crowd in a seedy dive, introducing her band and it’s lead singer… without calling him an asshole like she wanted to do. Then Tessa was getting the hell out of sight! Back to the cover of backstage where she was quickly texting the Label to let him know the show was on. -03:23 May 16
D: He came out on stage and could feel the eyes of the band on him. He raised two fingers together in a gesture often used by musicians and a man at the back hopped off his seat and left out the door to make a phone call. Job done. He looked out at he bar and bade his own introduction, and then.. then it was time to play. Just the thing to relax after a job well done. -03:27 May 16
Tessa: Half an hour wasn’t that bad, right? Totally excuseable. Tons of people were late like that. It would only dock a -little- bit of the payment from the joint, and it was only going to come out of -her- paycheck after all. And she was already spending a lot of it on stuff for the band. Sure, she could just eat -next- week. Tessa slipped her phone back in her pocket, and leaned against a pillar in the back to watch. ….if it wasn’t so -awesome- she’d have thrown something at him while he was up on stage. Jackass was lucky she was a secret fan. -03:33 May 16
D: For five hours they played, taking the time to just past one in the morning. During the break D would drink nothing but water but still his troat was tired and his fingers hurt. Time to call it a night, the place was empty anyway except for a couple of drunks and Tessa. "Thank you ladies and gentlemen and good night." he left and stage and leaned agaist the wall shaking his head. "We need a place with better equipment next time. And an audience.." he muttered where no one would hear then he was takign off his stage jacket and pulling on his regular one. -03:38 May 16
Tessa: Tessa was tired, but Tessa was pleased. A good show was always enough to make her forget just how pissed off she was. And the boss hadn’t called or texted her! That was a good sign. …she hoped. "We’d have a better audience if you actually showed up on time to be -seen- by them. But I will see what I can do about equiptment…" Tessa was running really low on funds. He had no idea how hard it was for her to work with the shitty budget the Label gave her, and how often she had to dip in to her own account to pull this stuff off. At least she was writing down the suggestions on her notepad. "I am going to bully payment out of the Manager, you can go and sleep. …and actually show up to practice for once?" -03:42 May 16
D: She was beign nice, she always was after a show. She had also heard him muttering. "Yeah though don’t worry too much its not like we get people who pay enough for the good amps." his guitar was slung across his back again, it was very rarely out of his sight. "I show for the shows right and I never miss a cord. If I ever do then I’ll practice in the meantime seriously don’t sweat the boss, boss." SHe worried too much but D was already heading out towards the back door when his phone rang. -03:48 May 16
D: "Toronto, friday…" the line wend dead "And Tessa.. get yourself a coat!" -03:49 May 16
Tessa: "YOU can say that, you’re his star." she muttered, sticking her tongue out at his back when he walked away. Then she was off to find the joint’s owner, pausing only when he shouted at her. "I DON’T NEED A COAT." She nearly tripped over a chair trying to yell at him. A totally ungraceful way to approach the owner. But at least THAT conversation went well. A little bit of grinning and dealing with it when her ass got pinched meant she got full payment, no deductions. Tessa counted the money and did math in her head. Now SHE could go get some sleep. Maybe. -03:52 May 16
D: He didn’t ho home, or two a hotel. The first was too far away and the second he hadn’t had enough time to find. So Tessa’s appartment it was. It was in the same crappy part of town as the seedy bar and he could let himselt in. Hang his jacket on the chair, lean his guitar on the wall, kick off his boots and settle down on her coutch. Its not like he asked her or let her know beforehand but her licked weren’t exactly good and he was doing ehr a favor guarding her apartment. -03:59 May 16
Tessa: Okay, maybe she did need a coat. It was really freaking cold outside, and she had to walk all the way back to her apartment. By the time she got there her teeth were chattering and it was a pain in the ass to get the key in to unlock her door. She didn’t noticed at first that someone was -in- there, so she already had her shoes kicked off and her bag tossed in to a chair before she spotted him. Tessa immediately screamed, it being the instict reaction. ….then she was standing there surprised… and glaring. "….what are you doing on my couch?" -04:03 May 16
D: His eyes opened and he looked at her "Trying to sleep." he said "It was close and I don’t have a hotel." he rolled onto his side and propped himself onto his elbow ignoring the fact he wasn’t meant to have a key or know where she lived. "I would have asked but you were busy." -04:07 May 16
Tessa: "You don’t need a hotel, I am pretty sure you have a place here in town!" Tessa made a motion with her hands, which was her ‘subtle’ way of telling him to get up, and get out. She repeated. Get up, Get out, with her hands, pointedly waiting for him to obey. -04:12 May 16
D: "Surprise, I don’t." he said "And its too late to go out of town. I’ll just be here until I’ve had some sleep. Besides the closer you keep me and less chance I have of being late." he flopped back down and put his arms over his eyes. "Wouldn’t want me to be late next friday would you?" -04:15 May 16
Tessa: "You’re not staying here until next Friday!" That would just be… such a pain in the ass. "I have to meet the Label in the morning, and I -have- to sleep and… how did you even get IN here? Stop getting comfortable! This is not your couch." Tessa crossed the floor to prod at him. She could barely manage him in the band, she couldn’t deal with him in her apartment! -04:19 May 16
D: "Then get some sleep." he said ignoring her prodding "I’m not stopping you." he rolled onto his side facing away from her. "You know I always pictured you having a cat. Why don’t you have a cat?" -04:21 May 16
Tessa: "I can barely avoid feeding myself, let alone a cat… and I can’t feed you either, so you’re NOT staying here!" Poke. Pokepoke? Pooooke? ….and her wasn’t moving. Tessa straighted, scowled. ….sighed and caved in. "Fine… Only for tonight, since it’s late. But don’t you dare bother me. I have to beg for my job in the morning." she muttered, leaving him be on the sofa. Tessa did return long enough to throw a blanket and a pillow at him before stomping back to her room. -04:24 May 16
D: "You should get a coat… and a cat." he called after her and aranged the blanket and pillow settling down for the night. "Until morning then…." he would go with ehr to meet the label too. She was a good manager and he didn’t want her to get fired over something she couldn’t control. -04:27 May 16

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