Missing [ST]

Eighty Seven

*Mature Content*

Thursday: Two Days Ago

"So, are you looking forward to going home?"

Dabbing her mouth with a napkin, Leah nodded passionately at Terry. She would have answered too, gushing about how much she wanted to sleep in her own bed, but Joey slid into the booth next to her.

"Oh, more than you can imagine. I need some time off to work on these bad boys."

Unimpressed, Leah nudged his elbow to stop him flexing his muscles in his rolled-up shirt.

"Joey, that was very unnecessary."

Although appreciative of the support from another one of her new friends, the drummer was unaffected by the response, and adjusted his waistcoat.

"Well, who else do you think inspired your boyfriend to keep himself in shape? You should be thanking me, Billie."

None of the three women could argue with that.

Leah had Joey's left arm slung over the top of the booth where she sat, Terry shrugged as if to agree and downed the rest of her drink, and Billie, with a glance over to the laughing boys, accepted her fate of being out-smarted.

"Are you leaving this ice cream?" Joey pointed to the plate.

"Yeah, it's completely melted," Leah replied, sipping her beverage through the straw. "It's a cold puddle."

Joey reclaimed his arm above her shoulders, shaking his head disapprovingly.

"That is a sin." He picked up a spoon, pulling the plate towards him. "And brownie too!? Leah, I expected better from you."

"It was so rich!" she defended, having to raise her voice over a hyperactive singer to their right. "And the portion size was far too big for me."

"That is not an excuse," Joey scolded, scooping the rest of the dessert into his mouth. "Food is food. Waste equals bad."

They were back on good terms, jokes thoroughly included.

"Um, what are the boys doing?" Terry asked, attention drifting towards the loud noise over by the pool tables.

Everyone turned their heads, and saw Steven lying on his back on the furthest pool table trying to defend his balls from balls.

Joe and Brad held an arm and a leg each whilst he wriggled and swore, and Tom kept aiming for his crotch with the cluster of billiards catapulted by his left hand. He started to do two at a time to get the best reaction.

"Steven lost the game. That was his punishment," Joey explained, scraping up the final river of ice cream.

Billie laughed, turning back to her drink.

"Yeah, no shit."

A waitress came over and took the plates and empty glasses from their table, and Terry excused herself to the bar.

"You didn't want to take part?" Leah asked, leaning closer to Joey's ear.

"Nah, thought I'd take my opportunity to say hi, because I didn't get to talk to you over dinner."

He took his eyes away from the fun of his friends to look at her, testing a smile that had an obligation to be returned.

"LEAH! THE- YAOW! FUCK YOU, HAMILTON! MY BALLS!...LEAH, WOULD Y-OWW!"

If they didn't have the bar to themselves, as a gift from Ray for a celebratory end to the tour, they would have definitely kicked all of the other punters out by now from the sheer volume of noise, but they could have been just as likely to gain a crowd of new fans and attract the wrong sort of media.